Air Serbia is set to take delivery of its latest Airbus A330-200 aircraft replacing the existing jet of the same type in its fleet. The twelve-year-old plane, which features a special livery, will also boast a new business class hard product. The airline will no longer offer herringbone seats in its premium cabin, but will instead have staggered lie-flat seating, with two middle seats, and, for the most part, direct aisle access for all seats. Despite the aircraft being previously operated by Aeroflot, it will not feature the Russian airline’s hard product. The new cabins will be installed over the next two weeks. Air Serbia’s existing business class seats, that are to be retired, were inherited from the now-defunct Jet Airways, which previously operated the outgoing A330 aircraft.
Overall, seat capacity will remain similar and the economy class layout will be the same. Passengers in both cabins will have access to personal in-flight entertainment screens with on demand movies, TV shows and music. The soft product will also remain unchanged, with business class passengers having access to a la carte dining, amenity kits and sleepwear, while economy class passengers will continue to be served two complimentary meals and have access to the airline’s Sky Au Pairs nanny service - cabin crew who are specially trained to take care of children throughout the duration of the flight..
As the Serbian carrier prepares to take over its replacement A330-200 aircraft, to be registered YU-ARB, Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, held talks with the Crown Prince and de facto ruler of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, over the future of the carrier’s partnership with Etihad Airways, among other things. Mr Vučić noted that further talks will take place concerning the arrangement. Etihad reduced its ownership stake in its Serbian counterpart last December from 49% to just 18%. At the time, the Emirati carrier said it would continue to work closely with Air Serbia and the two have since expanded and extended their codeshare partnership. However, Etihad has discontinued its service to Belgrade.
Photo courtesy of Brian Buckley
Can't wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the plane expected to enter service?
ReplyDeleteIn April.
DeleteAnd YU-ARA lease expires May right?
DeleteYes but they need to deliver it in its original form.
DeleteTrue so they need time to return it to previous state.
DeleteRemove the livery, take out their current economy class seats, put back the old ones, take down the wifi antenna and so on.
DeleteIt would be cool that they take photos of both side by side at BEG :D
DeleteSame as they did with the A320 that left in the end all white without wifi antenna, and I assume seats were removed.
DeleteJU has to store the seats the plane came with when it was delivered. Before it is returned those are installed.
DeleteAh that's interesting, didn't know that.
DeleteWhat will be the name on the aircraft? No Wifi available anymore?
ReplyDeleteWifi it's installed in BEG.
Delete*is
DeleteGood
DeleteYU-ARB will be named "Nikola Tesla". ;)
DeleteDidn't someone say that it will be after a female?
DeleteIt would be weird to have Tesla on the tail and then name the plane differently.
DeleteWhy should an aircraft have the same name as YU-ARA?
DeleteDoes anybody know an airline withe the same name on different aircrafts?
@16:55
DeleteBecause they are stupid and they lack creativity.
Basically YU-ARA, YU-ARB and BEG airport as well as its main 'square' are all named after Nikola Tesla
Exaggeration much?
YU-AMB (DC-10) was also Nikola Tesla :)
DeleteEnough is enough.
DeleteAnon 20.23
DeleteYU-AMA was Nikola Tesla, YU-AMB was first Edvard Rusjan, later City of Belgrade.
Correct.
Delete"but will instead have staggered lie-flat seating, with two middle seats, and, for the most part, direct aisle access for all seats"
ReplyDeleteWhat can we expect? It seems to me something similar to Swiss or Brussels business class on A330.
Seems like it. Aer Lingus too.
DeleteGood the herringbone seats weren't quite popular because they were turned away from the windows.
ReplyDeleteBut with 1-1-1 seating it was probably the most exclusive A330 business class flying around.
DeleteHaving just one seat in the middle is really uneconomical for the airline. Great for passengers though.
DeleteNot if you are traveling with another person.
DeleteWell the middle seats are turned to towards the window seat on one side so that was an option for people traveling together. The other window seats were really perfect for privacy since it was turned towards the back of the middle seat.
