Air Serbia is set to wet-lease additional aircraft this summer season to cater for rising passenger demand and network growth. The carrier, which is currently wet-leasing a Boeing 737-700 aircraft from Greece’s Lumiwings is set to take on an Airbus A320-familly jet from Romania’s Dan Air. According to the Romanian aviation portal BoardingPass, the airline, formerly know as Just Us Air, will provide an aircraft, cabin crew, insurance and maintenance for the jet to Air Serbia and has concluded similar agreements with several other carriers including Transavia, Air Arabia Maroc and Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways. The Romanian airline currently operates two aircraft - a thirteen-year-old A319 and a sixteen-year-old A320, with another two aircraft expected to join its fleet in the foreseeable future. The plane is likely to be used primarily on charter services.
Based on existing inventory in the Global Distribution System, Lumiwings is currently operating its B737-700 on behalf of Air Serbia until the end of the week, with the aircraft not slotted on scheduled routes past the end of May. The jet has also been utilised on charters such as Hurghada. On scheduled services it has been deployed to Zurich, Berlin, Stockholm, Tirana, Milan, Podgorica and Brussels. The plane is also set to make an appearance on flights to Dusseldorf, Thessaloniki and Stuttgart. Over the past week, Air Serbia has put into operation one of its newly leased ATR72-600 turboprops, the second in its fleet, while it also took delivery of an Airbus A319 which is to enter commercial operations after cabin reconfiguration.
Meanwhile, Air Serbia has announced it is imposing a minimum thirty-euro surcharge on all of its charter flights due to rising fuel prices. The exact amount of the levy will depend on the distance of the final destination. “Considering that the price of fuel is one of the key components of the charter flight charges, and in order to secure the realisation of contracts concluded with tour operators, Air Serbia has been obliged to adjust its initial aircraft leasing fees to tour operators”, Air Serbia and the Association of Serbian Tour Operators said in a joint statement. As a result, travel agencies will have to impose the surcharge on all passengers that will be flying on Air Serbia-operated charter flights this summer. The price of fuel has risen over 100% on last year. Air Serbia plans to operate over 1.000 charters this season.
Why constant wet leases?
ReplyDeleteBecause there is nothing for all those extra planes to do in winter.
DeleteBecause they are unable to reduce seasonality so there is huge fluctuation between passenger numbers in winter and in summer.
DeleteThey need to work on reducing seasonality.
DeleteEasier said than done.
DeleteThis is normal practice. Look at how many planes airlines like British Airways and Air Baltic are leasing.
DeleteWell no one said that they need to get rid of seasonality but these major fluctuations are also not normal. One way around it is to stimulate local demand by reducing fares in winter and by investing in marketing so that you get more transfer passengers.
DeleteIf JU manages to get between 5% and 10% more transfers in winter months their network would profit greatly from it.
Unfortunately I think JU is chasing profitability during winter months which is something that they can't acheive and with it they decimate their network.
So they shall use wet leasing to experiment with long haul, as long as lease fees are lower than usual and excess planes are parked.
DeleteThey will never reduce sesonality by launching new routes in June and flying leisure destinations only from June till September. I don't expect much of late January or February but they must start flying majority of seasonal destinations during regular summer season April - October. As for the winter season JU has to come back to Middle East and North Africa, that's no-brainer really.
DeleteA good way to reduce seasonality is to start by making sure you can fly at least double daily to the region. Without that they can't be competitive.
DeleteWhy not explore winter charters?
DeleteThey should lease planes long term. In winter they can offer their planes for wet leases.
Delete^ They tried that in the past and it didn't work. In 2017 they offered 2 Airbus A319 for wet-lease and didn't get a single interested party.
DeleteJU doesn't decide on charter destinations, it's the agencies. Smartwings wanted to operate winter charters from BEG to Tenerife this winter and never did.
DeleteNew destinations should definitely be launched earlier and not in the first week of June. I would even say that seasonal routes such as SPU and DBV should start earlier and not at the end of May.
Serbian Tourism Board should be the one trying to attract tourists to our mountain resorts, which would help JU ease seasonality issues.
