Solution for Jat within two months

Status quo to be upheld at Jat until 2012
UPDATED

The tender call to find an interested partner to create a successor national carrier to Jat Airways ended today. The tender began on August 1 and was extended on September 30 for another month. Not a single company purchased the tender documentation. The Minister for Infrastructure, Milutin Mrkonjić, said yesterday that a solution for Jat’s problems will be found by the end of 2011 and that 1.300 of the airline’s employees shouldn’t worry about their livelihoods. According to the minister, two large companies are interested in taking over Jat Airways, one of which is airBaltic from Latvia which bought the tender documentation. Over the past two months, it has also been rumoured that AZAL Airlines from Azerbaijan considered participating in the tender. However, the Azeris might be interested only through direct negotiations with the government.

As a result, the current situation in Jat, or the status quo, will be upheld until the end of the year. The entire tender procedure cost the government millions while the consultant company used in the process (said to have close ties with the government) was also paid a hefty sum. It is not the first time that a consultant company has been paid to advise Jat on its future.

The Minister for Infrastructure did not reveal the names of those companies interested in taking over the Serbian state carrier (with the exception of airBaltic), saying instead that by the end of the year it will be revealed where Jat is “heading towards”. He added that talks between the government and potential investors will be “flexible”. Last week at an economic summit, Mrkonjić pleaded for airlines from Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey to participate in the tender. airBaltic, the only airline to answer the tender call filed for bankruptcy last month.

Comments

  1. Wow. this is hurting just by reading the updates over and over again.

    Why doesn't Serbian goverment purchase 4 new airbus 320 planes from the 2nd hand market - for example the planes that are 10 yrs. old as that's much better than current 737-300s produced in 1985-89 ?

    It's not as if JAT won't be able to handle that. They have pax, and are making some money, right ?
    They need to make the restructuring plan for the next 5 yrs: buy maybe 3 new planes, 6 used and in summer lease another 2 to 3. Reorganize fixed costs (i.e. retire some old folk and stop money leakage which I am sure JAT has - just as much as OU does).

    The company has a "brand" value, airport slots, but no serious investor will buy an old fleet and "hrpetinu" grumpy overnumbered employees that come in the "package". JAT needs to help itself which it can.

    What's that company's deal ?
    More info from our Serbian friends ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:09

    This blog post is incorrect and on top of that biased. You should realy try to independently verify and check before you write something as your posts heavily rely on hear say and personal affections.

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  3. Nikola10:39

    check the news, airBaltic purchased the tender documentation

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  4. adriatic11:24

    Sad to hear. I know ,when I flew JAT in the 80's, it was a decent airline. So something must have happened, that no one is interested in the tender to re-organize. Is this the end of JAT? Jat didn't invest in itself, so if they don't have the confidence to invest in themselves ie. new fleet, why should other carriers take that burden.

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  5. Anonymous15:42

    Still isn't correct news, you just coppied news from local papers that are again making material mistakes due to the fact that they (altogether with their "inside sources") report on topics that they do not understand.

    Sometimes it is better not to report at all than to rely on hear say and "inside sources", later on proving to be unreliable.

    You should also understand that most of these aviation business articles in the press are result of somebody paying journalist some 100-200e to spread some information that suits their interest...

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  6. Anonymous17:07

    Aaargh...the usual bad "news"
    about Jat which ruin the day...
    not only of myself i guess!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous17:21

    Air Baltic is Latvian not Lithuanian as stated in the article.

    ReplyDelete
  8. VisitBengaluru!17:27

    This kind of news is what really
    makes me vomit about this blog...
    I can not describe how i feel disgusted when i always read about
    these worthless government actions and propaganda about the never ocurring Jat sale !

    Nothing against news about passenger increase by Jat ...but not this!

    Please dear Admin dont give us this ...sadistic treatment ever more!

    Why dont you make on some days of the week reports over history of
    Ex Yu aviation...i like the old photos you have ...those are really highlights of this blog!

    Thank you for your understanding

    VisitBengaluru!

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  9. alekipupimen17:37

    Personally, I think the article, like this blog itself, was written well. I think it's rather insightful how the blogger exposes cumbersome government influences in airlines in general, I think people who take offense to that would prefer to read rosier bastardizations of progress in balkan aviation than what's really happening. 'scuse my french.

