TURKEY: Onur Air Leases Three Airbus A321 Aircraft From Vallair

Vallair, the aircraft trading, leasing and specialist MRO organisation has completed lease transactions for three Airbus A321 aircraft with Onur Air in Turkey.

The first of these three aircraft, purchased from AerCap together with its engines, was delivered to Onur Air in May with a lease term of 18 months. The second aircraft, also purchased from AerCap, is being leased as an airframe only and was delivered to Turkey at the start of June.

The final aircraft (MSN 835), purchased from Aviation Capital Group (ACG), was also leased to Onur Air as an airframe only and is part of an acquisition release novation contract completed in April with a short-term lease of 6 months.

In addition to these three aircraft, Onur Air are also in possession of a V2500-A5 engine under lease with Vallair.

Onur Air operates a combination of commercial and charter flights to a range of domestic and international destinations, scheduled and non-scheduled, out of its main hubs Atatürk Airport in Istanbul and Antalya Airport in Antalya, Turkey.

The airline operates a fleet solely consisting of Airbus family aircraft, including A320s, A321s and A330s. Onur Air also provides wet-lease service to Saudi Arabian Airways for Hajj and Umrah operations with its A330s.

A consistent expansion programme and continuous fleet renewal are crucial for the airline’s development strategy in line with the gradual recovery of Turkey’s tourism industry.

These transactions will support Onur Air’s development by allowing them to optimise operations while limiting their overall cost base.

We are pleased to have these three Airbus A321 aircraft delivered to Onur Air, with whom we have a long-standing and strong relationship, comments Anca Mihalache, Head of Vallair’s Trading & Leasing Business Unit.

MSN 974 will serve as part of our feedstock for the Company’s developing Airbus A321-200 P2F cargo conversion programme.

Vallair is committed to maximising the life and value of assets by providing cost-effective and flexible leasing solutions to operators seeking to strengthen and sustain their business.

As demand for aircraft leasing continues to grow, Vallair is heavily focused on the development of its portfolio of leased assets as part of the Company’s wider growth strategy.

This fleet expansion programme, coupled with Vallair’s involvement in the P2F cargo conversion programme, demonstrates the Company’s foresight and capacity to forge innovative leasing solutions and deliver assets that meet the current and future needs of operators around the world.


Tourism Observer

Airlines In Network Expansion

Two European flag carriers (KLM and SAS) both made the top 15, while British Airways and Lufthansa both only just missed out.

British Airways has done quite well at growing its route network from London Heathrow during the last couple of years. This got our data elves wondering which of Europe’s flag carriers has seen the biggest growth in its route network from its home base in recent times.

The criteria selected was to compare the number of destinations served non-stop at least seven times during 2015 from the airline’s biggest hub,usually serving the country’s main airport in the capital city with the number of destinations served non-stop at least seven times during the whole of 2016 and 2017.

This allows for inclusion of those seasonal services that may only operate once per week during the peak summer period. Some liberties were taken with SAS being counted as the flag carrier for Denmark, Norway and Sweden while Aegean Airlines was designated the national carrier of Greece.

Consideration was given to examining the largest carriers at capital city airports that no longer have an obvious national airline,such as in Cyprus, Hungary or Slovakia but this was rejected for this analysis.

If this kind of analysis had been undertaken a couple of years ago the winner would most likely have been Turkish Airlines, but due to recent events in the country the airline’s network growth has slowed somewhat, though it still serves more destinations non-stop from its Istanbul Atatürk hub than any of its rivals do from their hubs.

However, the European flag carrier airline that will have celebrated the most new route launches in the last two years, come 31 December 2017, will be LOT Polish Airlines, which has seen its network from Warsaw Chopin grow by 28 destinations from 46 in 2015 to 74 in 2016-17.

Many of these ‘new’ routes are actually service resumptions after the carrier cut routes as part of a deal with the EU regarding financial support. LOT was given permission to grow its route network once more from the beginning of 2016 and since then the Star Alliance member has been busy making up for lost time.

While the rapid network growth is indeed impressive it is worth noting that way back in 2010 the airline was already serving more than 70 destinations non-stop from the Polish capital.

