Air Serbia is expected to add two ATR 72-500 aircraft to its fleet in the coming months in order to support its plans to grow frequencies on a number of regional routes. The airline is in the final stages of concluding leasing agreements for the turboprops, one of which is currently expected to enter its fleet next month, while the other in April, although the exact dates will depend on the final agreement Air Serbia reaches with the lessors. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, at the same time, the carrier is expected to return one ATR72 it has been leasing over the past few years. As a result, the company will have seven turboprops in its fleet during the 2020 summer season. The ATR72-500 has the capacity to seat seventy passengers.
The Serbian carrier recently confirmed that at least two aircraft would be entering its fleet in 2020. The airline has outlined an ambitious schedule in the coming months, with frequency growth set to kick in as early as this month on a select number of routes. Flights to Athens and Thessaloniki will be increased to ten and six weekly services, respectively, from seven and five weekly flights. Furthermore, the carrier plans to boost frequencies to Ljubljana and Zagreb this summer to seventeen and thirteen weekly, respectively, up from twelve and eleven. Over the upcoming summer, the Serbian carrier will also maintain flights with its ATR fleet from Kraljevo to both Vienna and Thessaloniki.
Meanwhile, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has certified Air Serbia for Level 2 NDC certification (New Distribution Capability), making it one of the first airlines in South East Europe to have adapted its distribution system to modern communication methods. Furthermore, as confirmed by IATA, it is the first in the world with the newest 19.2 standard version that classifies the product distribution capabilities. Thanks to this standard, as part of a pilot project, from 2020, Air Serbia will offer a portal as a platform for distribution of its product, which includes tickets and all additional services before, during and after flight. "Today, an airline product has become a commodity, so we need to be prepared to change our approach to customers and tailor our offering product to commercial and merchandising principles, while listening to direct sales experiences. That is why this standard and everything that follows it in our future communication with everyone who sells our tickets is of great importance for Air Serbia", the company’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said.
Nice! Makes sense niw how they will accommodate frequency growth on regional routes.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that many of the new routes will be operated with ATRs. As far as I can remember Chisinau, Budapest and Lviv. Plus the flights from Kraljevo.
DeleteShame about fog in KVO, it's really becoming an issue. Today's VIE flight is delayed again. 56 and 60 passengers onboard.
DeleteVIE airport page says 2 hours delay
DeleteI saw on INI's instagram a really cool pic (well cool for us not so much for JU or passengers lol) of their entire Atr fleet parked there :D
DeleteGood but I believe they will also lease Airbuses for sure. No chance they can maintain planned schedule (with ten new routes) without them.
ReplyDeleteAgreed- surely they'll need another A319 or an A320, especially given the summer loads. I get that almost half of the new destinations will be in the midnight wave and don't require additional capacity, but they are also growing frequencies on the existing ones and not just in the region. All those Athens increases, Rome, additional Spain flights and let's not forget Istanbul now as well - none of those are ATR destinations. And looking at recent times- TIA, LJU, TIV, TGD, SKG and even SJJ & SOF were also seeing the Airbuses quite frequently- the ATR just doesn't cut it in terms of demand for seats. Another A320 would be wise.
DeleteDon't forget they are adding destinations such as Rostov and Amman on top of Airbus operated destinations such as Larnaca, Beirut, Cairo, Athens, Krasnodar and Moscow. So they will have 8 night departures on the Airbus while they have 10 stationed in Belgrade. For sure they are adding more planes until summer.
DeleteCool
ReplyDeleteOld airplanes may be safety concerns but they're so much better for passengers! The legroom on old planes can be 10cm more than on new planes. The seats are wider and the cabins are more spacious. Short-range flights are a pleasure on old aircraft.
DeleteThe entire ATR fleet needs replacing.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the 3 left from JAT Yugo times.
DeleteWell they could retire one old ATR in winter when there is less demand and replace it with a newer one in spring. That's what they are doing with the ancient B733 fleet, YU-ANJ was replaced by YU-APK. Unfortunately they can't do it faster as they are growing at the same time.
DeleteOf course they can do it faster Anon 09:12.
DeleteThey can retire their 30 year old aircraft and lease newer!
