Air Serbia plans to expand its presence in Central Asia
The airline’s five-to-ten-year plans include expansion to Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan
Air Serbia is planning to significantly expand its footprint in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, its CEO Jiri Marek said at the Slovenian Aviation and Tourism Summit held in early June.
According to him, expansion into regional markets such as Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan is included in the airline’s five-to-ten-year plans. Preparations for launching flights to Yerevan are already underway.
“We launch new destinations whenever the timing is right and we have the aircraft capacity available to support them. Yerevan is planned as a year-round destination, so its launch is not tied to a specific season and can take place whenever we are ready to introduce the service,” Marek said.
For Air Serbia, this will mark its third destination in the South Caucasus, following the successful launch of flights to Tbilisi and Baku. Marek noted that the airline has already boosted its Tbilisi service from three to four weekly flights and plans to increase frequencies to the capital of Azerbaijan as well.
“Destinations such as Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan are unlikely to be sustainable purely on point-to-point demand between Serbia and those markets. Their success depends on having a strong network that can provide connecting traffic. Since we already have that network in place, these destinations are essentially plug-and-play additions and have performed very well,” he explained.
Marek also confirmed that flights to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will come in time, though it is still too early to provide exact dates. He explained that Air Serbia is currently focused on maximizing frequencies on shorter routes, where the same aircraft can perform two or even three rotations per day. In contrast, operating longer flights to Central Asia would tie up an aircraft for almost an entire day to perform just a single rotation.
Air Serbia currently operates flights to over 100 scheduled and charter destinations across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.
CentralAsia+ Aero earlier reported: Uzbekistan airports lead Central Asian passenger traffic growth in April.
CentralAsia+ Aero earlier reported: Direct flights between Uzbekistan and Armenia resume after 30-year hiatus.
CentralAsia+ Aero earlier reported: AirAsia X to temporarily suspend Tashkent service.
Follow us on social media