Finnair’s rapid growth from its Helsinki base has been more genuine, with the oneworld carrier starting several, low-frequency, seasonal, leisure destinations to its network in S16 and S17.

In 2016 the airline began new routes to Billund, Edinburgh, Fukuoka, Guangzhou, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Pula, Rimini, Santorini, Skiathos, Varadero, Varna, Verona and Zakinthos.

This year it has already added service to Alicante and Reykjavik/Keflavik with additional new connections to Astana, Corfu, Goa, Havana, Ibiza, Menorca, Puerto Vallarta and San Francisco set to begin before the end of the year.

KLM’s net gain of 21 new non-stop destinations includes new routes in 2016 to Alicante, Astana, Dresden, Dublin, Genoa, Ibiza, Inverness, Salt Lake City, Southampton, Tehran and Valencia, as well as new services which have either already launched, or will be shortly, to Cagliari, Catania, Freetown, Gdansk, Graz, Malaga, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Porto and Split.

Despite the capacity constraints face by the carrier at Heathrow, British Airways has managed to grow its route network by almost 20 destinations since 2015.

Last year the oneworld carrier added new routes from Europe’s busiest airport to Asturias, Biarritz, Billund, Chania, Doha, Innsbruck, Inverness, Kalamata, Menorca, Muscat, Palermo, San Jose and Tehran, while 2017 will see the UK flag carrier add links to Brindisi, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, New Orleans, Pula, Santiago (Chile), Tallinn and Zakinthos.

In terms of destinations served non-stop, Turkish Airlines is way out in front among Europe’s flag carriers with non-stop flights in 2017 to almost 270 destinations, more than any other airline from a single airport anywhere in the world.

In Europe, Lufthansa is in a clear second place with its Frankfurt hub, though the battle for third place is pretty close between Air France, British Airways and KLM. A total of 10 national airlines offer non-stop flights to at least 100 destinations.

The main airports in Denmark (Copenhagen) and Sweden (Stockholm Arlanda) both offer almost 90 destinations with SAS. However, the Scandinavian carrier’s network from Oslo is rather smaller with fewer than 60 destinations served.

SERBIA: Air Serbia

Air Serbia stylized as AirSERBIA is the flag carrier and largest airline of Serbia. The airline was formerly known as Jat Airways until it was renamed in 2013. Air Serbia commenced operations under its new name on 26 October 2013.The airline has its hub at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport.

Air Serbia draws its heritage, including the airline code JU, from flag carriers of former Yugoslavia: Aeroput was established in Belgrade in 1927, and was replaced by Jugoslovenski Aerotransport (JAT) in 1948 as the national airline of the Socialist Yugoslavia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1990s, JAT became a flag carrier of Serbia and Montenegro (FR Yugoslavia) and was renamed Jat Airways in 2003. However, the aging fleet and lack of investments caused the company to record financial losses year after year, and several Serbian governments were looking after a strategic partner for the company.

On 1 August 2013, Jat Airways and Etihad Airways entered into an agreement of strategic partnership. Under the agreement, Etihad acquired a 49% stake in Jat Airways and management rights for a period of five years. The Republic of Serbia would retain the remaining 51% and hold five of nine monitoring committee seats in the company.Jat Airways was reorganized and renamed Air Serbia in October 2013 and launched its inaugural flight under its new name on 26 October 2013, from Belgrade to Abu Dhabi.

Air Serbia's logo is a stylized double-headed eagle inspired by the Serbian coat-of-arms. The airline's branding was based on work undertaken by Tamara Maksimović, a 25-year-old graphic designer from Novi Sad.

Serbian tennis player Novak Đoković gave his name to the first Airbus A319, and will be part of the series titled Living legends of Serbia which will appear on the new fleet of the airline. Serbian professional basketball player Vlade Divac gave his name to the first Airbus A320.

The first flight under the new Air Serbia brand operated for promotional purposes on 26 October 2013 initiating the service to Abu Dhabi, with the first revenue flight taking place the following day from Abu Dhabi to Belgrade. Since the launch Air Serbia has introduced services to Banja Luka and Prague on 1 December 2013, Ljubljana and Bucharest on 10 December 2013, Budapest, Sofia and Varna on 30 March 2014 with Warsaw and Beirut on 29 May 2014 and 1 June 2014 respectively.

