Air Serbia takes delivery of E195 jet

Air Serbia has taken delivery of its first Embraer E195 jet today, which will initially be operated by Greece’s Marathon Airlines on behalf of the Serbian carrier through a wet-lease agreement. The 118-seat aircraft, featuring Air Serbia’s full livery, is thirteen years old and is expected to eventually be dry-leased by the airline. As reported by EX-YU Aviation News last week, the plane is expected to enter into commercial service tomorrow. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Pawel Skuteli, Embraer’s Regional Director for Airline Marketing EMEA, said, “Air Serbia launched over twenty new routes this year. With the increased number of long-haul flights, there will be a need for more spokes and more frequencies to feed the network year-round. E-Jets are proven hub-feeders for major airlines in Europe flying complementary to narrow-bodies from main airports, on markets that require either increased frequencies or smaller capacity aircraft. The good fit of E-Jets for the region is also validated by the schedules of other European carriers. On routes from hubs like Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, or Warsaw, E-Jets are very often the most popular type”. Marathon Airlines is already operating an E190 aircraft for Air Serbia, with another E195 likely to arrive next month. Several former Air Montenegro crew members have transferred over to Marathon Airlines to operate the aircraft on Air Serbia’s behalf.