The Serbian national carrier anticipates recording a profit of at least one million euros at the end of this year according to the President of its Supervisory Board, Siniša Mali. With the airline’s first anniversary fast approaching, Mr. Mali, who is also the Mayor of Belgrade, says, “Last year was the most successful in the history of Air Serbia, including its predecessor Jat. In just one week in August an absolute record in the number of bookings in Jat’s history was set. We are following this trend from month to month”. He adds, “Compared to previous years the number of passengers has risen by 82%, with ten new aircraft joining the fleet.
Air Serbia is on the right track to recovery. This year we expect to generate a profit of at least one million euros. As James Hogan, Etihad President and CEO, said, this will be the biggest consolidation to have occurred at any European airline”.
The President of the Supervisory Board notes that Air Serbia has transformed itself over the past year in terms of service, its route network and quality and that it “is a completely new company which was not long ago on the verge of bankruptcy”. “We as a country have shown that we cannot run a national airline of our own. Our goal is to eventually fly twice daily to all cities in the region but before we do that we need to connect the last two cities in the former Yugoslavia that we do not fly to yet – Zagreb and Pristina”, Mr. Mali concludes.
The last commercial service between Belgrade and Zagreb Croatia operated 23 years ago when Yugoslavia was still, officially, a unified country. Flights between Belgrade and Pristina last operated fifteen years ago. Start-up Air Croatia recently announced its intention to launch flights between the Croatian and Serbian capitals from Easter next year. Meanwhile, authorities from Belgrade and Pristina reached a free movement agreement in September, clearing an important hurdle for potential flights between the two cities. This allows Kosovo citizens to transfer through Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport using documents issued by Kosovan authorities. Although Serbia does not recognise Kosovan passports, they can be used at several designated border crossing and from now on at Belgrade Airport as well. Kosovo citizens can now travel via Belgrade Airport to third countries where their travel documents are recognised by local authorities.
Source; Balkans
