Air Serbia plans to renew its entire regional fleet in 2022, with the first ATR 72-600 arriving in Belgrade tomorrow from Toulouse. The Serbian flag carrier will replace all of its ATR 72-200 and ATR 72-500 aircraft, the oldest of which is 32 years old.

Air Serbia starts its fleet renewal

Air Serbia is set to receive an ATR 72-600 aircraft tomorrow, 27th January, kicking off a fleet renewal process that will see the airline replace its entire regional fleet this year.

The ATR 72-600 is coming to Air Serbia's base, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, from Toulouse on a dry-lease agreement. It is five years old.

Its latest operator was Amelia International, an airline from Slovenia, which operated it under the registration F-HIPY. Once it is delivered to Air Serbia, the ATR 72-600 will fly under the registration YU-ALY.

Air Serbia ATR
The ATR 72-600 will come with 72 Prestige seats made by Geven. Photo: Air Serbia

The aircraft has a configuration to seat 72 passengers and is fitted with Prestige seats made by the Italian producer of aircraft interiors, Geven. It has two PW127m turboprop engines and is 27.17 meters long with a wingspan of 27.05 meters.

The ATR 72-600 comes with a new feature that sets it apart from Air Serbia's existent ATR fleet: it has the option to store large roller bags in the overhead bins.

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Where will Air Serbia use this ATR 72-600?

Air Serbia has already announced it plans to use the aircraft on scheduled flights from Belgrade (BEG) to the following destinations: Banja Luka (BNX), Vienna (VIE), Bucharest (OTP), Ljubljana (LJU), Podgorica (TGD), Prague (PRG), Sarajevo (SJJ), Skopje (SKP), Sofia (SOF), Thessaloniki (SKG), Tivat (TIV), Tirana (TIA), and Zagreb (ZAG), as well as for seasonal flights to Dubrovnik (DBV), Pula (PUY, Split (SPU), and Zadar (ZAD).

It will also use it on its new services out of Kraljevo (KVO) to Istanbul (IST)

and Thessaloniki (SKG), and from Niš (INI) to Ljubljana (LJU) and Athens (ATH).

Jiri Marek, Air Serbia's CEO, said:

"Fleet renewal is one of the most significant strategic decisions, and Air Serbia is capitalizing on the current favorable market conditions regarding aircraft availability. We are starting with our turboprop fleet. (...) Our ambition is to continue to develop further as a regional leader, and upgraded [an] turboprop fleet is an essential step on this path."

Photo: Air Serbia

What is Air Serbia's current ATR fleet?

According to our data from ch-aviation, Air Serbia currently operates a fleet of five ATR 72 aircraft. Two of these are ATR 72-500, and three are ATR 72-200.

They are:

  • ATR 72-200 (YU-ALN), 32 years old
  • ATR 72-200 (YU-ALO), 31 years old
  • ATR 72-200 (YU-ALP), 31 years old
  • ATR 72-500 (YU-ALT), 24 years old (stored)
  • ATR 72-500 (YU-ALU), 24 years old

The ATR 72-200s are exceptionally old and have served Air Serbia very well over their time with the airline.

In fact, they are so old that Air Serbia has changed its name twice since the ATR 72-200s were first delivered to it in 1990. Back then, the airline was known as JAT Yugoslav Airlines, following which it was called Jat Airways, and, now, Air Serbia.

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