“Right time” to acquire aircraft for Air Serbia
The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, has said talks could soon begin over the acquisition of additional aircraft for Air Serbia. “We are thinking about starting negotiations for the acquisition of some aircraft. This is the right time, because there will never be an opportunity like this where prices on the market will be so low”, Ms Mihajlović said. She added that new opportunities on the market would present themselves to the airline as some carriers in the region will inevitably go bankrupt. “Air Serbia is now generating losses, there is no airline that isn’t. Its losses will likely exceed forty million euros. However, the company is small, has little debt and has some twenty aircraft, so it is more flexible to adjust itself to the changes on the market”, Ms Mihajlović noted.
Earlier this month, Serbia’s Finance Minister said, “We are currently in discussions with the management [of Air Serbia] and drafting a business plan. We might use this opportunity to acquire another aircraft which could be used to fill the void on the market left by the number of airlines going into bankruptcy, which Air Serbia won’t. Therefore, we will examine how we can even better position the carrier following this crisis”. Air Serbia boasts a fleet of 21 aircraft, including nine Airbus A319s, two A320s, one A330, six ATR72 turboprops and three Boeing 737-300s. The airline was to add more jets to its fleet this summer, however, those have now been halted due to the ongoing pandemic.
Air Serbia will resume commercial flights this Thursday, with most inbound services sold out for this week. The carrier’s CEO, Duncan Naysmith, said, “Our sales and contact centre continue to receive numerous queries about when flights will commence, which is an excellent indicator that there is great interest for travel from our passengers and the citizens of Serbia. We are responding to the demand to recommence flights to as many destinations as soon as possible, within the limitations of the restrictions imposed in numerous jurisdictions. However, we are gradually restoring the traffic, and that’s good news”. The company added that if European Union travel restrictions are lifted from June 15, as expected, Air Serbia plans to increase its number of flights.
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