Serbia's national airline reinvents itself
Formerly known as Jat Airways, Serbia's flag carrier has renamed itself Air Serbia and is renewing its offer. The new brand celebrated its relaunch this past weekend with an inaugural flight.
Air Serbia's first Airbus A319 -- bearing the new brand's name and logo in red, blue and white -- was christened as the Novak Djokovic, a nod to the Serbian tennis champion, currently ranked 2nd worldwide.
The plane took off on October 26 from the Belgrade airport to inaugurate a new route to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The choice of destination is no coincidence, as 49 percent of Air Serbia is owned by Etihad Airways.
With funds injected by the Emirati group, the Serbian airline was able to renew its fleet and launch flights to new destinations. By the end of the year, Air Serbia will offer flights from Belgrade to Banja Luka, Bosnia; Bucharest, Romania; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Prague, Czech Republic.
Additional connections will be launched in the first quarter of 2014, and the number of flights per day to pre-existing destinations, such as Paris, is expected to double. In total, Air Serbia will serve 43 destinations in 30 countries.
