Air Montenegro, Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines have outlined their fleet plans for this summer, with the former two significantly increasing capacity compared to last year. Air Montenegro has introduced two wet-leased aircraft to its fleet for this summer season to supplement its in-house capacity during Montenegro's peak tourist season. An Airbus A320 from Lithuania’s Heston Airlines and an Embraer E190 jet from Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines have been wet-leased for the summer. “Existing sales, loads and average fares give us optimism that this will be a record year for the national carrier and that our goal of handling close to half a million passengers this year will be achieved. Seeing as the height of the summer season is ahead of us, it is in the interest and of great importance for the tourism sector and the economy as a whole that we have added these two aircraft to our fleet”, Air Montenegro said.
Air Serbia is already wet-leasing a number of frames and taking on additional dry-leased capacity. The airline is currently wet-leasing two ATR72s, two B737-800s, one A319 and A320 each, as well as one Dash 8 turboprop, with the latter operated by Germany’s Avanti Air. It is expected to be part of the fleet on a short-term basis. In the coming weeks, the carrier will wet-lease an additional two A320s. As previously reported, Air Serbia will dry-lease an extra two ATR72-600s, both of which are from the GOAL leasing company. One has already been painted in Air Serbia’s livery and will bear the registration YU-ASB. It is expected to arrive in Belgrade in the coming weeks, while the second is due in August. The carrier is also in discussions with another lessor for options of up to another four turboprops, although initially, it will likely settle for just two of them. Furthermore, the national airline is negotiating the dry-lease of two A321s and one A330-200 aircraft.
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| Air Serbia's latest ATR72-600 has been painted ahead of its delivery |
Croatia Airlines is the only national carrier from the former Yugoslavia with no plans to add any additional capacity this summer. The carrier has begun preparations for the delivery of its first A220 aircraft early next year. It recently participated in both the Airbus Training Conference the Airbus Maintenance Conference in Zagreb, during which the company devised plans for its A220 “entry into service program”, details of which are expected to be revealed later this month. Late last year, the Croatian carrier concluded a lease agreement for four 149-seat A220-300s and two 127-seat A220-100s with the Air Lease Corporation and paid a deposit for the jets. The carrier plans to eventually replace its entire fleet with the A220s, with the lease of a further six jets of the same type earmarked for 2025 and 2026. The carrier also has the option of adding a further three units in 2027.
AirSERBIA need Embraer for regional routes with the ATR.
ReplyDeleteI agree but i think they prefer a319/20 because they have space for cargo. and most airlines are trying to increase the air freight services.
Deleteembraer doesnt have space to carry those cargo boxes.
Aside for pax Air Serbia really needs to strive to increase cargo traffic in the coming period.
DeleteTheir cargo traffic is at record levels as well.
DeleteThey should definitely try to get those 72-2's concerted to freight.
DeleteIt's old hardware but they should be able to run for a few years as cargo mules.
Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteThis is important re JU: "The carrier is also in discussions with another lessor for options of up to another four turboprops, although initially, it will likely settle for just two of them."
ReplyDeleteAre these the two the ones that our coming (one of them painted) or another two
DeleteIt's another two. It says they are negotiating with another lessor for 4 ATRs but will initially probably take two of the four.
DeleteOk thanks
DeleteYU-AM were DC10s.
DeleteYU-AN were B733s.
YU-AO were Adria’s planes
YU-AP are JU’s A319/320
YU-AR are JU’s A330
So the first available letter was AS. Therefore we have YU-ASA and YU-ASB.
Interesting, thank you
DeleteAnonymous10:45
DeleteNo, regs were assigned according to the type of aircraft. N and O were narrow body twin engine aircraft (733, 734, F100) and they were simply all used up so they moved to P.
YU-AM was also reserved for JAT's MD11's (YU-AME/F/G/H) and there were also IL76's with YU-AM registrations: YU-AMI - Kosmas Air and YU-AMJ - Air Tomisko.
DeleteNo one can figure out how many planes JU has at the moment, planes come and go on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteIt's important that JU knows.
Delete^ I think eve they can't keep up how many planes they have.
DeleteWet leases have become so widespread across Europe this summer. I think 90% of airlines are wet leasing planes including all the major ones.
ReplyDeleteYes, really getting out of hand this summer.
DeleteAir Montenegro needs to bring back its third E195. What is happening with that plane? Is it in Podgorica?
