Air Serbia is in the process of adding ten aircraft to its fleet in a combination of wet- and dry-leases. As previously announced by EX-YU Aviation News, the airline took delivery of a wet-leased 108-seat Bulgaria Air Embraer E190 aircraft yesterday (registered LZ-PLO), although its entry into service has been pushed back until tomorrow (operating from Belgrade to Frankfurt and Podgorica), with a second unit from the Bulgarian national carrier to join in June. It will be followed by the dry-lease of two E195 jets in July, which will be operated by Air Serbia’s own crew. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the two E190 aircraft from Bulgaria will operate on behalf of the Serbian carrier for the remainder of the summer season, after which they are expected to be replaced by another dry-leased E195.
The airline is also expected to take delivery of a wet-leased Airbus A320 aircraft at the very end of the month, although delivery dates may change. The 174-seater will be provided by a Bulgarian ACMI and charter operator. In addition, Air Serbia will take on three dry-leased ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft, which are being prepared for delivery in France and Germany, as well as two Airbus A330-200 aircraft, the first of which is due to arrive in Belgrade in July and the second in September or October. In addition to the new arrivals, the airline is currently also wet-leasing two Boeing 737-800s from KlassJet and one B737-800 and A320 each from GetJet Airlines. The B737-800s from both KlassJet and GetJet are not scheduled to operate on Air Serbia’s behalf past April.
Air Serbia has maintained that its strategy of wet-leasing planes has proven successful as it enables the company to more easily respond to volatile market conditions without committing itself to extra capacity, which might not be required in the future. On the other hand, it has also drawn criticism from passengers, some of which have complained of inconsistent onboard service and product. A wet-lease is a leasing arrangement whereby the lessor provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline. A point of difference with its wet-leased Embraer equipment compared to other aircraft under a similar arrangement is that the carrier is selling business class seats.
I wouldn't call the wet leasing from Marathon as proven successful.
ReplyDeleteIt worked pretty well for them until the incident
DeleteI would.
DeleteIt could be an issue. No standard operation procedures, in other words every company has its own way of doing things. So Air Serbia get left with holding the bag when it doesn't turn out as expected.
Delete@anon 11.37 What does your comment even mean? No standard operation procedure? Air Serbia was in charge of scheduling & operations, Marathon flights were no different to their own. No one in their right mind could have predicted the ludicrous incident caused by Marathon's pilot.
DeleteI mean every different company has its own way of scheduling / training crew, maintaining aircraft, etc. Its not the one company but many different companies all flying under the Air Serbia brand.
DeleteYou will see during the summer once the cancellations and delays happen again.
I am just saying that this is likely to be a nightmare to manage.
Anonymous13:00 I am sure you are trying to say something negative but what you are saying makes non sense and you definitely seem to not know that JU has done this for many years and works very well and standards and procedures are are super consistent and service the same on every of those flights.
DeleteIt worked until... It means it didn't.
DeleteYes people will complain about the wet lease and the wide range of product. But in the overall view of things those complaints are not new. JU hasn't had a consistent service or product across their aircraft anyway. of course everyone wants to have JU provide a good product across their fleet that's consistent and good quality but the company isn't there yet. So we will all unfortunately have to accept the wet lease approach for this year and probably next until they organise their fleet well, make a firm plan on their product and introduce it across their fleet.
DeleteDue to neo engine problems we are happy to have even wet lease. We have to be patient
DeleteNot bad at all
ReplyDeleteGood to see they plan to replace the wet leased E190s with dry lease in winter.
ReplyDelete+1 hopefully they get more by Summer 2025.
DeleteAny idea what is the Bulgarian ACMI airline they will getting the A320 from?
ReplyDeleteFly2Sky would be my guess. They're a pretty big ACMI operator in Bulgaria and their A320-200s have exactly 174 seats, which is a quite decent configuration
DeleteYes it's Fly2Sky.
