Plane manufacturer Embraer believes it has the right aircraft for the Serbian national carrier to renew its fleet, noting that both its E2 jet, as well as the development of new turboprops would suit the airline’s needs. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Embraer’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Cesar Pereira, said, “Embraer has a very good relationship with the management team of Air Serbia and we regularly exchange thoughts on industry matters and business development topics. Air Serbia took an impressive development since its launch and we also took notice of their efforts in navigating through and out of the pandemic. With our E2 family, as well as the development of a future next-gen turboprop aircraft, we believe to have a striking fit for Air Serbia and will support their team for any future fleet evaluations”.
The E-Jet E2 family are medium jet airliners which come in three variants, succeeding the original E-Jet. These include the E175-E2, with the capacity to seat between eighty and 88 passengers, depending on cabin layout, the E190-E2, capable of accommodating between 96 and 104 travellers, and the E195-E2, seating between 120 and 132 passengers. Furthermore, Embraer has revealed a new turboprop concept which represents a shift in thinking for turboprop design. A seventy to ninety seat aircraft is proposed to feature aft-mounted engines and is expected to enter into service between 2027 and 2030.
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| Embraer's turboprop aircraft concept |
Mr Pereira believes airlines will have to increasingly look into modifying their existing fleets to suit the needs of the post-Covid world. “There are several post pandemic trends we foresee which will influence the way we travel, and subsequently needing airlines to re-think fleet and network strategy. One of these trends is that we see passengers preferring to travel nonstop whenever possible, avoiding busy hubs”. He added, “For hub airlines that means that they will need to refine the aircraft size. But we also see opportunities coming up with low cost airlines, which are historically operating 180+ seater aircraft, but might now have the chance to tap into really small markets that cannot profitably sustain big aircraft like A320neo or MAX 8, but requiring smaller and superefficient aircraft like the E195-E2. The E195-E2 has a much lower cost per trip than these bigger aircraft, but almost the same cost per seat. This could become a competitive advantage for LCCs to create new markets and grow market share in underserved/non-served markets”.
Commenting on the manufacturer’s strategy in the region, Mr Pereira noted, “Today there are more than 100 operators globally operating our jets, in more than ninety countries, and we are very proud of the strong relationships we’ve build with our operator base and of course also the airlines that are not yet operating our type, just like Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia. Our sales and marketing teams are very active in the market, and we continuously talk to a large number of airlines, even if they operate completely different business models”.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen Air Serbia reduce its fleet size and renegotiate leasing contracts. However, the need for additional aircraft was illustrated over the summer when the airline was forced to wet-lease a Boeing 737-700 jet to meet demand for leisure flights. Last month, it returned its oldest A319 to the lessor, with its second oldest having been grounded for over a month as well. Overall, the airline now has ten A319 jets, one A320, one A330-200 and five ATR72s in its fleet. Over the past year, it has also returned one A320 and one ATR72 to its owners and retired three Boeing 737-300s. At the same time, it added two former Adria Airways A319s for which it signed leasing contracts prior to the coronavirus pandemic and replaced its A330-200 wide-body with an aircraft of the same type. Air Serbia’s average fleet age is at nineteen years with the ATRs being by far the oldest, averaging almost 28 years. In 2018, Etihad Airways cancelled its order for ten A320neo aircraft made eight years ago, that were to be delivered to equity partner Air Serbia. Deliveries were initially due to begin in November 2018 and were set to completely replace the airline’s existing fleet of A319s and A320s by 2020. Last year, Air Serbia shelved plans to lease additional ATR72s due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Unfortunately, I honestly think JU management does not care much about fleet renewal. They will replace 28 year old planes with 18 year old planes and call it a day, even if they do that.
ReplyDeleteWhatever they do it is time to actually do something.
DeleteWell for that they would actually have to sit on a JU ATR to see the state of the plane. Maybe they are like one of the Jat Airways CEOs in the 2000s who proudly exclaimed that he never flies with Jat.
DeleteCan JU replace their fleet with the current losses they are generating?
DeleteThey don't have to purchase new aircraft. Just lease newer generation planes.
DeletePerhaps they are waiting on IL-114? :-)
DeleteStrangely i find the 114-300 could fill off season routs well. But during the season it would be useless.
DeleteMaybe keep them in KVO and INI?
But that's diversification of the fleet, and YU doesn't need to make this any more complicated.
