Air Serbia finalising sale of its last remaining Boeing jet

Air Serbia is arranging the sale of its last remaining Boeing 737-300 aircraft, which has been grounded since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Furthermore, the carrier has ruled out plans to resurrect the Aviolet charter brand name, under which the aircraft operated. Over the past two years, Air Serbia has sold one B737-300, registered YU-ANK, to a university in China for training purposes. Another aircraft of the same type, registered YU-AND, is believed to be destined for the Aeronautical Museum in Belgrade where it will be put on display, while the third, registered YU-ANI, is expected to be sold soon.

Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “These planes were very old and at the end of their life cycle. It was difficult to operate them along with the ATRs and Airbus jets. And it was very expensive to keep them operational three months a year. Therefore, during the pandemic, and also from a sustainability perspective, we decided to retire the oldest aircraft in the fleet. We are currently in the process of finalising the sale of the last aircraft”. The phase-out of the Boeing 737s from the national airline’s fleet was planned by the end of 2021, but the pandemic accelerated their retirement. All three aircraft are over 35 years old.

The three jets operated under the Aviolet brand from 2014 and primarily utilised on charter flights, although they were often put into use on scheduled services as well. Between 2014 and 2018, Aviolet flights included a buy-on-board menu, which at the time differed from Air Serbia’s mainline service offering, did not feature a business class cabin and cabin crew wore different uniforms. However, in 2019, this concept was abandoned by the airline and flights operated by the three aircraft were similar to others. “We have stopped using the Aviolet brand name. We don't really have any plans to use it again, but we're keeping it anyway, you never know. At the moment we prefer to operate everything under the Air Serbia brand”, Mr Marek noted.

Air Serbia is continuing its drive to renew its fleet with an Airbus A320 jet, registered YU-APO, set to enter commercial operations at the start of next week. The aircraft has been scheduled on next Monday’s flights from Belgrade to Zurich and Milan. The carrier will also take delivery of an A330-200 jet later this month, as well as another two ATR72-600 turboprops by the end of the year. As a result, the airline’s average fleet age should be reduced from the current twenty to around twelve years.