After the announced return of Ryanair and Condor, another very important airline that operated to Rijeka in the pre-pandemic period – Air Serbia – is returning to Rijeka Airport, reports Novi List.
After cutting the direct line to Belgrade in 2020 after the pandemic, Air Serbia returns to Krk with the Rijeka-Belgrade direct flight. The first flight is expected on June 15, and flights will run until September 17, twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Tickets went on sale in the middle of the week, and the price of a one-way ticket is currently only 374 kuna, while the return ticket is 676 kuna. The flight lasts an hour and 20 minutes, and ATR72 aircraft will operate on this route.
Air Serbia launched flights to Rijeka in June 2019. The last flights ran in December of that year, after which they were suspended until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. In that year, the direct line between Rijeka and Belgrade was established after thirty years, with the proviso being year-round, so even in winter, it was possible to fly to Belgrade. After the line was canceled due to the pandemic, there was talk that it would be permanently abolished, but, fortunately, those announcements proved wrong.
“Air Serbia offers good connections from Rijeka, via Belgrade, to Amsterdam, Vienna, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Milan, New York, Oslo, Paris, Podgorica, Rome, Stockholm, and Tivat, as well as to Rijeka, via Belgrade, from Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, Zurich, Frankfurt, Milan, Podgorica, Rome, Stuttgart, and Tivat,” according to the Serbian national airline.
“We are happy to significantly improve and diversify our network by carefully selecting new destinations, following the wishes of passengers and strategic plans for future expansion,” said Boško Rupić, sales manager at Air Serbia.
Commenting on the introduction of the new line, Irena Peršić Živadinov, director of the Kvarner Tourist Board, reminded of the importance of this market for the region and pointed out that the significance of this line is that the Serbian partner has several connecting flights.
“It is an important market for us anyway. Guests from Serbia traditionally love Kvarner and are excellent consumers. They spend when they visit, considering that the upper class visits us. Moreover, they often come for extended weekends, so in that sense, the air connection from Belgrade to Rijeka will undoubtedly make their arrival easier. Another key feature of this line is that it has a lot of connecting flights, either with Europe or with further destinations such as New York or Moscow.
Therefore, this line is important to us not only for connecting with the Serbian market but also for easier access from several other markets. So we had the Belgrade-Rijeka flight set on the days of the week when the connecting flights were in Belgrade.
We have many additional airline connections with several countries,” said Peršić Živadinov, adding that partners in Air Serbia are optimistic about the new route, especially since, for example, the route from Belgrade to Pula last year proved extremely popular.
Serbian tourists were loyal to Kvarner during the pandemic. According to the Kvarner Tourist Board, there were even more overnights by Serbian tourists in Kvarner in commercial accommodation last year than in the pre-pandemic 2019. Specifically, in 2019, about 21,000 guests from Serbia arrived in Kvarner, who spent about 111,000 nights, while last year, about 20,000 Serbian tourists arrived, who spent about 114,000 nights. If those in non-commercial accommodation, i.e., in cottages, are taken into account, overnight stays are doubled. In 2019, 206 thousand overnight stays were realized in commercial and non-commercial accommodation, and last year 190 thousand overnight stays.
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