As for double daily to the region, demand isn't there for the prices JU insists on charging. It doesn't have to be 10€ fares as with FR, but it shouldn't be 150-200€ as JU charges...without luggage.
There is huge promotion of Serbia going on in Antalya right now. Anadoloujet wants to operate AYT-BEG yet they are going to be blocked by JU. This is directly harming the Serbian economy and JU needs to be punished for this.
DeleteAlso JU keeps on blocking foreign charters this forcing tour operators to work with them.
Air Cairo also have 53 eur extra price
DeleteBtw JU successfully blocked Al Masria which operated flights with 332 some years ago.
Delete@13,18
DeleteJU and the DCV = Serbian Government. If you don't like it, then vote, protest, whatever. Fact is, majority have said they are happy with the way things are in the last elections. You and me might not like it, but we are in the minority.
Then they should use the taxes of their voters (not me) to fund this failing, economically unsustainable project. How much money are we going to lose from not having AYT flights? Look at the number of Turkish tourists after ESB flights were introduced.
DeleteJust go and check bus passengers numbers on Split bus kolodvor in May.
DeleteWhy?
Delete@14,04
DeleteI don't see JU as a failing project, actually far from it. It was especially evident during the pandemic what it means to have a national carrier. It's not perfect and far from it, but neither is it a failing project. Overall the airline is beneficial to our economy. 1-2 weekly flights to AYT overall won't change much and wouldn't really be a loss if it doesn't launch. Let's wait and see what agreement TK and JU come up with before jumping to conclusions.
Huh? Of course it would be bad. How much money would those people spend in hotels, restaurants and so on. Like I said, ESB flights prove your theory wrong.
DeleteEvery business needs to be profitable or at least to break even. As long as JU gets more than €3 million per year they will be a failed project.
TK doesn't care about JU, their third daily shows that. don't be disillusioned.
DeleteAlot more damage was done in other forms ie inability to organise and cater to winter tourism over 15 years ago when initial investments were made. We had winter charters from LGW to INI on B767's. What happened to those? Or UZC which has a shiny new terminal but I believe it's a lack of a perimeter fence for example that holds it back from being able to accommodate civilian traffic. Lots of bigger examples. AYT hasn't been announced let alone rejected, it's something being worked on. I believe it will be done in the same manner as ESB, with JU getting something in return, which will be even better ie BEG-ADB. I personally didn't think that this agreement would be made and I was wrong back then. Let's wait and see what both sides agree on. After all, TK and JU are cooperating.
DeleteAs for the 3 million, not sure where you pulled that figure from. Definitely they should be making money, that stands, but JU has a much much larger effect on the Serbian economy than 3 million Euros. Salaries of workers spent in Serbia, taxes paid in Serbia, Serbian products sold onboard, Serbian products purchased and consumed in transit. Every JU pax spending an average of 2€ in Belgrade Airport already gives you a figure over 5 million Euros without going into more details. Not to mention the large growth in connectivity Air Serbia has brought which is important to the Serbian economy. More money was wasted on attracting foreign investors than JU. It's also important to note that JU has significantly reduced its losses the past couple of years prior to the pandemic.
JATBEGMEL, when you mentioned the INI-LGW charters, of course I remember those days! It is such a pity that Serbia did not work to sustain the UK clients. As impossible as it sounds, they are quite loyal and good clients (forget about the drunk cliché) and would stick to the same destination for many years if they like it. I am also in shock why the government is not promoting Kopaonik that much and INI not talking with the UK organisations or airlines such as TUI UK, Jet2.com or even basic easyJet flights from any London, Manchester or Birmingham airport. Now, many in the region might laugh or mock UK but whatever they say, this is a big and rich country with many people.
DeleteI think JU did a good job by expanding in INI and now with the new terminal is the time to work with the local municipalities, hotels, guest houses to being adapting and attract new tourists.
By the way, I just remembered while writing is that Brasov airport in Romania is expected to open by the end of the year and they too have a good ski resort nearby (Predeal) and combined with urban tourism in the city (because it´s quite nice) and ski, Serbia will indeed face competition. You know quite well that Transylvania is a quite cool region.
