Air Serbia carries 73% more passengers in 2022 compared with 2021
2.76 million passengers carried60% increase in traffic compared with the previous year87 routes to four continentsDirect flights to Tianjin, Air Serbia's second long-haul destination launchedLoad factor averaged 72%Premium lounge used by more than 54,000 passengers
In November, the long-haul fleet got its second wide-body airplane, the Airbus A330-200 bearing the image of famous Serbian scientist and inventor, Mihajlo Pupin. In addition to that, the jet fleet was enriched with an additional Airbus A319 and an Airbus A320, while four new ATR 72-600 type aircraft joined the regional fleet.
During the previous year, Air Serbia flew to a total of 87 routes across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa via scheduled, seasonal, and charter flights. Compared with 2021, direct flights to 15 new destinations have been launched, including Valencia, Malaga, Malta, Lyon, Bologna, Hanover, Nuremberg, and others. As of 9 December, the national airline resumed flights to the People's Republic of China after a 22-year hiatus. The first destination in this Asian country is Tianjin, the fourth largest city and the largest port in northern China. As a result, Air Serbia managed to position itself on the market as one of the few European airlines that offer direct flights to the People's Republic of China.
"Over the last 12 months, we have worked to utilize the opportunities that arose, quickly adapting to changing market conditions. We focused our strengths and capacities on further development and growth of the company and all our employees. Thanks to our ambitious goals and readiness to work on their implementation in an agile and enterprising manner, we have achieved record-breaking results in various spheres. In terms of the number of passengers carried, we are only 2 percentage points away from the record-breaking pre-pandemic year of 2019", said Jiří Marek, CEO of Air Serbia. "In 2023, we will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of operating as Air Serbia. We have great plans ahead. Air Serbia will introduce more than 20 new destinations, including Chicago, our second destination in North America. Our airline continuously renewing and expanding our fleet. We are aware that passengers' expectations are high, and we are ready to continue developing and changing for the better".
Last year's results in charter transport were particularly good, with Air Serbia operating 2,663 flights on a total of 21 charter routes, achieving a 10% better performance than in 2021. From Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Niš Constantine the Great Airport, it operated flights on as many as nine routes in Greece, six in Turkey, three in Egypt, two in Italy, and one in Tunisia.
By carrying nearly 5,000 tons of cargo, Air Serbia Cargo achieved a 30% better result in the previous year than in 2021.
The services of Air Serbia's Premium Lounge at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport were used by 54,000 passengers in 2022.
Additionally, in 2022 Air Serbia positioned itself among the European airlines with the highest number of weekly flights from Istanbul airport. The number of flights between Belgrade and Istanbul increased from ten to 17 flights a week. Passengers had access to up to six daily flights between these two cities, with three flights operated by Air Serbia, and the remaining three by Turkish Airlines, with whom Air Serbia has a code-share agreement.
An interesting fact is that airplanes of the Serbian national airline have, during the 365 days of 2022, flown around the Earth a total of 754 times, amounting to as many as 30.2 million kilometres. The total duration of flights was 3,468,850 hours.