Gulf carriers eye new Belgrade flights

Two Gulf carriers are considering introducing scheduled flights to Belgrade next summer season with plans currently being finalised. As EX-YU Aviation News learnt at the Dubai Airshow last week, both markets have been previously unserved from the Serbian capital on a scheduled basis. Serbia has become an attractive destination for tourists from the Gulf region this previous summer, due to relaxed entry requirements for foreigners in light of the coronavirus pandemic as well as affordable prices. Belgrade was among the most connected airports in the former Yugoslavia to Middle Eastern markets prior to the coronavirus pandemic with nonstop services to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran. In 2020, the Serbian capital was also to be linked with a nonstop service to the Jordanian capital of Amman. However, with the onset of the global health emergency, those plans were shelved, and the airport is today linked with Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha.

During 2019, Belgrade Airport had the most indirect traffic to cities in the Middle East with which it already boasted nonstop flights, primarily Tel Aviv and Tehran, with Dubai following close behind. However, based on OAG data, Kuwait City was the busiest unserved route in the Middle East from the Serbian capital in 2019. Many of the top unserved routes in the region include points in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which are markets in which Serbian construction companies and contractors are particularly active and working on several major projects which has brought about an increase in travel demand to the region.

Belgrade Airport's busiest unserved routes in the Middle East in 2019

Among destinations in the Middle East served directly from Belgrade, Tel Aviv was the busiest, in terms of point-to-point demand. It was followed by Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Beirut. Surprisingly, it was not the Middle Eastern carriers serving the Serbian capital that led the way in shuttling transfer passengers to the region. Rather, Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines were the top two busiest, handling 47% of the market. Coupled with AtlasGlobal, which was in business at the time, the share increased to 56%. Turkish carriers, particularly Pegasus, have targeted the Serbian market with low fares to the rest of the Middle East. Out of the Gulf airlines, Qatar Airways, which was at the time unable to serve Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain due to the blockade, was the busiest in transferring passengers to the region, particularly to Kuwait and cities in Iraq and Iran. Aegean Airlines also fared well with 6% of the transfer market.

Busiest connecting airlines for Belgrade - Middle East flights in 2019

In the summer of 2020, Air Serbia was to introduce four weekly flights to Amman, which was primarily aimed at transfer passengers to and from Western Europe, similar to its Beirut service, which has since been suspended. In 2019, 2.771 passengers flew indirectly between Belgrade and Amman. Turkish Airlines was the top transfer carrier, handling 818 passengers, or 30% of the market. It was followed closely by TAROM with 702 travellers or 26% of the market. Behind them came Aegean Airlines, Alitalia and Austrian Airlines.