Air Serbia to wet-lease Smartwings jet


Air Serbia plans to wet-lease a 148-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft from Czech carrier Smartwings over the summer, EX-YU Aviation News has learnt. The aircraft is expected to arrive in Belgrade towards the end of next week, although changes remain possible. The jet is expected to be deployed on charter flights, as well as a select number of scheduled services out of Belgrade such as Rome, Milan and Tirana. A total of four groups of Smartwings crew will be stationed in Belgrade to operate the aircraft. The development comes as Air Serbia ramps up both its scheduled and charter network due to growing demand.

Air Serbia and Smartwings have concluded an ACMI lease agreement, meaning the Czech carrier will provide aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. Smartwings is the Czech Republic’s largest airline group, dominating the country’s aviation market. The carrier has vast experience in ACMI, wet-leasing aircraft and crew to airlines in France, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over the summer, as well as Canada in winter. It is also the owner of the country’s national carrier Czech Airlines and one of the largest leisure operators in Central Europe. Its fleet consist of over forty aircraft.

Air Serbia’s existing fleet comprises of eighteen aircraft, including eleven Airbus A319s, one A320 and A330 each, as well as five ATR72 turboprops. The airline disbanded its dedicated charter brand Aviolet earlier this year after retiring its last three remaining Boeing 737-300 aircraft. The carrier currently maintains scheduled operations to over thirty destinations, as more routes are restored across its network. It has also committed to operating over 800 charter flights this summer, with services to Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey, as well as Rhodes, Crete, Skiathos, Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and other popular destinations in Greece. The airline saw its busiest month this May since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, handling over 100.000 passengers and recording an average cabin load factor of 62% across its network.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    They should have taken a regional jet again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      What good would a regional jet do for charter flights?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:04

      Supposedly there are talks on the lease of CRJ

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:05

      You could use it to western Europe where loads are light thus freeing one A319 for charters.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:06

      Loads are obviously not light as you predict without any evidence, considering they had over 60% load factor in May when many European markets were still closed. That will only grow in June as markets reopen, school holidays begin and there is an expectation that the entry bans will be lifted in July.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:10

      @9.05 I'm pretty sure they know better than you which plane they need and of what capacity.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:15

      Crj900 or 1000 series or E190s would be a great replacement for the ageing Atr fleet. You can do short or medium haul routes and get up to 100 pax in them...

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:42

      Anon 09.10
      That's one of the most pointless comment on here. With a smaller plane they could actually boost their frequencies the same way airlines like LO did. In stead of flying two weekly to CPH they could fly it 3 or 4 times per week.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:43

      And at the same time that would help them increase their costs. Great plan.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:48

      Yes but increased costs would come with increased revenue. ;)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    This goes to show that JU needs to more aircraft.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Why did the retire their 737`s then?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Because they were over 30 years old and expensive to maintain.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Had they not retired them, you would be the first one on here writing they are flying ancient planes wouldn't you?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      Truth be told, those 737s could've covered the charter season freeing up two to three
      A319s... But it is what it is now.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:14

      But you would still be complaining they ancient, death traps and so on... I mean that's what I read here.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:15

      Those 737s should have been retired years ago.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:15

      This 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.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:18

      737's could have flown to Hurgada, Bodrum, every Greek island, etc..

      I guess they did not expect for the demand to pick up so quickly

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:19

      Again, I don't know how you don't understand the costs associated with flying 30+ year old planes that probably had their D checks up and coming.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:25

      Retiring the B737s was the right decision. Now the other question is should they have extended the lease of 1 A320 and 1 ATR that they last year instead of getting rid of them.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:43

      D check was done on them three years ago, they were retired because they didn't think demand will recover this fast. The same reason why YU-APG was retired. If they had the second A320 they wouldn't need these expensive 737s with foreign crew.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:44

      First of all it's not 737s plural it one 737. Second how do you know their cost to claim it's expensive. They sent you the contract to review?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous09:48

      How do you know it's not expensive? How much do you think it would cost them to bring the crew for the whole summer?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous09:51

      And how do you know the wet lease is for the "whole summer"? It is likely for two months, until the end of August. Your comment was full of inaccuracies, firstly claiming they are wet leasing multiple 737s then claiming they (again plural) it will be expensive, which you simply can't know if you don't have the contract in front of you, which I'm sure you don't.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:12

      Short term leases are extremely expensive. Let's hope they are not getting ripped off. What I don't get is... demand started to pick up around Easter when we got all those charters to Egypt. Since then Aegean has announced Rhodes and Heraklion, Wizz Air Santorini and Heraklion, Ryanair INI-CFU and so on. The writing was on the wall, how come JU did not prepare itself better especially since they know from before how strong charter demand is.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous10:14

      Given the uncertainty of markets, a short term wet lease is a good option as it will fly during the months where there is known demand and will not require the expense of year round flying as would leasing in another aircraft ....

