Air Serbia registers record New York route performance

Air Serbia has extended its record passenger run on its first transatlantic operation, to New York, with figures exceeding that of its previous best result achieved in 2018. According to data provided to EX-YU Aviation News by the United States Bureau of Air Transport Statistics, the Serbian carrier welcomed 72.327 passengers on board its Airbus A330-200 aircraft on flights to and from the Big Apple during the first three quarters of the year, representing an increase of 12.8% on its previous best result set five years ago. The figure also represents an improvement of 20.5% on 2019 and is up 24.2% on the same period last year.

Air Serbia also achieved record high load factors on board its aircraft. During the nine-month period, the average cabin occupancy rate across its New York flights averaged a high 82.9% on its two wide-body aircraft, which can seat 257 and 268 passengers respectively. As a result, the airline has recorded one of the highest load factors on flights to and from JFK Airport among European carriers.

Air Serbia's New York route performance, Q1 - Q3 2023

The airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said the carrier may further grow its operations to New York next summer, when it secures a third and fourth wide-body aircraft. “Capacity will most likely be added to New York JFK, growing beyond daily flights. That would mean that for some days of the week, we will introduce a second daily rotation to JFK. It depends on many factors, for example, the availability of slots and terminal space, which is an issue that is becoming more and more serious, especially at JFK”, Mr Marek explained. During the year, Air Serbia concluded a wide-ranging codeshare agreement with jetBlue, which has seen the US carrier place its designator code and flight numbers onto its Serbian counterpart’s flights from both New York and Chicago to Belgrade. In return, Air Serbia has begun codesharing on 26 jetBlue destinations from New York to other points in the United States and the Dominican Republic.