I also read the other day, you mentioned about infrastructure in Bulgaria in winter. Bansko has undergone a huge change during the last years and not to mention that smaller Pamporovo now also are competing because they saw that there are now new flights to Plovdiv. Bansko is now even attracting digital nomads in summer for dirty cheap apartments. In winter, there are way too many flights from the UK especially February and March. Finally, Borovets enjoys its proximity to Sofia.
My point is that Serbia at the moment has lots of potential with its 3 good airports, where it can focus not only on Belgrade (because it is the capital and it is quite nice) but to also give the opportunity to combine it with different other destinations in Serbia.
Again, the newly inaugurated HST from Belgrade to Novi Sad for . All the visitors will now combine both which is cool but what happens to the south of the country that also offers so much? Ski winter tourism makes good money.
Also organise winter warm destinations from INI and KVO to just anywhere warmer and cheaper: Egypt, Israel, Canary Islands (warm weather throughout the whole year), of course UAE - though not a huge fan myself but people like it and so on. This all depends on the local municipalities and how they work together with each other.
As you perfectly said, KVO was built - shiny and now abandoned with little or almost no flights. They have this obsession with Greece and Turkey which is okay but you have to amplify the market and provide locals with a bigger choice.
You also have to understand that although JU might have a positive impact on the economy, it also eats away some of those profits it indirectly generates when the government writes them a cheque. If JU gets €17 million in state subsidies, it would have to generate close to €40 million in indirect profits for the country for it to make sense. Otherwise it is still a loss for the country. That is why I used the figure of €3 million in losses. That would be manageable for the country and it would not eat into the profits they generate indirectly.
DeleteLet's look at IST market. JU's timetable is not suitable for locals and they are stubbornly refusing to introduce more convenient times (morning/evening).
Meanwhile, Turkish carriers which are carrying most tourists coming to Serbia are constantly blocked by JU. These Turkish carriers are not getting any subsidies or discounts in Serbia. They are much more lucrative for Serbia than JU is.
When Air Serbia introduces additional flights in the morning and in the evening and when they start adding more destinations that bring tourists then they will start to positively contribute to the Serbian economy.
Until then they are receiving millions in subsidies, blocking the development of tourism (Russia, Turkey etc) and they are focused on outbound charters so that more Serbs can spend their money abroad.
Here is an older study of JU's impact on the Serbian economy. This was prior to JFK, which has only improved those numbers in the mean time.
Deletehttps://www.b92.net/eng/news/business.php?yyyy=2015&mm=08&dd=31&nav_id=95275
IST is operated as with other regional flights - midday and midnight waves, which then offer connections to Western Europe in the morning and evening waves. They did have a 10am departure when they did the BEG-IST-INI routing, but it didn't last long. I personally think they should go for a midnight departure. For other departure times, JU really need to look into expanding their waves as not everything will work in their current waves, especially if they want to expand to routes over 3 hours away from BEG. TK has had huge government subsidies that has brought them to where they are today. They also have a huge domestic market that works in their favour, expats and tourism as well. Serbia is at a huge disadvantage when competing with Turkish carriers. Serbia isn't the only country to restrict Turkish carriers might I add. Regardless, bilaterals were signed by both parties, compromises have been made and the situation has improved since the JU-TK codeshare which is something at least. Better than before.
As for tourism, as long as party membership has more value over education and experience nothing much will change on that front. Infrastructure has alot of room for improvement to accommodate even locals let alone tourists. There are amazing places around Serbia to discover however little investment is made from our government on that front. Investments made on infrastructure projects are almost always delayed and always come with corruption scandals, mismanagement of funds etc. High speed rail you mentioned took 6 years to complete 75km of track on flat ground at an inflated price, while it was supposed to have already been completed to Subotica and not just to Novi Sad. Connecting HSR to the south I don't think will start this decade.
