Since January 2016, and especially in the past two months, Air Serbia has expanded its network to include over 30 more destinations, largely through codeshare agreements.
In a codeshare two or more airlines share one flight by marketing it as their own and using their airline designator. The most recent agreement for Air Serbia was with NIKI, a subsidiary airline of the airberlin group, and fellow member of the airline Etihad Airway Partners.
The recent signing of a codeshare with NIKI will add 11 destinations to Air Serbia's network or those flying from Belgrade, Serbia to Vienna, Austria including: Reykjavík, Iceland; Valletta, Malta; Rome, Catania and Florence, Italy; Faro, Portugal; Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca, Spain and Zürich, Switzerland.
A codeshare agreement extends both sides of the network, so flights from Austria can now travel to Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Israel, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey through Air Serbia connections.
"Our [NIKI's] new codeshare deal with Air Serbia will provide travelers from Austria with easy access to 16 exciting destinations and shows the power of such partnerships in enhancing air connectivity," Oliver Lackmann, NIKI managing director, said in a news release.
The airberlin codeshare has continued to expand this year, with one-stop flights between Belgrade and seven U.S. destinations happening multiple times a week. The Western expansion started with launch of the five-per-week transatlantic service between Belgrade and New York in late June.
Since then the there are four weekly return flights between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles, and one weekly to Fort Myers (and back to Dusseldorf.) In addition, there are code sharing services operated by German carrier to Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Boston. That's a total of 61 weekly flights between Serbia and U.S., over Germany, according to an Air Serbia news release.
"Through our codeshare agreement with airberlin, Air Serbia’s route network now spans from the West to the East Coast, providing business and leisure travelers with easy one-stop connections to seven major points in the United States,” Air Serbia CEO Dane Kondic said in a news release.
On June 15, Air Serbia launched a four-times-per-week service to Hamburg, Germany, ultimately expanding the German route network to 11 destinations: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, as well as one-stop codeshare flights with airberlin to Cologne, Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich, Saarbrucken, and Hanover.
Around the same time, Air Serbia launched a three-times-a-week service from Belgrade, to St. Petersburg, Russia.
And then, recently, and in partnership with Eithad Airways, Air Serbia signed another codeshare agreement with Air Seychelles which adds four routes to Paris, Abu Dhabi, Mahe, Johannesburg and Praslin.
"By working together with Air Serbia and Etihad Airways, we have opened up many new air links between Seychelles and South East Europe, and in doing so have expanded our reach around the world, demonstrating the power of Etihad Airways Partners," Roy Kinnear, CEO of Air Seychelles, said in a news release.
Back in March there was also yet another codeshare agreement with EL AL Israel Airlines which flies five weekly flights between Belgrade and Tel Aviv for the "summer season."
As a member of the Etihad Airways Partners, and an expanded network through codeshares with Hong Kong, there were 24 total destinations covered by the deal with Etihad Airways by January 2016.
Air Serbia, through one way or another, is newly offering its guests the option to fly to the following within the year:
- Vienna
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Vallette, Malta
- Rome
- Catania
- Florence, Italy
- Faro, Portugal
- Madrid
- Barcelona
- Malaga
- Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Dusseldorf, Germany
- Los Angles
- Fort Myers, Florida
- Chicago
- Miami
- Boston
- New York
- San Francisco
- Hamburg, Germany
- Paris
- Abu Dhabi
- Denmark
- Austria
- Mahe
- Johannesburg
- Praslin
- St. Petersburg
