Air Serbia says long-haul expansion to mark its next decade
Air Serbia plans to focus on long-haul expansion over the coming decade as it prepares to mark the tenth anniversary under its current brand name tomorrow. The airline currently serves New York, Chicago and Tianjin as part of its long-haul operations. “Aviation is about being constantly on top of the market, being dynamic, observing and reacting to changes. From a management perspective, we will continue to grow. We have big ambitions ahead of us and the next decade will be mostly about long-haul expansion, positioning ourselves as the leading regional operator in the wider Balkan region, as well as densification of the network. There are also some more routes we plan to add. We have an ambition to reach 100 destinations by our 100th anniversary [2027] but it might happen earlier”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said.
This summer, the airline was granted approval by the Chinese regulator to commence operations to Shanghai and Guangzhou, with the carrier noting services will launch as soon as it secures the lease of a third Airbus A330 aircraft, with existing plans to grow to up to five wide-body jets. Once the carrier expands to these cities in China, it will look to add another destination in North America, with Miami and Toronto being evaluated. Afterwards, the carrier will also look beyond China in the Far East, most likely South Korea and Japan. Delhi in India has also been highlighted as an important market by the airline, however, these points in Asia will not come in the near future and are still in the phase of being analysed by the carrier.
The airline’s CEO recently said, “We have a list of destinations which have positive business cases. We are just waiting to get the aircraft to go on - before it was the opposite, you had the aircraft, and you were looking where you could utilise it”. Once it has a sufficient number of jets, the carrier will consider winter long-haul leisure destinations as well. These will focus on niche markets rather than highly saturated ones such as Thailand. “In the past, we were looking at Mombasa or Zanzibar and some other options, but this will always be in synergy between us and the tour operators”, Mr Marek previously said.
The CEO noted the carrier is already preparing and planning its operations for the specialised EXPO 2027 which will be held in Belgrade. “It is just around the corner. Those three years will pass quickly. It is estimated there will be over three million visitors at EXPO, which puts extreme pressure on us, the airport and everyone else. It’s not only EXPO, before that there will be a lot of preparation. Next summer in Europe will also be very demanding. We have the Olympics, football and so many other things taking place at the peak of summer so there will be challenges ahead. We will definitely continue to grow but the situation on the market is not easy with a lack of spare parts and the worsening supply chain. Next year, we expect around 15% to 20% growth but, if the situation on the market changes and we are able to contract aircraft faster, we will be happy to grow beyond that. The demand is there. Internally, we are working quickly to be ready for the growth”.
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