ReplyDeleteRotting faster than a potato in sunlight
DeleteThat's a shame. Didn't the government buy it for them?
DeleteNo they didn't. The government approved for Air Montenegro to buy the plane from their own funds. But Air Montenegro said that apart from buying the plane, they would also have to invest 8 million euros to make it airworthy so in total they would need to pay 13,5 million and they gave up on it.
DeletePity that the plane will probably never fly again.
Delete13,5 mio for realtively new plane (once you change the engine) isn't a bad price, especially when AirSerbia is hinting about needing it in 8 months
DeleteAir Montenegro leasing airplane in Ukrainian airlines livery while mostly flying Russians to Tivat will never be not funny to me
ReplyDeleteLOL true
DeleteThe irony
DeleteMontenegro keeps winning!
ReplyDeleteBtw, Air Serbia is already canceling some flights that it had started to sell. Some Sarajevo night flights have been cancelled, and it's apparently due to the late arrival of YU-ASB.
ReplyDeleteJU said that the plane is coming late because there was no part required to replace something on the nose cone. The plans was supposed to come in May originally.
DeleteSupply chain issues are causing chaos across the industry.
DeleteTrue. Just ask airbaltic which has 20 planes out of service and won't be able to get them into the air for another 2 years because there are no slots available at maintenance to do replacements of the engines.
DeleteWhy did they register the new ATR YU-ASB. After YU-ALZ, why not go for YU-AM-
ReplyDeleteBecause the DC10s were registered YU-AM, the B737s YU-AN and YU-AO were used by Adria Airways for their Airbus fleet.
DeleteCompletely forgot about the former aircraft registrations. Thank you
DeleteYU-AO was also for JAT dry leased 733 and 734 in early 2000's
DeleteAs I said earlier, N and O were narrow body twin engine aircraft, nothing to do with Adria and so on. Adria also had YU-AJ* and YU-AN* and airbuses were O simply because N was all used up till YU-ANZ.
DeleteO was used by JAT's 737s, Montenegro Fokkers, Adria's A320s and so on.
"JU is wet-leasing two ATR72s" Which is the second ATR?
ReplyDeleteOne Air Connect and Danish Air Transport.
DeleteTnx, I have thought that YR-ACB is returned
DeleteNope, YR-ACB flying Prague, Tirana and Ljubljana today.
DeleteWill the Air Connect Atr72 soon be replaced by an Avanti DH4?
DeleteI think the Avanti Dash is here just temporary until they get YU-ASB which was supposed to arrive last month.
DeleteWhy are the deliveries taking so long?
DeleteBecause of supply chain issues. The ATR that they are taking delivery of needed a part but there are no spares on the market.
DeleteWhere are the A321's coming from?
ReplyDeleteRumor is they are 2 former Avianca A321s that are currently parked in Ljubljana.
DeleteOne just had a test flight a few days ago, or at least was showing on the flightradar
DeleteSo it is possible that these two are actually destined for JU.
DeleteDo you know what the registration is??
DeleteOE-IZR and OE-IZX
DeleteInteresting. They have been stored for quite a while.
DeleteI’m not bashing JU as a concept here but I’d like to point something out:
ReplyDeleteFleet ‘promises’ being made by Marek have all but vanished.
- Extra A319s were due in addition to extra A320s by the start of summer. Changing market conditions and sudden availability of A321s is not an excuse. Fleet plans should have been made and finalized long before this became apparent and aircraft should have been here by march for summer.
- Extra ATRs are late/nowhere to be found. Judging by the pace at which JU puts aircraft into service, with leases only being negotiated now, I’m very skeptical anything except ASB is entering service before September.
This guy goes around giving interviews and promising a whole hell of a lot whilst actually following through with about half of it or even less in a timely manner. That’s 1) unprofessional and 2) projecting an extremely poor image which will prevent people taking him seriously.
He has now promised extra A332s, extra ATRs and A321s. I shall be intrigued to review in September/October and see how much of these 5-8 extra aircraft are actually on tarmac in BEG.
No, he should visit Jasmin to learn something
DeleteBRAVO JASMIN .
DeleteThey won't be on tarmac, they'll be in the air.
Delete@ 09:35 while you are right in what you say, also remember that Marek has also been honest. He always makes sure to say that he wants "to stay flexible".
