Air Serbia to go long haul by 2016

Air Serbia plans Chicago and Toronto flights in the future

Air Serbia plans to launch long haul flights to the United States and Canada by 2016 at the latest. Speaking on national television, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan has confirmed plans for the Serbian carrier to operate flights to Chicago and Toronto in 2016 with Airbus A330 aircraft. However, Mr. Vučić added he is pushing for transatlantic flights to be launched late next year, in particular to New York. The revamped Serbian carrier plans to code share with Air Berlin on flights to the United States in the coming period, however, the airline is still waiting for regulatory approval from the States in order to place its codes on Air Berlin’s flights to New York and Chicago.

In the interview, Mr. Vučić added that both Adria and Croatia Airlines are now calling upon Etihad for help. “There is now a problem what will happen when Air Serbia starts purchasing in the region and begins expanding”, Mr. Vučić said. “I have seen what the aircraft’s interior will look like, I know their plans, I know what they are thinking and it will be, without a doubt, the leading airline in the region and it is not surprising the competition has a problem with it”, Mr Vučić concluded.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Niš, Zoran Perišić, has said that he has begun talks with Air Serbia regarding the potential launch of two daily flights from Belgrade from December 1. “I have held talks with Air Serbia’s management and there is a possibility for daily flights to be launched from December 1”, Mr. Perišić said, adding that a morning and evening service is expected. Niš Airport will lose its only scheduled flight, operated by Montenegro Airlines to Podgorica, this winter as the city no longer has the means to subsidise the service.


  1. Anonymous09:16

    OK, so here we go again, transatlantic flights, in 2016, or sooner, perhaps end of 2014. Wow sounds great. But what about first launching AS, concentrating on their core Euro-Med routes? and a million other things before Toronto, and NYC, and Chicago. How does that old saying go, first jump then say ...

    -- Charlie

    1. It could very well be operated by Etihad from Abu Dhabi with a stop in Belgrade. I think that's the more likely scenario.
      However, I can see Toronto being operated by Air Serbia due to the restrictive bilateral between the UAE and Canada.

    2. Anonymous10:29

      Samo 48 sati nas deli od sluzbene promocije AIR SERBIA u Beogradu, a 48 sati do istorijskog, prvog leta AIR SERBIA
      iz zemlje Srbije, pod njenim imenom u istoriji, na marsuti za Abu Dhabi. Ogromna pozitivna energija se oslobadja.
      YES WE CAN DO!!! To se oseca, vidi iz Australije, Amerike, Evrope...Dva investitora u Srbskoj avio kompaniji Know how. Koliko ljudi toliko i "eksperata". Jedno je sigurno. AIR SERBIA ulazi u fer utakmicu sa novim produktom, novim nacinom odnosa koji do sada nisu bili na usluzi bar u jugoistocnoj Evropi. Postujuci
      druge u fer utakmici na Slobodnom trzisti
      i postovanjem ljudi i njihovih razmisljanja,
      zazelimo iskreno. Srecan ti prvi let pod imenom AIR SERBIA. Nama dobro a nikome zlo! Jos jedan pozdrav i dobra zelja svima i svakom bez razlike.
      Iz tople Australije uvek u dobru vas Rodney.
      R.Marinkovic, AME. Griffith Australia / Kraljevo Srbija.

    3. Anonymous12:32

      jao opet ovaj sjor rodni..

    4. USA built a pre-clearance facility in Abu Dhabi.

      I can see security issues for flights between UAE to USA via Belgrade with only some of the passengers pre-screened.

      Doubt the USA will allow it.

    5. Anonymous12:45

      No, the pre-clearance was killed by the U.S. Senate.

    6. Congress actually did something?

    7. Anonymous18:46

      Of course they did, I think all the $$$ they got from U.S. carriers, Emirates and Qatar motivated them to do some work. :D

    8. You're wrong. Work on setting up the CBP preclearance in Abu Dhabi is ongoing, there was even a sign that was put up at the airport. There was and still is a Congressional action in order to stop this CBP post from opening, but I would say this is higher politics and the final decision on whether to block it will be made somewhere high up. For the moment, however, everything points to the CBP post in Abu Dhabi to be opened very soon.

  2. JU520 BEGLAX09:46

    Lets first fill the flights (amtp) to Bucharest, Beirut etc and than will see about next step
    2016 they ll be prob getting old EY 332 where competitors will fly with 788 789 388 359 77W and 748

    1. Anonymous09:50

      I think the facilitating factor for Air Serbia is that Etihad advertised the purchase big time in its magazine, on its website, via e-mail etc. so people in places like Beirut and Cairo who use them won't be surprised when this new airline Air Serbia pops up on skyscanner or whatever. Not to mention that they can collect miles by flying via Belgrade. It's not like they will start with zero brand recognition in these places.

  3. Anonymous09:53

    american and canada good for them but also here in australia would be great to see them here

    1. Anonymous09:57

      No way, Etihad would never allow that. They want all those passengers routed via Abu Dhabi.

