The story
Origins
Air Serbia originated in 1927 when the first Serbian company for civil air transport Aeroput was formed. 1927 was also the year the nation's capital Belgrade became the hub of its operations, with the inauguration of an international airport. Aeroput became the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and, by the opening of numerous airfields throughout the country, significantly improved connections between the various regions. Besides providing passenger, mail, and cargo service to its domestic destinations, Aeroput inaugurated its first regular scheduled international route, Belgrade–Zagreb–Graz–Vienna, in 1929. During the 1930s, it expanded by opening new routes to other destinations in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Albania, and Italy. These new routes helped it position itself as a major regional airliner. Its fleet consisted in one Aeroput MMS-3, one Breguet 19/10, two Caudron C.449 Goéland, one De Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth, one De Havilland DH.60M Moth, one De Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth, one De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide, one Farman F.190, one Farman F.306, eight Lockheed Model 10 Electra, six Potez 29/2 and three Spartan Cruiser II, one of which was built under licence by the domestic Zmaj aircraft factory.
After WWII, the company was nationalized and rebranded as JAT Jugoslovenski Aerotransport in 1948, thus becoming the flag carrier of the FPR Yugoslavia. Despite being a communist country, Yugoslavia broke relations with the Soviet Union and became a cofounder of the Non-Aligned Movement. As a result, its fleet consisted almost entirely of Western-built aircraft. The carrier entered the jet age in 1963 with the acquisition of the Sud Aviation Caravelle, followed by the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 in 1969, the Boeing 707 in 1970, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1971, and the Boeing 727 in 1974. By the 1980s, JAT operated regular flights to all the continents except South America, which was planned for commencement by the 1990s. In 1985, JAT became the first European operator of the Boeing 737-300, and introduced the ATR 42 and ATR 72 in 1987 for its regional and domestic routes. According to IATA in 1988, JAT was the tenth largest airline in Europe by flying to 76 destinations in 39 countries, which included long-haul flights to Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Montreal, and Toronto in the west, and Beijing, Calcutta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney in the east. Its fleet modernization plan began in the 1980s with the introduction of the Boeing 737, while its long-range DC-10s were scheduled to be replaced by either the Boeing 767-400ER, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 or the Airbus A340. However, its modernization plan was never realized due to the start of the Yugoslav wars. During the 1980s, JAT also established a maintenance hangar in Belgrade and a pilot-training academy in Belgrade and Vršac.
The continual growth of the company was disrupted by the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. JAT became a public company on 29 February 1992 and continued its role as the flag carrier of the FR Yugoslavia.
Development since the 2000s
In 2003, the country was renamed Serbia and Montenegro, and that same year the company was renamed Jat Airways. In 2006, Montenegro declared independence and Jat Airways became the flag carrier of Serbia. An aging fleet and lack of investment made the airline unprofitable, so the Serbian government sought a strategic partner for the company.
On 1 August 2013, Jat Airways and Etihad Airways entered into a strategic partnership agreement under which Etihad would acquire a 49% interest in Jat Airways and its management rights for five years. The Republic of Serbia would retain a controlling interest of 51% and hold five of nine monitoring committee seats in the company. Jat Airways was then reorganized and renamed Air Serbia in October 2013. It launched its inaugural flight from Belgrade to Abu Dhabi on 26 October 2013.
On 23 June 2016, Air Serbia's non-stop flights between Belgrade and New York commenced using an Airbus A330-200 leased from Etihad partner Jet Airways. This transatlantic service became the first non-stop flight operated by a former Yugoslav carrier into the United States since 1992, when all of JAT's long-haul flights were suspended.
Air Serbia implemented an extensive restructuring plan in mid 2017 to improve its performance. The goal was to focus on net profit, a new fare structure, new sales channels, and offer additional services that would increase efficiency. From May to June 2017, it retrofitted its Airbus A319 and A320 fleet with Recaro BL3520 seats to standardize its seating plan. This resulted in a seating capacity increase of 12%. On 24 January 2018, the carrier announced the introduction of a new pricing model that would create four fare types in an effort to unbundle its fares. Passengers can choose from four fare types, with each fare type determining luggage allowance, priority boarding, fast track through the airport, travel date changes, and other entitlements.
On 1 March 2018, Air Serbia opened the Elevate Deli & Bar service on its short and medium-haul flights to give passengers the option to purchase food and drinks on the flight. This service replaced its previous inflight catering and offers one of two menus based on flight length and type of aircraft operating the route. Inflight catering on its long-haul, transatlantic service remains unchanged, with passengers receiving a free meal.
Read the full text
In 2021, the company was awarded the Order of Karađorđe's Star.
Since Serbia did not impose sanctions on Russia following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the airline continues to operate regular flights to the country, creating a loophole for Russian citizens to fly to Europe. As a result, the airline has faced dozens of bomb threats which airline officials have attributed to foreign intelligence agencies seeking to disrupt its flights to Russia. In April 2022, it was reported that a NATO military aircraft had trailed an Air Serbia flight as it left Russian airspace.
On 11 January 2025, Air Serbia flight JU986 successfully touched down at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The plane was welcomed by a water salute ceremony, marking the first direct flight between Shanghai and Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia.
On 16 June 2026, Air Serbia officially launched its own Frequent-flyer program Elevate, replacing Etihad Guest. Starting from October 2026, Banca Intesa and Alta Banka will start issuing Air Serbia co-branded Visa credit and debit cards.
From Wikipedia’s article on Air Serbia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5