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Serbia in talks with Xiamen Air as Air Serbia readies for Guangzhou
The Serbian Minister for Economy, Adrijana Mesarović, has held talks with the Chairman of Xiamen Air in China, Zhao Dong, over the potential introduction of flights between Xiamen, on China’s eastern coast, and Belgrade. According to Mr Zhao, the airline is looking into potential services to the Serbian capital and how it could benefit from the recently implemented Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and China to increase demand between the two cities. Xiamen Air, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, boasts a fleet of 170 aircraft and close to 100 destinations. In Europe, the carrier maintains flights only to Amsterdam and Paris.
It comes as Air Serbia prepares for the launch of its new Guangzhou service in just over two weeks’ time. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek said, “Going two weekly to Guangzhou, along with China Southern’s two weekly is the optimal schedule. There are currently only two European carriers flying to Guangzhou - us and Turkish Airlines. On the other hand, we see other carriers like British Airways reducing China because the backtracking via the southern route makes a significant difference between Chinese and European carriers. We will also fly the southern route, but Belgrade is much closer to it, so for us it does not have much of an impact”.
Mr Marek noted that connectivity will be the key to making the new Guangzhou service a success. “Guangzhou is now the busiest airport in China. However, these flights are not just limited to that city. You have Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau which are easily accessible. We are also targeting a lot of connectivity towards Australia”. China Southern Airlines, which will become the second Chinese carrier to serve Belgrade after Hainan Airlines, will commence flights on the same route on September 25. |
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