    2. Anonymous10:18

      Enough of these comments from aviation ignorants! We should have a professional debate here.

    3. Anonymous10:21

      What exactly is ignorant there Mr aviation expert?

  4. Anonymous09:59

    So did Vucic really say that they will be buying airlines in the region?
    I can see them starting with B&H Airlines especially since they have already offered to cooperate with them.

    It would be funny if Air Serbia eventually purchases a stake in Croatia Airlines and Adria. lol

    1. Anonymous10:23

      ...and partially owned by the Serbian government. :D

    2. Anonymous10:44

      You know what is really funny? Serbia is much poorer than Slovenia or Croatia, if you do buy Croatia Airlines or Adria Airways it's not the end of the world, but Mr Vucic should take care of other things, like making people in Serbia being able to afford flights with Air Serbia. I wish all the best to Aire Serbia and good business results in the future!

    3. BA88810:49

      Avioni, kamioni, brodovi...
      Kanali preko Morave...

      All the great things our government has in pipeline...
      It will be just like not better!

    4. Anonymous10:57

      Shame you are living in the U.K. BA888. Why don't you come here and then preach about what's right or what's wrong. ;)

    5. BA88811:18

      Good for you that you trust your leader(s).

      (And have a read above...At no point I was telling what is right/wrong...)

    6. Anonymous11:43

      I never said I trust them, all I said that it's easier to be an armchair expert from the comfort of your home in the West than to deal with the Serbian realities on a daily basis. I was referring to your earlier bitching.

    7. Spale12:22

      why is a shame BA888 lives in the UK??
      Why didn't you reply to Rodney from Australia above and asked him to come back to "home" and tell us all how everything is alright??
      Double standards? Maybe because he uses B in Srbska, instead of spelling it properly? Is he more right than BA888? How did you figure that out??

      All I am saying is don't judge people based on where they live and their nationality.
      His view is as valid as yours or Rodny's.

      And to be honest, after many decades of lies and empty promises I am more inclined to share BA888's view than any others.

      Nothing wrong with beging positive about AirSERBIA, in fact I really want them to succeed. I really do.
      But lets take one step at the time before we start taking on KLM or BA, buying local airlines and taking over the world.

    8. Anonymous12:34


    9. Anonymous12:36

      Spale, why don't you do some research before attacking others. The reason why I attacked BA88 8 and not Rodney is because the former is constantly bitching about Serbia and God knows what. Rodney on the other hand is a positive person and doesn't bark all the time on this blog. That's the main difference.
      Also BA888 has constantly mocked Serbian cultural heritage which is not ok.

    10. SQ2612:50

      Well i hope this news is true, but i honestly can't trust any politician. To me this sounds like yet another promise and many of these promises where just false promises.

      If Air Serbia is going to fly to NYC will Air Serbia go for JFK or EWR

    11. Anonymous13:00

      Mr. Vucic is one of the most honest politicians in Serbia and he never lied about one single thing related to EY JU buyout. So, I personally trust him on this.

    12. BA88814:58

      (@ Anon 12.36- I am mocking maybe your type of Serban cultural heirtage, not mine...Since I was not born in Byzantine Serbia and I wish whole country to move on from its past...INDEED!)

      Can we just agree that we disagree?

      I will never give up saying that that LOGO is ugly. And I am only talking about visual identity of the airline.

      But I also wish good luck to AirSerbia.

    13. Spale17:29

      Anonymous, I would love to research, but as you are anonymous I can't. It wouldn't be fair as at least he signs his posts.
      Anyway, I disagree with BA888 as far as the logo is concerned. I actually love it. Iam not crazy about AirSERBIA font and its a shame they kept the plane white.
      But I would like to give him a right to express his views on how he feels and HIS country should look like. The fact the you seem to be traditionalist and he seem not to be one shouldn't be a problem. The fact someone lives/works abroad shouldn't be a deciding factor. Hell, half of Serbia would be hungry if there wasn't this many Serbs working abroad.

      The whole point... I wasn't really attacking you. I was defending his right to speak his mind out.
      Whether someone likes it or not.

    14. BA88818:38

      "Mudro zboris" Spale...

      Indeed I have BA888 name and that is because I do miss that flight (it used to be cheaper than JU) but it does not mean that I don’t wish all the best to AirSerbia.

      And this is my airline of choice on LON-BEG route and it is recommended by me to friends/family.

      I actually wanted to be able to show my middle finger and tell everyone- "here you go, this is what we’ve done" with new airline...but logo (OK, I am back in vicious circle) IMHO prevents me.

      I am looking forward to see new airline on my next trip home in Jan.

    15. SQ2620:45

      I don't like this new Air Serbia logo as I like a different style for example i like new Iberia Livery it looks so nice to my eyes :) but yet again I wouldn't travel with Iberia as they have a terrible service.