      A good strategy to deploy more of these short term wet leases until things return to normal in the next year or two

      Delete
    16. Anonymous10:28

      Not to mention that 737-700 is much more fuel efficient than 737-300, and flies faster as well.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous11:00

      Unfortunately they rushed to reduce their fleet so they have to resort to these actions.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:13

      No problem, just return the salaries

      Delete
    19. Anonymous11:34

      Oh no, those 20-30% reductions will stay because they don't affect upper management.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous11:59

      Exactly

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    This is good news. Further evidence demand is returning.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    wow I have missed too much. I had no idea Smartwings acquired Czech Airlines. I thought they were still owned by Korean Air.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then you also missed that Czech Airlines filed for bancruptcy. They are now flying with just two aircraft (one owned and one leased from Smartwings) and waiting for the inevitable death.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      Airbus is also about to sue them for trying to cancel their order. I think for 600 million Euros.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    first of all, they should consider getting rid of old and noisy turboprops and getting new ones. However, leasing planes for charters is a smart idea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:36

      3 new ATR 72-600 should be coming soon, with JU retiring their 72-200

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:59

      You know or you guess?

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    Good

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:24

    Eventually demand will return, and it seems earlier rather than later, and they will need to add more aircraft to their fleet.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:30

    At least they are proactive. Starting new routes, getting extra capacity. Much better than what I expected for this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:30

    Why wet lease, why not much cheaper dry lease? - JU has 737 licensed flight and cabin crews.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      How do you know their licenses have not expired? The last B737 flight operated in March 2020. It is now June 2021. Do you know how many pilots retired in the last year? How do you know if they were B737 pilots.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      Since when is dry lease "much cheaper" than wet lease?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      You can't get a dry lease for just the summer season. Finding anything for less than 3 years would be quite an achievement.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL12:47

      Licenses, if valid for the 737NG (doubt it), would of expired by now. Licenses don't work on training once and your set for life, there is a certain amount of flights that need to be done throughout the year for them to remain current. Licenses are typically valid for 1 year, with a recurrent course each year upon renewing them.

      I believe for JU crew to operate the B737NG, they would need training...which isn't cheap.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:31

    What I don't get is why go for a B737 which means they have to bring foreign crew when they could have taken an A319/320 and used local crew. Seems like an unneccessary expense especially now when leases are dirt cheap on Airbus planes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      How do you know their licenses have not expired? The last B737 flight operated in March 2020. It is now June 2021. Do you know how many pilots retired in the last year? How do you know if they were B737 pilots.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Maybe in the total package this option was cheaper.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:37

      Anon 09.33 which is why it made more sense to go for an A320 lease and not B737 especially since they have to bring in foreign crew when they have their own.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:41

      My comment was meant for the comment thread above. In any case I highly doubt they would be able to secure a dry lease for just 2-3 months because no one wants to sign those sort of leases and it would involve much more bureaucracy with the CAD.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:45

      I think airlines would be more than happy to offload their planes even for 3 months. Better than to have them sit around collecting dust.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:46

      Well what you think is not actually reality because it's much more expensive to activate a dormant plane just so it would fly for 2 months only to be put back into storage afterwards.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:54

      Huh? And Smartwings is the only airline out there that has available aircraft? No one is offering A320s? You make no sense.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:58

      And why is it a problem that it is Smartwings? Is that some issue for you? Maybe it was the best deal they could find. Since you don't have a contract in front of you how can you make such claims with such certainity.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:00

      And you have the contract in front of you?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:02

      I don't. I use common sense rather than making outlandish claims and being triggered by Smartwings lol.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:06

      No one is triggered by Smartwings, people are surprised by the fact that they are leasing a new model and bringing in foreign crew when they have their own. Logically speaking getting an A319/320 makes much more sense. From the article:

      A total of four groups of Smartwings crew will be stationed in Belgrade to operate the aircraft.