As for KVO, the airport cannot handle anything larger than an ATR due to the runway, hence why only Greece, Turkey and Montenegro is the focus from there. ATR won't get you anything spectacular from KVO. I believe KVO doesn't even have fuelling capabilities, however I could be wrong.
There is enough O&D demand to IST not to arrange all flights around transfers. They should have a flight on Sunday at 19.00 from Belgrade.
DeleteThe importance of JU is greatly overestimated. It's a failed government project (one of many failures of the incumbent dictator), but it keeps being funded to ensure propaganda lives on. KVO as is, it's just a money laundering scheme. Flying an empty plane there, then a random turn, then empty to BEG is nonsense. If something like a W pattern cannot be done, then KVO makes no sense. Countries with less corrupt governments have a concept of essential air servi ce, but it typically connects a small airport to a bigger hub, not to a random foreign destination. Also, what AirSerbia did during pandemics could have been done by chartering one of many grounded planes. It's way cheaper to pay for a couple of flights to bring people and vaccines from abroad, then to funnel money into an airline which will never be profitable.
DeleteSo a family of 4 will have to pay an extra 120 euros minimum for the fuel surcharges.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, is it one way or bulk total.
Deleteas far as I've read, in total 30€ per person
DeleteIts round trip. But minimum iz 30 eur, maksimum is 55 fpr Hurgada flights
DeleteWow that is expensive. Especially since it's mostly families with children going to Hurghada. An extra 200+ euros.
DeleteI guess Air Cairo will get a lot of new customers.
DeleteI always find it funny how JU is always responsible with these extra charges yet they still can't be profitable
Of course JU can hike fees they are the only airline allowed to operate charters from/to Serbia.
DeleteThat's why they get butchered in places where there is no government protectionism (TLV, NCE, MLA, HER...)
DeleteButchered as in BCN, LCA, SPU, FCO, MXP, OSL, ZRH, FRA, ATH...
DeleteHER was not a scheduled JU route. Btw, A3 has reduced both RHO and HER to 1pw.
A3 seem to have an issue because they cut many seasonal routes. This is why I think what JU is doing and has been doing is quite normal relating to the industry response.
DeleteThe jury is still out on BCN and FCO.
DeleteFRA? Are you serious? They couldn't go beyond daily since day 1. They struggle against Lufthansa there which in reality offers much superior flying times.
ATH, as people already wrote here, this year Aegean has put a lot of pressure on them on the route. This June JU is supposed to offer 2.304 return weekly seats to ATH while Aegean will be 1.392. Before covid JU was at 4.032 and Aegean was at 1.392 It's obvious who is more successful on this route.
@08,08
DeleteJU has apparently had issues with slots in FRA. It's why they have their flights almost always in the afternoons while almost all other European destinations have a split morning/evening schedule. LH offers alooot more in FRA compared to JU in BEG. They're doing fairly well.
As for ATH, have no idea why it's down by soo many frequencies. I think it's safe to say it'll be temporary. JU has typically done well in ATH plus codeshare with A3. We could see some frequencies change in July. JU has had last minute frequency additions previously, especially during the pandemic.
Talking of Athens, ATR flew there today. Things must be quite bad right now.
DeleteYesterday A319 (YU-APA), tomorrow scheduled as A319.
DeleteYU-APK hasn't flown for 5 days (maintenance?), YU-APH is stuck in SVO. YU-APN isn't ready for service.
I suppose B737-700 will be removed from scheduled flights once YU-APN is ready to start flying.
ReplyDeleteI don't like this surcharge especially since JU is generally quite pricey.
Not going to down well with tour operators.
Delete*to go
DeleteI think the -700 will stay but will only used for charters. We will see.
DeleteThat's what I meant. That is 700 will be removed from regular flights and moved to charters.
DeleteI see, sorry didn't understand
DeleteThis also means that their fares on scheduled flights will go up
ReplyDeleteIt's the same case for all other airlines, not just Air Serbia.
DeleteAs you might have noticed, the price of everything is going up everywhere in the world. Get ready for a financial crisis.
DeleteYes - another crisis! Well done. It’s what politicians need to rule. Constant crises.