      I would like to see better livery than this current Air Serbia livery but in the end I wouldn't mind traveling with Air Serbia as long as they have a good service :)

    16. Spale21:59

      SQ26, if you are talking about the one that looks like flag is wrapping around the plane, yes, it looks great...for them. Spanish flag is somewhat unique. Serbian colours are on at least half a dozen (probably more) countries flags so it wouldn't look necessarily Serbian. And with the name AirSERBIA, they kindda made up their mind on branding strategy :)
      If the wanted a true regional carrier, they would've picked something like Eagle or South Eastern know, something more general.

      But anyways, who really cares what the plane looks like when you are flying??
      Its a great topic for places like this and I enjoy reading about it and thinking how would I make it better :)) but its not really the thing that matters to the genuine traveller. Thats not what is going to make or brake for them. Its the management of the company. As it stands at the moment it looks like they are doing all the right things considering what they had to start with.

      We'll see hehe

    17. Spale22:22

      BA888, look mate, I disagree on on the logo thing with you, but again, that is what makes us great. I listen to you, you listen to me and we find common ground :)
      If we can't than, as you said, we agree to disagree :)

      I really like that logo. And probably not for the same reasons as lots of people here. I like it because its very simple yet complicated design at the same time. I love the fact that you can do it in one colour and you still know what it is. It looks good big and small. On company letterheads it will be fine when it comes out of laser printer in black and white. Its unique. After a while you could just put the logo somewhere (without AirSERBIA next to it) and people will recognise it. ...
      This girl actually DESIGNED it, unlike hell of a lot of corporate logos in Serbia these days and especially last two versions of JAT's logos and liveries.

      Do you know what I mean? It seems that a lot of thought went into creating it.

      That is precisely why I am disappointed by the white plane and red-blue engine covers. That screams LAZY to me. I don't know. Maybe I am wrong, but it looks like half finished job for some reason.

      I was really hoping they would use that cream Etihad colours. Well, with this logo it would look ridiculous, but maybe some light pastel or earthy colour. Something to really set the plane apart on an airport.
      Yes, the tail will be striking, whether we like it or not, but to notice the plane and it really needs to stand out. Especially with small planes like A319. It gets lost on big airports.

      I am certainly not suggesting this for AirSERBIA's planes, but imagine if it was gold or fluorescent yellow or something... you know what they say: there is no positive or negative publicity. There is just publicity hehehe :)
      As long as they talk about you, its good.

    18. Anonymous22:30

      the "white (upper) body" is a typical "old aviation" livery, and it is concidered in europe to be reseved for classical companies with rich tradition. on the other hand, etihad was founden 10 years ago, and they could make any livery they have wanted.

    19. BA88823:28

      (Damn...can't get away from livery talk!)

      Spale, eye is always drawn to simpler shapes. Like old Aeroput Bird, or old BOAC logo, Lasta buses...current BA ribbon, or indeed new Iberia and even new AA logo.

      BA ran away from their horrible "ethnic liveries" years ago and I hated that Olympics logo. All that was just too busy I thought...

      My concern is that the current tail will look like a "white blob" from far and like snow flake from medium distance.

      Main body seems lazy, indeed, “AirSERBIA” with those shouting capitals is just a botch job but hey…Europe’s “favourite” LCC has a “wonderful” harp on the tail and big…big…big, aggressive as they are, Ryanair on the side.

      But...there is one photo (here, on AirSerbia page) with logo on the glass and that one looks great! SO...HERE...I SAID IT!

      (Oh...i o ukusima ne vredi raspavljati)

    20. Spale00:16

      Anonymous and BA888, I didn't know that white body meant "we belong to airline royalty". I really didn't. And if thats what they were going for, fair enough. Makes sense.
      But than look at KLM... if I remember correctly, the world's oldest airline, isn't it?

      Anyhow, I get your guys point, that loud design would make it look like LCC. And you are right.
      But...there are so many ways to avoid looking WIZZ or EasyJet or Ryanair like and still have good looking livery.Thats why I thought some light pastel colour would lokk great. I don't know.

      And you are definitely correct in saying that we can't all be satisfied with the livery. Some would love it, some would hate it, other won't give a toss...

      Anyway, nice talking to you guys :)
      I normally never post, but that anonymous guy got my blood boiling with: "you guys from abroad come back to Serbia and than talk about bla bla bla" comment, so I had to write something.
      Unfortunately, and I said that with genuine sadness, unfortunately our country would struggle badly if there wasn't such a big Serbian diaspora.
      I wish it was different and families around Serbia could live normally without any help from abroad, but thats how it is at the moment and in foreseeable future.
      Lets hope things change and all those wishes come true one day. Whenever that day is.
      In the meantime, don't knock people down just because the left for better life or to try to feed their families. Their opinions are as valid as the ones from people still living in homeland and understand once for all:

      All the best to all good people. Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, Albanians, Montenegrians, Slovenians or Serbs. We are all in pretty similar s..t so don't argue...try to find the way out ;)

  5. Let's say that Air Serbia does launch these north American flights. I wonder if they will sign codeshare agreements with Etihad's partners there, Air Canada and American Airlines.
    Especially with American Airlines which has a strong presence in both Chicago and New York. I am sure they don't want to give up on the passengers heading to places like California, Ohio, Washington D.C., Boston...

