Air Serbia to add up to eight aircraft to fleet this summer


Air Serbia plans to introduce up to eight aircraft to its fleet this summer as part of its expansion plans. Some of the planes will only be used during the summer months before being returned to their lessors or operators. Apart from the incoming four ATR72-600 turboprops, which are all expected to enter the fleet by the height of the summer season, the airline has announced the arrival of an Airbus A319 jet, which is due to enter the fleet in late May or early June. A further two Airbus A320-family aircraft are being considered along with the addition of a Boeing 737 jet to its fleet. However, plans remain subject to change due to ongoing market volatility. Air Serbia is set to introduce thirteen new routes this summer and will boast a record charter season.

The Serbian flag carrier currently operates a fleet of seventeen aircraft. It is due to phase out its ATR72-200 and -500 turboprops by the end of the year as it takes delivery of the newer -600 version. Despite some uncertainties, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently noted, “I’m proud that we are continuing to record growth in passenger numbers month on month. This encourages and provides us with hope that we are moving closer towards a full recovery in air transport and the decline of the pandemic, while it also serves to confirm that we have taken sound strategic decisions and moved in the right direction even during the most difficult of periods. We are continuing in the same direction: towards new opportunities, convinced that passengers are equally looking forward to additional travel and holiday opportunities”.

As a result of its planned fleet and network growth, Air Serbia has begun hiring new crew members for the first time in two years. Over the weekend, the carrier held an assessment day in Belgrade, with over 200 candidates applying. “An exciting and challenging summer season awaits us, with many flights and destinations, so for that reason, we are opening our doors to new colleagues, in order to jointly contribute to achieving planned goals and providing the highest quality of service to our passengers”, Milica Netković, Air Serbia’s General Manager for People and Performance, said. It marks the airline’s twelfth cabin crew assessment day since it rebranded in 2013, with previous events also taking place in Banja Luka, Podgorica and Niš.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Great to see Air Serbia expanding.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    This summer will be very strong but to me it seems they already have a fleet shortage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      I don't see that they have a fleet shortage. All flights are operating normally.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    The 737 probably will be exclusively used for charters like last year.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      I thought they got rid of the 737s.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      They did. They wetleased a Smartwings 737.

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    3. Anonymous09:13

      Anon@9:03, to which 737 are you referring to?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:14

      Read the article

      "A further two Airbus A320-family aircraft are being considered along with the addition of a Boeing 737 jet to its fleet."

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:15

      My bad. Just noticed it in the article.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:50

      They used the B737 on some scheduled routes too last year. I remember Podgorica, Tirana and even Rome.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:00

      True but very rarely. It usually did 3-4 daily Antalya rotations.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I think the 737 will be used for charters and that if they add those two a320 they will stay. Which is phenomenal news

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Yes probably like last year.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:06

    So I assume the A319 announced earlier this week will be long term lease since it is getting the Air Serbia livery. What about the other two?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      One will likely be Carpatair A319 wetlease. The third I don't know.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      2 A319 dry lease, 2 A319 wetlease, 1 B737 wet lease. But like it says, will depend on situation.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      Sorry meant

      * 2 A319 dry lease, 1 A319 wetlease, 1 B737 wet lease

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:39

      Can someone explain what is difference between wet lease and dry lease?
      Thanks

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:43

      Wet-lease is short term and is operated by the pilots and crew you leased the plane from.

      Dry lease is longer term and involves your own airline's crew operating the aircraft. Also usually involves repainting the aircraft in your own livery.

      During last summer, Air Serbia wetleased Transavia B737 which was operated by Czech crew.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:46

      Thanks a lot.

      Delete
    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    8. Smartwings, sorry

      Delete
  6. Is 'People and Performance' the same as 'human resources department'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Charlie. In my company it was changed last year from HR to "People and Culture"

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:51

      It sounds better than HR :D

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    Excellent news. I believe next ATR72-600 will probably be arriving next week.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      Will the registration be YU-ALZ?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      And if it is, do they afterwards move to YU-AOA? YU-AM was used for DC10 fleet and YU-AN for B737 fleet.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      YU-AO was used by Adria for their Airbuses...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:52

      Can old registrations be reused?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:01

      I have seen aircraft reuse old registrations but I think it is very rare. Maybe someone has more knowledge on this?

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL14:13

      YU-AO was used by JAT for B737's as well.

