Air Serbia is expected to take delivery of a second Embraer E195 aircraft shortly, with the jet in question recently receiving the Serbian registration YU-ATC. Formerly operated by Aurigny from the United Kingdom, the jet is now in an all-white livery in Exeter according to “Skyliner Magazine”, awaiting delivery to Air Serbia. The jet was initially destined for Lumiwings, however, this arrangement has seemingly fallen through. EX-YU Aviation News reported last month the carrier’s second E195 was due to arrive in mid-April. Air Serbia had initially planned to already have two E195s in its fleet. However, problematic paperwork from the past owner for the planned second unit meant the airline opted for a different frame altogether.
The incoming aircraft (pictured) is close to eleven years old and is owned by Azzora Aviation. It had only flown for Aurigny and has been out of service since May 2024. Air Serbia is exploring options for the additional lease of a further two E195s for delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. Its sole E195 is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance in Naples and is slated to return to service on April 30, operating the afternoon rotation between Belgrade and Frankfurt, although changes remain possible.
Air Serbia is also wet-leasing three Bulgaria Air E190 jets, with a fourth aircraft to be added in June. A wet-lease is a leasing arrangement whereby the lessor provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to another airline. The use of ACMIs has grown globally following the coronavirus pandemic, driven by supply chain disruptions, crew shortages, and delays in aircraft deliveries. Air Serbia and Bulgaria Air are looking at ways to expand their wet-lease partnership, with the Bulgarian flag carrier recently hiring Serbian nationals as cabin crew on the wet-leased aircraft, while further avenues of cooperation are also being explored.
Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteAuringy is definitely a pretty niche airline, that's interesting
ReplyDeleteI wonder where the troubled airframe will go to. Africa? Asia? Montenegro?
ReplyDeleteThere are rumours it will go to Air Montenegro
DeleteI heard the same, that Air Montenegro is considering taking it. For their sake I hope they don't get it but maybe it's the only thing they can afford right now.
DeleteMaybe they can use parts to complete damaged one from Marathon at BEG or old Montenegro Airlines at TGD. From those three, they may complete one in full
DeleteDamaged Marathon one is only for scrap and spare parts. More chances this could be to complete the old MNE bird if the rumor is truth.
DeleteFinally
ReplyDeleteSo registration YU-ATA is deleted in systems but won't be used ever again?
ReplyDeleteIt may be used, no aircraft has ever held it.
DeleteMaybe they still consider that they may complete documentation eventually and start using it.
DeleteMakes sense but I doubt they'll reconsider that same bird ever again.
DeleteSo, where and when it will be painted in Air Serbia livery?
ReplyDeleteProbably after summer.
DeleteWhy would it be after summer? It is still in Exter right now, surely it's going to be painted in Air Serbia full livery before being delivered.
DeleteThe aircraft is expected to only have Air Serbia signage for now and is expected to arrive in a day or two.
Delete@Admin well at least it's something. When can we expect the aircraft to sport the full livery?
DeleteI don't have that information but my guess would be after the summer season. The aircraft is most likely to arrive sometime tomorrow.
DeleteThanks for the updates admin.
DeleteWasn't there someone claiming in the comments just the other day that "it is well known" the aircraft won't arrive until the middle of May?
ReplyDeleteI think they claimed it won't enter service before the second half of May. For Air Serbia's sake I hope there won't by any major delays. They desperately need as many E95s as they can get.
DeletePainting will take at least another 20 days or so. And 2-3 weeks for taking it into Serbian registry. So it won’t fly before June
DeleteFrom what I remember, previous E95 arrived with the livery. Strange they didn't paint it before delivery. Hopefully they will not fly it all white until the end of the summer season. There is always the option of stickers but...
DeleteWell the plane has already been added to Serbian register, so we might just get a AirSerbia tiles on the side for the summer, and then a full paint in the winter, which does make sense
DeleteMaybe it’s added Serbian registration on planespotters, but surely it won’t fly for JU until DCV do whole inspection on the ground and check all the paperwork
DeleteNo the aircraft is in the CAD register, and can be found here: https://cad.gov.rs/en/strana/20841/%D0%90ccess-to-the-electronic-aircraft-registry#app
DeleteThis is very inaccurate. It says that type is ERJ-190LR, not ERJ-195. Very funny
DeleteWasn't there an actor acting in that movie, with that actress?
