Etihad Airways Officially to Leave Serbia

Etihad Airways has confirmed the information that it is leaving Serbia. The Abu Dhabi-based company has reached the decision to discontinue the direct flight between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade, but also to cease all the commercial activities in Serbia.

The explanation cites the pandemic and the consequent crisis, which caused this company to suspend its flights to Belgrade on October 14. It was initially planned for this line to be relaunched in late December, but the decision was then postponed for late January.

The flights between the two cities were suddenly entirely removed from the reservation systems in early December, and the decision to close the company’s representation in Belgrade was reached back in November, when the lease of an office at the Belgrade Airport was cancelled as well.

On December 28, 2020, Etihad Airways officially confirmed the closing of the line to Belgrade. In a letter sent to travel agencies in Serbia, they say that the line is being discontinued for commercial reasons and that the decision is “a direct consequence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global flight demand”.

– The cancellation of the Belgrade route is an integral part of our company’s current activities toward adapting to the new situation – says the notification sent to travel agencies, which also adds that the line to Belgrade is only one of the several to be discontinued permanently.

The company’s office will continue its activities for some time so as to take care of all the passengers which have unused tickets for the cancelled flights.

In addition to cancelling the flights between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade, Etihad Airways is discontinuing all the commercial activities in Serbia. It remains to be seen what this means exactly, considering that Etihad Airways is a partner of Air Serbia and its minority owner with a 49% stake, whereas the Government of Serbia owns 51%.

Etihad and Air Serbia also cooperate commercially, and the latest notification by Etihad does not tell what the cooperation will look like from now on. The two companies had a codeshare agreement, that is, both would display their tags on the flights of the other company and were able to sell them as their own. Air Serbia discontinued its line to Abu Dhabi back in the winter season 2017/18, citing “the optimization of revenues” and focusing on European lines.

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