Air Serbia is set to retire its first Airbus A319 aircraft at the end of September, followed by another unit of the same type after the summer season. As EX-YU Aviation News has learned, the 22-year-old jet, registered YU-APK, is due to operate its last flights on Air Serbia’s behalf on September 30. It joined the flag carrier’s fleet in 2019. The airline, which purchased three A319s last year, has committed to phasing out the type over the coming three to five years. They will be gradually replaced by Embraer E195 and A320 aircraft. Air Serbia is due to take delivery of at least three jets this winter season.
Air Serbia has already signed a Letter of Intent for two Embraer aircraft, which are expected to arrive sometime in November or December, although the timeline is still subject to change. The jets are believed to have been formerly operated by Azul. The airline’s winter schedule has been structured to avoid reliance on these aircraft. In addition, Air Serbia has signed an agreement for another A320 which is scheduled to join the fleet this winter as well. Furthermore, the carrier is actively evaluating two more A320s.
The Serbian flag carrier’s existing short-haul jet-engine fleet consists of ten A319s, three A320s and two E195s. The airline recently said, “The Embraers, especially the E195s, play a key role in our ongoing fleet modernisation. Alongside additional A320 aircraft, they are part of our strategy to gradually phase out our ten Airbus A319s over time. The E195s give us the flexibility to efficiently replace older aircraft and adjust capacity to market needs, while also enabling us to explore new destinations or strengthen frequencies on existing routes without committing to long-term capacity increases too early”. The carrier has previously said it sees potential in operating up to fifteen E195s but noted their introduction would be gradual.
Two different fleet renewal strategies in he region.. Let's see which one is the correct one
ReplyDeleteWell, Croatia Airlines have very different strategy as a whole, and different size. For starters, it doesn't have long haul flights to feed.
DeleteThere's really no correct one. It's simply a question of does it work for the airline or not
DeleteAPK is the worst aircraft in JU fleet. Thanks God it is leaving the fleet.
ReplyDeleteGood riddence.
DeleteWhat's wrong with it though?
DeleteThe aircraft constantly had some tech issue. It's good that it is leaving.
DeleteIt is mostly flying regional routes.
Delete^ I'm not surprised.
DeleteHe was nicknamed "kilavi" afterall ;)
DeleteIn the old days, YU-ANK was kilavi as well :)
DeleteOba imaju zadnje slovo K u registraciji pa pretpostavljam da je i to razlog za 'kilavi'.......
Delete@13:18 you are not correct, Yi-ANK was called " Ankica" and tjere was absolitely nothing wrong with thay aircraft, it was one of the last to be retired.
DeleteOriginally, APK was leased with the intention to be based in INI. At the time, INI had only A319 routes.
ReplyDeleteI think it is good news. And it seems it's a sustained withdrawal. Not evertything at once,
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAny info on lease return of A330 and possible lease of replacement aircraft?
ReplyDeleteThe CEO already said that YU-ARC return date is November 2026.
DeleteWe know that ARC is returning, but are there news on replacement(s)?
DeleteThe leasing of the YU-ARC was a bad choice.
DeleteThey should have checked thoroughly the condition the aircraft was in and if they still wanted to lease that particular frame they should have fixed its cabin.
No the airline has an A330 in very poor state in its fleet but still paying its lease.
And the excuse that they are keeping it as a back up is just an excuse, otherwise they would also get a replacement back up A330 once Pupin is returned to its lessor.
Just my2cents
You don't know the terms of the lease.
DeleteWhat are the terms of the lease for Pupin that are different from all other aircraft out there?
DeleteYou dry lease an aircraft, pay the monthly lease rate and are responsible for its maintenance.
@Anonymous 09:19
Delete+1
They also bought seats for retrofitting YU-ARC cabin when the pair of the EXPO A330s came last year. What happened to that plan?
Exactly. Still, Air Serbia needs more A330s even with ARC getting replaced. China frequencies are getting increased this year as already published here, plus they need aircraft to add Miami and Toronto next summer.
Delete^ There are many types of different dry lease arragngments, starting from the fact that the monhtly base lease rate might be rather low, that the leasee had to pay for initial maintenance, that the agreement could be power by the hour. It also depends which aircraft they could get into service as soon as possible in a challangeing leasing market. It's not all so black and white.
DeleteJU has no power by the hour lease agreement for any of it's aircraft.
Delete^ and how do you know that? Have you gone through each one of their leasing contracts?