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  10. @VisitBengaluru

    It's not the blog author's fault that Jat is crap through and through.

    If you want some useless "say something nice about Serbia every day" blog, why not try:

    http://www.ambassador-serbia.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous18:21

    Well, regardles how bad, or sad, or... this news is, I am more than sure that it is news of the day in ex-yu aviation industry.
    Frankly, there is nothing new in it, but we should bare in mind that today was the day for this topic.
    We knew it for a month now, that today is tender closure day. So, one can skip it...

    ReplyDelete
  12. VisitBengaluru!19:48

    Hi ,
    it is me again...i did not want to insult the admin ,his blog or Jat !

    It is only criticism of government propaganda ,which i think has nothing to do in this blog !

    I would like to hear about Jat sale if it really some time happens !

    ReplyDelete
  13. ravni kotar20:07

    can only agree on what visitbengalure
    says...he never mentioned that he wants to read about how beautiful serbia is and such stuff...whoever comes up with this idea...of course doot!
    nothing more than constructive criticism...without cowardly hiding as an anonymous!
    how can this blog improve if
    everybody stating his opinion gets bashed immediately...

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  14. This is a load of BS, as always with Jat. The guy who owns this Latvian "business" is loaded with money and crazy, he failed with Air Baltic and now wants to like invest in Jat. Just another crazy idea which our even crazier politicians take seriously. They are even more crazy and stupid than the Latvian guy. Anyway, this is no news, this is a load of bull and nothing will come out of it. The Gov't will not be able to restructure Jat because elections are close, they cannot agree on who will lead the airline and they would never ever employ some experts from outside. Therefore - The End!

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  15. Anonymous21:42

    I read somewhere that Air France is going to send bigger aircrafts to Belgrade this winter.Is this true?

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  16. It’s good to see different opinion that this news has generated. However, I don’t see how this article in any way “bashes” Jat. It reports on the Jat sale and the comment made by the relevant ministry. For those that are more interested in Jat results, the airline’s passenger numbers are reported on a monthly basis and you can find them by clicking the “Results 2011” button. Unfortunately, political interference in the national carriers in the former Yugoslavia is widespread, and is not exclusive only to this region, so naturally there will be a lot of news regarding political links and corruption which has, in turn, resulted in financial losses at all of the national carriers in EX-YU. Anyhow, feedback is always welcome.

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  17. Anonymous22:20

    OT:

    OK airlines arrival at BEG this morning from Beirut..?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous04:17

    I apologize, might be off topic slightly,been long time out of Serbia.
    What is with Pristina PAX numbers?
    Going up or down?
    Has JAT any flight from/to Pristina?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous08:36

    ^PRN numbers going up. Jat is banned from flying there since 1999. All airlines that fly into PRN are banned from flying in Serbian airspace so they have to detour around Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:41

    OK, let's give it some thought and not just repeate news articles.

    I heard on the RTS's "Dnevnik" yesterday that BALTIC AVIATION SYSTEMS aplied (headed by Mr. Flick and being minority owner of AirBaltic). Later on Mr. Mrkonjic was speaking of AirBaltic aplying, but I presume that he actualy doesn't know the shit about the differences.

    It is big difference between those two actualy, and if I'm correct in thinking that Baltic Aviation Systems aplied (not AirBaltic), then it is a fairly good scenario.

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  21. SuisseOuest12:35

    According to blic http://www.blic.rs/Vesti/Ekonomija/286740/Ruski-biznismeni---kupuju-Jat Russian businessmen from Bahamas are interested in JAT... Honestly, at this point, anyone who will retain existing routes (and slots) and buy (lease) newer planes is welcome...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous16:44

    ^
    Read the article before commenting: The 'Russians' that are being mentioned are actually Latvian-Russians (about 40% of Latvia's population are Russian whom the Soviets 'relocated' to Latvia after WW2) - and they are the individuals who are within the ownership structure of Air Baltic's shareholder BAS.

    Berti Flick has Serbian roots as well and speaks fluent Serbian. However, his time at Air Baltic ended dramatically where his life was in danger!

    ReplyDelete