Air Serbia has announced the acquisition of three previously leased aircraft while achieving the strongest financial performance in its history. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the aircraft in question are Airbus A319s, which the airline purchased after restructuring leasing agreements with one of its partners. Preliminary financial results for 2024 indicate that Air Serbia's profit will surpass fifty million euros. After government taxes, the net profit is expected to reach 41.3 million euros, improving on the previous year's 40.5 million. Additionally, the airline’s total annual revenue in 2024 exceeded 700.3 million euros for the first time.
Commenting on the jet acquisition and financial results, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “During 2024, our fleet was expanded with three new ATR72-600 aircraft, one Airbus A330-200 for long-haul operations, and one Embraer E195 jet. Fleet renewal and expansion, as well as the introduction of a new aircraft type, entail significant costs and major investments. Despite that, according to preliminary information, we achieved better operating and net results compared to 2023, which had been our best year up until now”. He added, “Thanks to the good financial performance over the past year, we restructured business arrangements with one of our leasing partners and became the owners of three aircraft. This has allowed us to reduce future financial obligations and further boost stability. We will continue to operate responsibly and strategically, in the best interest of the company, the Republic of Serbia, and all our passengers, striving to contribute to the further growth of Air Serbia”.
The company’s fleet currently consists of 27 aircraft including three wide-bodies, fourteen narrow-bodies, and ten turboprop planes. The third Airbus A330-200, registered as YU-ARD arrived in Belgrade in early October 2024. The fourth jet of the same type is due to join Air Serbia’s fleet in the coming days. The airline's acquired A319s are registered YU-APA, YU-APE and YU-APF, the first of which is twenty years old and the latter two seventeen. Air Serbia carried over 4.4 million passengers in 2024, marking its busiest year since rebranding in 2013.
Congratulations Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteSweet, those are nice numbers. Congrats! It would make sense if 3 purchased planes are ATRs.
ReplyDeleteI think all three are jet engine planes.
DeleteMaybe one of the A330s ;)
DeleteIn the article it says
Delete"As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the three jets in question are Airbus A319s"
A319 wasn't there in the first version. Okay, so A319 it is.
DeleteSo they bought 3 A319s who are between 15 and 21 years old.
DeleteThey were probably cheap if after that they managed to had profit of over 40 million euros.
Delete* have
DeleteWe will see in their financial report how much the three planes cost.
DeleteI hope Air Serbia eventually considers adding brand-new narrow-body aircraft instead of old A319s.
DeleteBuying cheap used a319's is like paying cheapest possible leasing rates in advance for 5 years. Bravo JU👏
DeleteFleet issues. They don't have the pull of giants like U2, W6, the American Big Three, the Chinese giants, IndiGo, etc., that order hundreds of planes from Airbus. The backlog is immense, and with their fleet issues, it's better to get a jet instantly
DeleteAnon 12:16 You must be better director of AS. You are genius. Why you didnt write, what is lease rate and how much they paid. If you dont know, than you are jealous looser
DeleteSo you are telling him that he is clueless about aviation but then you write AS as Air Serbia on an aviation portal? AS is Alaska in the US, Air Serbia's code is JU. Learn your aviation facts.
DeleteAnon 18:36 AS is Alaska and they are not flying Airbus a319. On the flip side lease rates are based on market conditions so are the aircraft prices. 40 million of € profits hurts your feelings, and that makes me very much happy!
DeleteThe article states that the three purchased aircraft are a319
DeleteReally amazing results. Especially if you look at the revenue you see how large scale their operations were last year.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you take into consideration all the difficulties they had last year after the Marathon debacle.
DeleteThat's what happens when you operate in a stable market which doesn't have sanctions towards Russia. Market conditions helped them a lot.
DeleteGreat work by Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteWell done JU!
ReplyDeleteBut wait, people were saying 2024 would be a disaster form them....
ReplyDeleteI also wonder where are all those "experts" that predicted catastrophic scenarios for JU.
DeleteIt seems they escaped...I wonder why 🤣
DeleteActually, I am puzzled with this result - people here announced profit that would be more than 50 million, now we see that it's significantly lower than that. Why?
DeleteWhat happened to the gross margin, why did it decrease?
^ maybe you should read the article again. But as a hater you will always hate.
DeleteSelf proclaimed expert have predicted this, oh no he hasn’t 🤣🤣🤣
DeleteCongrats
ReplyDeleteSo now we have
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia - 3 aircraft owned
Air Montenegro - 2 aircraft owned
Croatia Airlines - 0 aircraft owned
Air Montenegro's aircraft were directly purchased by the government. So the government officially owns them.
DeleteAir Albania 4 avione
DeleteAir Albania does own a single aircraft. All are leased.
DeleteAir Albania, same level like Croatia Airlines lol
DeleteThe company needs to have 20 A320 series aircraft. Long term wet leasing needs to come to an end.
