Air Serbia will launch its second destination in China and fourth long-term route on September 30. EX-YU Aviation News has learned that sales on the inaugural flights are strong, both for point-to-point and connecting flights, especially from Guangzhou to Western Europe. Air Serbia sees great potential in the Chinese market and hopes to benefit from cargo business with the help of the free trade agreement between Serbia and China that came into effect today. Under the agreement, about 90% of trade products between the two countries will be free of tariffs, while more than 60% of products will enjoy zero tariffs after the agreement comes into effect. “The free trade agreement between Serbia and China will open up new cargo opportunities and even a part of business travel. This is such a huge market with opportunities to develop further”, said Air Serbia CEO Jiri Marek recently.
Air Serbia management visited China late last month, participating in various meetings in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin. Although Guangzhou Airport initially announced that Air Serbia would fly to Guangzhou once a week to match China Southern Airlines, which will launch twice-weekly flights on the same route, Air Serbia has scheduled two flights between Guangzhou and Tianjin, and its third Airbus A330-200 aircraft will undergo maintenance this week in preparation for delivery to the airline.
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| Guangzhou Airport delivered a speech at the Guangzhou Aviation Hub High-Quality Development Conference |
Air Serbia currently operates just three destinations in China, with plans to launch a Shanghai route by the end of this year. Its first Chinese route – Tianjin – will be launched in December 2022 and will continue to operate. “We opened the Tianjin route during the pandemic, when there were no other routes to China due to the pandemic,” Mr Marek said last month. “Since these flights have been profitable from day one, we do not need to fly anywhere else at the moment.” At an airline presentation in Tianjin late last week, the airline said the Tianjin route had carried more than 33,500 passengers since its launch and that the current load factor was over 90%.