    I wonder what Lufty and its Star pals thought when they heard about this.

  6. Anonymous10:18

    What kind of incompetence is that. Flights BEG-INI! OMG!!!!
    They should choose 2 or 3 gastarbaiters destinantion to Vienna , Zurich and possibly Frankfurt and fly them 2 or 3 times per week. Otherwise, we will come back to the fact that there is not enough passengers to fly this airport.
    The only thing that might have worked that ticket prices be the same from INI and BEG to final destination.
    Ex. INI-VIE 109EUR. and same price for BEG-VIE which means that INI-BEG price is inluded in this price which is insine...
    Regards from VIE! :)

    1. Anonymous10:19


    2. Anonymous10:27

      I totally agree with you.
      No direct flights mean that passengers will not even consider to travel from/to INI.
      I know a lot of people here, that fly from Skopje and Sofia to avoid stopover in Podgorica, as they say sometimes they are waiting more then 5 hours for a connection, and flying that way totally misses the point..

    3. Anonymous11:54

      i was also thinking about it. if somebody from nis wants to fly milano, and the flight from beg to mxp is 5pm, and flight from ini to beg is 6am, will people from nis really wake up 3am to get flight to beg and than to wait for hours to continue mxp??? and so on...

  7. Anonymous10:37

    Nis airport needs:
    3XW VIE, 3XW ZRH, 3XW FRA, STR or even MUC.
    All flights operating ATR 72. Enough big for small market and enough confortable and cost-effective.
    BTW, Air Serbia should concentrate on European market more then to expand to USA/CAN. I think our market is too small for intercontinental flights. Maybe some seassonal charters but few flights per week I think would be too much..

    1. SQ2612:59

      Air Serbia should expand to North America as this is where Air Serbia could profit... But also Air Serbia need to expand more in Europe Especially Eastern Europe where we could see more transit pax to North America flights...

      LH, KL, BA, AF etc they make more profit from Intercontinental flights than from a local domestic EU flights...

      Great example is FRA and LHR airport
      Flights from BEG to FRA or LHR 80% of pax are transit pax ;) mostly to North America

    2. Anonymous19:59

      Nis airport needs a developed economy in the Nis region. Then it will get all the flights that it will need then.

    3. Anonymous20:01


    4. Anonymous00:40

      Belgrade has economy of poor developed Lithuanian village and still get pax, as is only one airport which actually works. I also think that NOT ONLY ppl from Belgrade fly BEG, then another 5.5 milions serbs from rest of the country make it busy as is only one airport with flights! But as usual BEG is the best strategy, and we can expect Serbia to be Belgrade soon.

  8. Nikola10:50

    btw, Potvrđeni letovi BH Airlinesa od Sarajeva do Beograda

    1. Anonymous12:20

      Very good news for both B&H Airlines and Air Serbia. I am sure that this will also help out Air Serbia to cement its position in Sarajevo as I suppose many Bosnians will fly via Belgrade and then on B&H to Sarajevo so as to support their national carrier. I just wonder why they didn't immediately start with double daily flights. Do they fly somewhere three times per week in the morning?

    2. Anonymous12:37

      BH airlines, which is actually the airline of the Federation BiH and not the whole country (and even in that federation Croats don´t want to concider BH Airlines to be their carrier) is now trying to make good deals with JU just because Etihad, being an Arab-Muslim company, has bought it. Nothing wrong about that, but it´s just funny that there are still some people there selling a "rational choice" theories and denying that the there are some important national and emotional issues that make a part of companies and passanger orientation in the region.

    3. Anonymous13:24

      BH is trying to sneak in to get bought out. LOL I'm not sure EY will bite, they barely have flight ops.

    4. Anonymous13:21

      @AnonymousOctober 22, 2013 at 12:37 PM

      Leave politics and insanity out of the discussion, if you please. B&H is expanding to BEG because Air Serbia apparently has huge potentials that other players can also use, if they have economical sense in them.

    5. Anonymous23:21

      ^^don´t be silly. the only reason BH airilines is sneaking around, is that they believe in theri balkan mind, that etihad will provide them a good deal via serbia for being a company for a muslim ocuntry.

    6. Anonymous00:53

      Which muslim country?

  9. Anonymous11:38

    Etihad is restricted on the number of flights it can operate between Australia an UAE, while Air Serbia has rights not yet used. Dont be suprised to see Air Serbia flying these flights so Etihad can get more access to Aus market

    1. Purger12:51

      Qantas has just one line to LHR, even stop flaying to FRA

      British just few weekly flights to Australia.

      No Australia flights by Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia, SAS, Swiss... Austrian, KLM, Alitalia terminated those flights years ago... But Air Serbia has a chance to open it? That is very unreal!

    2. Anonymous13:02

      Hogan was the one speaking about that, no one from Serbia ever really mentioned it.

