Following the recent semi annual IATA slots conference in Copenhagen for the allocation of 2013/14 winter season slots at airports, the full extent of Jat Airways’ upcoming winter schedule has been revealed. During the conference, slots are adjusted mainly through bilateral discussions between airlines and coordinators. The Serbian carrier has drafted its winter timetable in cooperation with Etihad Airways and will see the airline launch ten new destinations. Jat has requested slots at airports, with Banja Luka confirming yesterday it has received a request by the airline for daily flights. Besides Banja Luka, starting October 27, Serbia’s Jat will be launching services to Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Bucharest, Budapest, Cairo, Kiev, Ljubljana, Prague and Varna. Furthermore, Jat has requested slot time changes at several European airports, such as Amsterdam, to better adjust them to its new schedule.
The new destinations featured in Jat’s winter timetable have almost all been served by the Serbian carrier in the past. Services to Abu Dhabi will be timed so as not to clash with Etihad’s flights. Coupled with Etihad’s service, passengers from Belgrade will be able to connect onto Etihad’s entire network. The Emirati carrier will also place its codes on Jat’s service. Flights to Beirut were last operated several years ago, first as a stop over to Dubai and later as a stop to Damascus. In the past, Beirut provided a handful of passengers transiting through Belgrade mostly to Paris. Services to Cairo were suspended several years ago.
Closer to home Jat will be launching flights to cities in four neighbouring countries – Banja Luka, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia and Varna. As it currently stands, all are set to operate on a daily basis, although changes in frequencies are possible as the timetable hasn’t been finalised in its entirety. In addition, one of the destinations mentioned is still under consideration. Jat will also resume services to Ljubljana. The route was suspended several years ago when Adria launched its flights to the Serbian capital. Flights to Prague will also resume, connecting Belgrade with the Czech capital for the first time since ČSA suspended the route in 2011. Kiev in Ukraine will feature as a new destination and will connect the two cities for the first time since Aerosvit discontinued the service, also in 2011.
Source Balkans