It isn't rocket science and hundreds of airlines are doing it. So can JU.
Hundreds of airlines? Really?
DeleteYes really. The A320 family alone is used by about 230 airlines!
DeleteYou said that hundreds of airlines are retiring their 30 year old aircraft with newer ones which I have a hard time believing.
DeleteTake a look at the deserts in California, Nevada and Arizona.
DeleteThey are full with aircraft that not only are 30 years old but younger than that.
Only airlines in central Africa are left operating such old airframes.
Nobody in Europe is operating such old 737s except JU.
DeleteAnd?
DeleteNobody in Europe went throught the aviation hell during sanctions and NATO agression. Even after that JU raised and is becoming airline nr. 1 in ex-Yu competing not anymore with OU for example but with RO.
RO is airline in EU with much bigger market and booming economy.
B733 are safe to fly and it is the most important thing. There is no doubt people in Air Serbia made their own financial calculation between maintaining costs for B733 and leasing costs for A319.
40 year old DC-9s with proper maintenance would be "safe" to fly too!
DeleteI am sure we can find dozens of them in the desert and it would be cheaper to buy than a 5 year old Mercedes C class.
DL operates some 40 year old DC-9s.
DeleteAnd so should JU!
DeleteWhy not? They could even reincarnate that DC-9 that's used by firefighters for training purposes. They don't even have to fix all the holes as long as they fly under 5.000 meters.
DeleteDelta stopped operating DC-9s in 2014.
Delete"B733 are safe to fly and it is the most important thing."
Safe? Probably. But those aircraft, being one of the first B737-300s on the market, are some 30 years behind industry standards.
Just like a well-maintaned Zastava 101 with new brakes and tyres is probably safe. Does it have even remotely the same safety equipment as today's new cars? Probably not.
You make it seem like the 733s are the backbone of JU's fleet which they are not my good old Anonymous friend. In a way I don't mind them because they are at the end of the road, their retirement is coming soon and I will miss them because for many Serbs they have been the very definition of an era that has no come to pass.
DeleteBackbone or not, they are still one of the oldest, if not THE oldest passenger aircraft operating in Europe.
DeleteEven a lot of small charter/ACMI operators have moved to NG years ago. I thought JU was considered a "legacy carrier".
JU is not LCC, it's not a legacy carrier, it's what it is. It's an airline that is reinventing itself successfully and that is growing each year. Booming passenger numbers show that people don't mind flying on them as long as they are safe and comfortable enough.
DeleteWhat matters is that JU is transforming itself into a serious business and those beautiful 733s will leave us in a year or two.
People are flying on price/not having other options. Its not only about JU.
DeletePeople cannot judge safety themselves. They trust the company and the regulator to do it.
"those beautiful 733s will leave us in a year or two."
DeleteWe've been reading this on this website for 5 years now :)
Well they have been leaving us, we no longer have YU-ANF, YU-ANJ and so on.
Delete"People cannot judge safety themselves"
DeleteWas there any fatal accidents with JU B733 for all these years?
Of course not.
It happened with much younger B738MAX. It seems Zastava 101 with new brakes really appeared to be better than new Chevrolet
First, a good safety mentality is proactive, not reactive. Saying "we didn't crash, so it's ok" is probably the lowest bar of safety you can have.
DeleteSecond. Ah, the MAX argument. So from now until end of time, 35 year old aircraft are better than new ones? Time for JU to return A319/320s and hit the scrapyards for some nice 1988-1989 A320s, because new A320neos have some engine problems. That'll be safer.
Why is it so hard to understand that Air Serbia is actually working on retiring its B733 fleet. It's not like they are endlessly extending their life so as to save a few bucks. Those planes are already being retired and replaced with younger A319s. As mentioned countless times on here, last year YU-ANJ was replaced with YU-APK. This year three B733s are supposed to fly and we will see what will happen next year.
DeleteWhy should they retire them early if they still have life in them? Not to mention that they mostly fly on charters where JU can maximize their profits.
These arguments no longer make sense. Serbia is not Dubai or Qatar so it can't just give JU a billion Dollars to place an order for 100 A320neo. Fleet renewal must take longer, that's how it is.
