Manchester, Dublin now Belgrade’s top unserved routes in Europe

Manchester and Dublin are now Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved destinations in Europe, after the airport added more than forty cities to its network since the start of the pandemic. Most of the new routes added from the Serbian capital were previously within its top fifteen busiest unserved on the continent. Lisbon, which was number one up until this April, is now served by both Air Serbia and Wizz Air, while Cologne, which was second-placed, was launched this May. As a result, Manchester now takes top spot, with an average of around 10.000 point-to-point passengers per year travelling on a single ticket. Dublin follows, with approximately 8.500 point-to-point travellers. These figures exclude potential transfer traffic and market simulation.

Neither Manchester nor Dublin have previously been served on a scheduled basis from Belgrade. In 2019, Air Serbia submitted a slot request for a three weekly service to Manchester, but never followed through with either announcing or launching the flights. Visa requirements for Serbian passport holders remains an issue for both destinations, especially the United Kingdom, which requires a long and costly visa application process for general visitors. However, Air Serbia has previously said its new route additions will likely involve cities with longer flying time. The Serbian carrier currently codeshares on KLM’s three daily flights between Amsterdam and Manchester, while it has its designator code and flight numbers on Air France’s service between Paris and Dublin six times per week.

Following the recent addition of Porto to Air Serbia’s network, which was also among Belgrade’s busiest unserved destinations, the remaining cities on the list are predominately secondary points on the continent, including Bilbao, Bergen in Norway and Birmingham. Within the Caucasus region, Yerevan has the highest indirect demand, while in Turkey, Antalya is the most popular, although the city is served through numerous charter flights throughout the summer. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said, “Air Serbia is continuously working to enhance its route network and forge strategic partnerships that benefit our passengers and expand our global reach. In terms of route expansion, we have several exciting plans in the pipeline”.

Both Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Air Serbia will take part in the upcoming Routes World conference in Istanbul, where aviation stakeholders discuss and negotiate new routes. EX-YU Aviation News will also be present at the event and will bring you the latest developments.