Air Serbia announced in mid-December a series of new routes for 2023, including direct seasonal flights to Greek islands of Rhodes, Corfu, as well as to Heraklion and Chania on the Island of Crete—yet perhaps the biggest news this month was the restarting of flights to Tiajin, China after a “pause of 22 years.” With the route officially re-launched with an “inaugural flight” Friday Dec. 9.
Air Serbia’s JU702 flight took off from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport to Tianjin Friday along a route that will be operated using wide-body A330-200 aircraft from Air Serbia’s long-haul fleet. Belgrade-Tianjin flights will be operated every Friday, with an average flight duration of 10 hours, while flights from Tianjin to Belgrade will be carried out on Sunday, and will last an average of 12 hours.
The official send-off ceremony was attended by Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić, Minister of Construction, Transportation, and Infrastructure Goran Vesić, Minister of Tourism and Youth Husein Memić, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Serbia Chen Bo, as well as media representatives.
“We opened a new chapter in our operations by enabling our passengers to fly directly to China, and we believe it will make their travels to this distant destination much easier,” said Jiří Marek, CEO of Air Serbia.”For some time, Belgrade has already provided good connectivity of the broader Balkan region to numerous destinations in the world.
“As of today, it’s possible to fly from Belgrade to China, too,” he added. “Our company is one of the few in Europe which offer direct flights to this Asian country. We are now flying to Tianjin, and in the future, we hope that we will be flying to other important Chinese cities as well.”
Likewise, the airline used December to announce new flights to Greece and the Greek islands.
“Greece is one of the famous tourist destinations, and the demand for flights to Greek islands is extremely high during the summer season,” said Bojan Aranđelović, head of Network Planning and Scheduling, Air Serbia. “By listening to the needs of passengers, we have decided to add some of the most popular charter flights to our scheduled services. With our direct flights, the favorite holiday destinations in Crete, Rhodes and Corfu are now even closer to Serbia, while the excellent connections via Belgrade will provide even more opportunities for passengers to reach the most beautiful beaches in Europe throughout our network.”
Beginning April 28, 2023, Air Serbia will operate flights to the capital of Crete, Heraklion. The airline will begin flights to Chania, beginning June 4, 2023, and as of June 5, 2023 the national airline will also fly to Rhodes. Flights to Corfu will begin June 9, 2023.
Photo of Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić, Minister of Construction, Transportation, and Infrastructure Goran Vesić, Minister of Tourism and Youth Husein Memić, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Serbia Chen Bo, courtesy of Air Serbia.
