Air Serbia eyes new long-haul cabin product and ATR business class
Air Serbia is looking to standardise its long-haul cabin product across its two Airbus A330-200 aircraft and has expressed interest in a new seat being developed by ATR, which would enable the introduction of business class on its turboprop fleet. Air Serbia’s second A330-200, registered YU-ARC, which joined the carrier’s fleet late last year, is undergoing wide-ranging maintenance at Turkish Technic in Istanbul, however, it is unlikely to get the initially planned new cabins for the time being. In an interview for EX-YU Aviation News, the company’s CEO, Jiri Marek, explained, “Upcoming maintenance is the twelve-year check, which will last over one month. The plan is for the fleet to be ready for the summer season and the start of the Chicago service, which we will launch in May. Our ultimate goal is to standardise the cabin proposition and, originally, we planned during this maintenance to get a very similar cabin to YU-ARB [the airline’s other A330], which could potentially be the future concept of our cabin. The project included business class and economy cabins with brand new seats. However, Covid has had a severe impact on the supply chain and there is a marked and wide-reaching domino effect. When you identify the seats, you start to have problems with IFE [in-flight entertainment] providers and many other things. Hence, the cabin retrofit will happen at a later stage”, Mr Marek said.
The CEO said developing new seats for the wide-body fleet is a notable step in the development of the company’s on-board product. “This kind of change is very significant and currently you have to wait six to eight months only for engineering. We are in close contact with Airbus and other providers and are working on a concept but unfortunately it won’t happen before this summer season. We would like to do it as soon as we get all the approvals and assurances that it can be done”. He added, “Finding secondary market seats which correspond to your aircraft type is now almost impossible. This was possible during Covid, when there were many grounded aircraft, but not anymore. This is why YU-ARB was done during delivery which was in April 2021. On the other hand, getting new seats that are available on the market, raises the issue of compatibility with the IFE which is currently on board”.
The airline is looking into potentially introducing business class on its ATR aircraft. The plane manufacturer presented its X-Space Table seating concept last year. ATR describes X-Space as a “plug and play” solution that allows airlines to convert double seats into premium seats, with the seatback and armrest on one side removed and replaced with a side table. Similar to Eurobusiness-style seats, where the central seat in a row of three aboard a narrow-body is not sold to provide more space, X-Space will allow ATR operators to offer a 1-1 layout in support of a premium class configuration. Air Serbia is considering becoming the launch customer for the seat. “This is an idea we strongly believe we have the business segment for. We are looking into it, but much depends on the progress of the project. A lot of these projects are presented now but will take time to develop”, Mr Marek concluded.
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| ATR business class seat concept |
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