Air Serbia is working towards reducing its dependence on wet-leased aircraft but has noted that a growing number of airlines are bringing in capacity operated by other carriers due to the current state of the aviation industry. A wet-lease is a leasing arrangement whereby the lessor provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to another airline. Speaking at the recent Southeast Europe Aviation Summit, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “If you look across Europe, wet-leasing has become inevitable for the time being. We are sometimes criticised that we are using too much wet-leased capacity, which is at 15% [of flights]. It is something that we would not like to do, but it is what it is at the moment due to the state of the industry. We are working hard to be able to have sufficient capacity to grow on our own”.
According to Air Serbia’s CEO, the recent acquisition of a new Airbus A320-family simulator by the Serbian government will enable the carrier to start recurrent pilot training program in the country, which will further ease the need for wet-leases. “We will make sure that in the future we will not be fully relying on the wet-leases”, Mr Marek said. Air Serbia currently has six wet-leased aircraft operating on its behalf, including four A320 jets from Lithuania’s GetJet Airlines, one A320 from Bulgaria’s Fly2Sky, and one Embraer E190 from Bulgaria Air. Another E190 operated by the Bulgarian flag carrier is set to be deployed on Air Serbia’s behalf as of next month.
According to a report compiled by ch-aviation, Air Serbia was among the world’s largest customers of Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance leasing during the last week of April. It ranked as the fourteenth largest user of ACMI leasing in the world based on the number of flights performed by contracted airlines on its behalf. A total of 158 flights were maintained for Air Serbia by foreign carriers during the examined week. The world’s largest ACMI customer was SAS Scandinavian Airlines, followed by Swiss, Mexico’s Viva Aerobus, Qantas, Eurowings, India’s IndiGo Airlines, AJet, European Air Transport Leipzig, Lufthansa, KLM, Virgin Australia, SpiceJet, and Nigeria’s Air Peace. Air Serbia was proceeded by Air France.
At least now the wet leases are from just 3 operators compared to before
ReplyDeleteIs JU now selling business class on the wet leases?
ReplyDeleteYes they do! A nice change compared to last year.
DeleteI don't understand why they didn't offer it last year.
DeleteThey offer it on all wet leases this summer. Even on Fly2Sky!
DeleteIt's getting much much better now. Last year you didn't know what you'll be getting, whilst now if its an wet leased a320 you are almost sure to be on a getjet one. Compare that to last year when they were leasing anything from ATR72-500 to Fokker100 its a mighty improvement
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAlso interesting is that now the majority of the wet leases are A320s
ReplyDeleteDefinitely JU needs A320s next in dry lease. And a few A321s won’t hurt anyone. Hopefully for next summer season
DeleteJU would have trouble utilizing the A321s capacity during winter.
Deleteit's better to have more A320s and Embraers so as to offer higher frequencies.
The a321 could still get good loads even during winter to Switzerland and to Russia. Those two markets should keep a single A321 well utilized.
DeleteBut your right about needing more frequencies.
Spain, SVO, Zurich could easily handle A321s in the winter.
DeleteLet alone certain fligths to TIV and TGD.
DeleteI think that there are way more rutes suitable for a321. Of course there are certain destinations that have better perfermances than others, but Serbia is still a big market so they can use 321 on LHR and other flights as well.
DeleteWould be very interesting to see a321neo xlr in future operated by air serbia for markets in Asia/Africa that dont have such demand ...
enough demand for a330*
DeleteAnyone flown with these GetJet guys? What was it like, crew wise?
ReplyDeleteGetJet is one of the best in business
DeleteVery good, i was positively surprised, flew them couple of times.
DeleteGood to hear
DeleteOut of curiosity, is crew Lithuanian?
DeleteI flew with them in November and I can't say a single bad thing. The crew was very polite, professional, always smiling. Just excellent. I guess the only downside for some passengers would be lack of Serbian speaking crew since they were all Lithuanian.
DeleteThe crew on my flights was mixed, Greek. Polish, Lithuanian...
DeleteWell, at least they acknowledge the wet leases are not popular with passengers :D
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. Is AirBaltic profitable because of ACMI? Seems like they are leasing their A220s to Swiss, Lufthansa, Eurowings etc. If you were to remove the ACMI earning would they still be in the green?
