Air Serbia plans to introduce up to eight aircraft to its fleet this summer as part of its expansion plans. Some of the planes will only be used during the summer months before being returned to their lessors or operators. Apart from the incoming four ATR72-600 turboprops, which are all expected to enter the fleet by the height of the summer season, the airline has announced the arrival of an Airbus A319 jet, which is due to enter the fleet in late May or early June. A further two Airbus A320-family aircraft are being considered along with the addition of a Boeing 737 jet to its fleet. However, plans remain subject to change due to ongoing market volatility. Air Serbia is set to introduce thirteen new routes this summer and will boast a record charter season.
The Serbian flag carrier currently operates a fleet of seventeen aircraft. It is due to phase out its ATR72-200 and -500 turboprops by the end of the year as it takes delivery of the newer -600 version. Despite some uncertainties, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently noted, “I’m proud that we are continuing to record growth in passenger numbers month on month. This encourages and provides us with hope that we are moving closer towards a full recovery in air transport and the decline of the pandemic, while it also serves to confirm that we have taken sound strategic decisions and moved in the right direction even during the most difficult of periods. We are continuing in the same direction: towards new opportunities, convinced that passengers are equally looking forward to additional travel and holiday opportunities”.
As a result of its planned fleet and network growth, Air Serbia has begun hiring new crew members for the first time in two years. Over the weekend, the carrier held an assessment day in Belgrade, with over 200 candidates applying. “An exciting and challenging summer season awaits us, with many flights and destinations, so for that reason, we are opening our doors to new colleagues, in order to jointly contribute to achieving planned goals and providing the highest quality of service to our passengers”, Milica Netković, Air Serbia’s General Manager for People and Performance, said. It marks the airline’s twelfth cabin crew assessment day since it rebranded in 2013, with previous events also taking place in Banja Luka, Podgorica and Niš.
Great to see Air Serbia expanding.
ReplyDeleteThis summer will be very strong but to me it seems they already have a fleet shortage.
ReplyDeleteI don't see that they have a fleet shortage. All flights are operating normally.
DeleteThe 737 probably will be exclusively used for charters like last year.
ReplyDeleteI thought they got rid of the 737s.
DeleteThey did. They wetleased a Smartwings 737.
DeleteAnon@9:03, to which 737 are you referring to?
DeleteRead the article
Delete"A further two Airbus A320-family aircraft are being considered along with the addition of a Boeing 737 jet to its fleet."
My bad. Just noticed it in the article.
DeleteThey used the B737 on some scheduled routes too last year. I remember Podgorica, Tirana and even Rome.
DeleteTrue but very rarely. It usually did 3-4 daily Antalya rotations.
DeleteI think the 737 will be used for charters and that if they add those two a320 they will stay. Which is phenomenal news
ReplyDeleteYes probably like last year.
DeleteSo I assume the A319 announced earlier this week will be long term lease since it is getting the Air Serbia livery. What about the other two?
ReplyDeleteOne will likely be Carpatair A319 wetlease. The third I don't know.
Delete2 A319 dry lease, 2 A319 wetlease, 1 B737 wet lease. But like it says, will depend on situation.
DeleteSorry meant
Delete* 2 A319 dry lease, 1 A319 wetlease, 1 B737 wet lease
Can someone explain what is difference between wet lease and dry lease?
DeleteThanks
Wet-lease is short term and is operated by the pilots and crew you leased the plane from.
DeleteDry lease is longer term and involves your own airline's crew operating the aircraft. Also usually involves repainting the aircraft in your own livery.
During last summer, Air Serbia wetleased Transavia B737 which was operated by Czech crew.
Thanks a lot.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSmartwings, sorry
DeleteIs 'People and Performance' the same as 'human resources department'?
ReplyDeleteYes Charlie. In my company it was changed last year from HR to "People and Culture"
DeleteIt sounds better than HR :D
DeleteExcellent news. I believe next ATR72-600 will probably be arriving next week.
ReplyDeleteWill the registration be YU-ALZ?
DeleteAnd if it is, do they afterwards move to YU-AOA? YU-AM was used for DC10 fleet and YU-AN for B737 fleet.
DeleteYU-AO was used by Adria for their Airbuses...
DeleteCan old registrations be reused?
DeleteI have seen aircraft reuse old registrations but I think it is very rare. Maybe someone has more knowledge on this?