What about allegiant air and volotea? They are flying old machines because of seasonality, so if JU is also highly seasonal I don't see the real reason for buying new machines! Also a320 and a330 are perfect combination so getting anything else would again mean second type in fleet. And again what about omicron? Political CEO's of 2000's are perfect example of serbian yellow fever from 2000's.
Delete@09,02
DeleteAny evidence to support this claim?
All we have seen is 30-35 year old B733's were replaced with 9-15 year old A319's. The older A319's are now on their way out: YU-API was 20 years old when it left the fleet,YU-APJ is parked and leaving the fleet at 21 years old. YU-APL and YU-APM entered the fleet at 10 years old. The oldest addition was YU-APK at 14 years old. No Air Serbia aircraft leases entered the fleet over 15 years old as you claim.
Claiming that JU doesn't care about fleet renewal is also not true. The past 8 years, the airline has taken in 11 A319's, 2 A320's and 2 A330's. This is a majority of its fleet.
@09,15
I actually think that a law should be made so that government officials must fly JU when leaving Serbia to go abroad, and not OS and LH which I have personally seen. If a direct flight is not available, the departing and arriving sector into Serbia must be on JU.
@09,20
They can...with leased aircraft, which is what they have been doing the past several years.
Should gov employees fly JU even if they are more expensive than the competition?
DeleteYes. A number of EU countries have the same requirement.
DeleteOK, legit.
Delete"A number of EU countries have the same requirement."
DeleteEhh...no. Definitely not. That goes against the fundamental basics of the EU.
I još mad počnu da štite tržižte green washing-om, Lyleystad je samo početak.
DeleteThat E2 looks nice in Air Serbia's livery
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteIdeal would be to replace ATRs with E175s and the A319/A320s with E195s.
ReplyDeleteE175 is too big from ATR replacement.
DeleteIn my opinion they need more aircraft like this with 80 seat capacity. Would be useful for many routes.
DeleteThis plane would be perfect for them for their Nis routes.
DeleteIt would seem to me that JU needs two types of "regional" planes. On the very short segments like throughout the Balkans the cheap ATRs win. On the other hand, there are many destinations like Kiev, Krasnodar, etc. that could well work for JU with a regional jet like an Embraer, but are out of the range for ATRs and too thin for an A319.
DeleteYes Embraer E170 or 175. Perfect replacement for ATRs. Has 80 seats or around 70 in two classes.
Delete70 seats Embraer would be nice. Much more comfortable than ATR and interchangeable with JU airbus fleet depending on demand.
DeleteThe problem JU has is that the ATR on a number of routes doesn't fill adequately to support a regional jet. Having 30 pax on an ATR might be ok, however on an ERJ it would be a disaster. The ERJ turboprop is too far out for JU to consider, as they needed to replace their ATR's yesterday.
DeleteThe largest ERJ doesn't have the range as the A220 does, where as the A220 could be an ideal A319 and DC9 replacement, offering ideal capacity and range the airline needs.
The largest ERJ isn't ideal for summer charters, where even the A319 is often not the best suited.
@anon 9.16 embraer 175 isn't much bigger from atr 72. But it is expensiver but as well better standarts for pax.
DeleteHow long range is required? Where are the charters to that are out of range for the E2?
DeleteThat EMB turboprop looks interesting
ReplyDeleteThe concept with the turboprop engines at the back is a bit weird.
DeleteBut vastly preferable in terms of passenger comfort, because most of the passengers won't be sitting next to the damn things.
DeleteVery true. Was flying BEG-ZAG-BEG and seated next to the prop. My head was buzzing another 2 hours after we landed.
DeleteNema od toga ništa...
ReplyDeleteNavodno novi skolski centar u Vrscu dobija od drzave novac za dva simulatora. Jedan je A320 a drugi ce biti ATR... Sta mislite da li ce JU onda izabrati Embraera, Bombardiera ili noviju verziju Atr72-600 recimo?
ATR72-600 je izvanredan avion. Sasvim je u redu ici u tom pravcu.
DeleteSlažem se.
DeleteBombardier i jeste razvio A220.
DeleteEither this, or A220 - one of those two models should become the backbone of Air Serbia`s fleet.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Embraer is that the airline would still need few A320s. then again, it has an 80-seater variant, which would help a lot.
Embraer are obviously being active in the region and trying to sell their jet. Same thing happened in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Sukhoi remains the best and most economic option for JU. Plus, Serbia already enjoys very strong ties with Russia.
