A comeback like no other

No empty seats left to Milan

The Serbian national carrier, Jat Airways, has announced that its most successful line of 2008 was Milan in Italy which it started scheduled services to since October, 2008, a comeback to Malpensa Airport after many years. Jat took over the Belgrade to Milan service after Alitalia decided to end operations due to a looming bankruptcy and collapse. Jat is currently the only airline operating on this line and states that a successful trend will continue if there is no competition. It is interesting that the average load factor on this service, operated by the regional ATR72, is 90% (meaning that all aircraft departing both ways are nearly full).

Due to aircraft constraints, Jat will be unable to increase its 5 weekly frequency to Milan, however from March 29 it will replace the ATR72 on this service with a Boeing B737-300, increasing capacity. Starting from the summer season, in late March, flight times will also be altered in order to secure more transit passenger from Canada and the United States to Belgrade. Other popular services last year included Podgorica, Tivat and Dubai.