DeleteWhy do they always go for these mid aged planes?
ReplyDeleteCause it's cheaper of course.
DeleteWhere do they find these no name airlines?
ReplyDeleteWhy does it matter? Few well known airlines can wet lease planes in summer.
DeleteBecause JU is short on cash and they never really cared about passenger experience. That is why they go for the cheapest offer on the market.
DeleteShame on JU! They should have leased private aircraft will full business configuration if they cared about passenger experience
DeleteNo but they should have leased the A220 so that they offer higher customer experience. But we are talking about an airline that still operates 30+ year old aircraft.
DeleteLease the A220 from who? There are no A220s on the lease market.
DeleteThere are no now but there were a few months ago (BT).
Delete@11,13
DeleteLeasing aircraft is free, so lease it early and keep it on ground for months before you actually need it?
Huh? You can secure a lease from the summer in winter. The plane isn't delivered immediately after you sign the lease agreement.
DeleteHahaha silly billy
Im sure there has to be some form of down-payment that has to be made? Not the most knowledgeable on the aircraft leases.
DeleteHonestly, I think JU would have more use with A320 capacity than A220 for the summer wet leases. A220 would be a good replacement for their A319's if they ever go for brand new aircraft.
It's usually 20% of the total sum. Delivery dates are agreed upon.
DeleteAt least they are proactively responding to demand.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Starting new routes, getting extra capacity. Much better than what I expected.
DeleteThey should have taken a regional jet
ReplyDeleteWhat good would a regional jet do for charter flights?
DeleteYou could use it on routes where the loads are light thus freeing one A319 for charters.
DeleteAbsolutely, we all remember how well JP's CRJ performed for them especially on regional routes where the ATR is to slow like SKG or OTP.
DeleteThis goes to show that JU needs to more aircraft.
ReplyDeleteWhy did the retire their 737`s then?
ReplyDeleteBecause they were over 30 years old and expensive to maintain.
DeleteThose 737s should have been retired years ago.
DeleteThis or any wet lease is cheaper than spending money keeping those planes in the air. It is likely their D checks were coming up too.
DeleteThe costs associated with flying 30+ year old planes are huge
DeleteRetiring the B737s was the right decision.
DeleteUnfortunately they rushed to reduce their fleet so they have to resort to these actions.
DeleteThose JAT's 737 had enough resources for full summer season
DeleteBut then people here would complain the a/c were a horrible image for JU as they are ancient.
Delete@10,26
DeleteAnd they had no where to fly them. When JU retired the B733's, JU fleet was barely doing a few hours of flights a day, which is horrible utilisation. Crew need certain hours on the type to keep licenses, aircraft needs maintenance, probably overall too costly and not worth it considering the age of the aircraft and the fact they were to be retired anyway.
If they had better pricing and more transfers their fleet would be better employed.
DeleteGiven the uncertainty of markets, short term wet leases are good option.
ReplyDeleteThis is good news. Further evidence demand is returning.
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteleasing planes for charters is a smart idea
ReplyDeleteSo, what do you think: if CAD hadn't block Air Cairo, would Air Serbia introduce this 55 EUR surcharge to Hurghada?
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is why they don't get a bigger plane so they don't have to operate 9 flights in a day to Hurghada. Wouldn't it be cheaper?
ReplyDeleteYes but which other route would you use the larger aircraft other than Hurghada
DeleteI would prefer them to lease Airbus 321
ReplyDeletethis is another confirmation that Air Serbia does not have a business strategy, and especially that without charter traffic it would be in serious trouble.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about?
DeleteSomeone needs to be fired for such bad fleet planning for this summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat is bad, if I may ask? How many cancelations they had and what's their on-time performance? Do you have this data?
Deletethey have had almost no flight cancellations this summer. So they must have done something right.
DeleteYes they butchered their Network because they didn't have enough planes. Their collapsing marketshare at BEG proves that
Delete@11,14
DeleteRepeating misinformation or misinterpreted information doesn't suddenly become fact.