ReplyDeleteWet leases make sense in the current market. With many NEOs being grounded for engine repair, demand and dry lease rates for classic A320 family are high. Even in a more balanced market, many airlines use wet leases for additional peak season capacity. Air Serbia used old 737s during the previous decade for that capacity but once they left the fleet, wet lease usage picked up.
DeleteThank you V.P.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteSo proud of Air Serbia, whenever I can using their service. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia keeps growing while maintaining profitability. This is exactly what a national carrier should be doing
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo my guess is those 3 A319 can now freely fly to Russia and wherever they want, including Iraq, Iran etc. without asking anyone's opinion?
ReplyDeleteI think it also has something to do with the aircraft insurer. But I don't know who insures their aircraft.
Delete@anon 11.25 I hope that will be the outcome. Part of the reason they have such big profit is because of those Russia flights.
DeleteYou can't blame them for that.
DeleteOf course not. They were smart to use the opportunity to their benefit as any profit driven business would do.
DeleteSo this is first time they actually own planes since Jat.
ReplyDeleteFirst time since they got rid of the B737-300s in 2020, which were purchased by JAT.
DeleteAnd paid by Serbian taxpayers, not JAT, just to remove any potential romanticism about previous management.
DeleteActually it was paid by the federal government through trade with US. Read more about it before writing nonsense about tax payers in the 1980s.
DeleteFederal government was paying nothing in the 1980s. Only the republican. Then again, except for 1980-1981, I am not aware of JAT generating losses back than (financial results for 1982 were better than expected, so if there was a loss, it was minimal - the turnover was around 200 mil $ that year, just for illustration what the inflation has done so far), so I`d say all of the equipment was actually paid off by JAT, even if through trade arrangements with Prva petoletka Trstenik exporting hydraulic to the US, baby beef shipments etc.
DeleteOwning aircraft instead of leasing will reduce costs and gives them more flexibility in some other areas.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Lower obligations now mean more room for growth in the future.
DeleteOwning aircraft gives them more control, but they still need to modernize the narrow-body fleet.
DeleteWell, they planed to phase out this kind of airplanes. But instead, they’re first to buy. Anyway, I think JU should keep few 319s, because gap between E195 and a320 is still too huge. So good job keeping 3 birds
DeleteCongrats to Air Serbia! Growing the fleet, increasing profits and setting new records.
ReplyDeleteGreat financials, but I hope this also means better service and more investment in onboard comfort.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree. They need to invest in the passenger experience.
DeleteWhat’s next for Air Serbia? Will they order new planes, or continue acquiring second-hand aircraft?
ReplyDeleteDidn't Marek say number of aircraft should reach 35 before they order new planes?
DeleteHe did but he said 40 not 35
DeleteHow many aircraft do that have now with wet leases?
Delete@14:41
DeleteYes he did. These are not new planes.
10 ATR
Delete1 ERJ
10 A319
3 A320
3 A330
= 27 (3 owned, 24 dry leases)
2 ERJ
4 A320/B737
= 6 wet leases last summer
33 in total
Plus
1 A330 ready for delivery
2 additional wet lease ERJ's from FB
1 possible dry lease ERJ
How many passengers could they have this year?
ReplyDeleteMy guess 4.5-4.6 million
Delete^ I'm pretty sire they will add more than 100,000 pax
Delete**sure
DeleteMore likely 4.7-4.8 million.
DeleteThere were rumours last year that they bought planes. Turned out it was true.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember. That's when they made the acquisition it seems.
DeleteSo which AC are now JU property? AC have registration codes so would be nice to know which one belong to JU.
ReplyDeleteShould be APF, APB and APE
DeleteDidn't they say they would retire and replace A319s with A320s and Embarers?
DeleteThey can lease them out now.
DeleteOr the deal was to good to pass.
DeleteThe article says the aorcraft registrations
Delete"The airline's acquired A319s are registered YU-APA, YU-APE and YU-APF, the first of which is twenty years old and the latter two seventeen"
Nice work
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteSo they're not getting extra three A319s, but acquiring the ones that are in dry-lease already?
ReplyDeleteYes. That's quite clear.
DeleteIt says so in the first sentence.
DeleteProbably the best news and financial results since I am following this blog.
ReplyDeleteBravo A.S.
To manage this result while adding third wide-body and 3 ATRs and launching another long haul route is impressive.
ReplyDelete+100
Delete+1
DeleteVery good results. But why buying 20 year old planes? Better invest in new Embraers than old A319s?
ReplyDeleteBecause they likely got a very good deal where it was cheaper to buy then lease for the next 5 years.
DeleteThis is probably wrong they already passed 3 D checks.
DeleteWhat is wrong?
DeleteFinance.
DeleteMy guess is the deal was too good to decline and will serve as spare capacity during the summer months, just as the B737's did. The difference here is that JU intends to have the A320's as one of the main aircraft in the fleet for Euro-Med operations and the A319 is at least the same type rating unlike the B737's previously. I also see this as a step away from wet leases.
DeleteThey can buy the E95 but they don't have enough pilots and crew to operate them. They need to make their salaries and working conditions better.
DeleteAnother unsupported lie at 06:27
DeleteIdemo dalje.
