Air Serbia extended record passenger numbers to New York on its first transatlantic flight, surpassing its previous best performance achieved in 2018. According to data provided to EX-YU Aviation News by the US Bureau of Air Transportation Statistics, the Serbian airline carried 72,327 passengers on its Airbus A330-200 aircraft on flights to and from the Big Apple in the first three quarters of this year. This represents an increase of 12.8% from the previous best performance recorded five years ago. This figure represents a 20.5% improvement compared to 2019 and a 24.2% year-over-year increase.
Air Serbia also achieved a record high aircraft load factor. Over the nine-month period, the airline’s average cabin occupancy on New York flights averaged a high 82.9% on its two widebody aircraft, which can accommodate 257 and 268 passengers, respectively. As a result, the airline had the highest load factor of any European airline for flights to and from JFK Airport.
Air Serbia’s New York route performance from Q1 to Q3 2023
CEO Jiri Malek recently said the airline has secured a third and fourth widebody aircraft next summer and could further expand its service to New York. “Maybe New York’s JFK Airport will add capacity and expand beyond daily flights. That means introducing a second daily rotation at JFK, depending on the day of the week. “It depends on many factors, including terminal space availability, but this problem is becoming increasingly acute, especially at JFK,” Malek explained. That year, Air Serbia entered into an extensive codeshare agreement with JetBlue, under which the U.S. carrier placed its designated code and flight number on the Serbian carrier’s flights from New York and Chicago to Belgrade. . In return, Air Serbia began codesharing JetBlue’s 26 destinations from New York to other points in the United States and the Dominican Republic.