DeleteWhy does everyone believe that the plane won't be painted? It is still in Exter undergoing maintenance and most likely getting a paint job for Air Serbia before being delivered.
DeleteAdmin mentioned it will be delivered within days so it probably won't be painted. Perhaps they could not get a slot for it. In any case it is more important for it to enter the fleet ASAP than be painted. Stickers will be sufficient for the summer.
DeleteQuite younger than YU-ATB
ReplyDeleteAlso, this one has 122 seats so a bit more than ATB.
DeleteHow many does ATB have?
Delete118
DeleteAnd there goes fleet unification…
DeleteThey may have changed the configuration in the one year the plane has been grounded.
DeleteIf the plane was parked for a whole year why JU did not get it a year ago?
DeleteIt was destined for Lumiwings. It was even painted in their livery.
DeleteWhat happened?
DeleteMore seats then ATB?How is that even possible? 🫠
DeleteYU-ATB under maintenance in Naples ...again? This AC seems constantly out for maintenance...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I heard they are replacing some parts which were not available last time. There is a big shortage of spare parts on the market.
DeleteThere are a lot of E95s right now on the market, this aircraft is not hard to get. It makes you wonder if this whole situation with spare parts is not just an excuse they are using.
DeleteAir Serbia's operations department is not known for their high level of efficiency.
There is literally no airline that isn't currently complaining about lack of spare parts. I doubt it is a global PR conspiracy.
DeleteThey are mostly complaining about the newer generation of planes. Here we are talking about second hand E95s. It's not as if JU is operating a whole bunch of neos.
DeleteI think not wanting to spend money and waiting endlessly for the cheapest possible opportunity is the cause of JU not getting E-jets on time.
DeleteNo, the main complaint is not about neos, whose only issues are engines. It is precisely older generation aircraft for which parts are missing on the market.
Delete@09:30 that doesn't make sense at all.
DeleteWe are not talking about 737-300s here.
Lol ... whose 'only' issue are the engines. Yes, that is their only, minor problem.
DeleteAs far as E95 planes go, there are spare parts out there it's just that they are not cheap. Somehow I don't see other Embraer operators such as Austrian Airlines or LOT struggling.
They are having issues in the sense that maintenance is taking much longer than before.
DeleteSeems strange that it is JU that always faces these issues and not smaller airlines like the Bulgarians or the Lithuanians. Not to mention LO, KL, LH, LX etc.
DeleteHow do you know all others have no problems? They just have larger fleet of Embraers and larger stock of spare parts, but surely they have similar problems from time to time. And JU doesn’t have its own MRO, which significantly increase service time
DeleteWhich means they are not as prepared as others are. Simple as that. They can't milk that excuse forever, at some point they have to address that issue. As someone mentioned above, others seem to be doing fine, it's only JU that is having rather serious operational issues with certain planes in their fleet.
DeleteThey seem to be doing fine with their A319, A320 and ATR so they obviously struggle with Embraer.
Somone said these are parts that needed to be replaced that could bot be replaced last time because there were none on the market.
DeleteYes and that was referring to the E95 they currently have, we are talking about the second one which is supposed to enter the fleet this summer.
DeleteYup, that is one of negative impacts when you introducing new type of aircraft in the fleet
DeleteInteresting that the original deal with Lumiwings fell through. I wonder what changed behind the scenes?
ReplyDeleteIt was even painted in Lumiwings livery.
DeleteThey already won PSO behind the scenes, but then the gov backed down
DeleteAt this rate, Bulgaria Air will soon have more planes flying for Air Serbia than for itself.
ReplyDeleteI think they are pefectly ok with it. They always remind me of a slightly better run Jat Airways, though Tarom seems to be fighting hard for that title these days.
DeleteIf Bulgaria Air didn't have such rich backers I think they would have gone bankrupt long ago.
Wondering what means further expanding cooperation?
DeleteMy guess is that they might provide them with Embraer pilots. Who knows. Honestly, I'd rather JU just focus on building their own E90/95 fleet instead of relying on these wet leases.
DeleteI flew to LCA on that Lithuanian A320 and the onboard service (everything) is subpar when compared to Air Serbia - especially the crew.
I wish they would hire and train more Serbian pilots for the E-jet fleet and replace wet leases with dry leases.
