Air Serbia has become Air Canada’s partner in the Air Canada Airplane Miles program, which opens new possibilities for Air Canada passengers to transfer from Canada to Europe, especially for those who travel a lot by plane.

Air Canada Airplane has done an amazing job of  bringing in airline partners outside the Star Alliance in recent months, and the program added: EtihadBlue, Vistara and Air Serbia.

Air Canada Airplane joins Air Serbia as a partner

By November 9, 2020, Air Serbia will become a partner of Air Canada Airplane. However, it is exclusively a redemption partnership, meaning that airplan members can redeem miles to travel on Air Serbia, but not earn miles.

Air Serbia offers the same long-distance route between Belgrade and New York, and then great access to Eastern Europe and beyond. Air Serbia’s long-haul aircraft is the Airbus A330, which flies for Jet Airways. This aircraft has herringbone seats in business class, And offers an excellent smooth product (at least I last traveled with an airline).

When Airplane members redeem miles in Air Serbia:

How many airplane miles do you need to travel to Air Serbia?

This is similar to the introduction of the Air Serbia partnership New airplane program launched (It was a day late). With this, we see the airplane fully adjusting its award price.

For a journey of 4,001-6,000 miles, you are expected to pay:

  • 40,000 miles in the economy
  • 70,000 miles in business class
  • You can stop 5,000 miles to travel

Belgrade is 4,511 miles from New York. In other words, you can fly business class up to 70,000 miles from New York to Belgrade to Athens, Tel Aviv, Skopje or other cities, or book up to 75,000 miles with a stopover in Belgrade.

You can also redeem Etihad guest miles on Air Serbia

This is another notable one The best way to redeem miles for travel on Air Serbia Is By an Etihad guest, Air has an Etihad stake in Serbia. By comparison, an Etihad guest charges the following miles to travel on Air Serbia between New York and Belgrade:

  • 44,970 miles in the economy
  • 64,082 miles in business class

However, it contains only one section and any connection must be booked separately. So for most people, booking by airplane represents a good deal.

Will Air Serbia fly to Toronto?

It is worth noting that the debate took place in mid-2018 Air Serbia launches flights between Belgrade and Toronto. From time to time Air Serbia operates flights between New York and Belgrade only twice a week, so suffice it to say that the aircraft is capable of operating a few more routes.

So, does this new airplane partnership signify a new path and further cooperation between Air Canada and Air Serbia? Personally I do not think so:

  • This partnership is unique in redeeming miles rather than earning miles, indicating that no code sharing or extended partnership can be seen between the two airlines.
  • The Airplan leadership has done a great job of adding new aviation partners to give Airplane members more redemption opportunities, and I feel that this is a part of it.

None of this is to say that Air Serbia eventually flew to Toronto, but I do not take this statement to refer specifically.

The following line

Air Canada Airplane has added Air Serbia as its newest airline partner, becoming the fourth new partner airline in recent months. It’s really impressive.

The partnership with Air Serbia is unique to mileage redemption, so Airplan members can redeem miles between New York and Belgrade and beyond.

It has the potential to be greatly represented – Air Serbia is a lovely airline, Belgrade is a great city, and it looks great when you stop there for just over 5,000 extra miles.

Source: https://queenscitizen.ca/2020/11/08/redeem-air-canada-airplane-miles-in-air-serbia/