DeleteYU-AO was used by JAT for B737's as well.
DeleteI think the next ATR will be YU-APZ, followed by YU-ASA.
Interesting. We will find out the registration soon.
DeleteYU-AOx also was used Montenegro Airlines. What happened with YU-ALW reg? ex. YU-ANW was used before...
DeleteSo no A321? :(
ReplyDeleteI don't think so but I think the A321 would be ideal for charters, especially to Antalya and Hurghada.
DeleteYes, they could easily fill A321s for charters.
DeleteOn some scheduled routes too.
DeleteHaha and let's not forget about the World Cup :D
DeleteI'm assuming we will be seeing YU-ARB in Doha :)
DeleteI'm also wondering how this aircraft registration works. Can old registrations be recycled?
DeleteDo you mean recycled into something else, or reused again?
DeleteSorry, my 9.58 comment was meant for the comment thread above this one.
DeleteI don't know where the whole A321 story began. No one reported it
DeleteIt started because JU displayed the A321 in the system in June on some Amsterdam flights. But they said afterwards it was a mistake and that no A321s are planned.
DeleteIf you have 6 flights in one day on 319 to Antalya, it is cheaper and more logical to have 4 flights on 321. If you have ZRH and TV with multple daily departures and mostly for P2P passengers, it is also logical to use bigger plane. On services, scheduled or charter, which are almost always fully booked or overbooked, like Paris or Hurghada, 321 can't make it worse either. Not to mention it can cover irregularities on any flight in medium haul network or simply deployed on any flight with higher booking figures, which companies regularly do with the same aircraft family. No additional crew training or maintenance costs, so it is very logical in my opinion. Of course some people don't share my opinion and I have no problems with it
DeleteTIV, not TV, autocorrect
DeleteIt would make more sense to wet lease an A321 rather than a B737 in this case, for the peak summer charters. Outside of the 3 peak months, even the A320 is too large for most routes. Dry leasing A321's makes no sense for JU with its current fleet.
DeleteGood news. It's also nice to see JU resuming Venice from today, YU-ALY operated the route.
ReplyDeleteGood thing they put ALY on the route. I think Venice is among their longest ATR routes, right?
DeletePrague is some 10 minutes longer.
DeleteThanks. I thought they might be sending YU-ALY strategically on longer routes but I just checked and it seems to go everywhere, although operating Vienna almost daily.
DeleteI think VIE makes sense as they have fierce competition from OS which is planning 21 weekly flights soon. They can't be competitive with ancient ATRs.
DeleteYes, seems they finally realised that.
DeleteBEG-VCE 20 pax
DeleteVCE-BEG 40 pax
Not bad on the flight back
Air Serbia needs aircraft in between the ATRs and A319s.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo, by how much are they expending their fleet?
ReplyDeleteMost are aircraft replacements. So it means they are growing their fleet by 1 (or 2) A319s? The other are summer wet-leases.
The title is very misleading for the reasons above + when you read the article, it says that the ATRs replacements will be introduced by year-end (so not summer).
Where does it say that the ATR replacement will be introduced by year-end? It says that they will be introduced by height of summer while the old ATRs will be phased out by the end of the year. Obviously not all will be phased out the second the new ones come.
DeleteHow is the title misleading? It just says how many aircraft will be added to fleet. Whether they are replacements or not is another question.
DeleteBasically they will grow by 1 A319 if you exclude these seasonal additions. That said they are still going to be a long way from their pre-covid situation.
DeleteBefore the Ukraine war, they said they would reach pre Covid numbers by the end of the year.
DeleteDoubt it since they will have fewer flights to Russia especially if Krasnodar and Rostov don't open soon.
DeleteThey have like 14 new routes.
DeleteYeah and they already started canceling them. Sochi is already done and Bologna and Trieste are not far behind.
Delete^ Do you live under a rock or you don't know what's happening in Russia?
DeleteI work for BEG and we were informed that BLQ and TRS might not happen because loads are very bad.
DeleteItaly always used to have very strong feed of transfer passengers from Russia, which is a problem now.
DeleteNaples would have been a better choice than Bologna.
DeleteIs there any business reason why airline would inform the airport about the route performance and tickets sales and poetntial cancellation before they actually make a decision about it? Just wandering if that is the true or people use argument "I work for... " When there's no other argument.
