Video of the week - Air Serbia’s journey from ‘steady evolution to almost revolution’

18 February, 2020

Air Serbia may be one of Europe's youngest flag carrier brands, but it has a long heritage. At the CAPA - Centre for Aviation World Aviation Outlook Summit in Malta late last year its general manager commercial and strategy Jiří Marek highlighted its recent journey to become one of the fastest growing airlines in southeastern Europe.

Remarkably, for one of Europe's smaller flag carriers, it added nine new destinations in Jun-2019 and Istanbul from Dec-2019. This growth has seen capacity increase 12% in 1Q 2020 versus the same period in 2019, supported by increased frequencies in existing markets and will see an additional three to four aircraft arrive in 2020.

It has now been confirmed that the carrier plans to lease two A319s formerly operated by Adria Airways from Mar-2020 while two additional ATR 72-500s are expected to arrive in Feb-2020 and Apr-2020. This fleet expansion will facilitate the introduction of further new destinations this year.

These include more than 20 seasonal frequencies from Belgrade to new markets such as Amman, Chisinau, Florence, Geneva, Lviv and Rostov between Jun-2020 and Oct-2020. These markets will be served by a mix of ATR 72 and Airbus A319 equipment.

It will be another strong growth year for Air Serbia. The airline handled 168,856 passengers on Belgrade services in Jan-2020, an increase of 27% year-on-year. Load factor increased 7pp and sales of popular ancillaries increased 44%.

LEARN MORE… Watch our exclusive interview with Jiří Marek, general manager commercial and strategy of Air Serbia, recorded on the sidelines of the CAPA World Aviation Outlook Summit in Malta in Dec-2019.