DeleteIf they provide Ejet pilots, then they may provide all 5 E90s also. They will not need planes without the crews
Delete* 4 E90s
DeleteHow many E190s in total does Bulgaria Air have?
Delete4, since 2012. However, I think that Air Serbia could train their E190 pilots at Sofia flight training as there is an E190 simulator. And it will be significantly cheaper than training them in Italy lets say.
DeleteIt's very strange FB have simulator for only 4 birds. And they definitely will retire them, since they are switching to A220
DeleteLooking forward to seeing more of them on regional routes
ReplyDeleteThe E195 gives Air Serbia much more flexibility for mid-size European routes. Frankfurt, Milan, Vienna… it fits the network well.
ReplyDeleteIt would be ideal for MUC too.
DeleteIt can be used pretty much on each destination, excluding the busiest ones.
DeleteIt is especially handy in winter when A310/A320 becomes too big on some route.
DeletePlus when winter comes they can move some A320 to sunny destinations while dispatching the E95 to thinner, more seasonal routes.
DeleteEvery aircraft added is a step forward for our national airline.
ReplyDeleteExactly! This summer JU will have 6 Ejets, which is definitely nice fleet. And two more by the end of the year is great. A lot of new potential routes may be opened with fleet like this.
DeleteI think the idea is to slowly replace the A319s.
DeleteYes, that was the idea and then they bought 3 x A319. Further expected
DeleteThey bought the A319 because they were cheap.
DeleteA319's will take a few to several years to exit the fleet so why pay lease rates which in the long run will cost more when you could buy out the ac? Besides, the 3 will likely be used as needed ie peak summer, just as we saw with the B737's in the Aviolet livery. Difference here is that at least the A319's are the same type rating as their A320's unlike the B737's which optimises operations.
DeleteWell, replacing them doesn't mean they will do it overnight. It's a long process and from what I heard the first A319 is supposed to leave once the summer is over.
DeleteIn the future, JU won't be adding any A319s, they will only retire them. That said, it doesn't mean they won't be buying them if they get a fantastic offer which they most likely did.
They could also use the owned three as donors for the rest of 319/320 fleet once they retired one by one. Spare parts from the backyard. Fast and easy.
DeleteBuying a plane is far more expensive than lease it. It’s not wise to buy them, if you want to retire them within next one or two years. They will surely keep them 5+ years more
DeleteThe only thing that looks nicer than E195 in Air Serbia livery are two E195 in Air Serbia livery.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteStill a long way until 15 e-jets in the fleet, hopefully this plan will materialise within next years
DeleteWell having 4 by the end of the year is a modest but a decent fleet. Then maybe having 6-8 in total in 2026, and adding 4-6 more in 2027...it's very doable, especially if you start negotiating for the deliveries today
DeleteI believe the third and fourth aircraft would be better arriving now in time for the summer season rather than the 4th quarter.
DeleteYou're probably the first to come to that conclusion. Bravo!
DeleteQuestion is do Air Serbia may provide enough EJet crews for that?
Delete@10:34 do you have an explanation why JU did not do the sensible thing he is suggesting?
DeleteMust admit that AirSERBIA livery is one of the nicest in the industry. A masterpiece.
Delete+1
DeleteAbsolutely, their livery is stunning.
DeleteIn reality, these additional E95s are more needed in winter than in summer. It's in winter when they need a plane that's faster than the ATR but smaller than the A319. That's where the E90/95 come into the picture.
Oh wow it's already been registered and delivered!
ReplyDeleteIt will be in BEG tomorrow.
DeleteAmelia just today took two E190, could be a wet lease opportunity for AirSerbia
ReplyDeleteI think 6 Embraers, which they have in the fleet this summer is sufficient.
DeleteLots of people guessed it would be this plane. Nice to see.
ReplyDeleteЗанимљиво је да сам летео са оба авиона пре него што су постали део Ер Србије (YU-ATB као G-FBEN у Флајбију, а YU-ATC као G-NSEY у Аурингију). Питам се како ћу их уписати у листу летова ако поново будем летео са њима (исти авион а различита регистрација...).
ReplyDelete6 Embraers for this summer is not bad at all.
ReplyDeleteI think this was Aurigny's only jet engine plane.
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteGreat to see the fleet expanding! The E195 is a solid aircraft and a good fit for many of Air Serbia’s European routes.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it performs better than YU-ATB once it is in service.
ReplyDelete