      Since you need a pilot, copilot and one cabin crew per 50 seats that means they will have to bring in 20 Czech employees to Belgrade.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:09

      Yes and doing that for two months was likely less expensive than concluding a long term dry lease, which is unlikely to be able to enter commercial service in a week due to bureaucratic procedures each new leased plane has to go through and the fact that concluding such agreements takes longer than signing off on a wet lease.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous10:13

      That is why they should have leased an Airbus to be operated with local crew which are widely available. A short-term lease that is.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:22

      The crazy part you guys, is that we laid off pilots, retired few as well, and asked everyone to take 50% pay cut only to do this now. What a cluster**** of advance planning and management... Oh well, time to move on.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous10:26

      Few people could predict, and few people can still predict the way this pandemic will play out and how it will impact on demand. All international aviation organizations still don't predict prepandemic demand to return until 2024-2025. 4 weeks in summer is one thing. There is also winter, there are also predictions the virus will pick up again in autumn. So a lot of unknowns that no one from planning and management can predict.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous10:30

      Sure, predictions and assumptions can be deceiving.. But when the f**** flying DOES pick up, which obviously did, as we are about to wet lease for the most expensive period of the year, then you gotta pay you crew normal wages (until the new downturn). You can't expect us to have 20 flights a day to Hurgada or Antalya before you say "ok now we can pay you normal wages again"...

      Delete
    17. Anonymous10:31

      You cannot get a dry lease for 3 months. The whole process of re-registering the aircraft, adding it to the AOC, sorting out the documents, manuals, etc. would take longer than that.

      Wet lease is the only way to meet seasonal demand like this.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:02

      Get a wet lease but for an Airbus. When JU got that CRJ they still had one of their crew onboard. Now it will be all Czech crew. Seems like a waste.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous11:03

      And how do you know there won't be one Air Serbia crew onboard the B737?

      Delete
    20. Anonymous11:33

      At the time YM was wet leasing Carpatair planes there was always at least one member of YM crew on board.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous11:34

      Because it says so in the article, you might want to read it before commenting

      Delete
    22. Anonymous11:35

      And where does it say in the article that there will not be a JU crew member on board? Please stop making things up for the sake of complaining.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous12:06

      It's literally in the article. read it again Jesus Christ

      Delete
    24. Anonymous12:09

      Yes, I've read it. It says the aircraft is wet leased with crew. The CRJs were also wet leased with full set of crew. So you complaining how there won't be a JU crew member on this B737 is nonsense since you don't know there won't be one. The JU crew member doesn’t actually do anything other than be there to assist to make announcements in Serbian and help if someone doesn’t understand English. No JU crew member was licensed to actually work on the CRJ.

      Delete
    25. Anonymous08:06

      Yet there was a JU crew on the CRJ jet. Also don't forget that the JP jet was received as part of settlement with JP.
      As for Nordica, that plane was God sent. It was used on many routes where the ATR was small and A319 too big. You can't compare the two situations. Everyone knows JU needs regional jets, B737-700 on the other hand...

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:31

    The charter season seems to be very strong this year. Just last Saturday Air Serbia had 6 flights to Hurghada in one day. Even tomorrow in the middle of the week they have two flights to Hurghada.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      I've heard they are thinking of sending A330 to Hurghada.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:42

    For the next summer they are going to need at least two new A320s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      They need an older plane which is configured for charters, i.e. dense seating, no dedicated business class section, but that its not previously excessively used for charters or flew coastal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:07

      Yes indeed they need just another Bulgarina 737 configuration. Come on sitting high density on 2-3 hrs flight is not confortable at all.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:14

      YU-APH and YU-APG were like that, high density and no dedicated business class. Looking at the situation now, they should have kept the second A320.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL12:51

      All their aircraft have a high dense configuration for a few years now. JU only has a dedicated business class in their A332.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:47

    I LOVE how everyone is a CEO on here. They know which plane Air Serbia needs, they know Air Serbia's finances, loads, which routes work and not, they know contract details for Air Serbia planes, maintenance schedules, crew requirements etc. Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prepelica09:53

      Hehe true dat, but honestly, it's nothing compared to the other serbian aviation portal where we have hundreds of armchair generals and wikipedia warriors knowing which fighter airplanes and SAM systems we need with complete lack of common sense. Here at least, people are making more or less logical assumptions (minus few trolls here and there).