ReplyDeleteamazing news. is this the first a/c purchase in decade or so in exyu?
ReplyDeleteA319 seem to be retiring in big numbers globally including large operators such as BA, AF, UA etc. Spirit just retired entire fleet of 35 aircraft over the past 2 years, I wonder if this might be a good chance for JU to grab some affordable leasing rates or simply keep acquiring metal given their clear decision to maintain the type in the fleet for foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteNo, they will retire A319 within 5 years:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/09/air-serbia-to-phase-out-a319s-within.html
20 years old aircraft? How long do they plane to use them?? Aircrafts should not been more than 10 years old at the time of purchasing.
ReplyDeleteI advise you to open your own airline and implement that rule.
DeleteLast Anon what is the point of that toxic comment?
DeleteWhat is the point of asisine comment that aircrafts (sic) "should be no more than 10 years old at the time of purchase"?
DeleteI would like to know how much did citizens of Serbia gave in past year through both hidden and public government support. There are programs for improving the connections with diaspora that only Air Serbia can get - where the govt finances otherwise non-profitable lines to many cities in Europe. There are prigrams for "improving tourism", that only they can get. They are gettting those for most of the past years. 10+ millions every year.
ReplyDeleteSome other players, like EasyJet, are gone, pushed away from some markets, then AS filling the gaps.
Does AS has to pay their costs, taxes, debts to government-controlled public companies, or they can forever build debt, until ones government forgives it?
I know that AS is a protected player in Serbian market, not playing by the financial rules and having a big daddy, jumping in whenever needed, so I have no warm place in my heart for them.
AS success comes due to successful steal, plus successful price build up, due to lack of competition, and Serbian people are paying for it, unwillingly.
AS is in fact a part of the broken, criminal, corrupt part of exyu society, and their success means a loss for honest, sincere and well-thinking persons. Their success comes due to money overflown from the pockets of the other part of society.
And naturally, the unique lines to Moscow, with boosted prices, helped a lot in past years.
It's nice that there are people, mostly abroad, who are glad due to this success. I believe they mean well and have sincerely good feelings about it. Unfortunately, that feeling is here misplaced and misused
Financial results are public and you can look at them. The largest funding JU is probably recieving is in the form of PSO routes ex INI and KVO. Still, the Government of Serbia cannot give JU endless funding without the risk of being banned by the EU. The 2 times it was under investigation it was found that no illegal funding was given to JU. Also worth mentioning is that JU is the ONLY ex-YU airline to have returned money to the government.
DeleteEasyjet has in fact kicked JU out of GVA not once but twice. Easyjet leaving BSL has nothing to do with JU, it in fact competed with Wizz. Other routes where Easyjet left were immediately taken over by Wizz (BER being the latest).
Regarding ticket prices, its one of the rare things in Serbia for some time now experiencing deflation. Serbia as a member of the Open Skies deal with the EU cannot ban airlines from the EU opening routes to Serbia.
It's not AS, it's JU! Learn your codes!!
DeletePlease try to understand the guy, it is easier to spit than to learn codes.
Delete"AS success comes due to successful steal"
DeleteJU success is a result of hard work over years and better management decisions. JU didn't steal passengers from Adria, Croatia or Montenegro Airlines, they made (mostly) smart decisions and won over the market. Politicians from Croatia and Montenegro clearly said they will support their national airlines in every possible way (including pumping taxpayers money into them) but it's not helping when their airlines make wrong decisions. Acknowledge that fact and you will stop hating Air Serbia for being more successful.
I don't know why these haters of JU even comment sometimes. The constant use of "AS" is a clear sign that they are not airline/aircraft enthusiasts as they don't take the time to learn the proper airline codes.
DeleteObviously it's one single sad guy. Understand him, those articles are killing him
DeleteUnexpected
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteHopefully even better results this year.
ReplyDeleteSo they are bragging about millions in profit, buying planes etc but they can't offer free onboard drinks and snacks? Just goes to show how little they care about paying customers. They are lucky Serbian economy performed well so O&D markets boomed.
ReplyDeleteMuch richer companies don't do that. Have a look on LHG.
DeleteYou get a free snack on JU.
DeleteLHG offers many other things to compensate, like a loyalty program and miles.
DeleteYes, the inedible sandwich that most people don't eat. They also removed the muffin a few months ago.
You also get plazma on all short flights. So you actually lied that Air Serbia does not offer free snacks. In fact you get either plazma or a sandwich and a bottle of water for free on all flights. Meanwhile, in business you get a menu and choice of three hot meals on all intra-Europe flights with exception to those under 50 minutes where you get a plate of sandwiches.
DeleteHe wrote free onboard drinks and snacks which you don't get. His statement was correct and you are basing yours on changing facts to fit your narrative.
DeleteAnd you get a free snack and water.
DeleteSo? That's not what was written in the original comment.
DeleteYU-ATB se najzad vraća kući. Sleće oko 11:10h.
ReplyDeleteХвала
DeleteThank you
Delete