Network was butchered world wide due to Covid restrictions. JU doesn't have the cash to hold out for months and see if things will change, changes have to be immediate. Market share dropped for 2, 2 and a half months if I'm not mistaken. During the slow travel period might I add. That market share has pretty much recovered.
Network was butchered this January, February and most of March. That was the period of BEG's rapid growth. Market was there, JU just didn't know how to capture it. Luckily their competition was there to step in and save the day..
DeleteSo unlike the comments we see here JU is actually not afforded protection by the govt.
Delete@13,39
DeleteSince you are very obsessed with JU market share, would you care to share what it is from March onwards to today?
I can't since JU stopped publishing them. Imagine how bad those results must be if they stopped doing it. Ouchie
Delete@00,26
DeleteJU didn't publish any results for Jan, Feb or March yet you know their market share. JU typically doesn't share their results and it has been rare that they have done so.
My friend, they published their passenger numbers for January and February. You can find the post on their social media like LinkedIn. :)
DeleteFeb is there, but bare minimum information, January nothing. Market share last shared in December 2021 when it was 51%.
DeleteAgain, it doesn't answer the question as to what it is today. What was their market share for April and May. Has it decreased or increased?
Normal practice, during the winter the demand falls drastically so where is the surprise here? Lease the aircraft in Africa or Asia instead of parking it in the cold hangar.
ReplyDeleteWe don't really know if it's expensive or not.
DeleteDuring the winter is when maintenance of the fleet is actively being done as well. JU had periods this winter when the ERJ was brought in from MNE to do a flight or 2 from BEG as ac were in the hangar for maintenance
DeleteGood
ReplyDeleteFirst time I hear of this airline too.
ReplyDeleteYou’re an aviation professional?
DeleteWhy not lease a A321 or something similar? I think even an A330 could be used during the summer holiday season.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because they barely have an A320 in their fleet? Logic would be to increase those first.
DeleteIf Serbia has a good relationship with China, then why not buy the Comac C919? This aircraft has been flying for quite a while and seems has no ongoing issues. It also seems that it costs just below 100 million USD which is a very good price. Pity JU is not considering it.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I switched to Wizz years ago. They are at least consistent from Belgrade
ReplyDeleteYeah, consistent in changing the schedule and cancelling flights and entire destinations. Never again.
DeleteThat's why I wrote from Belgrade where it has been smooth sail for a while now
Delete@13,50
DeleteHow many of those routes in 2020 did they launch? Seen the on time performance of BEG-AUH?
They launched some others that were not announced in 2020. What about BUD, VAR, WAW, HAM...by JU?
DeleteHey JATBEGMEL, since you told me to check the on time performance of AUH-BEG, do you mind checking JU's disastrous on time performance this morning? Btw KLM, Lufthansa and so on departed on time.
DeleteFCO 01.20 delay
TGD 01.22
CDG 01.16
ZRH 01.37
MAD 09.30 expected (02.40 delay)
For AYT they don't even have a departure time. It was supposed to leave at 06.30 and it's still not boarding.
AMS is still on the ground, so far delayed by 01.40.
In other news, is it me or have they opened gates C1 and C2? I see they were used this morning.
@00,27
DeleteJU actually operated those routes you listed. Wizz announced flights, sold tickets and canceled their launch. Completely different.
@08,21
Not entirely true that other airlines have not had delays. All airlines lately have been experiencing some form of delays, some flights had better OTP than others. Staffing issues all over Europe being a problem, ATC, BEG is chaos due to the construction works. Pax are being asked to come to BEG 3 hours before their flights due to the construction works at BEG. This isn't isolated to today, but for days now. And delays are not isolated to JU and BEG.
Wizz however has had horrible OTP in the BEG-AUH route for months. 2h+ delays were regular.
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/05/06/delays-inevitable-at-two-thirds-of-european-airports-this-summer-top-industry-body-warns
Foreigners this morning departed on time as JU experienced a total meltdown.
