Air Serbia continues to slowly expand its fleet, with the airline taking delivery of its 3rd Airbus A330
The airline’s third wide-body Airbus A330-200, registered as YU-ARD and bearing the EXPO 2027 mark, was delivered at a ceremony at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport earlier last week.
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The aircraft is intended for long-haul flights operated by the Serbian national airline, and its unique appearance promotes the upcoming EXPO 2027 exhibition that will be held in Belgrade between 15 May and 15 August 2027.
Air Serbia’s third wide-body aircraft was produced in 2014 and has 22 seats in business class and 240 in economy class, powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce engines. The EXPO 2027 visual identity was applied to the aircraft in Lisbon using 270 special decals.
The aircraft was originally delivered to Etihad Airways in January 2014. It was picked up on a lease by Air Belgium in November 2022 and subleased to SriLankan Airlines in December 2023. It briefly returned to Air Belgium, before going off lease and being redelivered to Air Serbia.
In Quotes
Jiri Marek, Air Serbia CEO said:
“The expansion of the long-haul destination network is closely linked to the development of a fleet of aircraft capable of operating these flights. We have operated flights to North America and the People’s Republic of China with two Airbus A330-200 aircraft and now a new aircraft of the same type has reinforced our fleet.
In anticipation of the upcoming EXPO 2027 exhibition and wishing to contribute to the promotion of this event that is important for the Republic of Serbia and the entire region, we have decided that Air Serbia’s third wide-body aircraft will feature a visual identity of this specialized exhibition. We expect another such aircraft to join our fleet by the end of 2024, which will be branded in the same way.
From Chicago and New York in the West to Tianjin and Guangzhou in the East, the national airline’s aircraft will present Serbia and EXPO 2027 to a global audience,”
Slow and Steady
Two other Airbus A330-200s are currently in the Air Serbia fleet, with YU-ARB with the name and image of Nikola Tesla, joining Air Serbia’s fleet in April 2021.
The other Airbus A330-200, registered as YU-ARC joined the fleet of the Serbian national airline in November 2022. That plane is named after and features the image of the Serbian scientist and inventor Mihajlo Pupin.
With the airline slowly growing its international network, the airline has been careful in its expansion and operation of routes, focusing its long-haul fleet on the USA (Chicago and New York) and China (Guangzhou, Tianjin, with Shanghai in the future)
For the airline, which is expecting a fourth Airbus A330 towards the end of the year, it will allow them to grow and manage their long-haul operations.
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