Air Serbia eyes five-member wide-body fleet


Air Serbia plans to operate up to five wide-body aircraft in the future as it prepares to take delivery of its second twin-aisle jet in the coming weeks. “In 2023 we will operate two Airbus A330s. If China proves to be a success story and the markets open up, we could increase to three aircraft. In the long-term, I can imagine a fleet size of around five aircraft on long haul routes”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, told “Aero Telegraph”. He added, “The two aircraft we will be using now are the A330 Ceo, which offer good value for money. We already have a lot of experience operating this aircraft. On the other hand, in the short and medium haul sector, we are not just limiting ourselves to the Ceo version, because the leasing market is very dynamic and volatile following the pandemic, and we will seize every good opportunity that comes our way”.

Air Serbia is targeting to have all of its cabin crew members trained for the wide-body, with new batches of crew soon starting their courses. Air Serbia is leasing its second A330-200 aircraft from Aircastle Limited with the frame having previously operated for South African Airways. The jet is due to arrive in Belgrade next month and will be put into operation to Tianjin, New York and European destinations. It will temporarily replace the airline’s current A330-200 which will undergo scheduled maintenance during the winter season, after which both twin-aisle jets will be utilised. “In addition to serving future flights to China, which we plan to launch this autumn, this plane will also be deployed on flights to important European destinations that are in high demand”, Mr Marek, said.


The CEO previously described taking on a second A330 as a “big deal” for a regional carrier. “We are very satisfied with the performance of our A330-200 because flying just to one long haul destination with just one aircraft is quite challenging. The new addition will be vital to our further expansion, launching new routes and increasing the frequency of flights in our existing network of destinations”, Mr Marek said. Although yet to be confirmed, Air Serbia is expected to lease the A330 previously registered as ZS-SXW. It was delivered new to South Africa’s national carrier in 2011 and has been stored since May 2020, when it was returned to its owner.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    Realistically, with 5 planes how many long haul routes could they serve?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Yes,for example:
      7X New-York
      2X Shanghai
      2X Beijing
      3X Chicago
      And maybe Bangkok,Toronto,Havana,Tianjin,Los Angeles,European destinations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      Depends on frequencies, i.e. one will be needed only for JFK, while second will see two/three destinations, so I would say up to 10.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:09

      Wouldn't it be nice to have a spare plane?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:11

      Having a widebody sit as a spare? Highly unlikely.

      Delete
    5. Miroslav10:44

      Last week I received invitation from HKTDC informning that all visitors of fairs are to be excluded from COVID quaratine. Same will be happening from April for Canton Fair, following China opening for business people. This way, I believe JU first destinations are to be Shanhgai, Beijing/Tainjin next year, and probably HK/Guangzhou from 2024. With already agreed Chicago and existing NY - this will mean they will need at least 2 x a330 for 2023 and 3 x a330 for 2024 just to cover theese lines. China is most frequent for business people from EXYU. Also, Chinese are frequesnt as business and tourists to EXYU. This will be enough passengers to fulfill at least 2-3 weekly flights for each of theese destinations in China.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:32

      Guys from 01.10 Canada is also removing all entry requirements. I expect demand to boom.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:58

      If JU is to launch 5 x A330 and do serious long-haul in years to come, they shall same time increase regional fleet. They will need more ATR-s for transfer pasangers from Sofia, Bucharest, LJubljana, Tirana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Tivat, Dubrovnik, Split... Same time they will need more a320 for frequest destinations in Europe, destinations in EX-SSSR , North Africa and Middle East. They will need at least 8 to 10 pcs of ATR72-600 as well as minimum 5 to 6 A320 for this job adding to existing 11 x a319. Meaning they are to rise to over 30 aeroplanes in next few years

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:25

      Maybe nonstop to Australia.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:00

      JAT had already 5 DC 10 in some summers….

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:19

      Anon 9:04

      What about Australia mate, maybe even Tokyo.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:01

    Hopefully they won't all be A330s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      my favourite wide body: 2-3-2 seat configuration, if you have a window seat, there's only 1 person sitting next to you when you have to get up.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:45

      Who knows, if they don't want all a330s it's good to get a350-900

      Delete
    3. Vlad12:22

      "my favourite wide body: 2-3-2 seat configuration"

      This would be my favourite widebody too if it existed :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:38

      767 has such configuration. 777 and 380 are 10-abreast. 330 and 340 are 8-abreast. 787 and 350 are 9-abreast.