ReplyDeleteIf not, it could be a painful realization for Croatia Airlines given that they always talk about AirBaltic being an great example
Enjoy your glass of copium.
DeleteKind of crazy that air baltic is the fourth largest ACMI provider in the world now.
DeleteIt's a fair point. They are leasing their own aircraft out and operating their own scheduled flights with wet leased equipment.
DeleteI see that they are starting scheduled flight literally to everywhere and they still have spare planes
DeleteThey lost their most important transfer markets 2 years ago.
Delete@10:40
DeleteAnd yet they continue to thrive and grow.
They must be doing something right.
@09:27 Yes! Yesterday when i was at CPH airport i saw on the departures board a flight of Air Baltic to Sandefjord and i was surprised.
DeleteTrue. That's because they lost a significant market due to the Russia-Ukraine war. They probably no longer fly to Dubai either as I doubt A220 has legs to do it due to closer if the Russian airspace. Nevertheless, they found a different niche in ACMI market, which is a good statement to their ability to adapt and stay in business.
DeleteI doubt they ever used Russian airspace for their DXB flights. And yes they continue to fly there.
DeleteWhat about Fly2Sky, I see they are a decent airline they have 5 A320s.
ReplyDeleteSuccessor to the bankrupt Air Via, generally good ACMI, as far as I know Aerovista from Dubai have a stake in the airline.
DeleteInteresting new Bulgarian airline is Electra Airways. Wonder how they will perform. Cool livery though.
Delete^ It's ACMI airline too?
Delete@09:32 yep
DeleteIn 2025, regular flights to Varna and Burgas will begin in partnership with SunExpress, which is what this renovation of the livery and lounges is for at the moment. Regular flights are coming. Flights are only to Germany and Austria, will be bookable from June.
Deletehttps://aviationsourcenews.com/airline/sunexpress-and-electra-airways-set-to-boost-bulgarian-tourism/
DeleteI saw him in Beograd on an Arkia flight, very handsome indeed.
DeleteIt would be interesting to see what PERCENTAGE of each airline mentioned in the tables flights is operated by wet leases.
ReplyDeleteI think JU would even higher on the list.
Air Serbia using wetlease for growth? Ma jok, they use it in the dark of the winter too. Makes sense for summer spikes and charters but February flying must be permanent fleet only.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAnd when should they do service check on dry leased planes then? In July?
DeleteIf you can't do maintenance during winter (the slowest season) without needing wet leases it means that your own and dry leased fleet is inadequate in size,
DeleteFrom my understanding the leasing contracts state that they have to operate a certain number of rotations, which makes sense in long term deal like the one with getjet.
DeleteLast anon is correct. When you do a longer term ACMI deal it comes with a condition of minimum rotations, otherwise you have to pay penalties.
DeleteJUin Feb was operating at high capacity so they do not have much slow season anymore . Numbers are showing no much decline in demand over the winter .
DeleteOf course fleet is inadequate, otherwise wet lease wouldn’t be necessary. But, are there enough planes and crew on market?
Delete^^^
DeleteThere are for the right price.
There are not, if wet lease is more cheaper
DeleteIf you believe that JU is wet leasing because it is cheaper than dry leasing...
Delete"E190 operated by the Bulgarian flag carrier is set to be deployed on Air Serbia’s behalf as of next month." - Guess it will be LZ-SOF, because LZ-PLO is currently operating for JU.
ReplyDeleteJust confirms the hunger for aircraft in the industry. Avion Express operating for Wizzair. A220 seems a more expensive option for many airlines and proves how popular the A320 is. You can easily retrofit it into all-economy 180 seats and deploy it on the busier routes or lease it to Asians in winter. This is the norm.
More and more airlines are wet leasing, even airline you would never expect
ReplyDeleteDid they ever find that ACMI expert they had a job vacancy for?
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so . Personaly I don't like flying whities although their cabin crew is more polite than Air Serbia's !
ReplyDeleteTrue dat. Also the Marathon crews were far more polite and helpful than JU's own staff.
DeleteSame experience with DanAir last year.
DeleteIt would be nice if one day Air Serbia has enough of its own aircraft to serve its network.
ReplyDeleteHaving an exclusive capacity provider would be good one. Hope they manage to do that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe today they will be able to get a few Comac C919 airplanes for a good price. The reviews have been very positive and it is a great opportunity for Comac to promote itself in Europe.