It is the very simple. For some people it is very difficult to accept that Air Serbia became the first airline in ex-Yu and that JU looks now to compete with much bigger players.
DeleteIn this region success can't be forgiven and there are always the people who will look for any, literally any so called argument to belittle the results made so far.
Big and rich Lufthansa was flying with B733 still in autumn 2016, but for much smaller Air Serbia it is such a huge problem to have these birds in the fleet maybe for last season.
Not to mention that Tarom - EU company and Skyteam member that is national carrier for the country of almost 20 million people with booming economy still flies with B733.
Every airplane is better than the one that crashed due to system failure. Simple as that.
True, fair points. I guess no matter what JU does there is always going to be something that is making them shamefully bad. Oh well.
DeleteMaybe Air Serbia should replace B733 with SSJ?
DeleteThey are new :-)
LOOL
TAROM's 733s are a decade newer than JU's and are being phased out this year.
DeleteNext time you fly on JU's 737 have a look inside the cockpit and see if it even resembles a somewhat modern airliner. Hint: it doesn't.
And you know that JU B733 won't be phased out at the end of this year?
DeleteEnvious fortune teller
I can't fail to notice that there is so much hate and intolerance towards JU. You shouldn't be angry at Air Serbia but rather at your own country's management for not doing more to create something similar in your own cities and airports. ;)
Delete+100
DeleteHow come no one minds YM's ancient Fokkers or OU's ageing A320 serie fleet? Unlike JU those are doing little to change something. YM even had to return one E90 as it couldn't pay the leases.
DeleteImpressive, I guess B platform will be quite busy in summer which wasn't the case in the past.
ReplyDeleteSerbian aviation is definitely off to a good start this year.
I can't wait for them to load the new destinations!
Hope they are newish.
ReplyDeleteThe average age of the YU fleet is 20 years.
DeleteJU, not YU.
DeleteWhich one will they return?
ReplyDeleteYU-ALV or YU-ALT those are the only ones that are leased. I think Jat Airways got them shortly before the end.
DeleteI believe YU-ALT's lease is running out.
DeleteI believe Air Serbia leased YU-ALV and YU-ALT and not Jat Airways
DeleteJat leased them but Air Serbia extended the lease from what I remember. I know Jat got them I think from Alitalia, it was just before their end.
DeleteAnd YU-ALT had that funny rudder not repainted from Alitalia livery!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d29VDu4P1k0
Will they again wet lease CRJ900 like last summer?
ReplyDeleteI believe so. That capacity is perfect for them on certain routes.
Deleteor maybe they will have few SSJ100 available on BEG tarmac for that?
DeleteI doubt it. It would require them to train crew etc. They already would need to start.
DeleteIf the SSJs were coming then they would be making the preparations for it. However BEG needs to start working on that expansion really soon. It's capacity is seven million and Belgrade is getting dangerously close to that number.
DeleteAnon @09:16 they should get at least triple the number of SSj-100s than what they need operationally. One to fly, one to be in maintenance and one to be used for spares.
DeleteCan we please not go into this anti-SSJ hysteria again? We had it a thousand times until now. What matters is that JU is the only ex-YU carrier that is doing something concrete and investing in growth.
Deletewhat if they wet lease SSJ-100s... then they don't need to train? I believe that Russians are not Santa Clause, they will help Air Serbia to grow network and allowing flights to Rostov, Krasnodar... etc but they will have expectation in return. Let Air Serbia load flight for new network and we shall see.
DeleteSerbia and Russia have had an Open Skies Agreement since 2013 so there are no grounds for the Russians to block JU from launching ROV or adding more flights to KRR. The same way Serbia couldn't block Red Wings or Aeroflot's third daily flight.
Delete@Anon 10:00, part with Open Skies is fact, and thanks for that. Part with wet lease of SSJ-100 still pending clarification. We need wait for them to load timetable. Lot of moving parts, which is good, that means that smart decisions can result with positive outcome.
DeleteHow many planes do they have now?
ReplyDelete9 A319
Delete2 A320
1 A332
6 ATR
3 B733
21 in total, 22 when the ATR arrives.
Thanks. Not bad.
DeleteThey need to start retiring those ancient B737s.