DeleteThe seats were pretty good in my oppinion
Deletehttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xiv9RROwGNM/YEAAWUpzC5I/AAAAAAAA4U8/eP0VAf2FkqEzFFyEgiCxi5TPS5wVwO1QgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/Air-Serbia-Business-Class.jpg
Not really. The 1-1-1 config sounds good in theory, but if you have a more careful look at the promotional photo, you can see that even the model (who is presumably not taller than 1.85m) can't fully stretch out head-to-toe in lie-flat mode. This is a big problem when you pay $$$ to be able to sleep comfortably on a red-eye flight. That plus the fact that you have to be a contortionist to look out the window for any period of time are big drawbacks. There are 1-2-1 configurations out there where everyone still gets direct aisle access, but retains a comfortable 2m of lie-flat space to sleep.
DeleteI flew with JU business class on the A330. I'm 1.80cm and could stretchy out normally, the seats are fine but like Vlad said it is virtually impossible to look out the window which is a shame. Also if you are on the right window seats you are directly facing the person seated in the middle so there is less privacy.
DeleteInterestingly these YU-ARA seats have a do not disturb button, let's see if they install them on the new ones.
As far as I know "do not disturb" button should be mandatory in business class.
DeleteI don't think it's that common. At least I haven't come across it.
Delete@Vlad, dude choosing an airline to flying based on "body position for looking out the window" is a criterion only for avgeeks, not for normal people. Nobody cares except a few thousand men on the internet who chair fly Microsoft Flight Simulator in their spare time.
DeleteJU has really come a long way in JFK. The route has matured quite nicely and it makes me happy it will be boosted ahead of schedule.
ReplyDeleteTrue. It's been operating 5 yrs now
DeleteThat's exactly my point, many of their other routes didn't last that long: Varna, Budapest, Warsaw...
DeleteGreat work
ReplyDeleteA little upgrade to their entertainment system would be welcomed too. I mean greater variety of movies and TV shows.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's pretty bad but it seems like very few European airlines are installing state of the art IFE. Only TK and AF have the brand new ones. LH Group has the older one from about ten years ago. Only new ones are on the A350 fleet.
DeleteI don't generally have a problem with their IFE since they have a couple of Hollywood movies and couple of Serbian ones and the same for TV shows, which is sufficient for a flight like BEG-JFK. The issue I have with their IFE is that they don't seem to update it very often so you have the same selection for months.
Delete"LH Group has the older one from about ten years ago."
DeleteAbout 90% of the long-haul LH fleet has the new IFE now. Modern LED touchscreens and much higher resolution.
Those touch screen tvs were installed about a decade ago when new interior was introduced. Only A350 has the LED IFE.
DeleteI flew an old LH B747-400 FRA-YVR and back in Feb 2020 and had the LED IFE on both flights. They've retrofitted most of the fleet.
DeleteNo, the B744 fleet was not retrofitted as it is planned to be retired. Only one aircraft type has the new interior: A350.
DeleteB744 has the same interior as the A380, A340, A330... and it's the older version.
I'm not talking about the interior, but about the screens alone.
DeleteThe screens were not changed.
DeleteOK, then I'm lying and I didn't have the immovable new high-res LED screens on my flights a year ago.
DeleteSome people...
I flew on the B744 last year and the screens were the old ones. Makes no sense to install the new product on a type that is being retired. Btw the old screens were also touch screen.
DeleteInteresting that the plane has different engine type than YU-ARA.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame they won't have 2 A330s in the fleet.
ReplyDeleteIt will happen sooner or later.
DeleteHaving 2 A330s would come with big costs.
DeleteThat's why revenue will also increase to cover the increase in cost.
DeleteBut what can be the revenue during pandemic. I fear costs would outweigh it.
DeleteWell in the pandemic you could secure much lower leasing rates which you couldn't once demand recovered. Also they could use this opportunity to launch ORD especially since JFK is performing better than anyone could have expected.
DeleteIf a small bulgarian airline like GullivAir can have 3 A332, I don't understand why JU can't have 2...
DeleteCause they're stingy.
DeleteSo what do people think the talks with Etihad are about? Will they completely exit?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a dignified exit where they will find a substitute partner (there was talks of the Chinese). Remember they also found Adria as a substitute when they left Darwin Airline.
DeleteThat turned out well...
DeleteI don't think they spoke much about JU-EY. I think it was mentioned just in passing. I think the focus was on receiving more aid from the UAE. A few days after his visit an Egyptair A33F landed in BEG with medical supplies.
DeleteWhy do most airlines paint their aircraft in Shannon in Ireland. Any particular reason? Can't it be done in house?
