Air Serbia has announced the acquisition of three previously leased aircraft while achieving the strongest financial performance in its history. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the aircraft in question are Airbus A319s, which the airline purchased after restructuring leasing agreements with one of its partners. Preliminary financial results for 2024 indicate that Air Serbia's profit will surpass fifty million euros. After government taxes, the net profit is expected to reach 41.3 million euros, improving on the previous year's 40.5 million. Additionally, the airline’s total annual revenue in 2024 exceeded 700.3 million euros for the first time.
Commenting on the jet acquisition and financial results, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “During 2024, our fleet was expanded with three new ATR72-600 aircraft, one Airbus A330-200 for long-haul operations, and one Embraer E195 jet. Fleet renewal and expansion, as well as the introduction of a new aircraft type, entail significant costs and major investments. Despite that, according to preliminary information, we achieved better operating and net results compared to 2023, which had been our best year up until now”. He added, “Thanks to the good financial performance over the past year, we restructured business arrangements with one of our leasing partners and became the owners of three aircraft. This has allowed us to reduce future financial obligations and further boost stability. We will continue to operate responsibly and strategically, in the best interest of the company, the Republic of Serbia, and all our passengers, striving to contribute to the further growth of Air Serbia”.
The company’s fleet currently consists of 27 aircraft including three wide-bodies, fourteen narrow-bodies, and ten turboprop planes. The third Airbus A330-200, registered as YU-ARD arrived in Belgrade in early October 2024. The fourth jet of the same type is due to join Air Serbia’s fleet in the coming days. The airline's acquired A319s are registered YU-APA, YU-APE and YU-APF, the first of which is twenty years old and the latter two seventeen. Air Serbia carried over 4.4 million passengers in 2024, marking its busiest year since rebranding in 2013.
Congratulations Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteSweet, those are nice numbers. Congrats! It would make sense if 3 purchased planes are ATRs.
ReplyDeleteI think all three are jet engine planes.
DeleteMaybe one of the A330s ;)
DeleteIn the article it says
Delete"As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the three jets in question are Airbus A319s"
A319 wasn't there in the first version. Okay, so A319 it is.
DeleteSo they bought 3 A319s who are between 15 and 21 years old.
DeleteThey were probably cheap if after that they managed to had profit of over 40 million euros.
Delete* have
DeleteWe will see in their financial report how much the three planes cost.
DeleteI hope Air Serbia eventually considers adding brand-new narrow-body aircraft instead of old A319s.
DeleteBuying cheap used a319's is like paying cheapest possible leasing rates in advance for 5 years. Bravo JU👏
DeleteFleet issues. They don't have the pull of giants like U2, W6, the American Big Three, the Chinese giants, IndiGo, etc., that order hundreds of planes from Airbus. The backlog is immense, and with their fleet issues, it's better to get a jet instantly
DeleteReally amazing results. Especially if you look at the revenue you see how large scale their operations were last year.
ReplyDeleteGreat work by Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteWell done JU!
ReplyDeleteBut wait, people were saying 2024 would be a disaster form them....
ReplyDeleteI also wonder where are all those "experts" that predicted catastrophic scenarios for JU.
DeleteIt seems they escaped...I wonder why 🤣
DeleteActually, I am puzzled with this result - people here announced profit that would be more than 50 million, now we see that it's significantly lower than that. Why?
DeleteWhat happened to the gross margin, why did it decrease?
^ maybe you should read the article again. But as a hater you will always hate.
DeleteCongrats
ReplyDeleteSo now we have
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia - 3 aircraft owned
Air Montenegro - 2 aircraft owned
Croatia Airlines - 0 aircraft owned
Air Montenegro's aircraft were directly purchased by the government. So the government officially owns them.
DeleteAir Albania 4 avione
DeleteAir Albania does own a single aircraft. All are leased.
DeleteThe company needs to have 20 A320 series aircraft. Long term wet leasing needs to come to an end.
ReplyDeleteThank you V.P.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteSo proud of Air Serbia, whenever I can using their service. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia keeps growing while maintaining profitability. This is exactly what a national carrier should be doing
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo my guess is those 3 A319 can now freely fly to Russia and wherever they want, including Iraq, Iran etc. without asking anyone's opinion?
ReplyDeleteI think it also has something to do with the aircraft insurer. But I don't know who insures their aircraft.
Delete@anon 11.25 I hope that will be the outcome. Part of the reason they have such big profit is because of those Russia flights.
DeleteYou can't blame them for that.
DeleteSo this is first time they actually own planes since Jat.
ReplyDeleteFirst time since they got rid of the B737-300s in 2020, which were purchased by JAT.
DeleteAnd paid by Serbian taxpayers, not JAT, just to remove any potential romanticism about previous management.
DeleteActually it was paid by the federal government through trade with US. Read more about it before writing nonsense about tax payers in the 1980s.
DeleteFederal government was paying nothing in the 1980s. Only the republican. Then again, except for 1980-1981, I am not aware of JAT generating losses back than (financial results for 1982 were better than expected, so if there was a loss, it was minimal - the turnover was around 200 mil $ that year, just for illustration what the inflation has done so far), so I`d say all of the equipment was actually paid off by JAT, even if through trade arrangements with Prva petoletka Trstenik exporting hydraulic to the US, baby beef shipments etc.
DeleteOwning aircraft instead of leasing will reduce costs and gives them more flexibility in some other areas.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Lower obligations now mean more room for growth in the future.
DeleteOwning aircraft gives them more control, but they still need to modernize the narrow-body fleet.
DeleteCongrats to Air Serbia! Growing the fleet, increasing profits and setting new records.
ReplyDeleteGreat financials, but I hope this also means better service and more investment in onboard comfort.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s next for Air Serbia? Will they order new planes, or continue acquiring second-hand aircraft?
ReplyDeleteDidn't Marek say number of aircraft should reach 35 before they order new planes?
DeleteHe did but he said 40 not 35
DeleteHow many aircraft do that have now with wet leases?
Delete@14:41
DeleteYes he did. These are not new planes.
How many passengers could they have this year?
ReplyDeleteMy guess 4.5-4.6 million
Delete^ I'm pretty sire they will add more than 100,000 pax
Delete**sure
DeleteThere were rumours last year that they bought planes. Turned out it was true.
ReplyDeleteSo which AC are now JU property? AC have registration codes so would be nice to know which one belong to JU.
ReplyDeleteShould be APF, APB and APE
DeleteDidn't they say they would retire and replace A319s with A320s and Embarers?
DeleteThey can lease them out now.
DeleteOr the deal was to good to pass.
DeleteThe article says the aorcraft registrations
Delete"The airline's acquired A319s are registered YU-APA, YU-APE and YU-APF, the first of which is twenty years old and the latter two seventeen"
Nice work
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteSo they're not getting extra three A319s, but acquiring the ones that are in dry-lease already?
ReplyDeleteYes. That's quite clear.
DeleteIt says so in the first sentence.
DeleteProbably the best news and financial results since I am following this blog.
ReplyDeleteBravo A.S.
To manage this result while adding third wide-body and 3 ATRs and launching another long haul route is impressive.
ReplyDeleteVery good results. But why buying 20 year old planes? Better invest in new Embraers than old A319s?
ReplyDeleteBecause they likely got a very good deal where it was cheaper to buy then lease for the next 5 years.
DeleteThis is probably wrong they already passed 3 D checks.
DeleteWhat is wrong?
DeleteFinance.
DeleteIdemo dalje.
ReplyDeleteamazing news. is this the first a/c purchase in decade or so in exyu?
ReplyDelete