EX-YU flag carriers set for major network expansion in 2023

All three national airlines from the former Yugoslavia plan to significantly expand their destination networks in 2023 as the aviation sector continues its strong recovery.

Air Serbia is the only flag carrier from the former Yugoslavia participating in this year’s World Route Development Forum currently taking place in Las Vegas, which brings together over 2.000 decision makers from airlines, airports and destinations around the globe to negotiate new air services. The Serbian carrier has already revealed it plans to introduce a new two weekly service between Belgrade and Chicago from the start of the 2023 summer season in late March. This will be followed up by a dozen new shorter routes. “We will continue to work on expanding our destination network primarily to tourist destinations, which has proven to be a complete success this year. We are also looking at Central Asia, countries like Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, for which Belgrade would be a good option for connecting to Europe. We also have the Middle East on our radar. In addition, we will work to further deepen and strengthen our regional network, to ensure good connectivity onto our long haul flights”. As recently reported, the airline has held talks with the likes of Portorož and Ohrid airports and is also expected to return to Cairo next spring.

Croatia Airlines has confirmed it plans to expand its network as it continues to implement its post-Covid strategy, which will culminate with the delivery of new Airbus A220 aircraft. Similar to this year, the airline is primarily eying new routes originating from the Croatian coast. “This summer season, Croatia Airlines launched new routes from Split to Amsterdam, Bucharest, Dublin, Milan, and Stockholm. All these new routes achieved expected results. However, the company sees room for improvement and innovative steps in strategic positioning”, the company said. It added, “We are planning new routes from Croatia’s other coastal airports in the summer of 2023, but this plan still depends on different factors, both internal and external, and will definitely not be ready for publication before the end of the Slot Conference [in Melbourne] in November”.

Air Montenegro is also on the lookout to add new destinations to its network, with a total of five new routes planned for the summer of 2023. The airline will focus on introducing destinations in Scandinavia, as well as Central Europe, following the success of its Prague service launched this summer, which has registered strong results. “If we finalise all of the negotiations currently taking place, we will have to lease two larger aircraft for next summer season”, Air Montenegro’s CEO, Dragana Frantov Nikolić, said. The airline will also continue developing its charter network. This year, it operated over 300 charters to the likes of Tel Aviv, Katowice, Yerevan, Bratislava and Cairo.

EX-YU Aviation News

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