Air Serbia is preparing to expand its route network with around twelve new routes, some of which will be launched as early as this winter season, although the majority will be added next summer. The carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, told “Aviation Week”, “We are currently planning around a dozen of new destinations for next year, as well as more frequencies in the region to guarantee connectivity to Chicago, New York and China. And some of the new destinations, even exotic ones, might come already in the winter season”. Mr Marek noted that Air Serbia does not need additional destinations in Europe, but more frequencies, indicating that many of the upcoming new routes will be outside of the continent.
As recently reported, Air Serbia is planning a greater presence in the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to its planned new services to China and the United States. The Serbian carrier has been absent from the Middle East since March 2020, having discontinued flights to Beirut, and suspending operations to Cairo and Tel Aviv, as well as shelving plans to serve Amman in Jordan this summer. However, the airline did operate regular charter services between the Serbian capital and Dubai during the Expo 2020 event from October 2021 until this March. According to OAG data, the busiest deinved destinations in the Middle East from Belgrade include Kuwait City, Tehran, Muscat, Baghdad, Amman and Bahrain.Air Serbia has said it will grow its fleet with the addition of an Airbus A320 aircraft. Furthermore, due to high seasonality, the airline is looking to either make a capacity provider agreement on a long-term basis or attempt to enter into a joint venture agreement with reverse-seasonality operators in order to have wet-leased equipment available over the peak summer months. In addition, the company will add a further two ATR72-600s to its fleet by the end of the year and is believed to be considering more turboprops next year. Air Serbia recently announced it would be hiring new cabin crew members for the “announced expansion of intercontinental, Euro-Mediterranean and regional destinations”.