    3. Anonymous13:07

      I think he was referring to Canada, not Australia.

  10. Anonymous11:56

    do 2020 air serbia planira uvesti letove na mjesec

    1. Anonymous12:05

      Љубомора је гадна ствар брате, реши је се што пре.

  11. Anonymous12:07

    I think that on the Jat's website there is still the news dating from 2006 about Jat planning to have flights to USA. So for me, it is best not to have any hopes at all, despite having Etihad in the story.

  12. As I remember, wasn't it Uzbekistan Airlines flying on the route Tashkent - Belgrade - New York vv a few years back? Why was that stopped? Was it due to poor loads?

    1. Anonymous12:34

      Yes it was them with a B767-300. The route was discontinued because there were good loads which gave Jat the idea to start its own flights. Naturally nothing became of this resulting in Belgrade's loss of a direct air link with the United States. Uzbekistan currently flies between Riga and New York, a route which has proven to be very successful.

    2. Anonymous12:40



      The route was dicontinued because Uzbekistanis (or was it Armenia?) were not sattisfied with the load factors from Belgrade.

    3. Anonymous12:43

      No, the loads were very good on the route which gave Jat the idea to launch its own flights. Naturally this venture failed big time and Uzbekistan did not see it fit to return after that as they had already reallocated the flights.

      Jat used to feed these flights with its network which back then was not that bad. When this feed was discontinued so were the flights of Uzbekistan Airlines.

      However, the route was not discontinued because of bad loads.

    4. Anonymous15:38

      Mislim da stvarno nije bilo tako. Uzbekistanci su trazili neke posebne povlastice, valjda i da se zakupi odredjen broj mesta unapred. Kao sto Montengro ima zakupljen odredjen broj mesta u NIsu. I posto Jat to nije hteo i mogqao, letovi su obustavljeni. Tako je nesto bilo. Ne znam prakticno nikoga iz USA ko je u Srbju dosao tim letovima, a ne vidim i zasto bi. letovi bez presedanja su ranije imali znatnu prednost, jer je presedanje znacilo i izlazakl iz tranzitne zone, dizanje i ponovno cekiranje pßrtljaga itd. A sada je ljudima sigurno vaznije da sa Lufthansom mogu da biraju ne samo kog ce dana, nego i u koje ce vreme leteti, nego da sa nekom eksperimentalnom aviokompanijom iz srednje azije lete jednom nedeljno i to da uopste ne budu sigurni da li ce let biti ukinut dok dodje njihov datum putovanja.

    5. Anonymous16:21

      Веруј ми није тако. Мени је лично Старчевић рекао на некој конференције како су чак разматрали могућност изнајмљивања Б777 за летове ка Америци. Нараво пошто причамо о Јату те ствари се никада нису реаизовале.
      Ја знам неке људе који су летели њима јер су били релативно јефтини и Београд је пунио око 30% до 35% лета.

  13. Purger13:01

    And when are the elections in Serbia?

    USA flights from Belgrade. It is not totally unreal. But in 2016? Hmmm... To make Air Serbia in just 6 months was also unreal. In same time you should know that it was coming from politician just before elections, not from Air Serbia or Etihad. And even if that comes from Etihad you should know that Air Serbia is primarily political not economical project (what is not bad for Serbia at all, because than you will get much more benefits from Arabs), so than even those kind of «plans» can be part of «political help» for the Serbian «brother». So, one should take extra caution before getting too excited.

    1. Anonymous13:04

      There are no scheduled elections in Serbia at the moment. And again, Mr. Vucic hasn't lied about one single thing about Air Serbia, from the start of the talks until now.

    2. Anonymous13:08

      Yes, we just had elections like last year. Also, since the start Hogan said that in two years time he expects norther American flights. So it was not initiated by Vucic.

    3. Purger14:49

      It is not? Someone here mentioned that there are elections in Serbia... but maybe I misunderstand

    4. Anonymous15:32

      Noup, nothing except for some minor municipalities and for Belgrade next year.

    5. There are no upcoming elections but Vučić's statement still represents noting more than cheap political marketing. Etihad will consider long haul for JU if first short haul goes well, so let's keep fingers crossed to that. There will be plenty of time to speculate on transatlantic flights.

  14. Anonymous13:50

    Adria resumes London Gatwick in Summer 2014 with 2 weekly flights on board A319, from 17MAY14 to 18OCT14:
    JP450 LJU1925 – 2040LGW 319 36
    JP451 LGW2120 – 0025+1LJU 319 36


  15. Anonymous14:49

    People what Air Serbia did is excellent. But transatlantic flights?!? Seriously?! For such flights first you have to build a basis:
    1. Purchasing power: 80% of profit on transatlantic flights consists of business and 1st class pax. Do you really think ex-yu or connecting flight pax JU will serve (SOF, BEY, CAI) can afford this? The sanswer is more than obvious.
    2. Visa regime: All of the countries in the region have visas and there is no sign that sth. will change in 2-3 years.
    3. Economic and tourist relations: Very very weak.. Low cargo volumes. Even Croatia as a destination isn't well known among US people. Even when they visit Europe they make a long trip of 5-6 countries which lowers the possibility for direct flying..
    I'll be glad to be wrong!