SSJ100 is perfect airplane now for Belavia as they have no other option.
DeleteAs Air Serbia has many other alternatives SSJ100 is, thanks God, out of question.
Air Serbia has many options for aircraft, thanks be to god. Including the SSJ superjet. Which could be gotten for a very good price.
DeleteSSJ is a nice aircraft. However, it might be cheap to purchase, but it's expensive to operate. Problem with SSJ is getting spare parts to keep the aircraft airworthy. Why do you think SN abandoned the aircraft quickly? Or Interjet grounding almost their entire SSJ fleet? SSJ doesn't adequately fit the needs of JU.
DeleteDo you think that is still a problem after all these years?
DeleteAll these years? SN removed the SSJ 2 years ago. Last year, Interjet had tens of SSJ's grounded. It's still an issue.
DeleteOK. It's just that I have been hearing about this issue for like 5-6 years. so I thought it may have been mostly resolved by now.
DeleteНикаких проблем у Суперджета нет.
DeleteА вот проблемы с ценой на газ у Сербии могут возникнуть в любой момент)
Embraers are great plans and Jat did consider them at one point. I remember they even operated a promo flight between Belgrade and Podgorica.
ReplyDelete*planes
DeleteHere it is
Deletehttps://www.airliners.net/photo/Embraer/Embraer-170LR-ERJ-170-100LR/680846/L?qsp=eJwljcEKwjAQRP9lzjlYSgVz07vowR9YNlst1DZsNmAp/XeT9jZv4M2s4Hky%2BdlriQKPJKT8gUMkpW%2BCX0GDslJvd5pyT2xZReGbzhU1T6YLfNtdHNKsdiuAQCZXZokmAUf/0FAlBEm8j7/rWXOqWfR5YHsuGIYUR9pnxGgYsW1/Fa82UQ%3D%3D
Would have looked nice even in Jat Airways' livery.
DeleteAir Serbia must replace ATR72 200 series with 500 or even 600 and additionally introduce rj planes, if they want to be more competitive on the market. Embraer would be a good option.
ReplyDeleteThey need more regional Jets to launch more regional routes and increase frequencies on routes that cannot fill a A320 daily.
DeleteMix of turbo props and regional Jets would make most sense for JU, as if it would them to achieve good financial returns on short routes and yet open new routes that are uncomfortable on a turbo prop yet beneficial for longer flights covered by the Airbus fleet. With CRJ they could cover Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Baltic even Caucasus countries.
DeleteRegional flights are better on ATR. 25-30 pax is ok for an ATR, horrible on a regional jet. JU has issues with profitability, it doesn't need more fuel to that fire with next to no benefit. Difference in flight time for most regional routes is 5-10 minutes. JU has only 1 A320 so you're comparing wrong capacity. A319 is already being used on many regional routes (BEG-TGD/TIV/TIA/ATH/SKG/IST).
DeleteA220 comes in 2 variants, 1 being an ideal DC9 replacement, the other an excellent A319 replacement. A220-100 would be a great replacement for the ATR's/A319's on a few regional routes, while allowing flexibility to change around ac depending on loads.
ATR is also important for maintaining frequencies to many regional routes: LJU, ZAG, SKP, TGD, TIV, TIA, SKG, OTP, SOF.
Another factor is the weather conditions in BEG during winter. I remember 2 years back when traveling that not a single regional aircraft was able to land in BEG due to fog. Every flight operated by the ERJ, Dash, ATR and CRJ was canceled or diverted.
I think both regional and long haul fleet expansion is needed. Balanced growth goes hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteThey don't generate real profit so they can't afford to purchase any new planes. Only the government could decide to purchase planes for them.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest fleet issue for JU remains the ATR fleet. The 30 year old ATR's need to be replaced ASAP.
ReplyDeleteAgree. While it could be expensive replacing them, I think keeping these old dinosaurs in the fleet will become more and more costly.
DeleteAnd how much would it cost to retrain pilots, crews, where would you do maintenance since Jat Tehnika doesn't have certificates for Embraers?
ReplyDeleteJat Tehnika no longer has certificates for Airbus planes either but JU seems to be functioning normally.
Delete@09:32 yes it does function but the question is at what cost!?!
Delete@09,32
DeleteThats because JU is sending their aircraft to Bacau for maintenance. It was previously done in BEG until Jat Tehnika lost its license.
