Air Serbia plans to replace the majority of its 144-seat Airbus A319 fleet with the larger A320s in the coming period. The carrier has one A320 in service with another expected to arrive soon. “We are starting to shift from A319 to A320s. We got the last Airbus A319 in June and the next aircraft that we are getting will be an A320. Future replacements, once leases expire, will mostly be A320s. By doing so, we are also taking advantage of the attractive terms that exist on the leasing market right now. Additionally, we plan to grow approximately by one jet each year. If we see opportunities, we might move faster”, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said.

Mr Marek explained that the Serbian market showed its resilience during the coronavirus pandemic, giving the carrier confidence that larger-capacity aircraft can be filled during the winter too. “We are a smaller regional airline and want to grow with the market in a profitable and sustainable way. Before the pandemic, the A319, in combination with the ATR72 turboprops, worked well for our hub and spoke model where we prefer frequencies over size. The A320s would have definitely worked well for a couple of months during the summer, but you would have had difficulties filling them during the winter back then. However, during the coronavirus crisis we saw that our market proved to be relatively stable and it is recovering fast. This gives us some confidence that the market here is growing at a faster pace organically than what was expected before. On top of that, the propensity of travel per capita is growing faster in Serbia than in the rest of Europe”.

The CEO noted that the switch from the A319s to the A320s might open the door for the airline to take on regional jets sometime in the future. “Between the A320s with 180 seats and the ATRs with 72 seats there’s a gap. It could be filled with a third model, not in the short-term, but in the medium-term”. He added, “Either we choose the Airbus A220 or the Embraer E2. Both have advantages and disadvantages. But there’s also a third option. Right now, you can get favourable terms for the secondary market of Embraer E1 representing good value for money. And then there is even a fourth option, the Embraer turboprop. It is still a project and exists on paper only, so we must see what they will really offer. But it sounds interesting to us. Having up to 92 seats, while maintaining the two-member cabin crew requirement, would represent an interesting niche versus regional jets. So, we will for sure be looking at the Embraer turboprop, as well” – exyuaviation.com

Source: Civil Aviation Authority-Qatar