  16. Purger14:56

    Večernji list, today:

    Devetero stjuardesa i stjuarda zarobljeno je posljednjih 36 sati u zračnoj luci u Abu Dhabiju, javlja Telegraf. Svi oni zatočeni su po povratku s leta u okviru obuke zato što se naknadno ispostavilo da su umjesto potrebnih multiviza (koje omogućavaju više ulazaka) imali obične vize s kojima su već ulazili u zemlju. Kako s tim vizama drugi ulazak u zemlju nije bio moguć, bivši “jatovci” sada su suočeni i s mogućim uhićenjem.

    Turistička viza za Emirate vrijedi 30 dana i s njom je moguće jednom ući i izaći u zemlju. Ali jednom kada se zemlja napusti, u nju se nositelj vize ne može vratiti sve dok ne istekne taj rok od 30 dana.

    – Zarobljeni smo ovdje već 36 sati i više ne znamo što učiniti. Stvari su nam u hotelu, a ne možemo se ni vratiti nazad u Srbiju. Nadamo se da će ova drama čim prije biti okončana iako smo čuli da nam prijeti čak i uhićenje – kazala je Telegrafu jedna od stjuardesa. Ispričala je i da joj je jučer prišla jedna koordinatorica Etihada, navodno Makedonka, koja je zatočenim radnicima kazala da se ne brinu te da će im u slučaju uhićenja ''Etihad'' pomoći.

    – Rekla nam je da će pokušati riješiti problem i vratiti nas u Srbiju, a budemo li uhićeni, da će nas izvući iz pritvora. To nas je potpuno obeshrabrilo – kazala je stjuardesa i dodala da je još jedna skupina stjuardesa iz Srbije također odletjela na probni let. Pretpostavlja da će i one biti zatočene nakon povratka.

    1. Anonymous16:17

      Па добро, неће бити ништа са њима јер им је спонзор Итихад, то јест државна фирма која је забрљала у овом случају. Поврх свега тога укидање виза је тренутно у процедури тако да ће се завршити све лепо,

    2. Anonymous18:46

      Ali to je ipak vrhunski slamperaj... pa o ljudima se radi. I zatvor je u pitanju ...

    3. Nije Itihad nego Etihad

  17. Anonymous17:01

    So so...
    Air Serbias employees now rot in jail in The Arab emirates.
    What a wonderful cooperation!
    If they will be tha last ones?
    Maybe Vucic will accompany them soon?

  18. Anonymous18:29

    Emirates could operate something like this:
    Abu Dhabi - Sydney-Abu Dhabi - Belgrade - Toronto - Belgrade - Abu Dhabi.
    In the begin with A330-300 and then with 777.

    Codeshare with Air Canada on flights Toronto-Belgrade.
    Los Angeles-Toronto -Belgrade
    Detroit -Toronto-Belgrade
    Phoenix-Toronto -Belgrade
    San Francisco-Toronto-Belgrade
    etc etc....

    Air Serbia feeding Belgrade to Toronto:
    Bucharest-Belgrade -Toronto
    Cyprus-Belgrade -Toronto
    Tel Aviv-Belgrade-Toronto
    etc etc...

    1. Anonymous18:50

      Houston - Toronto - Belgrade... hahahahaha...

      and Sydney-Abu Dhabi- Belgrade-Toronto... how many legs and hiw can you do this working legaly and practicaly?

      Well that shows you don't have a clue about air traffic

    2. I guess you mean Etihad and not Emirates flying out of Abu Dhabi. Also, I doubt A333 has enough range for AUH-SYD leg.

    3. He mixed up Emirates with Etihad.
      And the flights between Toronto and all the other
      American cities are Air Canadian flights.
      Good idea .
      But not before 2016.

    4. Anonymous08:56

      To make code-share you must have at least 20 pax one way per day. If not non company will go into code-share with you. Can Air Serbia do so, espetialy on so many routes?

  19. Anonymous20:06

    ^ Houston -Toronto leg is with Air Canada not Air Serbia !
    Also USA-Toronto connections.
    Etihad/Emirates/Qatar Airways easily could fly Sydney -
    AbuDhabi/Dubai/Doha - Belgrade - Chicago/NY/Toronto.

    Houston -Chicago or Houston NY also with American Airlines as codeshare.

    It makes perfectly sense!

    1. Anonymous20:53

      Can you show me just one, just one regular line in the world like

      Sydney - Abu Dhabi - Belgrade - Toronto

      That does not make sense. It is not profitable, you can not arrange crew, occupation of aircraft is too long, problem with maintenance which can not be done in Sydney or Toronto, and there is no time for one in 1,5 hours stop in Abu Dhabi base, etc, etc...

    2. Anonymous20:58

      Houston is stupid, because on Houston-Toronto leg Air Serbia should have at least 20 passangers per day one way (40 two ways) to make code-share, and you really thing you will have 40 pax every day, 15.000 per year?!?!?!?!?