      Delete
    5. The majority of A330s have 2-4-2 configuration. Air Transat has 3-3-3 and I have heard it's really tight. Also, most 777s now have 3-4-3 and it gets really crowded. This past summer i was flying United's B767 from EWR to ZRH. I really liked the 2-3-2 configuration. Additionally, the configuration that UA uses on this route is heavy premium. More than 3/4 of the seats were either Business, Premium Economy or Economy Plus.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:02

    Is there a time frame when this might happen?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nemjee09:02

    It's good to be optimistic. I just hope they improve their commercial strategy and that they will have a solid winter season.
    Aegean announced a major expansion for 2023 so they are definitely putting pressure on regional aviation, JU included. They even increased BEG from 4 to 5 weekly next summer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:03

    So a third plane might arrive sooner rather than later.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:04

    Where could they deploy it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      I guess a third destination in the US. Maybe Toronto too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:56

      No Toronto. Air Serbia is allergic to Toronto. Nonstop London Sydney is more likely to exist than Belgrade Toronto. That route is cursed.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      Los Angeles

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:28

      There is simply no demand for YYZ flights from Belgrade, market is too small and those guys over there would sell their mother if they could save €10 on an airfare.
      That's why both JU and AC are staying away from this market.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:44

      Belgrade is full of passengers willing to sell anyone to save €10, Wizz has full A321s in Belgrade to prove it. There was also paltry demand from Belgrade to New York before 2016 but it grew after direct service was introduced. As for market being too small, are you talking about Zeleni Venac market? Because you are certainly not talking about Toronto, largest unserved market from Belgrade excluding China. Larger than Chicago. Any other excuses?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous04:01

      People around the world would sell their kids/mother/father for 10$....that is why LCC companies are established, because there was a need for cheap flights! But, there are people who have more money (economy +) and much more money (Business, First class) and much much more money with private jets....in our region there are not many people who are that rich and that is why flights to/from ex-yu space are not premium heavy. Hope this clarifies situation for now...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:04

    In the best times of JAT, they had 5x DC-10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      This was exactly my thought. Someone copy/pastes old JAT!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      If the shoe fits, wear it

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:00

      Remembering my flight to New York in mid 80’s, in almost full DC-10 and making stop in Ljubljana only 7 passenger to board in.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:05

    When Havana?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:05

    New York would be great via LJU once per week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:18

      Not gonna happen.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:06

    They should have two A330-300.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      -200 has better range.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      They don't need that range.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      Yes they do

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:06

    Will be interesting to see 5-6 long-haul destinations;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:10

    When will they announce Tianjin,Havana?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      Havana likely won't go ahead. Tianjin very soon.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:10

    All these plans sound great. I just don't know how they are going to finance it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Didn't you see the news a few days ago? That's how.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      What?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:16

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/09/state-increases-ownership-stake-in-air.html

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      Oh, true :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:33

      You should look at the remaining regional carriers to get a crystal-clear perspective

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:12

    What happened to GullivAir?
    The cannibal of JU;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Lol I do remember people writing here how it would be the end of JU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:50

      Do they still exist?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:49

      They exist in the same way FlyBosnia does.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL11:55

      They still exist. They returned their ATR's a couple months back due to problems in paying for them, and have been using their A330's on behalf of European tour operators such as TUI. They've canceled SOF-SKP/TIA/BOJ and have canceled plans to launch SOF-OTP/Ruse as well as BOJ-BEG. How much longer they last will be interesting to see.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:20

    The Serbian taxpayer will be digging deep into their pockets to fund this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      At least they will fund a network of 100 destinations, rather than 13 for the same price.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:30

      With 5 A330, Air Serbia can fly to JFK 4 times a day!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:31

      Better than 4 times a day to Frankfurt.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:36

      +100

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:36

      Eternal foreign concern for Serbian pockets. Our pockets are deeper than you think.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:29

      Well this year for the first time Serbian GDP will surpass €60 billion. Obviously our pockets are getting deeper and deeper.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:07

      Why is flying to NYC 4 times a day with leased aircraft better than flying 4 times per day to FRA with paid off equipment?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:10

      Because you are funding Lufthansa and bleeding money to aid an airline that doesen't even know OU exists. And just to note more than 50% of your OU's fleet is not owned by them.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:01

