Eleven airlines plan to utilise wet-lease aircraft on services to and from the former Yugoslavia during the upcoming 2026 summer season. This excludes instances where carriers operate flights through their own regional subsidiaries. A wet lease is an arrangement whereby the lessor provides the aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to another airline. Reliance on ACMI providers has grown in recent years, accelerated by the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, including supply chain bottlenecks, crew shortages and continued delays in new aircraft deliveries.
Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Swiss will all utilise airBaltic equipment and crews on select flights to the region. Brussels Airlines has scheduled the Latvian carrier on services to Ljubljana, Austrian Airlines on flights to Pristina and Skopje, while Swiss will deploy airBaltic aircraft to Belgrade, Dubrovnik and Ljubljana. Austrian Airlines still has Braathens ATR72 turboprops scheduled to operate a number of services to Belgrade and Zagreb over the summer, however, the carrier has terminated its wet-lease partnership with Braathens and these aircraft are expected to be replaced.
Finnair will rely on Danish carrier Jettime to operate some of its flights to Ljubljana this summer. Notably, Jettime assumed the “JP” designator code in 2023, previously used by Adria Airways. SAS Scandinavian Airlines will also make use of Jettime equipment on services from Copenhagen to Split and Dubrovnik, while CityJet aircraft will operate certain flights from Copenhagen to Pula and Zadar.
Eurowings will deploy a significant amount of wet-leased capacity on its flights to the former Yugoslavia this summer. The low cost carrier will utilise aircraft from GetJet Airlines on services from Hamburg to Dubrovnik, Pristina, Rijeka, Split and Zadar. Avion Express Malta equipment will operate select flights from Dusseldorf to Pristina, Pula, Split and Rijeka, from Stuttgart to Pristina, Rijeka, Sarajevo, Split, Zadar and Zagreb, as well as from Frankfurt and Munich to Pristina. Smartwings aircraft will be used on select services from Cologne to Belgrade, Pristina, Rijeka, Sarajevo, Split, Zadar and Zagreb.
Israeli carrier Arkia will deploy aircraft from Cambodia Airways, Electra Airways and FlyLili on select flights to Belgrade this summer. Meanwhile, Sun d’Or will utilise KlasJet aircraft on services to both Belgrade and Tivat. Leisure carrier TUI fly Netherlands will use a Bulgaria Air Airbus A320 aircraft on flights between Amsterdam and Ohrid.
Among local carriers, Air Serbia will continue to rely on two wet-lease partners this summer. Bulgaria Air will maintain operations with four Embraer E190s, while airBaltic will provide four Airbus A220-300s, with aircraft deployed across various routes. On the other hand, Trade Air is expected to continue utilising a wet-lease partner for its domestic Croatian operations during the upcoming summer season, depending on the fate of its Public Service Obligation contract.
Remember the time when airlines used to operate only its own aircraft....
ReplyDeleteAs long as flights run on time, most passengers won’t care.
Delete@09:01 I remember the time when lufthansa sent Avrojets to our region and tickets were hand written..
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/12/eurowings-shelves-three-routes-and.html
Delete"aircraft from GetJet Airlines on services from Hamburg to Dubrovnik,"
@Admin: How do these two fit together?
The airline has last week restored this service at one flight per week thanks to the GetJet wet-lease. There will be a total of eight flights during the 2026 summer season.
DeleteThe cheapest of the airlines still do. It's a bit ironic, but the more you spend on a ticket, the more likely you are to fly on a wet leased aircraft :)
DeleteI would love to fly Cambodia Airways :D
ReplyDelete+1 i would love that
DeleteI did two weeks ago with the aircraft pictured, from new Phnom Penh airport to Bangkok BKK :)
DeleteNice! What are they like?
DeleteInterior looked good, normal. Free service was water and I think sunflower seeds in fish sauce. Quite a decent 60min flight.
DeleteAir Baltic really becoming the leading wet lease operator.
ReplyDeletePlus they are really good.
DeleteThey are becoming Air Balkan with all these routes.
DeleteVery good for Air Baltic (so many airlines using their planes) and Bulgaria Air - their brand recognition is rising as their livery will be visible in airports where they don't usually fly. Free advertising for them.
ReplyDeleteWell Air Baltic usage is admission that their whole single fleet concept failed.
DeleteWhy? If you fly on airBaltic's A220, you are traveling on a brand new aircraft.
DeleteWho cares? People are not buying tickets with intention to fly on a new, wet leased aircraft.
DeleteIf A220 is long term leased, it's on Air Serbia's AOC. JU have A220😉
DeleteJP code coming back to Ljubljana!
ReplyDeleteIt's bittersweet, but good to see the code back, one way or another
DeleteBitter-sweet? Have you walked, travelled or looked around Slovenia lately? The people here have far more serious problems than to “miss” a mismanaged and failed airline, that would at best be flying 3 profitable routes.
DeleteElectra Airways have very nice livery.
ReplyDeleteThis is also a Bulgarian airline?
DeleteYes. They have 12 A320/A321.
DeleteImpressive
DeleteNow they're building new hangar in Burgas and there are also 4 lines in Varna.
DeleteIt's time for serbian ACMI airline.
ReplyDeleteIt had Aviogenex but it was destroyed to prevent them starting scheduled flights and competing against JU.
DeleteBoring! This has been repeated so many times, that's it's upsetting.
DeleteUnfortunately, many companies were destroyed in Serbia to "enable" some others to thrive or simple profit on the ashes of the old ones, so "sad destiny" of Aviogenex, and this fake nostalgia like it was something unseen before is just pathetic.
