The three national carriers from the former Yugoslavia are assessing future fleet prospects as the financial toll of the ongoing coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic continues to mount.
Air Serbia is soon set to return an Airbus A320 jet (registered YU-APG) and one ATR72 (registered YU-ALV) to their owners as their lease with the company expires. The aircraft have been stripped of their livery and are to be replaced with two former Adria Airways A319 aircraft, which have received Air Serbia's colour scheme and are awaiting delivery to the airline in Toulouse. They were originally expected to join the fleet at the start of the 2020 summer season, however, the onset of the pandemic, the collapse in air travel demand and a reduced route network have delayed their delivery. The Serbian government has said it is now the “right time” to acquire aircraft for Air Serbia. “We are thinking about starting negotiations for the acquisition of some aircraft. This is the right time, because there will never be an opportunity like this where prices on the market will be as low”, the Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure said.
Croatia Airlines has cancelled its planned seasonal summer lease of one CRJ1000 aircraft from Air Nostrum, as well as the planned long-term dry lease of a Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, previously operated by Austrian Airlines. Last month, Croatia Airlines took delivery of a newly leased Airbus A319 aircraft, which has since been stored. The carrier has renegotiated the terms of the lease and will use a Power by the Hour contract during the first year of the contract, until the 2021 summer season. Power by the hour leasing is a form of operating lease wherein the lessor eliminates the requirement of a fixed monthly lease rate and instead charges for the aircraft’s utilisation during a fixed period of time. The carrier’s CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said it was too late to cancel the lease once the gravity of the global pandemic was realised. Croatia Airlines has four Airbus A320neo aircraft on order, with the first two scheduled for arrival in 2022 and the other two in 2023. It has said that a strategic partner, or government assistance, will be needed for it to invest in its future fleet development.
Montenegro Airlines cancelled plans to lease a fourth Embraer 195 jet in April. The carrier now intends on purchasing two E195s whose lease from GECAS expires in 2023 and 2024 respectively. “We will try to make an affordable arrangement with them [GECAS] and purchase the aircraft prior to the expiry of their lease. Due to the upheaval in the aviation industry, our plan is to acquire aircraft in phases”, Montenegro Airlines said. The carrier would finance the acquisition from the government aid which has been promised to the airline. Montenegro Airlines has one Fokker 100 jet in its ownership, as well as one E195 which was acquired through a financial lease from the Brazilian BNDS bank.
Time for JU to get rid of B737s. Also when does the A330 lease expire
ReplyDeleteI believe soon regarding the A330.
DeleteTo me a more pressing issue is finding a suitable replacement for the ATRs.
DeleteNow is the IDEAL time to renew the fleet with leases for FAR younger aircraft.
DeleteJU should quickly lease replacements for the 737s which should be A320 series and much younger ATRs.
One ATR is coming this year.
DeleteNothing has been mentioned for a while on that ATR. It was said to replace YU-ALV, which has had its livery removed and is ready to exit the fleet.
DeleteYes one ATR is coming, one was cancelled because of uncertainty over how fast demand will recover.
DeleteIt is absolutely NOT True that you can turn the engine on for 15 minutes every 2 months and the plane will be "fine". I mean if you don't drive a car for 2 months it can have difficulties, let alone an airplane.
DeleteCroatia Airlines got a pretty good deal with that power by the hour agreement. They probably won't use 9A-CTN at all this year.
ReplyDeleteYes, but you still have to pay for its maintenance for the entire year.
DeleteWhat maintenance? The aircraft does not fly and they just got it from the lessor.
DeleteThe plane can't sit stored for a year and return to service just like that.
DeleteThe aircraft will probably have its engines run for 15 minutes every two months and that is it.
DeleteSorry Not Sorry that this ...maintenance is extremely cheap and any airline can afford it.
I think financing the A320 neo order for OU might become an issue in the future.
ReplyDeleteGovernment will cover the cost. Remember they asked for almost 100 million.
DeleteCan't wait for the neos to arrive.
DeleteCan they do anything about deferring or cancelling them?
DeleteThey cant. If they cancel them, they will need to pay to Airbus for canceling an order. Its beter to take them then sell them.
