Air Serbia to take delivery of three aircraft

Air Serbia will take delivery of three aircraft by the end of October as the carrier prepares for a busy final quarter of the year. The airline is first expected to take delivery of a leased Airbus A320 aircraft, which will likely arrive in Belgrade this month. The plane is expected be one of its youngest fleet members and its second A320. This will be followed by the arrival of the airline’s second A330-200 wide-body jet in October, which has been previously operated by South African Airways. At eleven years old, the aircraft is slightly younger than Air Serbia’s current A330. The incoming twin-aisle jet is expected to have a swift entry into commercial service, with only the livery and seating upholstery to be changed for the time being. As a result, the jet will have 268 seats, with eighteen in business class and the remaining 250 in economy. During the aircraft’s next major maintenance check, the seating product will be unified to match its other widebody.

Over the next two months Air Serbia will also take delivery of its fourth ATR72-600 aircraft. A fifth will arrive in either November or December. The airline is studying options over the installation of ATR’s X-Space seating concept, which would enable it to offer business class seating on the turboprops, depending on demand. ATR bills X-Space as a “plug and play” solution that allows airlines to convert seat duos into premium seats, with the aisle-side seat’s back and pan removed and replaced with a side table. This would enable Air Serbia to offer a 1-1 configuration in support of a premium class configuration. The convertible nature of X-Space would allow the Serbian carrier to change its cabin layout ad hoc depending on passenger demand.

ATR business class seat

Air Serbia is in negotiations with Airbus over the installation of the latter’s Descent Profile Optimisation (DPO) software upgrade for the A320-familly aircraft, as well as the A330s. DPO works by updating the Flight Management System (FMS) and reducing margins in descent and approach, enabling a later top of descent and reduced deceleration distance in level-off. The upgrade is performed in less than four hours and, on an A320, can typically save 75 kilograms of fuel per descent. Air Serbia estimates the amount of money saved through the reduction of fuel usage will pay for the software across its Airbus fleet itself. Furthermore, the airline would reduce gas emissions per jet.

EX-YU Aviation News

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