LONDON – Serbian flag carrier Air Serbia has recently announced a new route connecting their capital of Belgrade, with Chicago, United States, starting May 17, next year.
The carrier has one long-haul aircraft, the Airbus A330-200. However, it remains unknown whether they will receive more widebody aircraft for the route.
Announcement & statement
On a November 17. the announcement, Air Serbia announced the new route connecting Belgrade with Chicago, operating from the Nikola Tesla Int’l Airport (BEG) to the Chicago O’hare Int’l Airport (ORD).
Air Serbia has not operated to Chicago in more than three decades, making this route announcement an exciting one.
On the announcement, Vice President Americas at Air Serbia, George Petković, stated:-
“After more than three decades, the JU 506/507 flight will mark the return of the national airline to Chicago.”
“This is an extremely important city, and we are certain that direct flights between Belgrade and Chicago will mean a lot not just to the Serbian diaspora but also to the wider Balkans region.”
“By introducing flights between those two cities, the region will be better connected to Chicago, and passengers will have more choices. With the good connections that Air Serbia offers, we expect great interest in these direct flights for those who want to continue their travel to other destinations”.
Beneficial route?
Relaunching this route after quite some time, this route does, however, come with benefits for the passengers traveling from Chicago, as they will be able to connect onwards to other destinations within Europe, from Belgrade, possibly benefiting Air Serbia as it could generate a larger passenger flow.
Some destinations that their customers will be able to connect to are:
- Rome
- Vienna
- Skopje
- Dubrovnik
- Zagreb
- Ljubljana
Recent ramp-up announcement
Just back in July, Air Serbia announced they would be ramping up their U.S. services, with New York’s JFK seeing a three-times-weekly service from the winter season in 2022 instead of the previous twice-weekly.
Given the airline’s one and only Airbus A330 being utilized for both routes, the schedule for Chicago goes as follows, with all times being local:
| Flight | Effective date | Frequency | Origin | Dept Time | Destination | Arrival | Block Time |
| JU 0506 | 17-May-23 | Wednesday | Belgrade (BEG) | 06:50 | Chicago (ORD) | 10:50 | 11:00 |
| JU 0506 | 20-May-23 | Saturday | Belgrade (BEG) | 17:20 | Chicago (ORD) | 21:20 | 11:00 |
| JU 0506 | 12-Jun-23 | Monday | Belgrade (BEG) | 12:50 | Chicago (ORD) | 16:50 | 11:00 |
| JU 0507 | 17-May-23 | Wednesday | Chicago (ORD) | 12:40 | Belgrade (BEG) | 05:30 | 09:50 |
| JU 0507 | 20-May-23 | Saturday | Chicago (ORD) | 23:10 | Belgrade (BEG) | 16:00 | 09:50 |
| JU 0507 | 12-Jun-23 | Monday | Chicago (ORD) | 18:40 | Belgrade (BEG) | 11:30 | 09:50 |
Overall
Air Serbia continues to impress with a long-haul program based on the utilization of only one aircraft. Chicago serves as a great destination for the city-lovers, as well as a connecting hub.
However, connections within the United States would likely be on separate tickets if flying with Air Serbia.
With both New York and Chicago now on the schedule for this summer, the Serbian people get a direct gateway to one of the United States more popular cities besides NYC.
As for the customers traveling out from the US, great connectivity is a benefit of utilizing this offer.
