Air Serbia has taken delivery of an Airbus A330-200 jet this morning, making it the third aircraft to be added to the carrier’s fleet since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The plane, registered YU-ARB, arrived at Belgrade Airport from the Netherlands just after 11.00 CEST, where it has been for the past few weeks receiving its new interior. The aircraft will replace the only wide-body jet in the airline’s fleet, the A330 registered YU-ARA, as its five-year lease comes to an end. The replacement plane features a special Nikola Tesla-inspired livery, as well as a new business class product (pictured below). The twelve-year-old aircraft is expected to undertake a test flight for the Serbian carrier this afternoon after 17.00 CEST. Its entry into commercial service is currently scheduled for Thursday, April 29, from Belgrade to New York. Last minute changes remain possible.
The new hard product features fully lie-flat seats, with two in the middle, and direct aisle access for over 95% of seats. The cabin resembles most closely that of Ireland’s Aer Lingus and each seat also has personal charging points and USB, as well as a dedicated personal stowage area next to each seat. It boasts a total of 21 seats in business class and a further 236 in economy. All seats 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. The airline is introducing a new in-flight dining menu inspired by Nikola Tesla’s diet regimen, which is based on three keyword that can be used to describe his work and patents - energy, frequency and vibration. The menu for economy and business class passengers was inspired by Tesla’s childhood, his student days and his life in New York. Passengers will be able to find the Tesla meals marked with the letter “T” for “Tesla’s way”.
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| Air Serbia A330 business class seat map |
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| Air Serbia A330 economy class seat map |
The incoming aircraft also features a special livery with Nikola Tesla’s portrait featured on the tail. The painting process, which took place in Shannon in Ireland, included the use of 22 different colours and approximately 250 litres of paint. It took eight days of non-stop work in three shifts to apply the livery with teams of around ten people per shift. The modification of Air Serbia’s existing design will only be applied to this aircraft, which also has dynamic lines symbolising movement and speed, while the main detail is on the tailfin, in the form of Nikola Tesla’s image. The distinctive blue colour, as a part of the national airline’s corporate identity, was chosen to be the main colour of Tesla’s image, which required nineteen different shades of blue to produce.
Manufactured in December 2008, the incoming plane is a year younger than the previous jet of the same type in Air Serbia’s fleet, and its previous operator was the Russian national carrier Aeroflot. Unlike Air Serbia’s first A330, the new airplane has Rolls Royce engines. YU-ARA, which served in Air Serbia’s fleet from 2016, operated 819 round trip flights to New York, carrying a total of 319.712 passengers on the route. Over the past year, Air Serbia has also added two A319s to its fleet. It has retired three Boeing 737 jets, which were over three decades old, and returned one leased A320 and ATR72 to its previous owners.
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https://onemileatatime.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Aer-Lingus-Business-Class-A330-12.jpg
JU4021 from Bergen op Zoom to Belgrade https://fr24.com/ASL4021/278033c4
Given all the above facts, reasons for delay of getting another A330 at Air Serbia started shifting from curious to mildly suspicious to indefensible.
1. In 2019 BEG was getting extremely congested meaning that it would be more difficult to schedule long-haul departures in the morning and at around 12-13. With the terminal expansion there is more room to add flights.
2. JFK was a bit premature and since then JU had to build its short-haul network by adding new destinations and boosting frequencies on existing ones. All long-haul expansion from the region was done by airlines that are not from here. They are all well established carriers with vast networks, something JU still lacks. For them our region was just one part of a much larger picture.
There will always be excuses here in the Balkans blaming something or someone...
Unfortunately in a government run business, it takes someone from government to give a green light and then things happen. Until then JU management is steering on autopilot... It's too bad because there is so much potential.
Very cool!
.. Because of the same reason
1. In case of congestion gate priority is given to widebodies. Narrowbodies can use remote stands. When BEG had Air Mahan and Hainan there were three widebodies served at the same time. Congestion is not a reason for not getting 2nd A330.