DeleteNever heard of them
DeleteCan't wait for the A330s
ReplyDelete@9:13 +100 - The two new planes will really improve the overall product and have a great impact on the growth of the airline.
DeleteSome won't like these news.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I am sorry for them.
Especially one self proclaimed aviation expert :D
DeleteYes, who even this morning does not believe that Bulgaria Air E190 is entering the fleet.
DeleteA.Š.P. is very mad
DeleteHonestly he is becoming such a joke with his sensationalist articles which make no sense. He is going into overdrive to make BEG and Serbia seem bad.
Delete....and he is doing that almost on daily basis.
DeleteI wonder what happened with dry lease of 3x A320 and 2x A321. I refuse to believe that they struggle to find a single aircraft from Airbus family.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of wet leases in the company for so long obviously tells us that there is some deeper issue in that management.
I have information on a machine that should be in the air in July. But the plan seems to have failed...
DeleteAha. I also, know a guy...
Deleteits not just question of the aircraft. each new aircraft means they need to find at least 8 new pilots and train more crew members etc. not so simple. also JU is giving itself a narrow criteria factor in terms of price and condition of the aircraft. and even if they manage all of that JU is at the bottom of customers as bigger airlines are always the first in line since they have better relationships, connections and resources.
Deleteso maybe that's why JU decided to put their effort into the ATR, Embraer and A330 since they can achieve that part of the growth now.
A check of the Bulgarian register on planespotters.net shows that the 174-seat machine is LZ-MDK Fly2Sky.
ReplyDeleteThey really should at least put AirSerbia stickers on the long term wet leases
ReplyDeleteI think after the Marathon experience, they probably won't be adding any stickers.
DeleteWhy? The point is that Air Serbia’s service is massively inconsistent and that they are loosing customers.
DeleteDid you read the news that they had a record number of passengers during the first quarter? Doesn't seem to go with your theory that they are "loosing customers".
DeleteThey are losing customers?
DeleteOh my...
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/12/air-serbia-handles-over-four-million.html
Despite the popular belief and hope from certain known groups that JU is on the downhill and losing passengers, the fact of the matter is that it’s not.
DeleteHah that guy is trying hard to add as many negative comments but this one was the best "JU is losing customers ". Mr negative just check out their latest numbers and you might need to call 911.
DeleteInteresting that they are now offering business class on the E190s while they didn't on the Marathon planes. Any particular reason?
ReplyDeleteBulgaria Air offered business class so JU does as well. Bulgarian plane has the ovens etc.
DeleteThanks, makes sense
DeleteThey said last November how they will have business class on the GetJet wet leases from summer 2024 but that hasn't happened. Yet at least.
DeleteIt would be nice if one day Air Serbia has enough of its own aircraft to serve its network.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI would like Air Serbia to own at least few planes. That should be easier for them than negotiating new leases every then and now.
DeleteAgree. The wet leasing is frankly getting annoying. You don't know what you'll get on their own aircraft yet alone on wet leased ones. I know leisure travelers don't care but business pax and frequent travelers do feel the difference
DeleteIf average passenger did not care then JU would not remove the Air Serbia sticker from the wet leases. That is why JU needs to make sure working conditions are better so that crew and pilots stop leaving them.
DeleteSaw the Bulgarian E190 this morning in BEG. parked on B platform.
ReplyDeleteLast year I've flown with TAP with them and they had TAP stickers on; is it the same in this case?
DeleteNo, this one has full Bulgaria Air livery.
DeletePity
DeleteWhy? At least thanks to Bulgaria Air Cyrillic is back at JU.
DeleteAnd when did JU have cyrillic letters so that they are back now?
DeleteAeroput used both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Aeroput even had advertising, posters, tickets and timetables entirely in the Cyrillic script.
DeleteAeroput has nothing to do with JU code.
DeleteJU was a code provided to JAT, later on used by Jat Airways and now by Air Serbia.
So, JU had never had cyrillic letters in its name.