ReplyDeleteNope, special technology and technique is required to paint the whole aircraft. I mean the 90 years sticker Jat Tehnika put didn't last long. Imagine what would happen with a whole livery!
DeleteHaha good point
DeleteWho did the painting of the JAT liveries in the 90s? Tehnika? or the planes went somewhere. The three dots I definitely know was Tehnika.
DeleteI should say livery not liveries, there was only one - the wing one, or flame livery as it is more commonly known.
DeleteWhat are the other venues in the world where a/c can get painted?
DeleteI think if the livery is simple then Tehnika can do it but here we are talking about a rather complex livery with overlapping colours and Tesla's face. In the JAT era, I am sure they did everything in Belgrade. I am sure they were trained and equipped back then.
DeleteI think they painted YU-APG in BEG, although it was not a complicated thing to do, since it was painted all white, before they returned it.
DeleteSNN is well known for paint job, there are very few places that could paint widebodies in Europe.
What is the point switching existing ARA to ARB and incurring all additional costs for repaint, refurbishment... etc when ARB is not much younger? Is the new leasing rate much more favorable?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's cheaper.
DeleteAnyone know the lease rate?
Delete195.000$ per month
DeleteI hope they got the jet at a better rate than the last A330.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the Aeroflot registration for this plane? can't see well from the picture
ReplyDeleteVP-BLY
DeleteHas it operated for anyone else other than Aeroflot?
DeleteNo, just Aeroflot.
DeleteExciting stuff
ReplyDeleteGood. This further shows their commitment to the JFK route.
ReplyDeleteHows Shanghai/China not a priority for AirSERBIA, is beyond my understanding....
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on?
At the moment it would not make much sense considering China is closed for most inbound and outbound travel.
DeleteFor those flights to begin it would need another A330.
Deleteit would make so much sense with all the talks about vaccines and EU not wiling to recognize chinese jabs
DeleteChina is considered a safe country by the EU so Chinese can travel to the EU with very few restrictions, regardless if they are vaccinated or not. Only issue is China does not let its citizens to travel.
DeletePlane heading to Netherlands to get the new seats.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flightradar24.com/VPBLY/2716a6d5
DeleteAir Serbia needs two Airbus A330s
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteSo they can use existing discounted aircraft leasing rates and launch more long haul routes.
DeleteAnd lose even more money then it is now? The A330 operates at about a -30 to -40% rate (revenue minus direct operating costs). It's a political aircraft, nothing more. The economics of that operation are horrendous.
DeleteAnonymous21:56 , your comments are extremely funny and continuous to show how much you hate their success in USA . FYI just cargo alone is making a huge profit on their single 330. Load factor and casam shows magnificent numbers.. sorry to disappoint you . Your lies are old and nobody cares to listen to it anymore .
DeleteCalling JU flights to JFK political is insult to tradition of decades of JAT flights to the JFK and around the world. Political was a decision to block JAT from long distance flying in 1991.
DeleteIt was in 1992.
DeleteBasically JU today is just returning to the pioneering days of world aviation when Serbian AeroPut was expanding and was among the first to offer transfers from central Europe to the port city of Thessaloniki.
DeleteCivil aviation and Serbia have a long history of tradition.
I would love to see this plane at my airport SKP :) I hope they do a regional tour like they did with the first A330.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice
DeleteThat would be amazing. They could get a lot of free press and people would pay to fly, since we all are missing the feeling.
DeleteYU-ARA has proven extremely reliable. In terms of technical performance I think only 1 flight was cancelled because of an issue for 5 years. That's pretty good and important for an airline relying on a single wide body. Hope YU-ARB performs the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I remember how people said that the schedule would be a disaster because the plane would often go out of service etc...
DeleteOne airplane operation is always a gamble. All it takes is a ground collision with a service truck or something similar, and it could be out of service for weeks.
DeleteWhat is the pitch in economy?
ReplyDeleteAny chances for dirt cheap promo flights to ZAG, BNX, TGD and SKP with this beauty just like they did with ARA?
ReplyDeleteNo as they don't have to train and familiarize the crew anymore
DeleteDoes anyone know will the economy cabin be “refreshed”?
ReplyDeleteYou’re doing a great job Man, Keep it up.
ReplyDelete