Beijing: Air Serbia starts new direct route between Serbia and China

The ceremony at the Tianjin Binhai International Airport was attended by the Vice Mayor of Tianjin Zhu Peng, Deputy Secretary General of the Tianjin Municipality Yu Zhou Peng, Deputy General Director of Megacup Aviation Service (Air Serbia's Chinese representative in China) Wu Guofei, Airport Director Lu Jin Ung, as well as numerous representatives of the most important city administrations of Tianjin and local media.

Ambassador Stefanović stated that this direct line will enable easier travel for Chinese investors, experts and students, and that Serbia, as the only country in the Southeast Europe with a privilege of having a direct flight to China, will become a key tourist and traffic hub in that part of the world. She said that Serbia is especially looking forward to the arrival of Chinese tourists to Serbia, who in the year before the pandemic were the most numerous visitors to Serbia, bearing in mind the visa-free regime between the two countries, in force since 2017.

“We expect that the airline between our capital and Tianjin will help to further strengthen trade and economic relations between Serbia and China,” Ambassador Stefanović emphasised.

She also highlighted the humanitarian mission of Air Serbia, which transported necessary medical equipment and materials from China to Serbia during the most severe Covid-19 pandemic.

Congratulating on the Air Serbia’s inaugural flight, Vice Mayor of Tianjin Zhu Peng stated that the “steel friendship” between Serbia and China has stood the test of time and that, thanks to such strength of bilateral ties, the two countries have established an exemplary model of cooperation in modern international relations. Serbia is the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and one of the first to support the “Belt and Road” initiative by actively participating in joint projects with China. Within these frameworks, Tianjin and Serbia had a significant exchange of visits at high level, and cooperation in the field of sports and health care, especially in the prevention and control of the pandemic.

“The restoration of a direct air line between Serbia and China by the Serbian airline is the result of the implemented agreement between the presidents of the two countries,” said Zhu, adding that he firmly believes that this “air corridor” will provide important support for the improvement of social exchange and more intensive cooperation between Tianjin and Serbia in in many other areas, including strengthening of the friendship between the two peoples and of the overall bilateral relations between Serbia and China.

At the end of the ceremony, the director of the Tianjin Foreign Affairs Office, Luan Jianzhang, symbolically presented Ambassador Stefanović with an honorary boarding pass for the trip to Belgrade, as one of the first passengers on the return flight.

About 170 passengers arrived on the first flight by the Serbian airline company to Tianjin, which is the first step on the way to additional strengthening of social exchange, business contacts and overall economic and trade relations between the two countries. As a memory of the inaugural flight between Serbia and China, the Air Serbia cabin crew awarded a plaque to the passengers.

Air Serbia will operate on the route Belgrade - Tianjin once a week, i.e. on Fridays from Belgrade and on Sundays from Tianjin.