JU is an IATA code. These codes were introduced in 1947, while JAT started using the YU code in 1953, later JU around 1960. Aviation, airline companies and JAT existed before 1953. Whats your point? That an airline didn't exist because they didn't have an IATA code?
DeleteI know what is JU, but you obviously did not understand my point.
DeleteJU code has nothing to do with Aeroput. You stated otherwise.
"At least thanks to Bulgaria Air Cyrillic is back at JU."
Maybe you meant cyrrullic letters are back to our national carrier or something similiar but that is not what you wrote.
JU code has nothing to do with Aeroput as IATA codes began being introduced when Aeroput was nationalised and rebranded into JAT. Even JAT existed for roughly 12 years before taking on the JU code. I'm still trying to get your point. JAT would of used Cyrillic within the former Yugoslavia when advertising using Macedonian. With Serbian, Jat Airways introduced Cyrillic on their website with the redesign in 2006. Air Serbia uses Cyrillic for their social media posts during Easter and Christmas.
DeleteWhy doesn't Air Serbia dry lease some extra Aircraft? Long term it will be cheaper then wet-leasing.
ReplyDeleteThey are dry leasing incoming E195s, A330s...
DeleteAir Serbia should really think about ordering new E290 jets; they are now at that 30 dry-leased aircraft number Marek said that they want to be before ordering new planes.
ReplyDeleteE290 would be a superb aircraft for them
Plus the waiting time is shorter than for the A220 or A320neo.
DeleteThe new e2 have same problem all new aircraft have with shortage of parts.
DeleteBut you're right JU could get them soon. Air Egypt and Kazakhstan are getting rifnof their e2's already. They like 4 years old.
This goes to show that JU needs to get more aircraft.
ReplyDeleteGood
ReplyDeleteI’m wondering why they just don’t buy some new planes. They’re expanding their network without having the enough aircraft what is this logic?
ReplyDeleteIt costs a lot of money I guess
DeleteState should help company in that case. If there is money for 3 bn euros fighter jets, then there is definitely some money for commercial aircraft.
DeletePity that A320 neo order was cancelled.
Branding is so important. We all reading this site know about aviation but when an elderly couple or a family will get inside KlassJet B737 going to Heraklion for holidays for example are gonna wonder where is Air Serbia ? That has a bad impact on JU.
DeleteActually it is completely the opposite. The elderly couple wouldn't even notice or care less. It is usually aviation enthusiasts who get caught up in these things.
DeleteTrue dat.
Delete@10:11
DeletePassengers notice the moment they board the aircraft and see that the crew do not speak Serbian. Passengers have been sharing their annoyance of this all over their social media for quite some time now.
@09:54
Serbian government cannot really assist JU much with aircraft orders without EU intervention. Being banned from the EU market for anticompetitive behaviour doesn't work in JU's favour.
Possitive financial figures the past 2 years should have them with enough cash for a decent narrowbody order. They're still under the 30-35 dry lease aircraft target they want before making an aircraft order. They should hit the 30 dry lease mark in Q3 this year.
Short term this isn’t a big deal, many airlines will be doing the same this summer with the engine issues with airbus and Boeing multiple problems. However going forward there needs to be more focus on the onboard product. When Boeing finally sorts itself out and the Airbus engine issue is resolved there will be a few not that old a320’s and a321’s available, Air Serbia should be looking at these and then with that a consistent onboard product, alongside the long overdue and talked about loyalty program etc..
ReplyDeleteDodaju u float jos 10 aviona?..Analiticar ce sada da napise Puno previse!
ReplyDeleteNece hteti da poveruje. Evo danas izmislja neki manjak letova u periodima kad njemu odgovara samo da bi kao nesto dokazao.
DeleteA JU nikad vise putnika nije imala.
