Air Serbia planning launch of Yerevan route and further growth in Caucasus region

Air Serbia has confirmed it is planning to introduce flights to Yerevan following the recent introduction of services to Tbilisi and Baku. Speaking at the Slovenian Aviation and Tourism Summit last week, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, noted that it was just a matter of time and that it was definitely coming.

– We are not focused solely on the summer and winter seasons. We launch new destinations whenever the timing is right and we have the aircraft capacity available to support them. Yerevan is planned as a year-round destination, so its launch is not tied to a specific season and can take place whenever we are ready to introduce the service. It is coming – he pointed out.

Marek said frequencies on existing routes to Tbilisi and Baku would be increased.

– We already serve all of Europe’s primary destinations, as well as a large number of secondary cities, which means our core network is already well established. At this stage, growth is increasingly focused on adding frequencies and strengthening connectivity. Destinations such as Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan are unlikely to be sustainable purely on point-to-point demand between Serbia and those markets. Their success depends on having a strong network that can provide connecting traffic. Since we already have that network in place, these destinations are essentially plug-and-play additions and have performed very well – he said.

As he added, Baku is set to be increased very soon and they already boosted operations in September to cater for demand during the Formula 1 event.

– Following the launch of the route on May 3, we recorded an average load factor of 95% during its first month of operation. We have also already increased Tbilisi from three to four weekly flights, and we hope to further expand both destinations going forward – he pointed out.

Commenting on operations further afield, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia, the CEO noted they were part of the airline’s five-to-ten-year plans.

– The challenge with these destinations is that they occupy an aircraft for a very long period because of the flight time involved. When you operate routes of that length, you effectively lose the aircraft for the entire day. At the same time, we still see significant opportunities to increase frequencies on shorter routes, where the same aircraft can perform two or even three rotations per day. That is why our current focus remains on maximizing the utilization of our fleet and developing markets where additional frequencies can generate the greatest returns. These destinations will come in time, but at this stage I cannot say exactly when – he said.

Air Serbia ad Beograd

Air Serbia

Jiri Marek

launch of Belgrade Yerevan air service

Belgrade Baku air line

Belgrade Tbilisi air line