Air Serbia today marked the tenth anniversary since launching operations under its current brand name on October 26, 2013, as the successor to Jat Airways.
UPDATES AS THEY HAPPENED
21.55: Air Serbia will debut its new boarding music tomorrow. As of midnight all crew will sport the new uniforms, designed by the Novi Sad-based fashion deisnger Milena Bojić.
20.50: Air Serbia unveils its new uniform.
20.30: We are now being showcased uniforms from the past.
20.20: Air Serbia’s CEO is now addressing the guests, thanking employees and the state shareholder. “We have exciting plans for the future. We are dedicated to expanding the fleet and network. In the coming years you will see improved service on our aircraft and new routes”, Mr Marek notes. The Serbian Minister of Economy follows Mr Marek in addressing the crowd, boasting about the airline’s achievements.
20.00: The program is now starting with a safety demonstration by the cabin crew. Afterwards guests are sown a video on the development of Air Serbia over the past ten years.
19.35: Officials and guests are still arriving at the venue ahead of the program.
17.45: Air Serbia is expected to take on an Embraer 195 aircraft, operated by Marathon Airlines, in the coming weeks. The jet is currently undergoing maintenance in Athens. Another Marathon-operated E195 is also expected to join the Air Serbia fleet the fleet by the end of the year. The unit is currently in Warsaw where it has already been painted in the Air Serbia livery but will first be ferried to Greece for new registration and maintenance.
17.25: Tonight’s celebratory event takes place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, starting at 19.00 CEST.
17.10: Billboards making the airline’s anniversary have sprung across its home in Belgrade.
17.00: Etihad Airways played an integral role in the launch of Air Serbia ten years ago. However, it currently owns only 16.4% of the airline and has no effective control of the carrier. Commenting on the matter, Air Serbia’s CEO said, “Etihad Airways is a minority shareholder but has no involvement in the company’s management. We are not looking for a strategic partner at the moment. Of course, I can not talk on behalf of the shareholders, they might have a different vision. As an airline, our strategy is to cooperate with everybody with whom we can and where it makes sense”.
16.30: Air Serbia, which currently utilises the Etihad Guest frequent flyer program has signalled it could exit the scheme next year. “We are evaluating many options. We were evaluating [joining] Turkish Airlines’ Miles and Smiles and also the program offered by Air France – KLM. At the moment, we are more inclined towards developing our own program, however, we have many other projects which have priority that are in the pipeline, so we believe that within 2024 we may have some solution but we are inclining to developing our own program”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek said.
14.30: Since launching operations under its current name ten years ago, Air Serbia has performed 310.000 flights and carried just over 25 million passengers.
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13.40: During the first week of the 2023/24 winter season, which begins this Sunday, Air Serbia will operate 858 flights (return flights included) and have 102.715 seats on the market. This is in comparison 391 flights and 42.448 seats during the first week of the 2013/14 winter season, which was also its first week under its new brand name. Further back in time, it compares to 333 flights and 34.862 seats offered by Jat Airways during the first week of the 2003/04 winter season.
13.10: As of this week, Air Serbia has surpassed 3.5 million passengers handled so far this year and is on course to carry four million travellers this year, up on its previous record of 2.81 million passengers set in 2019.
12.30: The main novelty which will be raveled this evening will be visible to all passengers flying with the airline from tomorrow.
12.10: Based on its preliminary financial results, Air Serbia has registered a net profit of 22.4 million euros during the first half of the year, which is almost the same amount as for the entire 2022.
11.40: Belgrade Tower, the tallest building in Serbia, will light up tonight at 19:00 CEST with a special installation to mark Air Serbia’s tenth anniversary.
11.25: The Serbian Post Office has issued a special postal stamp designed in cooperation with Air Serbia in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the national airline.
The carrier, which today serves eighty destinations with a fleet of some thirty aircraft, will mark the anniversary at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade this evening where the airline will present its results over the past decade and “certain innovations planned for the upcoming period”. The event will be attended by Air Serbia executives and employees, as well as high-ranking officials from the Serbian government. EX-YU Aviation News will bring you live updates from the venue from 19.00 CEST.
Air Serbia has confirmed it is planning to unveil certain surprises this evening. Commenting recently on the matter, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “I won’t open up on what is expected. Don’t expect any big announcement but I think there will be some nice surprises”. Over the past month, in the lead-up to its anniversary, the carrier has opened a new retail store in Belgrade, announced the launch of a new service to Porto, refreshed its website and outlined plans to improve its onboard soft product. Tonight’s announcement is also expected to be in line with those and result in a notable change for employees and passengers alike.
Air Serbia launched operations under its new name and branding on October 26, 2013 by inaugurating flights from Belgrade to Abu Dhabi, the home of its part-owner at the time – Etihad Airways. Circumstances have significantly changed since. Air Serbia no longer flies to the United Arab Emirates and Etihad’s input and effective control of the Serbian flag carrier is non-existent. However, the Emirati airline still holds a 16% stake in the airline on paper. On the other hand, Air Serbia’s route network had 32 destinations in 2013, growing to eighty in 2023, with the airline also serving long haul destinations including New York (introduced in 2016), Tianjin (2022) and Chicago (2023). Over the past, it has transformed its fleet from predominately Boeing jets to Airbuses.
Since 2013, Air Serbia has also transformed its business model after its initial boutique offering ultimately failed. The airline had originally set out to be one of Europe’s best carriers in terms of its onboard service offering, with a dedicated business class product on its jet-engine short-haul fleet, menus and hot meal choices on short-haul economy flights, pillows and blankets on each seat, tablets and amenity kits on short flights in business class and the list goes on. However, by 2017 it was apparent the model was unsustainable, and the airline began a strategic transformation, bringing itself in line with the business strategy adopted by most European carriers. However, this also came at a cost, with a number of routes discounted and frequencies slashed. The airline returned to growth in 2019, by announcing its first major network expansion since 2013, which continued following the pandemic, with over twenty new routes launched in 2022 and more than twenty this year as well.
Air Serbia anticipates handling four million passengers this year and is expected to post a record profit, after it significantly slashed costs over the past few years. “Our entire efforts over the past decade have been on improving our services, developing our fleet, and expanding the network. Air Serbia today flies to more than eighty scheduled and charter destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean, North America, Asia and Africa, while our fleet consists of wide-body A330-200 aircraft and narrow-body A320-family, as well as turboprop ATR72-600 aircraft for regional flights. With over 1.400 employees, the youngest fleet in the region, a growing network of destinations and a clearly defined and sustainable growth strategy, Air Serbia is entering its second decade of operations ready to adapt to any market changes, operate at a profit, and constantly improve its services in the interest of passengers”, Mr Marek said.
