A new Miami connection to Europe? State-owned airline plans direct flights. What to know

A new airline service could give South Florida easier access to Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and even provide another way to get to Israel.

Air Serbia, expected to obtain two new long-haul aircrafts this spring, is eyeing Miami International Airport for its next U.S. nonstop destination from Belgrade.

Marko Djuric, Serbia’s ambassador to the United States, visited Miami over three days late last month. On Jan. 28, he met with Ralph Cutié, director and chief executive officer of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.

“Miami is next in the U.S.,” in additional service for Air Serbia, Djuric said in an interview with the Miami Herald the following day. Djuric, who has been ambassador in Washington since October 2020, was on his first official visit to Miami.

A start date for Miami service is uncertain. Air Serbia is a state-owned airline. Company executives declined to provide details after multiple requests for comment.

How the Miami-Serbia connections started

In November, the government acquired all shares that Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways had in the company. Air Serbia was known as Jat Airways until 2013.

Discussions about the new Miami service have been taking place since at least last year, another person familiar with them told the Herald.

The Serbian government appears keen on making the flights a reality, and soon.

“I think it will happen this year,” said Djuric in the interview in the lobby of the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach. “Air Serbia is pretty far in talks with MIA.”

If the carrier gets new long-haul airplanes by April, then the Miami flight could be added fairly quickly, the diplomat said, without specifying the month.

Air Serbia flies to about 83 destinations, 65 year-round and which are in Europe. Miami is the airline’s largest non-serviced market. Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is considered a major hub for Eastern Europe.

In getting started, Djuric said the new service from Miami would likely emulate the only two other places in the United States that Air Serbia flies to non-stop — John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

That means the carrier would start with two to three flights a week and then hopefully ramp up, said the ambassador.

JFK and O’Hare have daily flights between JFK and Belgrade during the summer and two to five flights per week in the winter. Serbia’s government initially subsidized these flights, but they became profitable after five years.

“MIA is doing a really good job in convincing people to come to Miami,” Djuric said. “They are really making sure airlines feel like they are welcome.”

South Florida travelers may also find some reasons to consider boarding Air Serbia.

Belgrade will host the World Expo 2027, an international fair that in the past 100-plus years has helped Paris and San Francisco gain visibility.

One of Eastern Europe’s largest hubs, Serbia’s capital allows travelers to fly nonstop flights from Belgrade to the U.S., Europe, Russia, China and the Middle East. It has service throughout the Balkans and nonstop flights to Greece, Budapest, and Romania.

A case for Serbia-Miami flights

Serbia is growing. While 2023 investment figures are not yet available, the government expects them to exceed the $4.4 billion of foreign direct investment the country received in 2022.

Another potential appeal is the multiple daily flights between Belgrade and Tel Aviv. That could be useful for Miami’s large Jewish community as well as its many Israel-bound travelers. The current tension in the Middle East has led to the curtailment of flight options between South Florida and Israel to just El Al’s direct service.

Djuric, the ambassador, said Air Serbia is in the final stages of analyzing the business case, but there is strong political will from the government to make the new service to and from MIA happen.

What may that case be?

About 50,000 Serbian-Americans live in Florida and there are eight churches.

One member of the diaspora towers over the others: forward Nikola Jović.

Ambassador Djuric attended a Miami Heat game and met him during his trip, the solidarity particularly important amid the grief Serbs worldwide are feeling over the shocking death last month of beloved countryman and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević.

Serbia has been investing a lot in growing relations with the U.S. For one, Americans don’t need visas to travel in Serbia.

In 2023, about 169,000 Americans visited Serbia, according to Serbia’s Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, a 22% increase from 2022.

Additionally, the United States has become Serbia’s largest provider of services, said Djuric, and “the tech sector is driving a huge part of that growth.”

Microsoft has a large campus there. Electric vehicle company Rivian, headquartered in California, opened a technology center in Belgrade in 2022. Serbia is also a significant source of the world’s explored lithium deposits.

Developing ties between Serbia and Miami

And so Djuric was also in search of tech companies in Miami.

There should be plenty of more opportunities for new ties to develop. Reflecting the growing importance of both the U.S. and South Florida’s tech sector, Serbia plans to open a new consulate in Miami later this year, Djuric said, and it’ll have both diplomatic and trade representatives. The country currently only has consulates in Chicago and New York.

“I think the procedure for Miami is likely to be initiated during this year,” he said. After Miami, they plan on opening one in San Francisco.

“The government is very determined to step up economic, political, cultural and all other ties with the U.S.,” the ambassador said. “We know that the economy of Florida is a good match for Serbia when it comes to opportunities.”