Photo: Air SerbiaAir Serbia has recorded significant progress in business: for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, a positive net and operating result was achieved with a profit of 21 million euros without a single euro of state subsidy, Air Serbia General Director Jiri Marek told Tanjug, according to Blic Biznis.
According to Marek, Air Serbia came within two percentage points of the pre-pandemic year 2019 record in terms of passenger transport, and this is one of the best results in European airline competition.
He emphasized that their goal is to reach a double-digit traffic growth in 2023, to have more than 30 percent of passengers in transit, and a total of at least three million, which, he added, will be the first time that figure is exceeded in the recent history of domestic civil aviation.
Marek reminded us that of the 2.76 million passengers transported in 2022, which is 73 percent more than in 2021, a quarter are transit passengers. That is why, as he says, they will make an effort to position Belgrade as the main airport in the Western Balkans region and to offer passengers excellent connections.
He reminded us that the former Jat Airways transported 1.4 million passengers in 2012, so that number has practically doubled in 10 years.
"Air Serbia flew on 87 routes in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa, and at the end of the year we announced 19 new destinations for the summer season, namely Chicago, Ankara, Izmir, Hamburg, Cologne, Gothenburg, Palermo, Catania, Naples, Florence, Marseille, Budapest, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes, Corfu, Krakow, Varna, and Ohrid," said Marek.
At the end of last year, the line to Tianjin was opened, and the first flight to Chicago was announced for May. New destinations in North America and China are also planned. "With the third wide-body aircraft, the A 330, we will have the opportunity to develop long-haul traffic," said Marek, who stated that, in the same concept as the first two with Tesla and Pupin, there will be an important figure from Serbian history on the plane.
He reminded us that, immediately before the formation of Air Serbia in 2012, then-Jat Airways had 11 planes, and that today, with the recent arrival of the last ATR 72-600, Air Serbia has a fleet of 24 planes.
Marek believes that the new airport building will contribute to the increase in the number of passengers and even better results for Air Serbia, but he adds that the biggest change for them already took place in 2022 with the introduction of a central system for security checks that, thanks to the latest technology, facilitated and accelerated the passage of passengers to the gate.
Source: Blic Biznis