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:55

      I love how this surprises you.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:56

      Well finances we know from their financial reports that is published each year. hopefully this leased 737 brings them to profitability since you make it sound like they know what they are doing.

      Btw I think they should spend more time fixing their ATR fleet. YU-ALN was out of service for weeks and A319 had to fly to the region with 20-30 passengers.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:59

      I'm pretty sure they know better what they are doing than you. Otherwise you would be an airline CEO and not writing comments here.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      Every business out there exists to be profitable. Profitability is reached by having good management. Without good management you don't have profits. Very simple.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:04

      So all airlines have bad management considering everyone was unprofitable last year.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:15

      I am speaking in general including the period before covid. ;)

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:19

      anon@10.03 - you can have good management and still not be profitable, as the current state of aviation suggests. There are some things which management simply can't control and should not reflect on them or their efforts

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:04

      Your argument would be a valid one if JU was truly profitable before covid, something that was not the case. JU failed to turn a profit during one of the most prosperous periods for the industry and that's all due to the management the airline had.
      In my opinion JU needs to work towards achieiving profitablity because it is not unrelaistic. However what is becoming increasingly obvious is that the government needs to look at other managerial options.

      Delete
    10. JATBEGMEL13:14

      The government did seek new management...in EY. We all saw how that turned out. Inflated lease prices, 2 fleet wide cabin reconfigurations in 5 years, change in business models. The current model seems to be bringing them on path to profitablity. Introduction of ARB, just in leasing costs, will save them roughly a third of the losses made in 2019. EY leases are being replaced for cheaper aircraft. 2019 saw a massive expansion, 2 rigged tenders for JU to open bases in INI and KVO, and yet they managed to not drastically increase their losses. 2020 was supposed to be another year of expansion, however considering the pandemic, they still managed to launch OSL, GVA and ROV. I think some patience is needed and we will see profitablity. They have been fairly active after all.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:12

    I don't understand why so many people are getting so worked up about it. And the article actually says they are negotiating it's not like it's set in stone.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:28

    What's happening with Yu-Api and Yu-Alt? Those aricrafts are not in function for long period

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:43

      Long Ground Time Parking

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:05

      YU-ALT left the fleet, it's not coming back. Management decided they don't need extra ATR capacity so they did not renew the lease.
      YU-API is not coming back either, at least that's the plan for now.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:52

    Somebody mentioned before here and on some other forum, Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi, they should be JU next bunch of routes. Done in the first wave, arriving around 0500 in BEG and connecting to morning EU/JFK flights.
    No brainer in my opinion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:04

      Considering how successful they are in Rostov and Krasnodar, I think these routes would become a new staple in their network.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      I think they should first think about already announced destinations that pandemic cancelled: HEL, KIV, FLR, AMM, CAI, LWO...

      Delete
    3. Totally agree with the above except for FLR just until EU borders re-open. Lviv, Kiev and Helsinki should be priorities due to the transfer potential within the region now for the summer season!

      Delete
  18. Anonymous12:53

    I don't understand why are people so upset about JU wet-leasing this plane.
    Lets make it simple - wet-leasing this plane for charters brings 100 X per flight to Hurghada (X is imaginary currency). Using their own airplane for charters to Hurghada brings 100X (same as wet-leasing). BUT, using that same airplane on some regular route brings 120X.
    So, if leasing a plane for a charter season is cheaper than using your own plane (because you use your own plane on more lucrative market), of course they will wet-lease planes! Let them wet-lease whatever they want and as many as they want!
    If it means utilizing additional Airbus on regular routes, great!
    Remember, they have only 18 planes (17, if you exclude A330 as it is used solely on one route), and from those 17, 5 are ATRs, so basically only 12 for most of european and russian flights. Thats not a lot! And then imagine when from those 12 planes 3-4 are constantly deployed for charters.
    Even that it is "free money", your regular operation suffers.
    So wet-leasing makes sence.
    Also, Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan make sence

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:19

      Those three Caucasus' cities would be a great addition to JUs network no doubt.