      I disagree. Paying for a flight with OU is bleeding money to LH how exactly? Much of the fleet is owned by OU, I never said the while fleet. Again, LH is not a share holder in OU so it is still not clear why 4 flights ti NYC per day is better than 4 flights to FRA.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous15:57

      Majority of tickets sold on OU flights to Frankfurt are purchased through Luftahansa where Lufthansa gets the majority of the revenue. Not to mention if long haul route is purchased, Croatia Airlines doesen't even get 2% of the revenue on its sector despite carrying the passenger to Frankfurt and that is why Croatia Airlines is posting record losses year after year even with huge government aid and subsidies.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:09

      Not true. Simply not true.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:20

    China will be a success no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:41

    On the recent crew recruitment they had over 400 applications.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:41

    Good luck! Hope it happens.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:42

    This is in line with what VINCI outlined they expect when they took the BEG concession.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:44

    5 planes could go to max 30 destinations, one weekly each if rotation fits in 24h window. With average 3x weekly and some taking longer than 24h, fleet of 5 can really serve only about 7-8 destinations

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:49

    Will Air Serbia ever buy a brand new plane?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous04:04

      Why?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:31

      It looks to me that green initiatves of leading countries are creating uncertanity. What would be perfect fleet for future years? When you buy new plane you have to plan 10-20 years ahead. It is just my opinion.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:33

      It will make sense for Air Serbia to order new birds only if they place order for 50+ planes and be able get some big discount

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:54

    Very nice. Well done JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:02

      Done what?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous04:05

      Having clear idea about direction that they are going toward...

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:55

    Is there any indication when China might ease these Covid restrictions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      Probably after the party congress. which starts on 16.10.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:20

      Chine is in full clown mode still.. They are locking down and fencing off entire city blocks over suspected cases.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous09:55

    I see third A330 coming in summer 2023 and fourth in summer 2024.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      Sounds plausible.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:03

      Yes, plausible being the least of all probabilities.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:51

      Hamilton and especially Buffalo are not alternative to Toronto. I live in Chicago and I wouldn't fly with Air Serbia if they fly to Rockford, 50 miles from Chicago. Do you think that businessman, who would pay his ticket much more than me, would use Air Serbia from Rockford or LH from O'Hare? There are reasons why all airlines fly from O'Hare and not from Rockford and why they fly from Toronto Pearson and not from Hamilton.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:56

      What businessman?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous00:12

      He knows a guy ...

      Delete
  25. Anonymous09:55

    with three planes they could easily fly to YYZ twice per week

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Too expensive. Air Serbia would rather fly to nearby Buffalo in the US. No frequency limit, much cheaper airport.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      Buffalo would be very happy, they would get their gateway to Europe in Belgrade. BUF seasonal service is a perfect solution to all those complaints from Air Serbia about Toronto being expensive, limited to 2 weekly by bilateral etc. Air Serbia, what's your excuse for not starting Buffalo?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:29

      Hamilton is a city some 50km west of Toronto with a huge Balkan diaspora. Could be viable alternative to YYZ.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:46

      Hamilton is not a perfect alternative to YYZ, but it might work with incentives, if there would be any. Much cheaper than YYZ. It worked well for Norwegian AS just prior to the pandemic.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:26

      Is Toronto designated airport in the bilateral? Anyone seen the text?

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:16

    Honestly that's too optimistic, as if it didn't took them almost 7 years to lease a second widebody and announce new destinations !!!
    Although I know Marek wants to improve Air Serbia's image, we should be more realistic and down to earth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous02:40

      Well it was their first route and they were new to everything along with the route being unprofitable due to being started forcefully.

      Delete
  27. Very nice planes to have 5 wide bodies.
    I wish all the luck to Air Serbia to get to this number and above.