    3. Anonymous21:17

      The Houston - Toronto leg does Air Canada or American Airlines my dear friend!
      And the Toronto - Belgrade leg does Etihad or Emirates.
      Etihad even could get feed from Air Serbia for example on the Bucharest - Belgrade leg
      to connect further to Toronto!

    4. Anonymous23:02

      " Can you show me just one,just one regular line in the world like
      Sydney - Abu Dhabi -Belgrade - Toronto..."

      Yes,i can! ;D
      Even two :

      Seychelles - Johannesburg - Seychelles - Abu Dhabi - Hong Kong - Abu Dhabi -Seychelles
      with Air Seychelles(partialy owned by Etihad).

      Singapore - Sydney - Singapore - Moscow - Houston - Moscow - Singapore
      with Singapore Airlines.


    5. Anonymous00:00

      Not true, not one of those.


      HM60 Johannesburg 1225 - 1920 Seychelles -2-4-6-

      HM86 Seychelles 1540 - 2010 Abu Dhabi 2140 - 0905 Hong Kong -2-4-6-

      HM18 Seychelles 2035 - 0115 Abu Dhabi -2-4-67

      As you can see it is not the same flight! The one to Hong Kong is 4 hours before one from Johannesburg.

      SQ062 SIN 0230 - DME 1040 - 1505 IAH

      SQ232 SYD 1215 - 1740 SIN
      SQ222 SYD 1615 - 2140 SIN
      SQ242 SYD 1850 - 0010 SIN

      non of those combines, you have to change plane in SIN for DME or IAH.

      So, eider you are laying, or you really don't have a clue about air traffic.

  20. I think this is exactly the scenario Lufthansa and its affiliates do not want to happen.
    These routes to me even make more sense than Purgers suggestion of Singapore Airlines flying to New York via Zagreb.
    If SQ would choose an alternative for Frankfurt to JFK it would choose a place more eastwards to save fuel.
    Moscow comes in my mind.
    And if you draw a straight line from Singapore to New York,Novosibirsk would probably be the best match.

    1. LoL...u are ridiculous. LH has much more important stuff to think about than some Air Serbia who has less airplanes than Lufthansa's regional feeder partners. I wish Air Serbia all the best, but for now it's far away from something LH needs to worry about.

    2. Anonymous22:23

      even if having some first fear in the very start, lufhtansa has released a big breath of relief after seeing etihad to choose srbovanje over the profit. i believe that air serbia will have good service and good network, but with that name it can never bee a problem for lufhtansa-adria-austrian-croatia airlines group. in the era of regional spreading the company was programmed as a national gear, and will as such remain stuck to serbia and its only and one profitable airport belgrade.

      Sooner or later, the renaming of JU into "Air Serbia" will get its place in marketing text books, as one of best examples for cultural blindness in corporations of all times.

      After the putting the story about the rebranding of Air Serbia official, and after the first liveries were done, I believe that there was someone in Lufhtansa oppening best champagne and heaving a very warm talk on the ljubljana line.

    3. Anonymous11:21

      Of course Lufthansa will be worried. They would not be worried if all these statements were made by the old Jat and its incompetent management. They are very well aware of the fact that Etihad is behind all this and they know what they are capable of.
      For Lufthansa the greatest problem is that Air Serbia will fight Austrian Airlines for the Balkans. They hate this fact because OS is still very vulnerable and having an Etihad backed venture putting up a fight is no laughing matter- especially when they have announced an aggressive expansion into places where Austrian Airlines has a strong presence: ex-YU, Varna, Thessaloniki...

      The initial winter timetable is nothing spectacular but it will be reinforced as new planes arrive. By January Air Serbia will operate more than daily flights to Athens. Do you think Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are happy about it? No, they are not.

      They know that Air Serbia is not real threat at this stage but they know what it can become, especially since Etihad is hitting Lufthansa where it is weakest, Austrian Airlines.

    4. Anonymous20:52


    5. Anonymous23:18

      Why should Lufthansa be worried at all? For a 5 $ lower price Serbian people chose other airlines one-stop-flight even on the routs where JAT was offering a direct flight. I even know foreign companies working in belgrad that constantly booked lufthansa flights for their employees even when lufhtansa didn´t have the cheapest offer.

      So basically:

      Lufthansa with austrian will still be the nr. 1 company in belgrade offering the tgransit flights. air france and al italia with terrible airports in rome, milano and paris are out of a serious play.

  21. Anonymous22:18

    Sam, its all about Etihad ,Etihad and again...Etihad.
    Air Serbia and American Airlines only feeding their network...
    Etihads strategy seems to be entering the transatlantic market by its backdoor.
    And again for this they will need feed...

  22. Anonymous02:36

    They used to fly to Cleveland also....I wonder if they would bring that route back too

    1. Anonymous04:19

      I can't tell if you are being serious or not but a once weekly flight like back in the old days would definitely work especially with feeding network..