      Delete
  19. Why didn't the rent a plane and crew from Air Canada? The planes are just sitting around and the crew have no work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:03

      Why on earth would they do that?? How much would it cost to ferry the plane from Canada and how much would it cost to pay crew which have higher wages than in Czech Republic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:51

      I think Anon @14:18 just didn't think through what he wrote before posting.
      Having said that i wonder how many rotations one crew can perform per day.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:25

      Depends on flight length

      Delete
  20. Anonymous15:43

    On May 4th Air Serbia said they are continuing to look at options to expand its long haul network but its main focus is returning to normality.

    Now they are looking to lease an aircraft even though many indicators (LF, number of destinations, demand) have not fully recovered to 2019 levels of "normality".

    Charter demand and long haul demand are very different but one has to wonder if Air Serbia management uses double standards in "returning to normality" as an excuse when it comes to leasing narrowbody vs widebody planes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:48

      A wet lease of a B737 for two months and a 5 year contract to lease a wide body aircraft which would require additional crew training, layover requirements such as hotels and so on are a universe apart.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:15

      Return to normality has nothing to do with JU hesitancy to grow long haul.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:22

      Return to normality has everything to do with JU hesitancy to grow long haul.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:01

      United and Delta didn't need return to normalcy in the long haul market to seize the risky opportunity and launch Dubrovnik services.

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL18:03

      We can only assume here, but there were strong indications that, had Covid not damaged the industry, that another wide body was to enter the fleet.

      The fact that ARA was replaced with ARB indicates that they are committed to continuing long haul ops. Had ARB not entered the fleet, the comment would be valid. However, a replacement is here, under better leasing conditions, and it has been fairly active (PEK, SVO, TGD).

      Short haul still has alot of recovery to make, which will aid filling a second long haul destination. Almost all regional destinations have not had more than 50% of their frequencies resume (ex TGD, TIV, TIA).

      However, it seems some short term demand has picked up and theyre using the opportunity to do so. Obviously they see an opportunity and want to jump at it. 1 ac for a 2 month period seems will do the job for them for the short term, winter is typically slower and they will have extra capacity. After all, do you honestly think theyre leasing in extra capacity for the fun of it?

      We will probably see some interesting updates regarding fleet and destinations by January.

      Delete
    6. Well said JATBEGMEL.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:39

      JATBEGMEL, UA & DL had wide body planes and crew sitting around. JU didn't have it in late 2015 but that didn't stop them from launching JFK. I generally agree with you except when it comes to belief that if it wasn't for Covid another wide body would join JU fleet. Canada was open to JU since early 2018 and JU had until early 2020 to announce new long haul service but it didn't. At that time A330 lease was expensive. Now it's cheap, but there's Covid. There will always be some barrier to entry.

      I would hate to see some high ranking politician light the fire under JU executives feet by saying something like "Air Serbia is launching Toronto this year". Suddenly there would be no barriers.

      Delete
    8. Prepelica20:06

      @Anonymous 18:01. United and Delta received billions from US govt so they can agressively expand and exploit the situation.

      Delete
    9. JATBEGMEL01:03

      The year JU launched JFK was around the time JU had the biggest loss (roughly 50 million Euro). JFK wasnt the only reason, but if I remember right, the loss doubled that year.

      In 2017, JU went from a legacy boutique carrier to a hybrid airline. 10 aircraft were reffitted for that, changes to the service, business model etc. This came with cuts to destinations (WAW, BUD, VAR) and frequencies. Dane Kondic, Air Serbia's former CEO resigned that year. 2018 was when their hybrid model had settled and was bringing results - lower losses. 2019 was the first year of expansion since, 2 rigged tenders got them mini bases in INI and KVO, 11 destinations from BEG, increase in frequencies, an A319 joined the fleet and they reacted to the collapse of KK and JP. Loss for 2019 was around 9.5 million Euros. 2020 was supposed to follow with additional aircraft and 6 destinations...and covid hit.

      The past couple of years, JU has had some excellent developments. JU wasn't ready for JFK, alot of creative funding was needed to be given to JU because of JFK (ie Serbia Creates livery), which is why I don't think the government is as pushy on long haul as before. Not to mention there has been public pressure to bring JU's finances in order.

      UA and DL on the other hand have had their respective mergers and consolidations, many years of profit and spare cash to invest in their fleet and product - a luxury JU doesn't have. Both carriers currently have excess long haul capacity, hence the move into what they consider a lower yield market to at least bring in some money rather than nothing. JU doesn't have excess widebodies for more long haul.