    Also I wish Air Serbia to use one of them to flights to Lagos. I am sure flights would be always full as are the ones from Qatar (Double daily), Lufthansa, British, Air France etc. Qatar even started flights to Port Harcourt and Kano and I am sure Air Serbia would find this route very profitable and could end up even double daily in future when their transfer network is bigger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:39

      Why are you so obsessed with Lagos. BEG-LOS will relie 90% on transfers if there are no touristic programmes between the two countries or any study exchange programmes. At the moment there is quite a lot of concurention from KLM, Lufthansa, British, Emirates, Air France, Royal air Maroc , Etihad airways ,Delta, United, Etheopian and Kenyan airways. Ofc BEG has an advantage of having a better geographical posistion than the African and Middle eastern carriers but still a lot of concurention. Lagos had 7,3 million passengers in 2019. Which isn't bad, but for a country with 200 million people it's not that good. At the moment Air Serbia has great load factors on it's flight so it would not really benefit a lot of it's european destanations. If Air Serbia will go 2 times dailly to it's european destanations and the market in Nigeria will develop more than it will be might interesting to invest in this route. But at the moment there are better places to send their planes and getting new aircrafts it's not that easy nowadays.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:35

      Let's cool it with the Lagos talk. Not happening.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:01

    Air Serbia's biggest wide-body success is that they managed to operate JFK for 5+ years with a single plane without major problems. Having a second plane is always a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:53

      They had a few major hickups along the way.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:59

      They had hiccups, but I would not call them major.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous11:58

    Indeed, would be a great sight.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous12:08

    They should fly to the maldives or thailand, zanzibar etc.Serbs go there

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous12:54

    Много мачку говеђа глава! )))

    ReplyDelete
  32. Idemo a380 je jeftin, sada je prilika

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous16:02

    Lagos, braćo moja, Lagos, a ne Havane i Majamiji

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:11

      ma j*** te lgaos više

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:20

      There are plenty of Nigerians in Italy.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous16:07

    The render looks amazing!!! I know it's just dreaming and impossible but it would be soooo cool to see it on nonstop BEG-SYD route. I wonder what would be the flight time and how the economics would look like? What would be the ticket price, is there any potential for cargo, etc... Lets dream together :-)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous16:38

    Since we are talking about the ASL fleet, with perfect timing - SX-LWC has left ASL. It just landed in Foggia where it is now based, inbound from Belgrade as JU4020.

    This only leaves the Dan Air and Air Mediteranean leases. Intresting to see how often the MAR B734 is sent on ASL's trunk routes (and charters) like ZRH and AYT. Likely shows how much they need this new A320

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous18:53

    Aviogenex Charter widebody A340-300, 7.5 mil euros for 5 aircraft for 1.5 each ?
    You can do Havana for example, like Lufthansa Tampa with A343.
    You don't go there as National Airlines to do 5 charter flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Year 1990, JAT has orders for 6 MD-11, in addition to 3 sold and leased - back DC-10. At the same time, Aviogenex is negotiating with Boeing order for 3 B767-300. What happened later, and where are we today, we all know. No further comment needed.

      Delete
  37. Anonymous06:52

    Meanwhile, as Marek is dreaming of 5 A330 in their fleet, back in reality they already reduced JFK back to 2 weekly. That didn't take long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JATBEGMEL11:30

      I'm going to take a guess and say that you got that info from a site that exclusively gives super urgent breaking news and is first to report it?

      That info isn't correct. It isn't the first time that site has posted incorrect information, it's quite often that he does. Just yesterday he posted the new A320 registration being YU-APS, info apparently directly from JU, even though JU has posted all over social media that the registration is YU-APO a couple of days prior.

      I believe that the 3 pw flights in that period were never loaded in the system. YU-ARB will be off for maintenance, TSN will launch with 1 pw (over 48 hour rotation for the aircraft) + 2 pw JFK + expected DOH charters for world cup (approximately). YU-ARC will be busy. Beginning of December JFK is back to normal and stays like that until the rest of the season. It's a 3 week period during one of the slowest travel periods of the year and he was super enthusiastic to write a kilometre article on it, but MLA relaunch will be released most likely somewhere later in the week, maybe next.

      Delete
  38. Anonymous11:20

    Means nothing if they won't hire enough. Pilot recruitment hasn't even been posted, but we're screaming for more crew on a daily basis.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous11:39

    Lovely! Why not go for 10? Its taxpayers money after all.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous12:55

    Purger on ''ping'' machine

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous23:26

    The only model that can give some results, bringing from different airports in China passengers to Belgrade and from Beg to rest of Europe.
    In that case, 5 A330-200 is possible.
    Pay attention about charters, you cannot do with Air Serbia planes, it is not that serious, put Aviogenex with some cheap quadjets A340, they can work for British tour operators and then, during Summer for Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymous22:33

    Add wifi. The old plane had it. 8-9 hours is too long without wifi.

    ReplyDelete

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