Air Serbia, restarting after Etihad's farewell: bets on Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla is increasingly the symbol of Serbia. To him is Named the stopover in the capital Belgrade and his likeness is depicted on the tail of the new A330 that has just entered service.

The YU-ARB plane arrives from Aeroflot to replace the existing A330 YU-ARA that was on lease from Etihad. Air Serbia after splitting with the Abu Dhabi-based company decided to go for an identical plane, but taken from the former Russian company, to return to connect Belgrade with New York. A choice made for economic reasons, since by not changing aircraft type, pilots and ground crew will not have to be trained again.

To celebrate the entry into service, the company released a video in which it shows in a timelapse how the new livery was created and the face of the early 20th century inventor.

The plane arrived in Ireland from Hong Kong, where it had been parked since August 2020. That is, since the last time Aeroflot used this A330 for its commercial flights. Before landing in the Balkan nation, it also made a stop in the Netherlands, where the cabin was fitted out to the company's standard.

There are currently 3 daily flights between Belgrade and New York JFK, and the company plans to raise frequencies to 5 flights a week. Admittedly, with only one plane destined for long-haul at the slightest inconvenience there will be inconvenience, but the resilience of the Serbian government and the company is nonetheless admirable given that many--between Etihad's farewell and Covid's--were giving it up for dead.

For us Italians, it is not exactly a convenient solution to fly to Belgrade and then go to New York, but Air Serbia may be the right choice for connections in the Balkan area from our country.

Have you flown with Air Serbia? Tell us about your experience in the comments.