Introducing E190 would make sense with retirement of the 737 and atr fleets. It's not as economical as atr on short routes, but the 100 seat capacity I'd say is more flexible. JU could fly it on longer distances and would also benefit in winter time deploying them where there's not enough demand for an a319 while maintaining better frequencies.
ReplyDeleteWith E190 they could be competitive on Vienna and Montenegro market as people will rather choose jet plane. Also it would be perfect for Prague , Venice and Bucharest and don't see any problem with Sofia, Sarajevo ,Skopje. Only problem I could see is with Banja Luka and Kraljevo as E190 is maybe to big for these lines.
DeleteI sincerely hope that they will not base their fleet options based on Kraljevo and Banja Luka services.
DeleteThey would need 320's for LHR, CDG, ZRH, SVO... maybe even 321s. The only one I do not understand really is 319. It costs almost as A320 yet it is smaller, but not that smaller... I looked at Swiss, they are removing 319s from the fleet in favor of A220/A320/A321 combination.
Perhaps AirSerbia could take ATR72600/newer A320's and depending on demand see what Embraers or A220 could offer to them and for what price. Who knows?
Problem that JU has is seasonality of loads, and even on some routes the A320 is too big. Average loads is around 95-100 pax. A320 at 180 seats would be oversupply which isn't good. A320 was usually active on ZRH and CDG. Moving the routes to A319 seems to have made it possible for extra frequencies, where we saw ZRH almost 4 daily and CDG around 16 weekly planned for the summer 2020 schedule.
DeleteATR/A220 mix would be ideal.
Their fleet strategy is very simple - they have and fly what they can afford
ReplyDeleteThey have no vision nor strategy when it comes to their fleet.
ReplyDeleteBy "they" I mean JU, not Embraer.
DeleteSooo, JU have not taken a single aircraft in 8 years?
DeleteEmbraers are a very reliable and efficient aircraft and already used by so many European airlines.
ReplyDeleteObviously a good option for JU. How many ATRs are in operation?
ReplyDeleteAll five are in use
DeleteTurbo props are efficient aircraft, but they are also high maintenance aircraft. And people want jet engines and that's the case everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThat is true. Some of the fare search sites even have filters for avoiding turboprop flights. The opinion may not be based on fact but many people get uncomfortable after seeing their plane is a turboprop (probably false sense that it is old technology).
DeleteHow many more years can the old ATRs keep flying? 24 years should be around the time airlines retire a plane. That's 2 D checks.
ReplyDeleteWell the Boeing 737 was 35 when they got rid of it so... :D
DeleteAll the Atr72-200s in the fleet are over 30.
DeleteASL needs 5 E175 and 5 E195 to replace turboprop from the fleet
ReplyDeleteThey should stick with what they already have : lease new ATRs
ReplyDeleteThey 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.
ReplyDeleteNever filled the void of getting rid of the DC-9, I fully agree. DC-9 was hundred seater, and a very good one. For B727, I fully disagree. B727 used to seat 150-180 passengers, 168 in JAT configuration if I recall correctly, so A319/320 actually replaced B727, with no void to be filled
DeleteJU should return all A319 and lease instead E195 and 2 additional A320. Their LF on most routes is 50-60% for most of the year so scaling down to a smaller AC would be beneficial. A320's to be used for high load destinations based on demand and for charter. Current ATR's (all) to be replaced with ATR-600.
ReplyDeleteThe Sukhoi Superjet is the best aircraft for JU.
ReplyDeleteIt fits perfectly the needs of the vast majority of its routes.
Fully agree and would come at a discount cost compared to Airbus or EMB
DeleteTrue dat!
DeleteThat will never happen. It has a reason that nobody buys them, except in russia
DeleteAnd what about maintenance? SN couldn't get parts to keep all aircraft flying, almost all of Interjet's SSJ's was grounded. Perfect aircraft I agree, they would look nice with the collection outside the Jat Tehnika hangars.
DeleteIt is just time and money loss for Embraer to talk to Air Serbia. They wont get their planes anyway and fly with planes for the museum.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you. Good effort from Embraer but Air Serbia won't be changing its fleet anytime soon.
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 buying or leasing new planes.
DeleteThe DC-9s were also all paid for, why did they bother to get newer planes?
DeleteWhy does any airline?
How much do the new E2 jets cost?