      Delete
  21. JATBEGMEL18:17

    @18,01

    Soo both airlines leased aircraft and hired crew specifically for DBV?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous19:01

    I would prefer them to lease Airbus 320 ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vlad02:10

      Well they should take that into account next time by all means.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous19:54

    this is another confirmation that Air serbia does not have a business strategy, and especially that without charter traffic it would be in even more serious trouble. They did not grounded the B737 from traffic in March 2020, but in March 2021. They could parked it and waited for some more time to see how the situation would develop, especially since the vaccination had already started. This is not a prompt response, as Mr. Jiri spins for a while, but the classic absence of a strategy, which must exist, of course changed according to the crisis situation, such as COvid

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:59

      Do you understand the cost of maintaining a 35 year old plane? Or the cost of retraining crew whose licenses have expired. For what, 2 months?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:01

      It is cheaper than wet lease. But I am not talking here about should they or not leave 733 in operation. I am talking about strategy to know what is your core business and how to maintain it: destinations, frequency, fleet, costumer relations, brand awareness, where do you want to be in 1,5,10 years .....

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:04

      It is definitely not cheaper than a two nonth wet lease. Some people on here are detached from reality.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:44

      anon@21.04 - how do you know its "definitely not cheaper than a 2 month wet lease" ? Do you even know the average cost of a wet 1 month wet lease ?

      They usually start at a minimum of around USD1800 per block hour and can run upwards to USD2500. There should also be a minimum of monthly block hrs / month of around 250 to 300 hrs, depending on the operator.

      So if you take the lower of both - USD1800 / BH and 250 BH / month - that runs to USD450,000 / month. Then on top of that JU has to pay fuel, ground handling and all overflight charges, taxes and service fees.

      For 2 months, you are looking at a minimum of at least USD1,000,000.

      Based on this, I can assure you that the cost of keeping 1 of the old 737's and crew on standby for this summer, just in case things came good, would have not even been 10% of this cost.

      Yes, hindsight is a good thing, but less of a good thing is a mindset that makes a decision that costs the shareholder an unnecessary additional USD1m

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL00:35

      You do realise that even after JU retired their B733's, their aircraft was barely operating 1 flight per day?

      So, the logic is that JU should of kept the B733's active (which costs money), as well as keeping the crew current on the type (again, money) so that aircraft that they already pay leases for stay on ground, just incase they may need it (in this case for 2 months)?

      Since we are making calculations, how much do you think it would cost having the leased aircraft practically grounded while resources are unnecessarily spent keeping 35 year old aircraft flying?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous08:11

      Management has no vision or strategy. Demand was picking up for months now, three for sure, and they did nothing. They made charter and scheduled flights plans and did not factor in the fact they have no extra planes to add flights if there is a need.
      They already angered tour operators once now they will create a mess by not being able to take care of the charter traffic. Luckily Aegean is here and their flight on the 14th to HER is fully booked already. Same with Wizz and flights to Greece.
      We will have to see how JU behaves now when they are getting more and more competition and how their expert management fights to protect their market without government being able to simply ban their competition like they did with Anadoloujet, a whole variety of Egyptian carriers or even S7.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous08:19

      Demand was completely dead until April, at least when JU and BEG is concerned

      Delete
    8. Prepelica08:52

      @Anonymous 19:54
      I only see this as a confirmation that you lack even basic understanding of running a business, airline or any other. Please keep entertaining us with your senseless bashing of Air Serbia.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous23:35

    Both 737,s who were flying have enough resources for next two years non-stop flying.Aircraft are OWNED by company, planty of spare parts for free in stores.
    But, if I lease Plane, I , also calculate ITM tax( IMA li tu mene), what is a mayor point in all transactions

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:16

      Says the conspiracy guy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:13

      They made sure there was no chance for those planes to fly. I think YU-AND was already broken down just because management wanted another $50.000 to boost their revenue.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous02:10

    I hope they only use it for charters .
    You pi** off your customers if you let them fly another airline when booked Air Serbia .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prepelica08:50

      I am sure you are the regular Air Serbia customer, and that flying on B737 instead of A319 is vastly different/worse experience so that you will stop flying with them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      If we talk about seat pitch that is absolutely different.

      Delete

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