Air Serbia has put tickets on sale for its second long-haul route from its hub airport, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG), to Tianjin Binhai International Airport (TSN) in China. Air Serbia’s predecessor, JAT Yugoslav Airlines, last served China in October 2000. Serbia’s President hinted in February that Air Serbia wants to fly to China again.
The Serbian flag carrier will be the only European airline flying to Tianjin and one of only a few who operate flights to China at the moment. It is hoping the route will boost its hub-and-spoke system by offering easy transfer options to its European network, with a particular focus on Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Stockholm, Valencia, Venice, and Zag
Flights will launch on 9th December and operate as follows:
- Flight JU702 departs Belgrade (BEG) at 14:10 on Fridays to arrive in Tianjin (TSN) at 07:00 on Saturdays
- Flight JU703 departs Tianjin (TSN) at 10:30 on Sundays to arrive in Belgrade (BEG) at 15:20 on Sundays
Thus, the rotation will have a block time of over 49 hours, allowing the flight to be operated by the same crew.
The flight will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft. In December, Air Serbia will have two of these in its fleet. As Simple Flying reported last week, a second A330 will join the airline’s fleet soon and has already been painted.
Air Serbia says it is only operating one weekly flight on the route at the moment due to the COVID-19 limitations.
Commenting on the news of the route launch, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiří Marek, said:
Beijing – Belgrade is already operational
Hainan Airlines already flies to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG) from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) with its own A330 once a week. The route has a seven-hour stopover in Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport (DLC) on the way back.
Tianjin and Beijing are just 30 minutes away by train, so Air Serbia’s BEG-TSN-BEG rotation can be said to complement Hainan’s PEK-BEG-DLC-PEK rotation.
Let us know what you think of this route launch in the comments below.
Search : SimpleFlying https://simpleflying.com/air-serbia-only-european-carrier-tianjin-china/
, to Tianjin Binhai International Airport (TSN) in China. Air Serbia’s predecessor, JAT Yugoslav Airlines, last served China in October 2000. Serbia's President hinted in February that Air Serbia wants to fly to China again.){kind=link}