DeleteThey can do that, but in light of the situation they may be able to delay their arrival by a year or two.
DeleteThis order was originaly for 4 A319 and it was placed in 2008. for 2013. In 2013. OU decided to change it to 4 A320neo and it is delaying them every year. So actually they are delaying this order for 10 years.
DeleteIf I remember correctly one of the main reasons that a strategic partner was needed was because of the fleet and probably paying for this order.
DeleteThe Comac ARJ21 is now flying and could be considered by JU if Sukhoi doesn't give them a nice discount
ReplyDeleteYes that would be very cheap with no crew, spare parts...
DeleteI'm afraid the government will push the SSJs even though Air Serbia doesn't want them but it is a great opportunity for the government to secure a big order, for little money and great for their PR.
DeleteI don't think they will be doing anything without consulting the airline first.
DeleteNo one want that "old plane" from china
DeleteAgain SSJ agents on duty here?
DeleteTry to understand ==> it is not going to happen.
2 x A319 will join JU fleet, no SSJ
JU should stay far away from both failures.
DeleteEven if you get them for free you are paying too much.
Anon 9:43 you missed the news:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/03/russia-serbia-to-resume-ssj100.html
If there are talks this means JU is interested in buying Sukhoi. Even the livery looks very good on JU colours.
Anon 09:54 SSj will look nice in JU colours while parked in BEG waiting for spare parts.
DeleteThat was more than three months ago. You need to realize that in the future that aircraft will only be flying with Aeriflot affiliates
Delete@10.08 while I don't want JU to get the SSJs, Jat Tehnika has been certified as a Sukhoi service center. So I'm sure they will have spare parts.
DeleteLOL 10:09
DeleteBeing "certified" means you have a document framed and hanging in an office wall. That does absolutely zero about parts availability.
SSjs are grounded not because technicians aren't "certified" on them but because they don't have any parts to work with.
But I am sure you know all that.
Air Serbia will take these jets only if they are pressured by the GoS as part of a political game. Hopefully for ASL that won't happen.
DeleteJU would[robably need 30 SSJ100s to be sure that 8 are up and running.
DeleteAnonymous 10:17
Delete+1000
Where is the SSJ exactly grounded?
DeleteInterjet: only 3 in service out of 22, Aeroflot: 50 in service out of 60... and there are more airlines with these problems...
DeleteAnon@10:23 Sheremetyevo is full of them!
DeleteThe Sukhoi negotiations are still running between The Russian Federation & Serbia. According to internal sources the current deal is initially for 10 aircraft and an option of 5 more. JU is more interested in LR (long range version) which has a range of 4,578 km (2,845 mi) allowing it to be deployed in 100% of its network excl. JFK.
DeleteThis will also be the ideal flight for future destinations such as LIS, KZN, KEF & CMN.
And what happened after you woke up?
DeleteActually insider information are that Russian Federation keeps secret negotiations with Mongolian Government to deliver SSJ100 planes to them as they wish to increase the fleet of MIAT.
DeleteRussian Federation was forced to do it as nobody including Serbian Government did not agree to purchase ther SSJ10 plane.
Ne znam odakle tebi ova informacija. Ne znam sa kim Rusi pregovaraju oko SSJ. Moj ukućanin je ispred MGSI bio na sastancima u Kazanju pre neka 3-4 meseca, nije se pominjala kupovina niti bilo šta u vezi sa SSJ. I Rusi su izašli sa tom izjavom na KZN.
DeleteTo su u stvari ruski vlažni snovi.
Smart idea from Montenegro Airlines to purchase their leased planes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteShould be very very easy these days to acquire new aircraft.
ReplyDeleteThe only issue is that you need money and all three of these airlines have no such thing.
DeleteIt seems it's good bye for Air Serbia's B737s and Montenegro's Fokkers.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what is the status of the 3 B737? they haven't been flying for a while now
DeleteTime to retire the Boeings.
DeleteWith the charter season probably non existent this year it could be a good move.
DeleteBut what are they going to do next year?
DeleteLease in A319's. They would need 2 to replace the B733's.
