26 | During2019, theSerbiannational airline carrieda total of 2.81 million passengers on scheduled and charter ights from Belgrade, representing a milestone result since the launch of operations under the Air Serbia name. The number of passengers carried increased 9.5 per cent compared to 2018. Regular ights increased by nine per cent, while charter ights carried 23 per cent more passengers compared to 2018. Following a successful summer season, the positive results continued in 2019’s o -peak season, when almost 25 per cent more passengers were carried compared to the same periodof last year. Air Serbia celebrated another historicmoment at the end of October 2019 by welcoming its 15 millionth passenger in just its six years of operations. Air Serbia operated a total of 33,322 ights during 2019, 2,370 of which were charter ights under the Aviolet charter brand of the Serbian national carrier. Network capacity, measured in terms of Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), rose to 4.45 billion in 2019, while Air Serbia’s average passenger load factor was 72 percentage points and sales of increasingly popular ancillary services grew by 28 per cent. According to Air Serbia CEO Duncan Naysmith, “in 2019 we delivered the largest network expansion and carried more passengers since we started operations as Air Serbia. By launching new ights from as many as three airports in Serbia, we have con rmed our position as regional leader in the sphere of commercial aviation and given our contribution to the development of business and tourism in Serbia, as well as regional interconnectivity. During the previous year, we have carefully selected new destinations, further improving the integration of our international network and providing our guests with more choice and more bene ts.” Last year’s growth of Air Serbia’s network capacity was also enhanced with the launch of as many as ten new ights from the airline’s home airport of Belgrade Nikola Tesla – eight scheduled ights throughout the year to Kiev, Madrid, Barcelona, Rijeka, Krasnodar, Helsinki, Cairo and Istanbul, as well as seasonal ights to Nice and Zadar. Thenational airline also launchedoperations at twomore airports in Serbia in 2019. Based on the results of an international tender for ights of public importance that was announced by the Government of Serbia, 12 new ights were introduced from Niš Constantine the Great Airport, as well as a ight to Vienna from the Morava Airport near Kraljevo. Last year’s introduction of new ights expanded the national airline’s network to include 61 destinations, while spring 2020 will see Air Serbia start operating seasonal ights to Greece’s Thessaloniki from Kraljevo. Itwas alsoduring2019 that the International AirTransport Association (IATA) certi ed Air Serbia for the standard of level two NDC (New DistributionCapability), placing it among the leading international airlines that have adapted their distribution systems to the latest forms of communication. Air Serbia thus became one of the rst airlines in Southeast Europe to receive a level 2 NDC certi cate, and the rst airline in the world with the latest 19.2 version of the certi cate, which de nes the potentials for product distribution. Air SerbiaalsosignedanewcodeshareagreementwithFinnishairline Finnair during 2019, thus increasing its total number of codeshare partnerships to 14 and expanding its virtual codeshare network to 94 destinations. The last year also saw the national airline continue the digitalisationandpersonalisationof itsproducts, in linewith its long-termstrategy and international aviation trends. Air Serbia celebrated two important anniversaries in 2019 – the sixth anniversary of operations under the Air Serbia name and the 92nd anniversary of the airline as the successor of its glorious predecessors, Aeroput and JAT, whichmakes it the eighth oldest airline in the world that is still operating. / REKORDNI REZULTATI I UJANUARU Er Srbija je zabeležila rekordan broj prevezenih putnika u januaru i tako nastavila trend rasta iz prethodne godine. Tokom prvog meseca ove godine ukupno je sa beogradskog aerodroma prevezeno 168.856 putnika, što je za gotovo 36.000, odnosno 27 odsto, više u odnosu na isti period prošle godine. To ujedno predstavlja i najbolji rezultat za januar od pokretanja Er Srbije 2013. godine. Istovremeno, popunjenost kapaciteta za prevoz putnika na letovima iz Beograda povećana je za sedam procentnih poena u odnosu na januar 2019. Osim toga, broj destinacija Er Srbije iz srpske prestonice porastao je sa 34 na 41, dok je prodaja sve popularnijih dodatnih usluga povećana za 44 odsto u poređenju sa istim mesecom prošle godine. – Prethodna godina je po broju prevezenih putnika i novih destinacija bila najuspešnija za Er Srbiju do sada i raduje nas što postavljamo čvrste temelje za dalji rast u 2020. godini – izjavio je Jirži Marek, direktor za komercijalu i strategiju Er Srbije. RECORD RESULTS IN JANUARY TOO Air Serbia posted a record number of passengers carried in January, thus continuing the growth trend from the previous year. In the first month of 2020, Air Serbia carried 168,856 passengers from the Belgrade Airport, which is up nearly 36 thousand, i.e. 27 per cent more compared to the same period last year. These are Air Serbia’s best operational results for January since its launch in 2013. Simultaneously, the load factor on Belgrade flights increased by 7 percentage points compared to January 2019. In addition to that, the number of destinations from the Serbian capital rose from 34 to 41, while sales of increasingly popular ancillaries increased by 44 per cent, year on year. “Last year was Air Serbia’s most successful to date in terms of the number of passengers carried and new destinations, and we are happy for providing firm grounds for further development in 2020”, says Jiri Marek, General Manager for Commercial and Strategy at Air Serbia.
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