Six airlines plan to utilise wet-lease aircraft on services to and from the former Yugoslavia during the 2025/26 winter season. This excludes cases where carriers operate flights through their own regional subsidiaries. A wet-lease is a leasing arrangement whereby the lessor provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to another airline. The reliance on ACMI providers has expanded in recent years, accelerated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, including supply chain bottlenecks, crew shortages and persistent delays in new aircraft deliveries.
Austrian Airlines will introduce Air Dolomiti Embraer E195 aircraft on its Belgrade service this winter, replacing the Braathens ATR72 turboprops that had been scheduled on a limited basis. The ATR72s will operate just three flights in January, none in February, and two in March, though their use will be more frequent in November and December. Notably, some of the E195s are former Austrian Airlines aircraft, which the carrier has begun phasing out of its own fleet and transferred to Lufthansa Group subsidiary Air Dolomiti. Meanwhile, Austrian will maintain the use of the ATR72-600 on its Zagreb flights throughout the winter season.
Swiss will rely on several wet-lease partners for its regional operations this winter. airBaltic’s Airbus A220-300s will be regularly deployed on flights to Belgrade, while Edelweiss Air’s Airbus A320 is scheduled to operate to the Serbian capital on just two occasions during the season. In addition, Helvetic Airways will provide a mix of Embraer E195 and E195-E2 aircraft on services to Dubrovnik and Sarajevo, with the latter set to see the wet-lease partner used on a regular basis throughout the winter.
Among the flag carriers from the former Yugoslavia, Air Serbia will continue to rely on two wet-lease partners this winter. Bulgaria Air will maintain operations with its four E190s, while a new operator, set to replace GetJet Airlines, is expected to be announced shortly, with aircraft to be deployed across various routes. Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines is in the final stages of securing a long-term wet-lease agreement for regional aircraft, which will gradually replace part of its Dash 8 fleet. The new units are anticipated to enter service from next year.
Interesting that there will be no more Air Baltic A220s in Ljubljana. Just a dew Helvetic operated flights but the rest will be with Swiss equipment.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a capacity increase compared to last Winter when most of the flights were operated by Helvetic.
DeleteGood. And I think it is just 2 or 3 Heveltic flights this entire winter.
DeleteAlso seems Brussels Airlines is returning with its own equipment to LJU after using wet lease all summer.
DeleteGood
DeleteFlew on SN for the first time about a month ago... honestly, I'd rather just fly on Wizz Air or Ryanair. Very depressing airline.
DeleteIt's such a soulless carrier, it's incredibly (and indescribably) boring. And quality wise it was worse than Swiss and Lufthansa, so I'm not sure why I'd ever fly with them ever again, considering their market niche (Africa transfers) is covered well enough by Turkish and flydubai
DeleteAustrian getting rid of Emrbaers is the same mistake as them getting rid of Dash planes.
ReplyDeleteMakes no sense to me
DeleteLH group is turning OS into similar airline as SN is, with only 2 different aircraft types.
DeleteMy guess is that they will just replace their own with Air Dolomiti.
DeleteIt will be easier and cheaper like that. For Austrian Airlines, it's also easier not to deal with contract negotiations for crew which are flying these regional planes.
Air Dolomiti could be the future of LH Group regional flying.
Probably to reduce costs
Delete^ most definitely
DeleteAdria would have probably been a major LH wet lease partner had it survived.
DeleteIt already was.
DeleteLH slowly killing Austrian.
Delete@Anon 09:53: Flag carrier operating ACMI flights on a massive scale was really quite bizzare. Kind of like Air Baltic.
DeleteSwiss really spreads the work around—
ReplyDeleteI think Swiss is one of the biggest wet lease users. Although it's all Helvetic and air Baltic.
DeleteNot thrilled about so many different operators flying under the Swiss brand.
DeleteAll of their wet lease partners are with good planes in good condition.
Delete... and with much lower labor costs for the crew (Airbaltic)
DeleteToo many cooks in the kitchen.
DeleteairBaltic’s A220 is one of the best narrowbodies to fly on.
DeleteI really can't understand fascination with A220. Flew Swiss and Air Baltic. Average normal plane, nothing special, nothing spectacular. In my 60 years flew over 30 aircraft types on over 100 airlines, turboprop and jet, old and new generation, narrow and wide body, regional, medium and long haul, 2,3 and 4 engines, 1 and 2 aisles, 1 and 2 decks, first, business and economy class, around the World, and really, really and once again really, can't find anything so special, spectacular and breathtaking on A220 compared to all others.
Deleteand also there is nothing particularly special about Airbaltic a220s versus other A220s in general...
DeleteThey do have starlink wifi.
DeleteAs long as flights run on time, most passengers won’t care if it’s Swiss, Helvetic or airBaltic operating. The branding confusion is only for avgeeks.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't agree with your statement. Brand awareness/recognition is extremely important for airlines. There is a reason why so many of them spend millions on branding.
DeleteWhen it comes to Swiss, I think they don't care as much as they face less competition from LCCs at their home market, especially in ZRH.
On top of that, relying on Helvetic should not be an issue since their overall branding is similar to Swiss'.