DeleteThe financial state of these three airlines would be much easier if they owned more of their fleet rather than the majority of it being leased.
ReplyDeleteMost people would be in a better financial state if they didn't have to pay rent or loan for a house as well.
DeleteBut you need cash to buy things...
If the governments are prepared to provide the money, the airlines should use this opportunity.
DeleteThis would be seen as an abuse of government bailouts, which are meant to help airlines survive, not suddenly start piling up assets.
DeleteGood that OU managed to get out of the Nostrum and Q400 lease.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNot bad considering the situation.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that the government sees this as an opportunity to strengthen JU and are not giving up.
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone in such a hurry to retire JU's 737's? Would it not be wiser to just continue flying them as long as legally and mechanically possible?
ReplyDeleteAs long as they are safy to fly...
DeleteBecause they are very expensive to keep in operation.
DeleteSome of those aircraft are approaching 40 years of age.
DeleteSure, they are safe as in they aren't going to fall apart. But technology has since moved on, and those aircraft haven't. A large majority of old knackered cargo aircraft flying around Europe today are much newer than those 737s.
If Im not mistaken, an engineer has to accompany each flight in case of technical issues down route.
DeleteWithout looking at figures, I would assume that the cost of running the B733 would be higher than just leasing an A319.
As long as an aircraft still has valid resources on engines and no structural damage it is safe to fly. This is regulated and JU never compromised safety on this issue. A mechanic was deployed on the flight only when flying to charter destinations where there is no designated line maintenance. There was never a mechanic onboard for routine destinations where JU has line arranged maintenance in place. Even if something goes tech a mechanic can do little to fix the issue so this was purely done for line maintenance.
DeleteJU compromising on safety is not the issue. The problem is how much is being spent on keeping those B733's airworthy? What is the fuel burn compared to the A319? Is JU flexible on sudden changes from the A319 to the B733 in case of technical issues? What does keeping the B733 do to their brand when they jump in to replace the A319's?
DeleteComparing JU's 737s is like comparing a Golf from 1980s to a new Golf. Sure, the old one is still safe and works, but it's got no ABS, airbags, lane departure warning, AEB, etc.
DeleteTecnology and safety has come a long way since JU's 737s were manufactured. It's time for those old planes to be retired.
Like 737MAX?
DeleteAnonymous 17:58
DeleteNot like 737Max! - 10 A320neo which were supposed to be delivered, right?
If JU wants to use the situation to get new planes then they should do it now. I don't know what they are waiting for.
ReplyDeleteThey are waiting for money that they don't have.
DeleteI would add that by the end of July, alot of the frequencies will still not have been reinstated, which means they will still have excess capacity, while the charter season will not be any where near previous years. On top of that, JU have pulled back on launching their planned new routes for June this year.
DeleteI suppose, when they are not removing advertising from YU-ARA teil, probably, soon it will be retired. Which is not bad because leasing this bird JU is burning to much money. Unfortunately, there is lack of information about new aircrafts. I'm very suspicious regarding SSJ, because RedWings signed agreement for 60 new aircrafts, so in short/mid term there will be no available aircrafts. But, I'm sure that we will see them more often on BEG.
ReplyDeleteRosstech is going to demonstrate on theirs RedWings how new system of spare parts logistic will work.
YU-ARA is not going anywhere. Special livery will be removed when there is a C check.
DeleteWe could see them more often in BEG if they come to be repaired in Jat Tehnika.
DeleteYU-ARA is there to stay and wait for long haul sister.
The only reason I see YU-ARA leaving the fleet is if its being replaced by a cheaper lease.
DeleteThere is no information as to the profit or loss JU make specifically on JFK annually, only that JU in its entirety was in the minus of just under 9 million EUR for 2018, which is the lowest debt of a national carrier in the ex-YU region.
JU had planned for another round of expansion this year while adding aircraft to their fleet, indicating that 2019 financial results could actually be either in the plus or a smaller loss compared to 2018.
As well, it was tipped that YYZ was soon to launch, while recently there has been talk on launching flights to China. I dont see the A330 going anywhere.