After a strong summer, Air Serbia is on track to exceed 500 million euros in revenue for the first time this year, a move the airline’s CEO Jiri Marek described as “significant.” The company is on track to post record net profit by the end of this year. Malek said in a recent interview with Aerotime Hub: [key performance indicators] While growing, the weather is RASK [revenue per available seat kilometre], number of passengers or transfer traffic. Demand is so strong in this region that if we have more production capacity and can bring it in, we will meet it as well. ” The Serbian airline made a net profit of 22.4 million euros in the first half of this year and is expected to announce strong results for the full year 2023, with passenger numbers expected to reach 4 million this year. “We expect profits to be very high and we are currently operating at double-digit margins,” the CEO said.
Looking to the future, Marek says: [2024].Delays may occur due to landing gear [shortage] It has become a serious problem among regional aircraft. We’ve seen delays this year and expect delays next year, so we planned it that way, but we’ll see how it develops. He added: “As for Airbus, we plan to phase out the A319s and replace them with A320s as soon as their leases end, but due to new technology and the latest issues with the LEAP engine.” , it’s a little difficult at the moment,” he added. As a result, airlines are not returning many aircraft to their lessors as planned and are expanding the use of mature technologies over new aircraft due to strong demand, but with new aircraft deliveries and new technology This segment is under stress due to issues with. ”
The airline plans to expand its route network next year, with 23 new destinations added in 2023 and a focus on increasing density. “We want to position ourselves as a regional airline, which means focusing on connecting destinations within the region as it is economically viable. Belgrade and of point-to-point demand, and in addition increasing the frequency of these regional routes with transfers. For example, if you compare Tirana, which has mostly connecting traffic, and Montenegro, which has mostly point-to-point traffic. , there are still some differences in this region. But overall, we believe that we can grow within this region. The new destinations we plan in the east, for example in Romania and Bulgaria, are point-to-point It will be pure connectivity because the demand for is very limited, probably less than 20%,” Marek explained. He concluded: We want to continue to grow, develop and enter new markets. Now that Belgrade and Air Serbia have reached a certain size, we want to put them further on the map. We are already an economic and growth engine and we want to build on that. ”
