Air Serbia adds first ATR72-600, returns to the Middle East

Air Serbia (JU, Belgrade) took delivery of its first ATR72-600 on January 27, 2022, kickstarting its turboprop fleet renewal drive which is slated to run through to the end of the year.

Previously in service with Amelia International (NL, Ljubljana), YU-ALY (msn 1259) is a 6.6-year-old aircraft owned by Nordic Aviation Capital, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. Following maintenance and repainting at Toulouse Francazal, it was ferried to Belgrade on January 27. Air Serbia said it would use the type predominantly on regional routes within the Balkans but also beyond, to Prague Václav Havel and Vienna. It will also use it for services out of the regional Serbian airports of Morava and Nis.

The delivery marks the state-controlled carrier’s first move towards the retirement of its older-generation Avions de Transport Régional turboprops of which it owns and operates three ATR72-200s (31.5 years old on average) and leases another two ATR72-500s (24 years old on average) from Nordic Aviation Capital. It is not clear if the airline plans to replace the -200s and the -500s on a one-for-one basis with five -600s. It did not respond to ch-aviation’s request for comment.

Separately, Air Serbia says it will resume scheduled flights to the Middle East. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it served Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, Cairo Int’l, and Beirut but has yet to restart any of these routes (with the service to Lebanon unlikely to reactivate due to the economic crisis there). Instead of these services, it will launch a new route to Amman Queen Alia on June 1, 2022. Air Serbia plans to operate to the Jordanian capital 4x weekly in the summer and 3x weekly in the winter. In its current corporate iteration, the airline has never served Amman, although its predecessor, JAT Yugoslav Airlines (JU, Belgrade), flew to the city through 2001. Air Serbia currently runs charter flights to Egypt, Dubai Int’l, and Tunisia.