      There are a lot of us here about 150,000 in the Cleveland - Akron area Serbs only not to mention Bosnians Croats etc.

      I'm a Cleveland Serb and that would just be amazing but doubtful, we'll see.

    2. Anonymous13:21

      lol !!!!

      There are about 150,000 Serbs in the entire USA!

    3. Anonymous14:24

      No, there are not. Those who declare themselves as Serbs are a bit over 300,000. However, second and third generation Serbs are somewhere between three and five million.

    4. Anonymous17:01

      No it's not, it's five billion.
      My dad told me that if every Serb orientated American joins hands and made a line it would stretch to the moon and back.

    5. Anonymous19:02

      Stfu. You're annoying. 300,000 Serbs in USA is Serbs born in Serbia. What about all the ones born in Bosnia and Croatia that are majority and came b4 and after the war? And the first generation American Serbs born here in the USA that love to visit Serbia. Exactly, easily 1,000,000 not to mention Canada.

    6. Anonymous03:17

      1 million now, so what happened to 3 or 5 million???

      I rather be annoying than full of crap.

      You do realise that Cleveland has a total population of 390,000 so if what you claimed was true, almost every second person you ran into in Cleveland would be Serb.?

    7. Anonymous15:09

      LOL !!!!
      I am sure all the Croatians in Cleveland will be the first to buy ticket on Air Serbia to fly to Zagreb. LOL !!!!
      Do you read what you write?

    8. Anonymous16:15


      I write about facts not fairy tales.

  23. Anonymous13:26

    'Mr. Vučić'

    So Air Serbia didn't even make it to it's launch date. Welcome back Jat.

    Also, that brand spanking new Australian CEO must be pulling his hair out dealing with people who have no right commenting on the operations of the airline. I doubt he will make it to next summer.

  24. Anonymous16:36

    Here is the basical problem: the governmant of Serbia represented the JAT/JU to Etihad as a company run by idiots, which would just florish under every other fair management. In my oppinion, it´s a first grade nonsence. Sure enough the CEO of JU was always a political figure, but there were also many people working in JU hard every day in order to make the best that was possible in regarding of JAT marke. Still, JU had poor results because of no state support for the fleet renewal, high fuel costs, blackmailinig done by Jat Tehnika and so on. But in the first place: because we are very poor country and very poor region. So those guys from Etihad thought, that they will just make few management tricks from abu dhabi, and that everything is going to work, that we will have full cabins on JU, huge increase of passangers.

    Since that will not happen: there are just two outcomes. The one is the soon complete redyfining of Etiahd´s business strategy in order to meet the possibilities and needs of the region. And the second one is a years long, maybe a decade long, suffering, wiht etihad pressing out money from the serbia´s budget and eventually leaving.

    after seeing all this behaviour of new JU management, i just started to understand why serbia, belgrade and JU actually do belong and should belong to europe. they are acting like some kind of low level counts, with no respect for employees, for company´s tradition, for serbian language. and no, that´s not the "capitalism", since it would be impossible to act in the same way in france, germany or czech republic. it´s just a manner of uncultivated people who learnd their business in undemocratical countries. for JU it might be too late, by i hope not to see the same kind of selfcounciousness and cultural blindness destroying other companies in serbia or region.

  25. Vancouerite!06:36

    According to
    They think Air Serbia's logo is the 3rd best in the world!

  26. Anonymous10:19

    Regarding the above mentioned:
    I'll be glad to be wrong!"

    Not all travel to/from EU & US/Canada. There is another side:

    1. Bosnians and Serbians working in the Middle East
    A lot of them work in the Emirates, this number has been constantly rising and will continue (well paid, possibility to get adequate jobs, ...). I am not sure whether these people are included in any statics.

    2. Winter Tourism (from Serbia & Bosnia & and region to Middle East):
    Abu Dabi max temperature in Oct, Nov, Feb, March is about about 31 degrees, and it may be attractive for people who want to warm up their bones (and can afford it! There are such ones!!!).
    I would estimate that it may be very competitive By the way, the price for one week in Abu Dhabi hotels is comparable to similar accommodation in Croatia (Dubrovnik and Opatija are much more expensive).
    With smart tourist agencies and good connections by Etihad/Air Serbia this may change dramatically.

    2. Summer tourism (escaping summer heat):
    Number of Middle East Arabs who spend their summer holidays has been rising (tourist statistics for Bosnia show that the Kuwaitians are the 3rd! visitors in 2013), similar can be expected for Emirates in Serbia.

    3. Increasing presence of the Middle East investors in B&H and Serbia may increase demand for more connections as it happened with Turkish and Pegasus in Sarajevo.

  27. Nicky Name05:11

    It look like the Americans are not going to allow the flights .

    Airlines4America says no and is led by Delta Airlines who call the plan irrational and bizarre.
    So who will the American government listen to the request from the American airline lobby group or the request from Air Serbia Arabia?

  28. American joins hands and made a line it would stretch to the moon and back.


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