DeleteThey already did, they used to have four, now we are down to just three: YU-AND, YU-ANK, YU-ANI.
DeleteI wouldn't use the term "down to just" since they just got rid of one and they got rid of it only because its resources have expired. As far as I can tell, 3 B737s will be used this summer too.
Delete+1
DeleteThey need to replace the 737s with leased A320s.
Why shouldn't they be used this summer? They are paid for and have life in them. When they no longer have any hours left they can be retired and replaced by newer A319s. Btw those 733s will be used for charters like last year.
DeleteThey have been used for more than charters. Even this winter several routes see them very frequently.
DeleteYes because those 733 pilots and crew need hours in order to keep their licences.
DeleteSo even more reason to replace them with A320s and transition the crews and the mechanics to one single pool of personnel. It is crazy to have 4 different aircraft families for a fleet totaling 22 aircraft!
DeleteWell, they are transitioning but slowly, one 733 was replaced by A319
Delete2-3 more ATRs would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteSeems like ATRs will be the future of their regional network.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense sticking with the ATR then introducing a different aircraft type altogether.
DeleteIf ASL management wants to stick in the ATR'S that's fine, but at least please replace for start the first three ATR'S 72-200, as long as the time goes by they're becoming more uneconomic , and buy or lease the ATR'S 72-600.
DeleteI don't quite understand your "uneconomic" comment. These planes are all paid for, even if their maintenance costs US$100.000/month more (which it does not), they are still cheaper for Air Serbia to operate than leasing new ATR72-600
DeleteThere's no reason to swap ATRs for any other than new generation ATR 72-600. Even these leased ATR 72-500 will do the job perfectly.
DeleteEasiest and cheapest option is just to replace the 3 oldest ATRs with newer ones and that is it.
DeleteThe olderATR72-200s are actually much more comfortable than thr ATR72-500s in their fleet.
DeleteMy experience as a customer is quite different. On Dec 27th 2019, route LJU-BEG at 20:30; AT72 (YU-ALP). It was sauna inside the plane, we were all sweating our balls during that flight. I am not sure what was the issues on that flight but it was really not comfortable. ASL is doing impressive job, but from now on I am only taking flights operated by A319/320.
DeleteWell probably the crew kept the heat on. You should see how how TK cabins are.
DeleteHow was the load on your flight btw?
Yup, the heat was on the entire flight. There was no cold air coming out of A/C.
DeleteAlmost full. My estimate is LF of around 90%.
Then the crew is to blame for keeping the cabin temperature too high :(
Deletethere must be space for 2 weekly OHD with 2 dditional ATR's (but pls not after midnight)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting also that TAROM opted for 9 new ATR 72-600. ATR seems to have a better eco-performance regionally than it's competitors.
ReplyDeleteAer Lingus Regional also has a considerable no of ATR 72-600 in possession.
The difference being that TAROM is getting brand new ones.
DeleteThe difference is that RO needs a government cash injection of €150 million. Until June they need to pay leases up to €70 million. So I wouldn't use RO as a great example. Once upon a time they were also getting brand new A318s and here we are today.
DeleteBtw Finnair's regional branch Norra also uses Atrs.
unlucky they are in EU wouldnt be a problem such injection otherwise ;)
DeleteNo difference here. New JU is also heavily backed by Ana B.
DeleteRO still present but imagine FR, 0B and W6 in BeG all at once.
The end :D
Why would it be the end? LOT survived the onslaught of LCCs and so did airBaltic and Aegean. I don't see why JU wouldn't survive especially now when they have a lean business model that seems to be working for them.
DeleteEven more so, JU managed to block Wizz Air from expanding in many markets so they seem to be knowing what they are doing.
You simply can't put RO and JU in the same context.
JU not a decision maker here.
DeleteGoS entirely controls this part.
No wonder why there is no FR or 3rd w6 plane.
Any proof of that? Or is this the new conspiracy theory that is popular these days?
DeleteOf course he has no proof.
DeleteNobody can stop FR or W6 to fly / expand from BEG
Wizz is stagnating in Tuzla, they failed in Osijek and are scaling down in Timisoara. It's not like they are booming anywhere in the region besides SKP, even in Sofia they reduced the base by one A320 some time ago.
