Due to an unforeseen extension of maintenance work on its own fleet and in order to implement the planned summer flight schedule, Croatia Airlines has entered into short-term leases for two aircraft: an Airbus A319 from the Croatian carrier FlyAir 41, and a Boeing 737-800 from the Spanish carrier AlbaStar, Croatia Airlines confirmed to AvioRadar.
The national airline has arranged the lease of the Airbus A319 from 26 April to 14 June 2024, while the Boeing 737-800 is leased from 10 May to 29 May 2024.
The Airbus A319 has a capacity of 144 seats, and the Boeing has 189. The lease is planned in accordance with the scheduled return of aircraft from the airline’s own fleet maintenance, as well as the delivery of the first of the contracted 15 Airbus A220 aircraft.
The lease is agreed upon in a so-called wet lease arrangement, which includes one airline (the lessor) providing the aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to another airline.
FlyAir 41 is an ACMI and charter carrier based in Zagreb, with a fleet of four Airbus A319 aircraft and two Airbus A320s. Given that only the aircraft with the registration code 9A-ZAG is configured with 144 passenger seats, it is expected that this particular aircraft will be leased to Croatia Airlines.
Spanish AlbaStar is also an ACMI and charter carrier that focuses on tour operator flights. It operates a fleet of 5 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with an average fleet age of 22.2 years, placing AlbaStar at 286th out of 307 airlines operating this type of aircraft, according to data from airfleets.net.