Air Serbia to lease former Adria A319s
Air Serbia will lease two former Adria Airways Airbus A319s, which were registered S5-AAP and S5-AAR. They were ferried to Toulouse last week where they will be painted into Air Serbia’s colour scheme. According to “Skyliner Magazine”, the jets are due for delivery in Belgrade on March 20. The aircraft, both manufactured in 2010, are owned by Carlyle Aviation Partners. One of the A319s is tipped to replace an existing member of the fleet which will be returned to the lessor. As previously reported, the Serbian carrier is expected to lease two ATR72 turboprops and conclude a short-term wetlease for a Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft over the summer months.
Air Serbia added its ninth A319 last summer. It currently boasts a fleet of 21 aircraft. In addition to the A319s it operates two A320s, one A330-200, six ATR72s and three Boeing 737-300s. The new additions to the airline’s fleet will enable the carrier to introduce up to ten new routes and significantly strengthen its frequencies on a number of services including Barcelona, Istanbul, Larnaca, Ljubljana, Madrid and Zagreb. The carrier is also expected to announce an increase in the number of flights between Belgrade and Tivat shortly, as well as a few more destinations.
Air Serbia also plans to grow its charter traffic in 2020, which is becoming an increasingly important segment in the company’s business. Last year it ran 2.370 charter flights and registered a 23% increase in passenger numbers on leisure services to some 274.000. The carrier will introduce charter flights from Belgrade to Morocco for the first time this year starting next month, to Fes and Marrakesh, while it will deploy its wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft on a charter service for the first time, to Palermo, in two weeks’ time. Although the airline predominantly uses B737-300s for its charter operations, which are run under the Aviolet brand, it is increasingly utilising jets from its mainline fleet to support the growing number of flights.
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