Air Serbia plans further fleet growth

Air Serbia plans to further increase its fleet in 2025, and the carrier is expected to add seven planes this year alone.

In an interview with Euronews Serbia, Air Serbia CEO Jirzi Marek said that the company has completely renewed its ATR fleet over the past two years, and three more have joined the fleet this year, so that now Air Serbia operates ten ATR72-600s.

- We currently have two Embraer E195s stationed in Belgrade and we are waiting for some administrative procedures to be completed so that they can also start commercial operations. We will also add two wide-body aircraft. One A330-200 is currently in Lisbon in the delivery process. We think it will arrive in Belgrade in August. Another one will arrive in October or November, depending on maintenance. We will continue to develop our fleet next year, but I will not share in which segment - Marek said.

According to the CEO, the national carrier's existing fleet of ten ATR72-600s is large enough to accommodate its current needs for regional operations.

Air Serbia will seek to further increase the number of Embraer aircraft, in addition to the incoming two, while it plans to replace the existing Airbus A319s with A320s when their leases expire. Marek did not want to limit the number of planes an airline could have.

- I don't want to stick to any number because the fleet is constantly growing. Saying a specific number can only cause confusion. We currently have 25 aircraft in the fleet, we will have 27, and soon we hope to have 29 - he noted.

In addition to its own fleet, Air Serbia currently has three partners for wet leasing (short-term leasing) that provide the airline with their planes and crew. These include four A320s operated by GetJet Airlines. Occasionally, depending on operational needs, A320s may be replaced by Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Fly2Sky operates one A320 aircraft on behalf of Air Serbia, while Bulgaria Air leases two of its own E190 aircraft.

- If you look across Europe, wet leasing has become inevitable. Sometimes we are criticized for using too much leased capacity. It's something we wouldn't prefer doing, but it is what it is at the moment, because of the state of the industry. We are working hard so that we can have enough capacity to grow by ourselves - Marek said.

Air Serbia ad Beograd

Air Serbia

Jirži Marek

fleet

fleet expansion

aircraft procurement

aircraft rental

wet leasing