It's won't be like those poor souls who booked a flight on Etihad only to be stuck on a Getjet plane.
That Etihad-GetJet switch will be brutal :D
DeleteExactly. Helvetic has even very similar cabin vibe as Swiss, well Getjet and Etihad... :)
DeleteEtihad had a lot of complaints last year when they were using Wamos Air A330s on some of their flights. But this will be a on a whole different level.
DeleteAnd yet EY just made its 30th new route announcement this year. Perhaps they should first secure equipment.
DeleteA lot of airlines using ACMIs for winter.
ReplyDeleteThe times of ACMI era.
DeleteThis level of wet leasing really highlights the lack of available aircraft in Europe right now.
DeleteSerbia needs with local acmi airline.
ReplyDeleteIt had Aviogenex but it was destroyed to prevent them starting scheduled flights and competing against JU.
DeleteSad they killed off Aviogenex. Especially since there was big interest in its privatization in 2013.
DeleteHard to compete in the European market with all the EASA ACMIs, which don't have to jump through "3rd country" regulation hoops. EASA AOC is also a big advantage when competing for contracts around the world.
DeleteThey still managed to carve out a market for themselves in the 90s and 2000s, even when they were a sanctioned airline from Yugoslavia.
DeleteAviogenex could have got an EASA AOC too from some other country and thus operate freely around Europe.
DeleteBBN Airlines is the weirdest. It is an Indonesian, turkish or lithuanian airline..
ReplyDeleteBBN is part of Aviasolution group. Same company that owned Smartlynx, Avionexpress, KlasJet...
DeleteThank you
Delete09:27
DeleteBBN Airlines Vilnius (main company)
BBN Turkiye, Indonesia, Thailand and soon Philippines subsidiaries.
BBN Thailand will operate as Thai SmartLynx, BBN Philippines as Avion Express PH.
Delete...one airline two brands.
Delete10.36 and 10.37
DeleteMore than 2. Avion Express already has AOC's and companies in Lithuania, Malta and Brasil. Philippines will be the 4th
Thanks for the explanation
DeleteYes, that's right. I just wanted to say that BBN will use the SmartLynx trademark in Thailand and the Philippines in Avion Express. That's an interesting practice.
DeleteReally interested to see which airline will be JU's new ACMI partner.
ReplyDeleteHopefully not another GetJet-style airline.
DeleteWill OU replace the Dashes with Dash planes on different turboprop? Do we know who will be the wet lease partner?
ReplyDeleteAustrian swapping turboprops for E195s on Belgrade is definitely an upgrade. Better comfort and capacity for sure.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWet-leasing isn’t ideal but with delivery delays everywhere it’s better than cutting routes. At least connectivity is maintained.
ReplyDeleteMore often than not it is used to reduce costs.
DeleteHow?
DeleteDoes Lufthansa wet lease any planes?
ReplyDeleteJust Air Dolomiti
DeleteMeanwhile their subsidiaries are wet-leasing for 3-4 airlines. Typical LH.
DeleteOf course LH wet leases: airBaltic and Cityjet. They even strengthened wet lease partnership with airBaltic with 10 % stake investment.
DeleteAre they using either this winter?
DeleteTo who is Trade Air wet leasing this winter?
ReplyDeleteProbably some Israeli airline.
DeleteAt the moment I don't think anyone. They are operating charters from LJU as usual.
DeleteThe irony of Austrian leasing back its own old E195s through Air Dolomiti is peak Lufthansa Group.
ReplyDeleteThis summer, air Baltic was wet leasing old planes from itself while wet leasing out its own new planes to others.
Delete* for itself
DeleteGoodbye ATRs on Belgrade–Vienna! I won’t miss the noise. Looking forward to the E195s.
ReplyDeleteYou can still fly this route on ATR with JU.
DeleteI don't think he wants to fly on ATRs :)
DeleteGood to know which airlines to avoid
ReplyDeleteLol
Delete@admin to which city is Ajet using wet leases
ReplyDeleteNevermind just realised it's written in the table
DeleteSeems like a lot of wet leases being used on BEG flights.
ReplyDeleteWell it has the most flights in ex-Yu so makes sense it will also have the most wet-lease equipment.
DeleteAustrian is making itself less competative on Zagreb route with Bra ATRs. And it's not like they are performing there too good anyway.
ReplyDeleteBut they compete against against Croatia Airlines Dash. So that's why they can deploy ATRs.
DeleteBut that's what I'm saying. They could completely dominate on the route with a different aircraft but instead they are falling behind OU.
DeleteStupid me. Just saw TBA in Air Serbia row next to Bulgaria Air and start to google for TBA Airlines. To Be Announced, of course.
ReplyDelete:D based on the names airlines have today, I would not be surprised if TBA Airlines exists :D
DeleteTBA is an ICAO code for Tibet Airlines. So, who knows....;-)
DeleteWith JU anything is possible haha
DeleteBTW Bulgaria Air returns from lease A320s from Condor and TUI. From 1 November they're available for JU.
DeleteI mean, they've been free since then. So it's not out of the question that they're flying to JU.
Delete