What nostalgia? It was a perfectly fine ACMI operator with 6 companies applying to tender to acquire it.
DeleteSad they killed off Aviogenex. Especially since there was big interest in its privatization in 2013.
DeleteIt is hard to compete in the European market with all the EASA ACMIs, which don't have additional rules imposed as airlines from non-EU countries. EASA AOC is also a big advantage when competing for contracts around the world.
DeleteA lot of airlines using ACMIs this summer.
ReplyDeleteThe ACMI era.
DeleteAirlines are not willing to pay their crew a fair wage and outsourcing to a foreign operator with a lower wage structure
DeleteTrue
DeleteWhy Cambodia Airways haha
ReplyDeleteAnd by an Israeli airline of all lol I guess they offered a good deal.
DeleteI think that FlyOne also uses cambodian A320.
DeleteProbably very cheap due to low wages in Cambodia, plus Israel has a massive civil air capacity shortage due to many non-Israeli opererators cancelling flights
DeleteNo fake airlines that's good. Like SkyAlps, Marathon or Air Connect.
ReplyDelete...and of course Aeroitalia.
DeleteAeroitalia, the most fishy of all.
DeleteDon't know why Air Serbia just can't enough of there own planes so they don't have to wet lease.
ReplyDeleteNow is ok, no 15 leased jets.
DeleteWhy did you single out Air Serbia when this article talks about 11 airlines using wet leases?
DeleteBecause JU doesn't have government behind to buy them new bright and shiny birds
DeleteOnly dumb airlines get their governments to buy them new planes and operate them at 60% load factor
DeleteAir Serbia doesn't want to hire enough aircrews to man a 35-40 aircraft operation, they'd much rather wet lease capacity.
DeleteSorry did I miss something ?? Isn't Air Serbia a state owned airline ??
DeleteIt is. But remarkably in terms of aircraft the glorious leader hasn't tried to do any silliness.
DeleteHe came close to ordering Sukhoi superjets but thankfully logic prevailed.
DeleteBeing state owned doesn't mean reckless spending should be the goal. OU have gone for brand new aircraft that don't suit their operations resulting in increased expenses, while for years they have had a declining market share and large losses. JU have gone the other path with cheaper leases, increased network and have been profitable after a couple of decades of producing losses. There will be a time when JU will order brand new aircraft and that is likely to be in the short term once this fleet modernisation is complete.
DeleteAs for the high use of wet leases at JU, it indicates more of a difficulty in retaining staff than seasonality in their ops. Wet leases are handy for their current ops but not at this amount.
If you are wet leasing year round instead of just for the summer season it means that you can't or don't want to get enough aircraft and staff for them.
DeleteSo Swiss does not want to get enough aircraft and staff for them?
Delete10:47
DeleteMaybe there aren't available affordable aircrews and airplanes at the market? Maybe it's cheaper to conclude year round wet lease than dry lease expensive equipment and hire high salary staff?
If it's cheaper to wet lease than dry lease why then does JU dry lease at all?
DeleteBecause you need a good deal for dry leased plane. And you can't find it everywhere all the time. When I am buying used car, I am following advertisings few months before I find something good and affordable. But I see that it is not easy for everyone to understand this matter
DeleteYou missed my point, why dry lease at all if wet leasing is cheaper?
DeleteAnyway, I hope Air Serbia will be able to place orders for ten Embraers in a few years.
Bravo 👏 more liveries for spotters.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlibes will also use wet lease turboprops on some routes?
ReplyDeleteThey didn’t take delivery and it is not scheduled.
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.
DeleteTo who is Trade Air wet leasing next winter?
ReplyDeleteI think just an Israeli airline.
DeleteGood to know which airlines to avoid
ReplyDeletelol
Delete@09:42, bet you're fun at parties...
DeleteAll of them, more or less
Delete@11:12 Flixbus it is then!
DeleteTrade Air is expected to continue utilising a wet-lease partner for its domestic Croatian operations during the upcoming summer season
ReplyDeleteSo TradeAir will go ahead with PSO flights without being paid?
Eventually PSO will happen
DeleteAir Montenegro should think of some wet lease, they have hell of a battle to fight this summer.
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to care. They are making the same mistake as OU when Ryanair came to Zagreb.
DeleteNice to see another A220 aircraft on regular flights at SKP after OU :D
ReplyDeleteYeah, right. Hell of a plane… Better than widebody
DeleteBright and shiny 🙂 Intergalactic Spaceship 🙂
DeletePeople here are acting like that wet lease is the worst possible thing that company can do. They think that is enough to by airplane, take 2 pilots and 4 crew members for it and everything will be fine. Liek that there is maintenance, technical staff, insurance, training, space, winter months were you do not utilise aircrafts as in summer etc. For sure airlines do cost/ profit analysis before deciding what kind of lease they will do or not
ReplyDeleteIt’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what airline you’re actually flying with. You book Lufthansa Group and end up on airBaltic, book Eurowings and get Avion Express or Smartwings.
ReplyDeleteNot any more Avion Express on Eurowings. The contract was called off after pilot from Indonesia with no qualification and forged license was discovered flying for them
DeleteThe scale of wet leasing this summer is quite remarkable.
ReplyDeleteEurowings seems to be running half its Balkan operation via ACMI this year.
ReplyDeleteArkia using Cambodia Airways to Belgrade is quite exotic. That will definitely surprise some passengers when they see the aircraft and crew :D
ReplyDelete