Deleteso even though he talks about plans its understandable when they change because he always brings up the fast changing conditions and how Air Serbia must respond.
the only thing he is 100% about is the A330 since long haul is his main focus.
Hi Slav Man, I agree with you that he is being honest but:
Delete- I’m not sure laying cards out in front of competitors is a good idea. As much as it pleases us aviation enthusiasts, from a business pov it doesn’t seem smart or professional.
- Whilst being flexible is important, they’ve gone from having a plan to bring 5-7 aircraft into the fleet to having added 2. Seems to me like the flexibility is being prioritized a little too much here. They don’t have adequate fleet for their needs which for an airline is a pretty basic requirement. That requirement is more important than whether they lease an A320 or A321 in my view.
There’s also a possibility that flexibility is being used as an excuse. Though I do think it is unlikely, it can’t be discounted. The approach to fleet needs at JU has consistently been too little too late.
AirSERBIA need to focus on their own fleet, buying Embraer themself.
ReplyDeleteI think introducing another aircraft type to the fleet would be costly at this point.
DeleteThere is no other way of bridging of the gap between ATR726 and 319/320, especially if the long term vision to decommission all 319's in favour of larger planes materializes.
DeleteIf you read about them replacing the A319 for A320 you would of also read about regional jets bridging the gap between the ATR and A320.
DeleteOnce upon a time, during Yugoslavia, majority of air services, and most of the passengers, flew out of and into Croatia, which was always the biggest ex-yu market. Most of those passengers were carried by airline companies from Serbia and Slovenia. Then, the disintegration of Yugoslavia happened, sanctions to Serbia happened, difficult transition period for other regional airlines operating Soviet technology happened, LCC were at their beginning and far far far from today's market share, and Croatia Airlines with its ZAG hub, which has absolutely the best position for Balkans transfer traffic, was in position to become the biggest company in the region, with developed network and big fleet. Led by Kradeze, it became Uhljeb sanctuary, political entity "managed" by aparatchiks, with mindset stuck in 1950's, the nest of crime, corruption and nepotism, and irrelevant servant and pathetic feeder which will highly likely follow Adria fate, or in the best solution become another Air Dolomiti, and the biggest ex-yu market will continue to be served by foreign carriers, this time not mostly from Serbia and Slovenia, but from all over the World. Bravo Hrvatska!!!!
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time in a galaxy far, far away.
DeleteSome people will continue to live in a past that only them miss.
@10:03 its very hard for people to not miss the past when all 6 republics lived and operated better in 1980 than they do in 2023. Thats 43 years ago. people would move on if what they had today was better than 43 years ago.
Deletewith JAT Croatians could fly from zagreb on their own airline to anywhere in the world, where their language is spoken and the money they pay will go to employ their own people.
Pozdrav is right. and even if right now Croatia Airlines, Air Serbia and Air Montenegro joined together, they would have passenger numbers of JAT but still wouldn't have the quality, recognition, or reach that JAT had.
Maybe by 2060 if we are lucky the national airlines today will be what JAT was.
@An.10.03
DeleteIf one is lazy enough to read the first sentence only of the long post, or if one is stupid enough not to understand I talk about TODAY in my post, or if one has Party duty to be on standby here and spit on me within twenty minutes for my criticism of OU, TODAY and HERE, not in the past and galaxy far away, or if one is pathologically obsessed with me and needs to respond negatively to each and every of my posts; whatever of the above it might be, my answer is : 😃
How is ZAG better placed geographically than BEG in Ex-YU?
DeleteBEG has no nearby competition. From BEG there were flights to almost all yugo airports including Osijek, Ohrid, Maribor and many other small cities.
ZAG has more competition from nearby airports. As far as I can remember ZAG never had flights to LJU or MBX, BEG did.
I think BEG is geographically better located than ZAG for roll as main yugo hub airport.