Delete@09:25
DeleteFully agree. Once more A330s (I hope for more than one) come to the fleet they would all be utilized for increased frequencies and new destinations.
@09:25 and @09:36 So why are they not using these 4 planes they have now to " increase frequences or add new destinations"? What stops them? They have 4 aircraft in their fleet for 7 months already..
DeleteThey have enough to go 3pw to PVG and CAN, as well as have some spare capacity in case of mechanical or weather issues. But they don't have enough to increase China frequencies AND add 3pw MIA and 2pw YYZ and return YU-ARC in Nov of next year. Depending on slots, they can squeeze in Toronto, but for some unexplicable reason they don't want to start YYZ before MIA.
DeleteWell, at the moment they have 4 planes, right? That's around 24 rotations weekly..They need 7 for NYC, 3 during summer for ORD, if they increase to 3 for CAN and PVG it would be 16..If they add 3 for MIA, and 2 for YYZ, its 21 rotations..So they still even have some free room for spare capacity for weather/mechanical issues..They don't need to keep aircraft for 2 days on PVG..And surely they don't need to wait november 2026, by that time ( 1 and 1/2 year) surely they can find another plane to cover up for JU ARC, if they are serious in keeping those routes..Not mentioning that during wi ter season they have even less rotations.
DeleteYou take no consideration of flight times, slots, or turnaround times.
DeleteI took under consideration. That's why its 6 weekly rotations per plane, and not 7..for NYC rotation is less than 24 hours, for ORD the same, for YYZ the same..For MIA, PVG and CAN is around 28h, lets round it to 30...So MIA, PVG and CAN x 30 is 270 hours weekly. NYC x 7, ORD x 3 and YYZx 2, lets round them to 24 hours, but it less than that, its 288h..So total is 558h per week...You have 4 aircraft, so it's 139,5 hours of flying per week per aircraft...In 1 week you have 168 hours..So in my calculation, every aircraft would have a spare 28 hours per week, that's even more than 1 spare day per week..But lets round it to 6 rotations per week for 1 aircraft..that's 24 in total...I was more than generous in calculation..Do you think it should be more than 30hours rotation time for China flights? Or more than 24h rotation time for north-east coast of USA? And all your slots can be calculated in this extra 28h per plane per week..
DeleteThey are not eager to start new North America destinations. In my opinion, Miami will start during 2026 and Toronto 2027.
Delete"They are not eager to start new North America destinations."
Delete"Miami will start during 2026"
How are they not eager if Miami will start in less than 12 months?
Treshnja, your calculations are wrong, as usual. You can not calculate hours at the calculator. There are time slots that are needed to respect. On some days, slots maybe in the morning, other days in the afternoon or night at the same airport. So you can not 'round' hours as you would like, but as it is needed. Also, there are delays for technical problems, ATC restrictions, waiting for transfer passengers or million other reasons.
Delete@18:20 Miami is just one of two North American cities Air Serbia mentioned as possible destinations. Since late March not a single update on Toronto.
DeleteAs for Miami, this is from early February but not this year, it is from 2024:
Air Serbia could announce Miami launch “by year’s-end”
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/02/air-serbia-could-announce-miami-launch.html
^ there have been numerous updates on Miami since. And it is now clear they will start in summer 2026. Which is actually what the CCO of Miami Airport said early this year when he mentioned that ticket sales should begin by the end of 2025 or early 2026. Only on this site commentators think opening a new long haul service for a relatively small airline is a days work and they can just announce new long haul routes whenever they feel like it. Air Serbia is not the scale of TK where it can just load a new long haul flight without taking numerous things into consideration. There is a lot of work that goes into each new route behind the scenes which you don't see or read about and that work is x100 when it is a long haul route. The latest update on Miami you have on this site published last Monday.
Delete@18:20 Which other calculations of mine are wrong? Besides that, this is not just my calculation..This is, what I've heard, normal calculation for weekly rotation on a route that lasts 9-12 hours ( 24 and 30 hours), including slots and transfer the same aircraft between different routes with similar length...Everything can be organized and arranged, that's why planning department exists in every company..
DeleteSmart move. A mix of E195s and A320s gives them a lot of room to maneuver depending on demand.
ReplyDeleteI'd also imagine A320 is a charter cash cow for JU
DeleteThey desperately need A321s.
DeleteThey would come in very handy for charters and Russia flights.
DeleteAny idea what is the reg of the second A319 leaving?
