The Serbian and Macedonian capitals have emerged as one of LOT Polish Airlines’ busiest routes for transfer traffic to and from Toronto. Data accumulated by provider OAG for 2024 indicates that 60% of LOT’s passengers between Warsaw and Canada’s largest city are transfers. Belgrade to/from Toronto is the second busiest citypair for the airline among transfers, behind only Delhi. Skopje has positioned itself as the eleventh busiest among LOT’s Toronto transfer traffic. Notably a number of cities within the wider region, including Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul and Tirana rank within the top fifteen for LOT’s connecting passengers on its Canada service.
The development comes as Air Serbia continues to evaluate the potential launch of nonstop flights between Belgrade and Toronto, which could also provide feed to several regional destinations where LOT also sees strong transfer traffic. The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which manages Toronto’s Pearson Airport, has said it is still working on establishing flights to Belgrade. “Serbia continues to be a target for Toronto Pearson to expand our global reach, and we are working closely with new and existing partners on how we can better serve both Serbia and Canada”, the GTAA noted.
Commenting on potential Toronto flights, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, previously said, “Our main strategy is to target cities that have year-round potential. We do not want to increase seasonality, which is already high in our region. The Canadian city is not only extremely seasonal, but also extremely unidirectional. At the beginning of the season the flights are full in one direction, and at the end of the season in the other direction”. However, the airline has since said that Toronto remains high on its “priority list”.
Toronto remains Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved long-haul route and Skopje’s fourth busiest. LOT Polish Airlines will maintain fifteen weekly flights to Canada’s largest city during peak season. On the other hand, it plans to serve Belgrade twelve times per week this summer, up from ten to eleven weekly last year, while Skopje will be operated seven to eight times per week, mostly in line with last year’s operations.