2. Long haul expansion in the region had to be done by other airlines as local ones didn't have widebodies except TK but they are farther afield. Overseas airlines have vast networks on their side, but none of them have local Balkan network Air Serbia has. JU had no problems having JFK LF over 85-90% just months after initiating operations in 2016. JU network expansion after 2016 added transfer passenger options to JFK. Lack of network feed is also not a reason.
Someone needs to tell government Air Serbia has been avoiding getting second A330 for no reason. Not a single one.
We are talking about JU so the argument about Mahan and Hainan isn't relevant here. Both airlines used to operate flights during quieter periods of the day, not during the rush-hour. JU can't schedule JFK or ORD at 10.30 as was the case with Hainan. It would make no sense in terms of competitiveness of connectivity. Yes, BEG has remote stands but not enough bus gates from which to board passengers.
2. JU lost a lot of money on JFK until the route matured. It takes time for your brand awareness to reach a certain level where you can charge higher fares and until you build a loyal clientele. Air Serbia will most definitely expand its long-haul network in the future. However I think a more pressing matter is the issue of the ATR fleet. Those planes need to be either refurbished or replaced by younger models.
https://www.flightradar24.com/ASL4010/27815390
Ability to lease A330 at such a low rate would allow them to start making money faster when opening a new service. As pandemic slows down lease rate will rise and Air Serbia must not miss this opportunity. ATR rates were not affected as much as A330 rates so A330 is a clear priority right now. Stop finding excuses for Air Serbia not getting second A330.
As for Mahan sending A310 to A1, here are videos of Mahan Air A340 at C6 bridge next to Air Serbia or Hainan A330. Stop talking about things you now nothing about, there is plenty of space for two Air Serbia A330:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irpjZH1Kj4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgKySkB731M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe1eW7VGV5k
Mahan launched BEG with the A310. The A346 was sent later on and as you can see it arrived as JU's JFK was being pushed back. In other words Mahan used to arrive at around 07.30 when the morning wave has ended. In order to have two JU A330s you would have to occupy four airbridges from 05.30 to 07.30. Before covid there was simply no room for that. I did not say that you couldn't physically fit two widebodies, I said that in 2019 terminal was at full capacity even with one widebody.
ATRs were a blessing now in covid and they saved JU in many markets. Air Serbia will keep on expanding its long-haul fleet but it's unrealistic to expect them to do so right now when they have a decent network only three days a week.
You have to understand that even if they get a heavily discounted A330 they would still have to pay around $200.000 a month. I don't think their management or the government would be too thrilled to absorb that extra expense.
With current reduced demand for gates at BEG compared to 2019 and C extension being ready in less than a year, your gate congestion argument is a moot point anyway. That is not the reason for Air Serbia not getting second A330.
You are starting to look like an apologist for Lufthansa goals. It is in LH interest for Air Serbia to have as little as possible long haul flights so LH can feed their long haul flights from BEG via MUC/FRA. Try to be against LH goals and more supportive of JU long haul.
That Air Serbia tail!
I think it was the most beautiful A330 tail ever.
Then get a second A330 next year when the route has already matured.
That said, Gullivair also received an official permission to operate to Canada. It took JU a long time not to work and launch YYZ in the past when it had an opportunity to do it.
One thing JU has going for itself is that its network did not collapse and that they are operating at least some sort of a hub. In five days they are resuming Rome which will further help with their operations.
Many airlines won't recover by next summer but JU might. Leases on widebody aircraft won't be back to normal so they could still afford a second A330 then. ;)
As for Gullivair, let's first see them launch those ambitious long-haul flights and then we can compare them to JU.
And yes, OS is in the process of withdrawal from fleet of the older widebodies, but I expect they will replace them with newer ones when covid crisis will be nearing the end.
And yes LOT has 15 widebodies + 2 in storage awaiting delivery.
Exactly. Both before Covid19 and now, Air Serbia could not and can't operate on a strictly profit basis given their size and scope. And it shouldn't unless regulation in Europe changes for the better for small national airlines, and that's something LH wants to prevent. Insisting on a profit is a tool airline cartels like LH use to drive small national carriers out so they can take over the market.
Once they do that adding long-haul flights will be a breeze.