DeleteWho is the owner of airports in INI and KVO? Its not Vinci, but is it GoS or some local authorities?
DeleteThe Serbian state. (government)
DeleteOwner of KVO is not only the state but the Serbian ministry of defense.
DeleteThank goodness they won't go for the SSJ. I was worried there for a moment.
ReplyDeleteWhy? It's a great plane
DeleteWorried? Sukhoi is currently enjoying more trust compared to atr. Orders are also mmore and this is perfect choice for air srbia.
DeleteAnon at 09:31
DeleteLOL! Great plane?
Not even Putin would dare call it that!
Please stay on topic which is JU growth, not the quality of the SSJ
DeleteA 09:31
Delete+1000
Sukhoi is indeed the perfect and economic choice.
This will allow cheaper regional routes and cheaper BoB.
Don't polute this topic with SSJ
DeleteAnon at 10:13
DeleteThe words quality and SSj do not belong together.
Not even in the same sentence.
Anonymous 3 January 2020 at 10:25
DeleteDon't pollute our airports and skies with SSJs.
Thank you.
Anon 10:39
DeleteSure, but let's start with this topic
Anon 10:38
DeletePlease!
Sukhoi had a bumpy start but is now a Reliable Jet.
No incidents or accidents. Cheap to maintain like Lada.
JU can easily use them on its regional routes or even to LHR if there is lower demand on some days. Currently, Sukhoi has better discounts compared to A220 or E2.
No incidents or accidents?
Delete9/5/2012 Mount Salak, Indonesia - killing all 45
21/7/2013 hit the runway in Raykjavik - 1 injured during evacuation
10/10/2018 Yakutsk Airport, slide off the runway because main landing gear collapsed - no seriously injured during evacuation
5/5/2019 Aeroflot Moscow Sheremetyevo - 41 passengers out of 78 killed
So 86 killed is no accidents or incidents?
It is not reliable jet. Nobody wants to buy it. Therefore, as airplane that nobody wants they need to give huge discounts.
DeleteEven Russian leasing company, buying & leasing for special Aeroflot order of SSJ (supported by government money) refused to execute this deal until they got guarantee from manufacturer that they will buy back planes after leasing expires. Nobody wants to deal with them.
Do you mind listing the same stats for other aircraft?
Delete@Anon 23:17
DeleteI'm still waiting for your answer.
Enough of that bullshit around Sukhoi.
SSJ suffered one single accident in regular service due to lighting strike and poor CRM afterwards.
There wasn't a single loss of life of injury due to the plane malfunctions unlike certain recent models re- topic on the left sidebar.
+10000 exactly, in terms of design SSJ is flawless. In terms of design, MAX is a disaster that has killed hundreds so far.
DeleteGreat. ATRs are needed for routes to SJJ,TGD,ZAG,LJU,SKP which should be operated double daily to feed ASL, JFK flights, as well as routes to TEL,ATH and BEY.
ReplyDeleteLJU departure at 13.10 seems to be performing well for JU. Is ZAG the only regional destination not to have a noon departure from Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteI actually think they need a regional jet plane. Something with the capacity to seat 100 passengers. Jat and now Air Serbia never filled the void of getting rid of the DC9/B727s which were actually the backbone of their fleet. They retired all those planes over night and had no alternative planned. 100-seaters would be perfect for many routes.
ReplyDelete+100. A220 would be ideal.
DeleteIt is also expensive to buy and no one is leasing them out at the moment.
Deletethey need open Brac in sommer 2020
ReplyDeleteI love the Brač guy. You mention BWK at least once a week.
DeleteRespect
Well, you never know. Rodney was writing about KVO for a long time and it eventually became true. Maybe BWK will have the same success.
DeleteDo the ATRs Air Serbia is leasing have the Air Serbia interiors?
ReplyDeleteHonestly it's nice to see an ex-Yu airline expanding, adding new routes and growing its fleet. There is too much stagnation in the region.
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteShall we expect Kraljevo - Istanbul flights soon?
ReplyDeleteKraljevo-Athens would be nice too!
DeleteWhile I am happy for Air Serbia expending its network and fleet, I'm a bit worried why it has to lease newer planes, at least it should be able to afford newer ATR planes. Thus I am worried higher leasing costs can impact its results.