      I think the next ATR will be YU-APZ, followed by YU-ASA.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:36

      Interesting. We will find out the registration soon.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:58

      YU-AOx also was used Montenegro Airlines. What happened with YU-ALW reg? ex. YU-ANW was used before...

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    So no A321? :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      I don't think so but I think the A321 would be ideal for charters, especially to Antalya and Hurghada.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:35

      Yes, they could easily fill A321s for charters.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:38

      On some scheduled routes too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:43

      Haha and let's not forget about the World Cup :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:44

      I'm assuming we will be seeing YU-ARB in Doha :)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:58

      I'm also wondering how this aircraft registration works. Can old registrations be recycled?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:25

      Do you mean recycled into something else, or reused again?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:52

      Sorry, my 9.58 comment was meant for the comment thread above this one.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:53

      I don't know where the whole A321 story began. No one reported it

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:55

      It started because JU displayed the A321 in the system in June on some Amsterdam flights. But they said afterwards it was a mistake and that no A321s are planned.

      Delete
    11. If you have 6 flights in one day on 319 to Antalya, it is cheaper and more logical to have 4 flights on 321. If you have ZRH and TV with multple daily departures and mostly for P2P passengers, it is also logical to use bigger plane. On services, scheduled or charter, which are almost always fully booked or overbooked, like Paris or Hurghada, 321 can't make it worse either. Not to mention it can cover irregularities on any flight in medium haul network or simply deployed on any flight with higher booking figures, which companies regularly do with the same aircraft family. No additional crew training or maintenance costs, so it is very logical in my opinion. Of course some people don't share my opinion and I have no problems with it

      Delete
    12. TIV, not TV, autocorrect

      Delete
    13. JATBEGMEL14:17

      It would make more sense to wet lease an A321 rather than a B737 in this case, for the peak summer charters. Outside of the 3 peak months, even the A320 is too large for most routes. Dry leasing A321's makes no sense for JU with its current fleet.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    Good news. It's also nice to see JU resuming Venice from today, YU-ALY operated the route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Good thing they put ALY on the route. I think Venice is among their longest ATR routes, right?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      Prague is some 10 minutes longer.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:31

      Thanks. I thought they might be sending YU-ALY strategically on longer routes but I just checked and it seems to go everywhere, although operating Vienna almost daily.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:43

      I think VIE makes sense as they have fierce competition from OS which is planning 21 weekly flights soon. They can't be competitive with ancient ATRs.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:53

      Yes, seems they finally realised that.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:30

      BEG-VCE 20 pax
      VCE-BEG 40 pax

      Not bad on the flight back

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    Air Serbia needs aircraft in between the ATRs and A319s.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:34

    So, by how much are they expending their fleet?

    Most are aircraft replacements. So it means they are growing their fleet by 1 (or 2) A319s? The other are summer wet-leases.

    The title is very misleading for the reasons above + when you read the article, it says that the ATRs replacements will be introduced by year-end (so not summer).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      Where does it say that the ATR replacement will be introduced by year-end? It says that they will be introduced by height of summer while the old ATRs will be phased out by the end of the year. Obviously not all will be phased out the second the new ones come.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      How is the title misleading? It just says how many aircraft will be added to fleet. Whether they are replacements or not is another question.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:44

      Basically they will grow by 1 A319 if you exclude these seasonal additions. That said they are still going to be a long way from their pre-covid situation.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:47

      Before the Ukraine war, they said they would reach pre Covid numbers by the end of the year.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:58

      Doubt it since they will have fewer flights to Russia especially if Krasnodar and Rostov don't open soon.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:03

      They have like 14 new routes.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:32

      Yeah and they already started canceling them. Sochi is already done and Bologna and Trieste are not far behind.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:36

      ^ Do you live under a rock or you don't know what's happening in Russia?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:55

      I work for BEG and we were informed that BLQ and TRS might not happen because loads are very bad.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:54

      Italy always used to have very strong feed of transfer passengers from Russia, which is a problem now.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:03

      Naples would have been a better choice than Bologna.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:20

      Is there any business reason why airline would inform the airport about the route performance and tickets sales and poetntial cancellation before they actually make a decision about it? Just wandering if that is the true or people use argument "I work for... " When there's no other argument.

      Delete
    13. Vlad13:09

      "I work for BEG and we were informed that BLQ and TRS might not happen because loads are very bad."