DeleteOnly 2 flights on foreign carriers departed on time this morning - OS740 (VIE) and SM388 (HRG). JU had a few flights go on time (TIA, LJU, VIE) or with a smaller delay (less than 20 mins - INI, SKP, OTP, VLC, ZAG), the rest really delayed. Some delays smaller, some larger. LH and KLM flights to FRA and AMS that overnight in BEG both had delayed departures, small but delayed. FRA delayed 30 mins. TK1082 delayed 4 hours, inbound it arrived on time. Something is up at BEG.
DeleteTotal meltdown at BEG this morning. Airbridges did not function properly, there was no electricity in them. Announcements for flights also didn't work and neither did the escalators. This meltdown had nothing to do with JU but rather with BEG and its increasingly incompetent team of employees. A friend of mine flew today and he actually sent me a picture of them manually moving the airbridge!
DeleteI think 28.05.2022 is a day everyone at BEG wants to forget.
Air Serbia is falling apart. Several flights today delayed more than an hour, some cancelled for absolutelty no reason like ZRH. They want to add many new routes but fleet and ops are not ready to handle it.
ReplyDeleteKondic also had to deal with big fleet changes when going from Boeing to Airbus but he understood timing is the key for Air Serbia hub/spoke model. He hired a guy to improve punctuality and he did it, operational numbers increased a lot.
Clowns in charge are now running around making big route announcements but unable to deliver consistent performance even during May traffic levels and good weather conditions. Jul/Aug will be a mess.
A320 broke down in Moscow yesterday and the return flight was cancelled.
DeleteThey are a long way from being Wizzier than Wizz.
Just open FR24 and check random flights - if we were to go by you the aviation in Europe is falling apart. Chillax.
DeleteСамо опуштено, passengers can go to other airlines if they don't like it. Jat attitude is still alive.
DeleteRyan, Wizz and Lufthansa don't have chillaxing in their business plans.
I still miss the good old Jat days. The best times ever. The 3 dotted logo and the most punctual and correct airline in the region. The Boeing fleet was the best, this is why it lasted for more than 30 years. The staff was the real staff. Jat is simply Jat.
DeleteWhat are you smoking?
DeleteJAT or Jat? I am confused.
DeleteJat Airways was known fot canceling hundreds of flights as they didn't have enough airworthy aircraft to operate the timetable. Something around 60% at times was not airworthy.
Screws falling from the wings midflight is normal according to Jat management.
Alot of triangle flights. BEG-AMS-BRU-BEG, BEG-CPH-ARN-BEG. BEG-TGD-TIV-BEG was common.
Deal made with YM that damaged JU's position on the Montenegrin market that took even Air Serbia time to regain.
Months of unpaid wages, separation of Jat Tehnika from Jat, crew not accepted in hotels due to unpaid bills.
Jat was so correct that when catering had a strike due to, you guessed it, not being paid, if memory serves me right, a refund of 200 dinars was given to pax.
DXB, which was one of their most profitable routes, was handed over to FZ. Oh, this list can just go on and on. Jat wasn't known as Joke About Time for no reason.
Main difference is that Jat Airways didn't present itself as a premium and super successful carrier. Air Serbia constantly does that, just read one of Marek's interviews and you will see what I'm talking about. It would be much wiser for them to be silent and to work on fixing themselves. They are still a small carrier which has a long way to go before being relevant on the European level.
Delete@08,11
DeleteJat Airways had trash, corrupt CEO's. There is a full article on them here on the site.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2011/10/jats-ceo-nightmare.html?m=1
I'm going to guess either you were too young to have experienced Jat Airways or have never really flown them. Jat Airways was badly damaged by corruption and government interference to the point it was close to bankruptcy. Airbus was also prepared to take out a lawsuit against Jat Airways for the A319 order from 1998 that was expected to cost Serbian tax payers around 1 billion Euros.
Yes, Air Serbia are far from being relevant on a European level, but they have done a fair bit the past few years in reducing losses, opening routes, attaining aircraft, replacing older aircraft, replacing expensive EY leases etc. Overall losses have dropped from roughly 50 million Euros in 2016 to 9 million in 2018, which remained the same in 2019 after a massive, successful expansion. I don't see why they shouldn't be speaking good thing about the airline.