ReplyDeleteI don't know but the oldest ones are APB, APD, APC. Considering they own APA, APE and APF and that APL, APM, APN are the youngest, I believe it will be one od the first three.
DeleteThank you
DeleteAPB
Delete@Anonymous 09:22
DeleteThat makes sense.
First four to be phased out are APB, APC, APD and APK. Others are either owned or relatively young.
DeleteThey should’ve gone all in on A320neos. More fuel-efficient and better commonality with the A320s already in the fleet.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAn A321LR would allow the airline to fly to India, half of Africa, central Asia without weight penalties and open new markets that can't sustain an A330.
How many neos were they originally supposed to get from Etihad back in the day?
Delete10
Delete@9:30 they were supposed to get 10 NEOS to replace the A319 and A320 fleet
DeleteI think 6 but my memory is fuzzy.
DeleteTo be honest they dodged a bullet that they didn't get them. While they would be very handy now, back in late 2018 when they were supposed to start getting them and then throughout the pandemic, it would have ruined them.
DeleteAnd enjoy all the engine problems that come with them?
Delete@maxi4492
DeleteThe CFM powered ones do not have problems.
Maxi4492 the engine problems have been solved a long time ago .Since 2023 Aegean airlines is taking fully fuctional a320/321neos
DeleteYet Aegean still has planes grounded with engine issues.
DeleteIt has aircraft with engines produced before they fixed the issues.
DeleteAll P&W Airbuses currently delivered have engines that do not have the issues that plagued them before.
If JU took the original neo order it would have had all planes delivered by now and all of them would have engine issues.
DeleteHad JU select the time the Pratt engine?
DeleteStop making made up claims. JU would have likely chosen the CFM given that was the engine Etihad also chose.
DeleteThis is good news. With the right aircraft mix, they can boost frequencies on competitive routes and test new destinations without losses.
ReplyDeleteGood to see the embraer fleet growing. Do we know the registrations of the ones coming?
ReplyDeleteHopefully they are not too old. I hope that they can be around the age of 9-12 years
DeleteThe A319 is vanishing from Europe fast. Almost all airlines are upgauging to A320neo with 180 seats.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else sees the E95 and A320 duo like a modern variant of DC9 and 727? Those were the workhorses of the JAT fleet for decades
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. That`s basically it.
DeleteBut some time later, there was also 737-300 in between.
DeleteSeems like a logical move
ReplyDeleteIt’ll be interesting to see how the fleet mix evolves over the next few years.
ReplyDeleteThe phase out had to start sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteThe A319s have served Air Serbia well, but it’s time to move on.
DeleteA319s are reaching the end of their economic life. Keeping them flying longer just doesn’t make sense.
DeleteWell, given that they have 8 wet leased planes during whole year, I don't see reasons to phase them out. Their leasing price is surely cheaper than wet leased planes.
DeleteThey'll have to switch to newer generation of aircraft at some point, E2 and A320 neo.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we start to see something involving those aircraft in 2027
DeleteYes, the mentioned 2027 as realistic date for new aircraft orders.
DeleteDoes the E2 also have engine troubles?
Delete^ They do as they are exclusively powered by P&W engines.
DeleteNow regarding ordering new generation aircraft in 2027 with the size of backlog Airbus has deliveries will take at least 3-4 years to begin.
The E2 is a wonderful aircraft to fly on! What a beauty
DeleteThis transition has been talked about for years. Glad to finally see some concrete steps. The A319s are reliable but definitely outdated.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see them refresh the interiors on the current A320s too.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen with the retired A319s? Sold for parts or going to another operators?
ReplyDeleteProbably will be scrapped.
DeleteLesor (owner) will decide about them
DeleteI think the a321xlr would really fit Air Serbia. It would allow them to fly to Washington, Boston, Chicago in the winter, Mubai…
ReplyDeleteNonsense
DeleteWhy nonsense exactly?
DeleteDo we know the load factor of the new flights to Geneva ?
ReplyDeleteNo.
DeleteJust as an indicationI: flew BEG-GVA leg last Sunday and there were around 7 8 free seats. I would be also courisous to hear the exact figure.
DeleteThose are good loads!
DeleteA321?
ReplyDeleteIn my oppinion they need two of these.
Delete+1
DeleteThey could only viably use these for Russia and charters. And it is questionable if insurers would allow them to fly it to Russia.
DeleteIdemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see that they have a plan for future fleet development.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone for an other strategy: just 3 models
ReplyDelete-ATR7
-A319
-A332