ReplyDeleteWell they transitioned from the owned 733 fleet to a leased A330/320/319 fleet and they are ok. Leases should only be a problem if you can't fill the seats something JU can do lately.
DeleteTrebaju im masine koje mogu da lete zimi po magli na Surcinski moji veliki avio strucnjaci.
ReplyDeleteSo, a HS Trident would be a perfect match.
DeleteIt's funny that this news should be published today - a foggy winter day in Belgrade... when ALL Air Serbia ATRs are out of service, as they can't land in Belgrade in these conditions... I hope the 'new' planes have the CAT II (as they don't support CAT III)
ReplyDeleteMy friend, JU's ATR fleet is not out of service, they are very much in service but they have been diverted to INI. Luckily JU had spare aircraft so they were dispatched throughout the region to make sure hundreds of transfer passengers can make it to Belgrade in order to catch their connections to Air Serbia's impressive afternoon wave of departures.
DeleteAll those morning wave flights that were diverted to Niš (Podgorica, Zagreb, LJubljana, and Vienna... well they did not make their connections. Neither were those whose flights got canceled (Tivat, Skoplje, mid-day LJubljana, etc).
DeleteThis is not something unique to BEG or JU... but when you plan your fleet, you should be aware of it, and do a cost-benefit analysis... what makes sense for the bottom line and the image of the airline.
Well I am sure JU did their homework. What's good is that they are increasing regional destinations to two a day so in the future they can just rebook them on the next flight. Fog affects the operations for like 5 days a year, the other 360 are what they are looking at.
DeleteIt's nothing against JU or BEG. It's just a FACT. Those planes are out of service due to fog. That is also a fact. They will not be flying until the fog is gone. FACT.
ReplyDeleteFor the record - other airlines canceled or diverted their flights. Transavia and Flydubai to Sofia. 2 of 3 OS flights got canceled, etc.
Planes are not out of service, being out of service means there is a mechanical issue that is preventing them from flying. For example Atr to SJJ flew without a problem, other planes will fly back from INI in a while once the fog clears. This afternoon they should be flying once again.
DeleteEverything that has to do with JU is aways blown out of proportion and so much drama is created.
Lets hope JU pay more attention to the Iberian Peninsula. If VLC is going to be launched it is time for PMI, SVQ, AGP, TFS, ALC, LIS or OPO.
ReplyDeleteThe Balkans are getting very popular in Spain they said and there is huge demand because it is cheap for them.
VY will not survive because JU has a much better schedule but not pricing. Time for a change. Time for more flights today.
Today? It will take months if not years for more flights to be launched to España.
DeleteSo far Madrid and Barcelona seem to be doing OK. VLC is planned, let's give it time to launch and hopefully mature. And then slowly and steadily new destinations can be added.
But I get your point, there is lots of potencial in Iberia.
Spain is a country with more than 25 strategic airports and JU can only take advantage.
DeleteBCN and MAD were a clear example and so will VLC.
AGP and PMI are important airports too that need year round connections. More must be done.
You can fly to all, but fly and make a profit to how many? Just asking for a genuine opinion.
DeleteAnd pls don't tell me that you have full loads to somewhere, because full loads alone don't make money.
One of themost visited countries in the world.
DeleteYou wanna tell me that BEG-AGP.or PMI will not work?? Come on, do some checks!!
You do you check. It is not enough (although common on this forum) to just stick a finger to a globe and call a destination that should be flown to by this or that airline.
DeleteFor example Austrian doesn't fly to neither AGP nor PMI. And it carries 13 mln pax per year.
So what if OS doesn't fly there? OS failed in KRR and IST yet JU is thriving there. Just because OS can't make something work doesn't mean JU can't.
DeleteOS flying or not somewhere is maybe not the gold standard, but it shows you that if someone wants to make money, the decision to fly to AGP or PMI is not an obvious one even for an airline that is huge compared to JU and has already expanded to places that are more profitable. There are probably some airlines making money on this (primarily lcc) and some losing money. You can fly without profit, but the check will come some day. Pushing an airline to open destinations left and right is not a good advice.