Btw, it wasn't premium but 'boutique' that was formerly used. That practically stopped around 5 years ago when they became a hybrid carrier.
I'm talking about their pr articles the past year or two. Completely detached from reality. They need to be humble and modest which they are not
DeleteI think the main problem is that JU is presenting itself as a super successful carrier while in reality they are not. If they didn't do that people wouldn't be as annoyed to pay €300 to fly on an ancient ATR around the region.
ReplyDeleteThey should present themselves as a failing carrier to solve this problem
DeleteYup, I agree with you last Anon. Or simply stop being arrogant.
DeleteSvaki dodatni avion je odlicna vest i nadam se da ce sledece Sezone doci jos neki A320 posto su potrebni jako za neke dalje destinacije koje bi trebalo opet da se uvedu.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
They are currently having a mini emergency; Yesterday their A320 broke down in Moscow, and because of all sanctions there could be a bit of a husstle to get it back in the air. Todays ZRH flight got canceled, I think we will soon (maybe even tomorrow) see Air Montenegro or Tradeair operating some JU flights
ReplyDeleteDo you have the aircraft reg. number ?
DeleteIt's the only A320 they have, Tradeair have BTH stationed in Podgorica, so if they have a free schedule they could deploy it quickly
DeleteYU-APH, Air Serbia's flagship plane, has been sitting in Moscow since the 26th, so two days now. I don't think spare parts are an issue since Aeroflot operates a bunch of them and they have their maintenance in Moscow. Even though there are sanctions they still get spare parts through Turkey.
DeleteSince when is YU-APH Air Serbia's "flagship" plane? Lol
DeleteLove the way people think. "Spare parts not an issue" in a country that is the most sanctioned in the world. You just order them from Turkey and get them expressed delivered in half an hour. All for the "flagship" rofl. As they say in Serbian "kako mali perica zamislja svet"
DeleteThe problem is that Ju has a maintenance agreement with AF in Moscow and not with Aeroflot so Aeroflot can' t service the plane. APH had the same issue 4 yrs ago in Moscow and the parts and mechanic had to be flewn in from Beg on the good old 733 the next day. Don t inow what went wrong with the plane this time.
DeleteAir France?
DeleteDue to the sanctions getting spare parts for A320 in Russia is not that simple if you want that an aircraft will still be airworthy. If you remember, some European airlines stopped flying to Russia even before airspace closure due to possible problems with provision of spare parts.
DeleteSU gets their spare parts from turkey since they can get them without problems.
DeleteSince their flagship plane is out of service it caused many, many problems for the carrier. I think they even canceled Zurich yesterday.
Do you know the meaning of the word "flagship"?
DeleteAnon 17:56 No, they don't get spare parts from Turkey. Even China refused to help them. It's not like you can just get spare parts for Western aircraft. Every sing spare part is registered and must be traceable from manufacturer to the specific aircraft. You can not simply buy it and sell it like potatoes. Re-selling of spare parts would immediately be sanctioned by the spare parts providers and airworthiness certificates would be revoked. With aerospace manufacturers ending maintenance support to Russian companies, it is expected Russia will have to start cannibalizing aircraft for spare parts to keep part of their aircraft in the air. Choosing to re-register (e.g. from Bermuda to Russian register) aircraft whose airworthiness certificates had been revoked, the European Union added Russian airlines to its air safety blacklist. So, most of Russian aircraft are now actually not airworthy.
DeleteI agree with Anon !5:56 and Anon 18:47. Air Serbia has been aware of the risk of spare part problems due to the Western sanctions from the very beginning of the conflict. Probably their risk management shows clear financial benefits also in such challenging cases. I hope they will manage to find a solution as soon as possible.
DeleteAs expected Air Montenegro (4o-aoa) is operating JU flight to Zurich right
DeleteObviously the AS also lacks pilots not just airplanes.
ReplyDeletehttps://rs.n1info.com/vesti/let-er-srbije-za-tivat-kasnio-vise-od-sedam-sati-pilotu-istekla-smena