ReplyDeleteHope regional fleet renewal comes sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteATR's are crap, it's nice if you fly from ZAG-Ljubljana but everything further than thet it gets crappy and slow.
DeleteThey fly very short sectors and the maintenance costs are still considerably cheaper since they are maintained inhouse, than if they were to buy or even lease newer Embraers.
DeleteWould love to see that plane in the beautiful Air Serbia livery.
ReplyDeleteI think the EMB 190 is perfect to change ATR on many short routes including those that don´t need A319/320.
ReplyDeleteThe Sukhoi Superjet is ideal for the vast majority of JU routes.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that Embraer is engaged and are in contact with Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteEMB seems proactive in finding new customers in the region.
DeleteMaybe this is a hint that Air Serbia is also looking around.
DeleteI think they need a regional jet with between 60-80 seats. Don't know which is the most economical. These are needed so that their Balkan network can go double daily.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the ATR fleet utilization. How many rotations per day do they perform?
ReplyDeleteAround 4 in normal circumstances. Might be less now because of covid though.
DeleteNo more fleet diversification, keep as simple as possible.
ReplyDeleteReplace the ATR's with newer frames, preferably not over a decade old.
Put down an order for a mix of 319, 320's and 220.
By the time the 220's start arriving covid situation should be getting wrapped up. So use the 220 on long slim routs.
ATR can be a great regional money saver, so it's job should be the ex-yu region and neighboring countries.
Rest of the fleet to follow the replacement for more economical aircraft.
Long haul will be dictated by the government.
On the other side what will happen is just lease renewal and maybe a few better ones until the government steps in to help finance.
Hmm interesting angle about LCCs needing more of these types of planes in their fleet in the future. Let's see if it really happens.
ReplyDeleteWhat about sukhoi superjet 100 or 95? And it could probably came cheaper than a220 or E195 E2?
ReplyDeleteSSJ is much cheaper and can be financed by Russia
DeleteIt is a bit strange how Air Serbia cannot add at least two Atr72-600 and at the same time the Bulgarian GullivAir added three this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd also have 3X A330-200!
DeleteIf Serbia had several airlines, it would be as interesting as Bulgaria, for example!
DeleteAir Serbia flights are full most of the time. Why downsize, they need at least the same class planes, not smaller.
ReplyDeleteJU couldn't hit a LF of 80% even before COVID, so I don't see how the planes are "full most of the time".
DeleteSince Embraer doesn't have a turboprop option availabe yet, maybe they can provide Air Serbia a good deal on E-145? It's a 50 seater aircraft that could work great on regional routes that require 2-3 daily frequencies (SJJ, SKP, TIA, ZAG, LJU, OTP, etc.).
ReplyDeleteSo, ideally, the fleet would consist of:
5 E-145 (TIA, ZAG, SKP, SJJ, SOF, BUD...)
5 E-190 (CPH, ARN, PRG, BCN, BRU...)
10 A319 (ZRH, CDG, LHR, SVO, TIV...)
4 A321XLR (JFK, YYZ, PEK, charter flights...)
Hahaha.
DeleteSoo in your opinion, JU should drastically decrease capacity and increase operational costs?
A321XLR cannot do PEK direct without serious weight restrictions. Eastbound from N America, especially in winter would require weight restrictions. JFK and PEK are cargo heavy which is why the A321XLR is not a good choice.
Flying half-empty planes costs money. JU has that problem especially during winter months. By deploying smaller airplanes, you provide more flexibility and better connectivity. If there is more demand, you can simply increase frequency. That's why I think E-145 could work to replace ATRs if they decide to go with Embraer. I think, if they just replace old ATRs with newer ones and add an additional A332 for PEK and YYZ route, it would work just fine too.
DeleteRegiojets are useful only when oil is cheap. When oil price goes up, like now, turboprops become more cost-effective. Air Serbia shall have only three types of planes, one in each class (turboprop, full narrow body, widebody, e.g. AT76, 319, 332) and try working towards expanding its network. As of poor winter demand - the only way to improve that is to have a better investment climate (which is up to the government, not to the airline) and better, more attractive airport with higher number of frequencies to lure transiting pax. I like that major overhaul project is going on now at BEg and in 4 years BEG will look much different with much more amenities than today. This will certainly help JU attract more pax, but attracting more business travel to/from Serbia is key to good winter sales for all airlines in Europe.
DeleteGood for passengers bad for workers and cargo (low height cargo compartments) 🤣
ReplyDelete