ReplyDeleteLOL sure.
DeleteAfter years that we had people in this blog trying to hype the SSj we'll be getting C919 cheerleading too?
The fact that (like the SSj) doesn't have any airline outside of its home country as a customer should tell you a lot.
Or the fact that it still hasn't even applied yet for type certification from the EASA or the FAA should tell you even more.
If it does not have EASA certification, it can't even fly in Europe
DeleteI would prefer 24-36 J-20’s for RV from Mr. Xi.
Delete@Anon 10:50
DeleteAnd what with them? Seeing them fly at air shows?
COMAC has produced 1 C919 in 2022, 1 in 2023 and 2 so far this year...
Delete@anon 10:59
DeleteYes, you can see them only at airshows. All other ways they are stealth
And? What use would they be to us?
Deleteps: hopefully they are more stealthy than the Su-57.
I would rather fly 737 Max with no bolts.
DeleteFairly sure ssj did operate in other parta of world at one time
DeleteAnon 12:34
DeleteYou mean stealthier then F-117 and B-2? Yes, sure they are
yes the sjj wasn't a commercial success, but lets not pretend like the quality of the aircraft is the only deciding factor.
DeleteThere is a duopoly in the world of commercial aviation. therefor the SJJ, the comac or anyone else in the future will need to climb a mountain bigger than Everest just to overcome the hurdle of Boeing and Airbus protectionism.
if anyone else in the world had an organization like boeing their would be world wide call to shut it down, even if it happened to Embraer. But boeing gets to be lucky their whistleblowers somehow keep ending up with a pre-mature still heartbeat.
SSJ is a good aircraft but a victim of sanctions.
DeleteThey dont get certified anywhere for political reasons.
Just the fact that this plane actually exists and performs flights is remarkable.
If Russia/China can build spaceships I'm sure they can build good airplanes - but the duopoly of Airbus/Boeing is real and it is obviously not because of the quality of the aircraft, at least not anymore. Boeing back in the day obviously was the standard bearer of great airplanes but greed and incompetence have caused serious damage to the brand. Remember, even Ex-Yu was getting pretty good at making aircraft. Who knows, if it had survived another 20 years there could have been a new passenger aircraft developed.
DeleteGood
ReplyDeleteWell I am glad they are aware people are generally unhappy with the wet leases. On the other hand I think they did a better job this year with selection of wet lease partners and limiting the number of wet lease partners.
ReplyDeleteHow many wet leases did Air Serbia have last summer?
ReplyDeleteAlso how many of their own aircraft do they have this summer? Thank you
DeleteI think they had up to 11 wet leases last sumner
DeleteThey currently have 23 aircraft with 2 E195s, 2 ATR72s and 2 A330-200s on the way
DeleteThat's a huge fleet expansion for an airline Air Serbia's size.
DeleteEasier said then done.
ReplyDeleteWell that's exactly what they say themselves
DeleteSo if that is the case why didn't they work on dry leasing at least 2 A320 and get 4 wet instead of 6. Basically they had the entire winter to do so but they sat on their ar*e and did nothing. Poor planning continues to be a constant in their operations.
ReplyDeleteYou are obviously not in the aviation industry and don't know what is going on in terms of aircraft availability and leasing rates.
DeleteThey actually negotiated the GetJet wet leases for this summer last summer.
Sure, that’s how they managed to dry lease 3 ATRs, 2 E195 and 2 A330s. Imagine what could they’ve done if they just stood straight…
DeleteWell yes, now it is confirmed you don't have much to do with aviation.
DeleteThe 3 ATRs you are talking about were negotiated over a year ago. They had many problems in trying to find the A330s, as you very well know and the search for the A330s lasted well over a year. In the case of E195s they were made available because the lessor terminated its leasing contracted with Marathon Airlines after Marathon pilots wrote off one of their planes.
Mr Expert @ 14:19 First my initial post and @ 14:15 post are written by two different persons. Second if you are ready to offer what the market is asking then you can get a dry lease pretty quick. Third and most important (actually substentiated by daily examples) is that Air Serbia lacks good planning, drags it's feet until the last moment in everything and you know that very well if you are the expert as you believe to be.