Delete"I work for BEG and we were informed that BLQ and TRS might not happen because loads are very bad."
DeleteSource: trust me bro
Anon 12.20
DeleteBecause of gate space planning, BEG needs to know more or less to know how to plan ahead.
It's obvious that they can't manage this summer with current fleet.
ReplyDeleteWell yes, that's why they are leasing more planes...
DeleteThey should also be thinking about a second A330.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
DeleteHopefully soon
DeleteGood morning! Just a clarification please. Of those 13 new routes, which are seasonal and which are going to be maintained throughout winter 2022-2023?
ReplyDeleteI think they will wait to see how they perform. Although from memory, I think the new German routes, Salzburg and Amman are all confirmed for winter.
DeleteI believe one of the Spanish routes is also year round.
DeleteSeasonal:
DeleteINI-ATH
KVO-TIV
BEG-BRI
BEG-PMI
BEG-RJK
Year round:
BEG-AMM
BEG-BLQ
BEG-HAJ
BEG-LYS
BEG-NUE
BEG-SZG
BEG-TRS
BEG-VLC
Impressive. Thanks
DeleteAnother good piece of news is that this morning after months of inactivity, A320 has returned to flying. It's currently coming back from Zurich.
ReplyDeleteWhat was wrong with it?
DeleteVratio se juče, he is coming yesterday
DeleteIs the lease for any other Airbus jet expiring soon?
ReplyDeleteThey desperately need larger aircraft.
ReplyDeleteThey have a single A320 that was scheduled to Moscow most of the days but now can't fly and the A319 is being sent instead.
The A320 was on maintenance, then it had some technical issue but it returned to the fleet this morning.
DeleteI wish they hadn't cancelled the A320neo order. They could have just downsized the number of aircraft.
ReplyDeleteIt was way to expensive for Air Serbia at the time, especially with two massive loans they had (which they have thankfully paid off).
DeleteI really don't understand this wet leasing strategy, especially not with the aircraft that you don't have anymore in the fleet. Last year it was understandable, regarding the circumstances, but now to wet lease 3 aircraft is too expensive and not to mention strategic aspects. I mean JAT in worst days sucessed to dry lease
ReplyDeleteIt will be 2 aircraft wet leased probably. And 8 dry lease (4 ATR72, 2 A319)
Delete* 6 dry leased I meant.
Delete2 aircraft will be wet leased.
DeleteJU has a large uptick in traffic for 3 months. For the other 9 months, its fleet is sufficient. Wet leasing allows them that added short term capacity. JU isn't the only airline to do that. It's not ideal, but it's cheaper than holding onto additional capacity for months at a time, especially during periods of uncertainty. Most important thing is that additional dry leases are coming in, which means an overall growth in their fleet.
With wet lease, choice of aircraft doesn't matter. They used to wet lease CRJ's before for the summer season, which too wasn't part of their fleet.
Misleading statement for sure. If they are replacing the ATRs then they are actually only adding one new plane.
ReplyDeleteYes, I also thought that there was a sudden massive expansion going on, but it turns out it's mostly replacements.
DeleteI flew with the Smartwings B737 last year when it was being operated for Air Serbia. It was great and the Czech crew really nice.
ReplyDeleteJU wet-leased the B737-700 right?
DeleteYes, that's right. One of their two 737-700s
DeleteOne A319 should come from Carpatair apparently.
ReplyDeleteI notice that Air Montenegro often wet leases it when one of their Embraers goes tech.
DeleteA 220-330 is available for wet lease from Air Baltic.Does this plane makes sense for Air Serbia?
DeleteA220-300 have similar capacity to A319,I think that no make sense.
DeleteBut A220 is nice plane.Very quiet and beautiful.
I agree that the A220 is nice. I've flown it twice, both times with Air Baltic (once as their own flight and the second time just a couple of weeks ago when they operated wetlease).
DeleteOn the one hand, it doesn't make sense from a ground handling perspective to introduce a new aircraft type if it's only one or two flying, but on the other hand, the aircraft's low fuel consumption might still make it interesting the way fuel prices are at the moment. My guess is that Air Baltic got a good price when ordering the aircraft so that they can afford to offer a good wetlease price that after all makes them a potential candidate along with other airlines offering older aircraft for wetlease.
^ Bel Cielo is like a little girl never happy
ReplyDelete