You haven't read my post carefully enough. I didn't write ex-yu transfers, I wrote Balkan transfers. Good part of traffic between Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece and Serbia, on one side, and Western and Northern Europe and North America on the other side, could and should have been performed with OU via ZAG. And if you are still so unhappy with my explanation, I will correct myself and say that ZAG has at least equally good geographical position to be main not only Yugo but Balkans hub airport. Unfortunatelly, it will never happen because people who were supposed to do it, sold the market, sold the position and sold the flag carrier to become LH feeder, and BEG is likely to remain no 1 in ex-yu, soon maybe even wider
DeleteAnonymous10:03: The only constant in life is change. And looking back, most things always look better than they were. And every older generation scolds the younger generation and thinks everything was better before. At least that's my experience
Delete@21.17
DeleteGeneralization is one of the charachteristics of narrowminded and not to bright people, who tend to put things /people/everything in drawers. Are all Serbs/Croats /whoever good/bad? Are all Bonians/Dalmatians/Montenegrin lazy/stupid? Diferrences between black/white/yellow, male/female, believer/right believer/non believer, straight/gay, left/right? Put them all in their separate drawers and put labels on them. Put label on young for anything, or put label on old to think it was better before. And lie once again, that one particular person born long time ago who feels younger than many young, is talking about past while he is talking about today and tomorrow.
Would be interesting to know how much is Croatia Airlines paying for the A220s.
ReplyDeleteToo much for their profits - or lack of them
DeleteI know but I would really like to know the value of the deal. But then again Croatia Airlines didn't invite a single member of the press when they signed the contract for these A220s. Wonder why.
DeleteWho cares how much it cost? People will pay for it, poor people of Croatia. Because the Masters in the Cartel deserve the highest quality feed possible. Expense is irrelevant in that case. Danke Deutschland! Hvala Gazda Ivane!
Delete@pozdrav unfortunately for ex-yug success, it looks like Plenkovic is a big supporter of germany and will continue to do the things that you talk about that are bad for OU.
DeleteLeasing ATR72-500 is criminal, they still have -200 parked, why not use those for low yielding routes like Budapest, Bucharest?
ReplyDeleteMy friend, flights to OTP are regularly full and BUD has started with serious numbers.
DeleteAnd let me add that the resources for the ATR 72-200 are running out.
DeleteI believe that ATR72-200 is not airworthy anymore.
DeleteProblem that is there are no available flight crews, so JUnis forced to wet lease. How much are they paying these last minute leases, that is a big question
DeleteThe wet leases are unrelated to crew. It's related to a lack of aircraft and late delivery of aircraft that were supposed to arrive earlier.
DeleteThey are also short of crew.
DeleteAir Serbia is working on leasing third A330. Did they give up on the fourth one?
ReplyDeleteThere never been a 4th one. Only planed for a third which will be delivered if flights to Canada will go as planed
DeleteOmg they didn't. They are getting the third one this year so first they are going to negotiate the lease for the third one. Some people on here...
DeleteYou can't have a 4th A330 without the 3rd. 3rd A330 is for new route(s) to China, not Canada.
DeleteI posted the original question as Anon 11:10. I would like to thank those of you who posted three answers above. You must be new to this forum. To help you get acquainted with the matter, please start here:
Delete27/04/2023: Air Serbia sourcing third and fourth wide-body jet
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/04/air-serbia-sourcing-third-and-fourth.html
Yes and what are you trying to prove? The article here states they are currently negotiating for a third. The article you linked says they will try to add a fourth after they add the third. Now the focus is on the third. Don't see it is so difficult to understand without creating some sort of a conspiracy that they won't get a fourth plane.
DeletePriorities might have changed since April. At that time we read about sourcing 3rd and 4th.
DeleteToday's news now mention only one A330. It's not obvious from today's article if 4th is still part of the plan or if it was dropped from acquisition plans. Question was valid: did Air Serbia gave up on the 4th one?
No, they have not been dropped, the article is primarily related to fleet plans this summer.
DeleteThank you EX-YU Aviation
DeleteThe good news is everyone seems to be developing their fleets, at least what is left of the national airines.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened actually with Air Serbias flights to Varna and Ohrid?
ReplyDeleteOhrid seems to be moved to a later date but Varna disappeared completely..
Ohrid is pushed back to June 19th due to the delay of YU-ASB.
DeleteVarna is operating currently three times per week, every Monday, Friday and Saturday. From the beginning of July there will be additional flight on Wednesdays.
Varna was relaunched 3 days ago. Air Serbia have pictures on their social media pages from the inaugural flight.
DeleteThank you for your answers!
DeleteMuch appreciated.
I dont look daily into flightradar so i must have missed them.
Very interested to see what OU's entry into service program for the A220s will be. Looking forward to the info soon.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope they actually arrive.
Delete