DeleteIt's not about being an expert, it's about working in the industry and knowing the actual state of the leasing market vs making wrong assumptions based on completely false perceptions. Whether Air Serbia lacks good planning or not, I don't know. You're statement how dry leases can be negotiated pretty quickly (based on daily examples) is completely false and could not be further from the truth.
DeleteActually A320 and A321 are hardest two planes to find right now. You can get anything else before you get these ywo.
DeleteAnonymous 16:06 , Facts are Facts : if you have the money you can dry lease anytime and any plane you want ! And that's all !
DeleteWell no, it is not and neither have you provided a single 'fact'.
Delete16:06
DeleteIf you would have a slightest clue about aviation market, you would know that almost 20% of all European fleets are grounded and how impossible is to find replacements. Similar is with the crews
^^^
DeleteCrews are grounded too?
Or maybe they are not working for peanuts any more?
I guess 15% of wet leases is average between 0% during winter and 30% during season.
ReplyDeleteThey have flights operated by wet leases year round. 15% is the current number of flights operated by wet leased aircraft.
DeleteEven British Airways has started wet leasing ATR72s due to lack of planes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not denying it, but overall it's a pretty efficient business and will continue to grow going forward, it's not just because of the lack of planes. Airlines like Avion Express, Smartlynx are becoming giants. Some new players like Get Jet, Heston, KlasJet, mainly Lithuanian airlines have also appeared.
DeleteEven the infamous Albawings who were kicked out of TIA and would start flights out of PRN found their salvation in ACMI. They got a Maltese AOC.
Delete+1
DeleteIt would be much more efficient to lease an aircraft with the crew, although it is more expensive than a dry lease, for 6 months, than to have the aircraft sit on the ground in the winter and burn money...
Delete@17:50
DeleteThe 9H-FIT has probably never flown as much as it does now.๐ He flew for Aeroitalia and Luxwing according to Flightradar24 ( last week).
Lithuania owns the largest ACMI holding in the world. It is actually registered in both Lithuania and Cyprus. Two large countries with low taxes and at least one with low wage labor ideal for Avia Solutions Group. I saw they also bought Air Explore in Slovakia. They also created BBN Airlines based on Bluebird Cargo from Iceland and moved it to Lithuania, with AOCs in Turkey and Indonesia. Interesting times, Albawings also is one of this airlines diverted to ACMI business...
DeleteTwo perfect countries *
DeleteACMI is profitable, even Ukrainian airlines without EASA AOC (except for SkyUP and Bees, which received European AOC) fly in the ACMI market, only with EASA TCO they manage to make money in these difficult times.
DeleteI vote for the creation of ACMI Serbian airline, it can easily operate 5 A320 or 737 for JU. Malta is also here for more opportunities if there is no work with the Serbian AOC.
DeleteI see that other airlines in Europe like Sundair and Bulgarian European Air Charter and BH Air have established themselves in the ACMI market. Also let's not forget Romanian and Greek airlines despite their failures at Ex-Yu. But they made money, especially the case of Lumiwings and Tuzla
Delete@anon20:22
DeleteSerbia is a market for business aviation, by the way what happened to Airpink?
Losed AOC including thier subsidiary Air Emeralds and sister Star Fly Wings.
DeleteZeljko will come up with something new, do you think he will leave something like that. Will either return via Emeralds or Airpink again or start a new airline. He's unlikely to retire...
DeleteACMI provider for Air Serbia or low-cost๐
Why the AOC is suspended / canceled?!?
DeleteIt has been discovered that they were cheating with flinging times etc.
DeleteAir Serbia has 23 own (dry lease) and 6 wet lease aircraft operating for Air Serbia, total of 29. During July it is expected they will have 27 dry and 8 wet leases, including third A330, for a total of 35. That will be the number of aircraft expected to carry brunt of the summer traffic. A330 #4 will join later this year. It is reasonable to expect Air Serbia expansion in 2025 and early 2026 to increase total number of aircraft to operating for Air Serbia between 40-45. That's not a large fleet but far from insignificant. For comparison, OU will have a fleet of 15 A220, probably just a third of aircraft Air Serbia will have once all A220s arrive.
ReplyDeleteShouldn’t be 28 dry leases in July, including 2 more Atr, 2 E195 and 1 A330?
Delete