Turkish Airlines, Türkiye’s flag carrier, announced yesterday (Wed) the further enhancement of their commercial cooperation with Serbia’s national airline, Air Serbia, with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 78th IATA Annual General Meeting held in Doha, in the presence of both companies’ CEOs, Bilal Ekşi and Jiří Marek.
The two carriers will further explore more ways to strengthen their commercial cooperation, possibly leading to a joint venture that will offer more competitive, affordable flights between the countries and improve the quality of services provided.
As part of the agreed-upon MoU, Air Serbia will offer additional flights between Belgrade and Istanbul, up to ten per week, while Turkish Airlines will allocate wide-body aircraft on the same route twice a week. Furthermore, the parties will negotiate to further boost cooperation regarding codeshare, cargo, and Frequent Flyer Programs.
CEO of Turkish Airlines Bilal Ekşi: “When we consider the global network today, we see how important partnership development is in the global aviation industry. Increasing the bilateral relations between our countries and improving cooperation through our networks are essential for us, especially after the pandemic. In this regard, we are delighted to sign this MoU with Air Serbia to explore enhanced cooperation opportunities and negotiate further to expand our existing partnership. We wish to thank Mr. Jiří Marek and his team on this occasion for their continuous support of our common works, which will further improve the relations between our airlines, countries, and communities.”
Jiří Marek, CEO of Air Serbia, further stated: “It is our great pleasure to announce that Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines will continue to look for new commercial opportunities to create efficient and mutually beneficial relationships while considering the option of joining forces to achieve better connectivity and offers for our customers through a possible Joint Venture on the services between Serbia and Türkiye. In this way, we continue to bolster the relations between our two states, in the interest of users and communities in both countries.”
As part of their cooperation thus far, the two carriers have adopted and upgraded multiple times codeshare agreements on routes within their respective networks. Joint flights offer quick and practical connections to passengers traveling out of Istanbul, one of the most important traffic hubs in the region, to Belgrade and onward (and to passengers traveling from the Serbian capital to Istanbul and onwards).
In addition, Air Serbia added its JU code to flights offered by AnadoluJet, a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, between the Turkish capital Ankara and Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. At the same time, Turkish Airlines added its TK code to flights offered by Air Serbia between Niš or Kraljevo and Istanbul, thus offering passengers access to one of the most extensive global networks offered by Turkish Airlines.