Plans for Cairo and Kiev have been postponed until further notice. On 5 June 2014 the airline announced the opening of a line to Tirana in the near future. Following an agreement with Turkish authorities reached in Ankara on 16 June 2014, the airline will resume its flights from Istanbul Atatürk Airport on the European side of the city, replacing those from Sabiha Gökçen which it had been required to switch to.

Codeshare agreements
- Aegean Airlines (a number of destinations radiating from Athens)
- Aeroflot (a number of destinations radiating from Moscow)
- airBaltic
- Air Berlin (a number of destinations radiating from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Vienna)
- Air France (Belgrade-Paris-Belgrade)
- Air China (Beijing-Vienna-Beijing)
- Alitalia (a number of destinations radiating from Rome-Fiumicino)
- Etihad Airways (a number of destinations radiating from Abu Dhabi)
- Etihad Regional (Geneva–Belgrade, Geneva–Lugano)
- KLM (Amsterdam–Manchester-Amsterdam)
- LOT (Warsaw–Tallinn–Warsaw, Warsaw–Vilnius–Warsaw, Warsaw–Riga–Warsaw)
- Bulgaria Air
- TAROM (Bucharest–Belgrade–Bucharest, Bucharest–Chisinau–Bucharest)

From 26 June 2014 till 25 September 2014, Air Serbia entered into a cooperation with Darwin Airline from Switzerland (operating under the brand Etihad Regional following their recent acquisition by Etihad Airways) and leased from them a Saab 2000 aircraft and cabin crew which were used on its route to Banja Luka.

On 22 October 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said that the possibility of Air Serbia transatlantic flights was discussed, claiming the first flight could be in three years time or earlier, to two destinations in North America, referring to Toronto and Chicago, or possibly New York City,which all would be operated with an Airbus A330-200. On 16 May 2014 Serbia and China signed a new ASA opening the way for future long-haul flights between the two countries.

On November 9, 2015, CEO Dane Kondić and the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić confirmed that Air Serbia will begin operating weekly flights to New York City in the summer of 2016. They will be operating with an Airbus A330-200, which will be likely leased from another Etihad partner. The Serbian Government is awaiting a decision on its application for these flights to be approved

Air Serbia switched operations from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to Sabiha Gökçen Airport on 27 October 2013, after being given unfavourable slot timings at Atatürk Airport. The move was seen as protectionism by the Turkish government of their national carrier Turkish Airlines. On 27 March 2014 the Turkish carriers flying to Belgrade, including Turkish Airlines, were issued only two months temporary permit by the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate, thus being at risk of having their rights revoked right in the middle of the summer season unless a compromise was found.

During the month of June the dispute intensified with highest level diplomatic representatives from both countries being involved and Turkish Airlines being under threat to be forced to reduce their flights to Belgrade from seventeen to four weekly.

Finally, following a series of meetings in Belgrade and Ankara, on June 16 an agreement has been reached that will see Air Serbia switching its operations from Sabiha Gokcen back to Atatürk Airport while Turkish will have to limit its number of flights from seventeen to fourteen weekly thus ending the row. Soon after Air Serbia officially announced the resumption of operations to Atatürk airport starting August the 1st 2014.

Renamed from SU-Port and shortened as ASGS, Air Serbia Ground Services was the first officially certified supplier of ground handling services in the Republic of Serbia, which has obtained a ground handling certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Directorate. ASGS has been certified to provide ground handling operations which include handling of passengers, baggage, aircraft, cargo and mail.

Since its foundation in 2002 and up to the present day, Air Serbia Ground Services annually provided ground handling services to more than 1 million passengers, on 8500 flights, on behalf of the national air carrier – Air Serbia and other companies.

On 28 May 2014 Air Serbia announced the creation of its technical division, providing services of line-maintenance at Belgrade Airport to Air Serbia and its partner airlines.

In May 2014 Air Serbia launched a new charter brand called Aviolet, which uses Air Serbia's Boeing 737-300 fleet under Air Serbia's JU code with a four digit flight number. Their first service operated on 24 May 2014 to Antalya.