To je ipak manje od planiranog.Fale 2 190/195 i 2 A320. Manjak Embraera je razumljiv i svaka čast što su i ovo obezbedili nakon raskida sa Maratonom,ali manjak naručenih Erbasova ipak govori o usporavanju rasta,što je i razumljivo nakon 2 godine ogromne ekspanzije.Samo napred!
DeleteAnonymous11:15
DeleteMislim da manjak Erbasova ipak vise govori o trenutnom stanju na trzistu. Da je trziste bilo stabilno, ako nista drugo bi a319 izmenjali za a320, kao sto su planirali...to vec nema mnogo veze sa rastom. Pretpostavljam da im je plan da malo sacekaju da se stvari stabilizuju sa P&W i Neo serijom, kada ce ponuda CEO biti znatno bolja, a onda probaju da ugovore neku vecu nabavku i tako isposluju bolje cene.
The industry is clearly in a very strong shortage of aircraft. Those FB Embraers used to operate for TAP Portugal, Even Wizzair began flying 18 year old Airbuses from Titan:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-powm#
Bulgaria Air was supposed to lauch Vienna, Baku and Lemnos, but guess the leasing contract with Air Serbia more "interesting" for them.
Many smaller airlines are finding ways to survive and actively operating for other airlines, most likely for pricing. Thing is here is that Bulgaria Air crew are probably more familiar with the airports in the region because many aircraft fly via Serbian space to Europe and the airline has much more experience compared to Marathon. The Embraers interior are pretty basic, but the seats are okayish.
Baku has been a state agreement since 2018. Buta Airways operated this route once a week until the pandemic. Now flights will be resumed by Azerbaijan Airlines from June, not FB. This is a route agreed back in 2017, together with gas from Azerbaijan. As for Lemnos, these are open sale charters, but they don't seem to be profitable.
DeleteYeah you are so right. With 30 dry-leased aircraft it is a virtual airline. Bravo on your comment.
ReplyDeletetoo much bulgarian planes :)
ReplyDeleteTotal of 3
DeleteThe virtual airline flies to Chicago, New York, and China and will soon be flying to Miami and two more Chinese cities.
ReplyDeleteVirtually of course.
DeleteTheir most valuable asset is the office furniture in the HQ building. Everything else is on lease. Theyre effectively a brokerage dealing between asset owners and airports, passengers and other users.
DeleteWhilst this business model isnt wrong per se, it can help manipulte books much easier.
It does follow some Uber/Airbnb concepts, I must agree.
ReplyDeleteExperts...
ReplyDeleteWe'll see if they still have "momentum" - they did couple of good things and many doors opened for them. Unfortunatelly it stopped with Marathon issues and gaining back the momentum is not easy. May Day/Easter will be the first operational challenge for airport and airline, if they fail big they can wrap up this year.
ReplyDeleteSo what will be the total fleet then?
ReplyDelete10 x ATR72
2 x E190
2 x E195
10 x A319
6 x A320
3 x B373
4 x A330
Something like that.
DeleteWow close to 40
DeleteHello, I have a question, I would appreciate it if someone could help with information. If let's say I have an aircraft (and I am an airline), I took it on a dry lease and I give it on a wet lease, what are the prices and income for the lease (which I pay and receive from ACMI contracts)?
ReplyDeleteHow much does an aircraft cost on a dry lease for a month? And how much would it make if it were on a wet lease? Which lease is more expensive and which is cheaper? Wet leasing or dry leasing? I will be glad if you give the prices too! Thanks in advance!
Delete10 planes is a lot
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIt is not clear to me what happened to the contract with GetJet Airlines concluded in the fall of 2023 for 18 months for the wet lease of two A320s. With the fact that for the 2024 season, four A320 would fly for AirSerbia. No one mentions it now?
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/11/air-serbia-and-getjet-airlines-ink-long.html
I managed to find two more A320 planes of the Getjet company that have not been mentioned so far, and from April 5 and 6, respectively, they fly on AirSerbia flights
DeleteThese are LY-GYN (-214) and LY-WIZ (-232).
Everything is much clearer now.