DeleteI agree with your argument regarding Spanish destinations, what I didn't agree with was the statement regarding OS, that's all.
DeleteThere is no reason for JU not to expand in Spain. There are airports making millions and even if IBZ is launched it can still make money for the whole winter!
DeleteAviolet is obviously enjoying GRO, too.
I was under the impression that JU was procuring planes, not leasing them. Especially now that Max crisis is pushing leasing prices up.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's more economical to lease a plane then to wait a year for a new one right now?
By saying that they will add two planes this year, they meant two planes NET or just two planes? If two planes, they just did it.
ReplyDeleteFrom the text it seems they will add two, remove one, so net plus one additional ATR.
DeleteThis could also mean no Embraers, Mitsubishi, SSJ, Q400 or any other type will be used for regional flying. They are sticking with ATRs. Latest generation -600 is more expensive to lease, but has advantages like quieter cabin and glass cockpit. Leasing -500 in 2020 means it will take many years before Air Serbia fleet is all glass cockpit.
They will also add one A319 so in total it will be two NET
DeleteWhy are they returning a newer ATR72-500 when they have ancient ATR72-200s to be replacing? I hope the reason is an unfavorable lease because otherwise they've really got to start upping their game with fleet planning a little. They would want to be adding another Airbus aircraft as well if they expect to maintain the summer schedule they reportedly have planned.
ReplyDeleteI commented in the last JU article about their OTP and was told that it was due to de-icing in BEG being slow. Checking their OTP over the last few days is again showing a significant number of flights being considerably delayed. Now obviously there was a fog issue today but this can't keep happening every single day and passengers have been complaining about this in reviews for some time. Something has to be done before the summer expansion kicks in.
Passengers are complaining but they are obviously coming back for more since JU is recording over 20% growth in passenger numbers. Even with the meltdown due to fog yesterday, they managed to send LCA and BEY more or less on time, they upgraded SKP to A320 while TIA and OTP were cancelled. These things happen.
DeleteAlso, just for fun, I checked OU yesterday and their performance was far from stellar. They had 11 flights which were delayed and they barely have any transfer passengers so there is little risk of a chain reaction happening there.
It is time to stop thinking in terms of what OU or other local carriers are doing but to think of what much bigger players such as A3, TK or OS/LH from whom JU is trying to steal passengers are doing. When competing against players like these who (particularly LH) have quite efficient ground ops and regularly send flights out on time, having almost every single flight going out late from JU's hub simply is not an option.
DeletePassengers "coming back for more" is debatable since the airline is continuously attracting new customers from new destinations. It would be interesting to see how many of JU's customers are repeat customers as they are in fact the important ones. If it is assumed that a lost customer is replaceable, they will eventually simply run out of customers.
I am a massive supporter of JU and its success but in order to continue to enjoy success, it must grow out of 'srpska posla' and that kind of mentality and build a world class operation with world class efficiency.
PS on 4th of January morning wave a total of 1 flight left on time
DeleteLH is an utter disaster when it comes to on time performance, especially in FRA. When summer comes, one hour delays are a regular thing. I would really not use them as a fine example of a fine ground service. Also, why not look closely at W6 from BEG and how often they are delayed even when they don't have any transfers. That's even worse than JU.
DeleteAs for this morning, LCA and BEY were late due to the fog yesterday so many flights had to wait for transfer passengers. That said the regional network left on time so all was well in the end, no need for paranoia and panicking.
I think people are just making up these delays now to have something to attack JU.
Even the LH A321 left FRA with a 30 minute delay, now when it's quieter period. It was also late out of BEG. AF has been delayed by over an hour for the second day in a row. So I guess you are right, JU needs to look at what the big players are doing so their delays are perfectly in line with what they are doing. LOL!
DeleteIf you open FR24 and click on LJLJ you will see that the busiest route right now is LJU-BEG with 17 weekly flights. :D
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought?
I think it is good move for Air Serbia to rent At-72-500 in order to accommodate their growth for now but Air Serbia should consider buying or long term leasing ATR-72-600 look-alike Chinese Xian MA 700 it has better specs since ATR-72-600 is underpowered.Chinese version ATR-72-600 will fit nicely in their network and it is cheaper.
ReplyDelete