DALLAS — Air Serbia (JU) has confirmed its intention to launch flights to Shanghai (SHA) later this year. 

Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek has stated that the airline aims to introduce flights to SHA in China in either November or December 2024, as reported by EXYU Aviation.

When asked about the launch of flights to China’s largest city, Marek said “Shanghai will be launched in November or December.” The launch of scheduled flights to SHA makes perfect sense for JU. Shanghai is Belgrade (BEG) Airport’s busiest unserved long-haul route.

In addition, BEG is SHA’s fifth busiest unserved destination in Europe - based on indirect passenger flows, after Dusseldorf (DUS), Venice (VCE), Hamburg (HAM) and Berlin (BER). 

Expansion into China

Air Serbia previously said it would launch services to SHA and Guangzhou (CAN) in 2024. The airline has secured permits for two weekly services to SHA and three weekly flights to CAN. 

The reason for the delay in starting up these long-haul services is the lack of aircraft. JU requires widebody aircraft to operate flights to China. The Serbian carrier is slated to take delivery of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft this year.

These aircraft were previously operated by Etihad Airways (EY) and Air Belgium (KF). The first of these aircraft expected to arrive in July and the second in either September or October this year. 

North America Expansion Plans

Air Serbia also aims to expand its reach in North America. The airline has set these expansion plans for next year. Once it has suitable aircraft to operate long-haul services, JU anticipates starting up flights to destinations in the United States. Services between BEG and Miami (MIA) are slated to begin in 2025, once JU has sufficient widebody aircraft for these routes. 

“Miami will come next year. We are awaiting [wide-body] aircraft.” Marek said. 

The airline is also looking to expand partnerships with other carriers to improve its connectivity with long-haul markets. That said, JU will add extra codeshare capacity between BEG and Toronto (YTO) next month, cooperating with Italy’s national carrier ITA Airways (AZ).