Business and private charter specialist KlasJet (KLJ, Vilnius), a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group, will muscle into the wet-lease/ACMI market starting this autumn, introducing a number of its aircraft for commercial passenger services, it revealed in a statement.

For the purpose, by the end of 2023 it will have expanded its fleet with an additional fifteen B737NGs in economy-class configuration of 189 seats - five of them to arrive by the end of 2022. It will also take delivery of three more unspecified aircraft to supplement its all-VIP private charter fleet of seven jets.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, KlasJet currently operates two B737-300s, four B737-500s, and one CRJ200LR. All are owned except one of the -300s, which is leased from ASL Airlines Ireland (ABR, Dublin International). The most common B737NG variant, on the other hand, is the B737-800.

“After Covid, airlines’ creditors, shareholders, and governments are seeking more efficiency from operators. Historically airlines generated an average of 1.57% profit per year over the last 19 years, so there aren’t many opportunities to increase efficiency - except contracting ACMI for the peak season,” KlasJet CEO Rita Domkute explained in the statement.

“From educated customers, we see a huge demand for aircraft leasing with the crew, maintenance, and insurance included. [...] We want to be part of that ongoing growth,” she added, pointing to estimates that the ACMI market was estimated to be worth around USD4.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach more than USD8.8 billion in 2030, representing an annual growth rate of 8.5%.

KlasJet declined to give ch-aviation more precise details on the aircraft types to be introduced.

Besides KlasJet, Vilnius-based and Cyprus-headquartered Avia Solutions Group already owns ACMI/charter specialists Avion Express (X9, Vilnius), which entered restructuring in December 2021, its Maltese subsidiary Avion Express Malta, and Latvia’s SmartLynx Airlines, as well as Icelandic cargo carrier Bluebird Nordic and a range of MRO firms, lessors, and related companies.