      Source: trust me bro

      Delete
    14. Anonymous16:31

      Anon 12.20

      Because of gate space planning, BEG needs to know more or less to know how to plan ahead.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:38

    It's obvious that they can't manage this summer with current fleet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      Well yes, that's why they are leasing more planes...

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:39

    They should also be thinking about a second A330.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      True dat.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:40

      Hopefully soon

      Delete
  14. Good morning! Just a clarification please. Of those 13 new routes, which are seasonal and which are going to be maintained throughout winter 2022-2023?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:40

      I think they will wait to see how they perform. Although from memory, I think the new German routes, Salzburg and Amman are all confirmed for winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:01

      I believe one of the Spanish routes is also year round.

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL19:35

      Seasonal:

      INI-ATH
      KVO-TIV
      BEG-BRI
      BEG-PMI
      BEG-RJK

      Year round:
      BEG-AMM
      BEG-BLQ
      BEG-HAJ
      BEG-LYS
      BEG-NUE
      BEG-SZG
      BEG-TRS
      BEG-VLC

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:57

      Impressive. Thanks

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:34

    Another good piece of news is that this morning after months of inactivity, A320 has returned to flying. It's currently coming back from Zurich.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:17

      What was wrong with it?

      Delete
    2. Vratio se juče, he is coming yesterday

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:39

    Is the lease for any other Airbus jet expiring soon?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:51

    They desperately need larger aircraft.

    They have a single A320 that was scheduled to Moscow most of the days but now can't fly and the A319 is being sent instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:02

      The A320 was on maintenance, then it had some technical issue but it returned to the fleet this morning.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous12:03

    I wish they hadn't cancelled the A320neo order. They could have just downsized the number of aircraft.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:57

      It was way to expensive for Air Serbia at the time, especially with two massive loans they had (which they have thankfully paid off).

      Delete
  19. Anonymous13:51

    I really don't understand this wet leasing strategy, especially not with the aircraft that you don't have anymore in the fleet. Last year it was understandable, regarding the circumstances, but now to wet lease 3 aircraft is too expensive and not to mention strategic aspects. I mean JAT in worst days sucessed to dry lease

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:23

      It will be 2 aircraft wet leased probably. And 8 dry lease (4 ATR72, 2 A319)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:24

      * 6 dry leased I meant.

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL18:30

      2 aircraft will be wet leased.

      JU has a large uptick in traffic for 3 months. For the other 9 months, its fleet is sufficient. Wet leasing allows them that added short term capacity. JU isn't the only airline to do that. It's not ideal, but it's cheaper than holding onto additional capacity for months at a time, especially during periods of uncertainty. Most important thing is that additional dry leases are coming in, which means an overall growth in their fleet.

      With wet lease, choice of aircraft doesn't matter. They used to wet lease CRJ's before for the summer season, which too wasn't part of their fleet.

      Delete
  20. Misleading statement for sure. If they are replacing the ATRs then they are actually only adding one new plane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:00

      Yes, I also thought that there was a sudden massive expansion going on, but it turns out it's mostly replacements.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:25

    I flew with the Smartwings B737 last year when it was being operated for Air Serbia. It was great and the Czech crew really nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:53

      JU wet-leased the B737-700 right?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:56

      Yes, that's right. One of their two 737-700s

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:25

    One A319 should come from Carpatair apparently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:53

      I notice that Air Montenegro often wet leases it when one of their Embraers goes tech.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous05:03

      A 220-330 is available for wet lease from Air Baltic.Does this plane makes sense for Air Serbia?

      Delete
    3. A220-300 have similar capacity to A319,I think that no make sense.
      But A220 is nice plane.Very quiet and beautiful.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:49

      I agree that the A220 is nice. I've flown it twice, both times with Air Baltic (once as their own flight and the second time just a couple of weeks ago when they operated wetlease).

      On the one hand, it doesn't make sense from a ground handling perspective to introduce a new aircraft type if it's only one or two flying, but on the other hand, the aircraft's low fuel consumption might still make it interesting the way fuel prices are at the moment. My guess is that Air Baltic got a good price when ordering the aircraft so that they can afford to offer a good wetlease price that after all makes them a potential candidate along with other airlines offering older aircraft for wetlease.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous17:28

    ^ Bel Cielo is like a little girl never happy

    ReplyDelete

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