CEO Talks: Air Serbia CEO Jiri Marek on Long Haul Expansion

Air Serbia will add a second A330 to its fleet in October as it prepares to launch new services to Chicago O'Hare and to China.

I had a great conversation with Air Serbia CEO Jiri Marek at the company's head office in Belgrade.

He stated that taking a second widebody aircraft is a big deal. One long-haul route from Belgrade to New York JFK is served by Air Serbia six times a week. It's difficult to fly just to one long-haul destination with just one aircraft.

Air Serbia will add 2X-weekly services from its Belgrade hub to Chicago O'Hare and one weekly service to Tianjin in China. During the winter season, the airline plans to increase frequencies to JFK.

“Our New York JFK operation is profitable and, combined with the new opportunities in China and expansion in the U.S., it was an easy decision to go for the second aircraft,”

Air Serbia CEO Jiri Marek

The former South African Airways A330 will be leased by Aircastle and will be used on flights to China.

We have a lot of bigger plans once the COVID restrictions are removed in China. He didn't rule out the possibility of a third A330 when the COVID-19 restrictions are removed.

China operations are limited at the moment. We would like to fly Beijing and Shanghai in the future. The destinations are restricted by COVID regulations.

It has been suggested as an option but also as an interim solution. International carriers looked at Tianjin as a long-term destination for cargo. The market is unpredictable and you need to be flexible.

There is a chance that these destinations could be served in China. He said that a lot of traffic flow between China and Europe is limited and that some routes are difficult to navigate. New opportunities and route alternatives to Asia can be found in the geographical position of Serbia. Air Serbia is going to explore them.

There are flights to New York and Chicago. An announcement could be made before the end of the year, according to the man. Air Serbia is increasing its scale in the U.S. with the addition of Chicago, he said. Aviation Daily understands that United Airlines, American Airlines or JetBlue are logical codeshare partners. Codeshare partners for Air Serbia are:

Air Serbia doesn't need more destinations in Europe, but more frequencies. Around 70 destinations are served by it. There will be more frequencies in the region next year to guarantee better connections to Chicago, New York and China. Some of the new destinations may come in the winter.

Air Serbia has a fleet of 10 A319s, one A320, one A330, and six ATRs.