Engine problem
MAT Macedonian Airlines will not be flying anytime soon. The airline’s sole aircraft, a Boeing B737-500 has been grounded by the Macedonian Aviation Authority due to a faulty front leg of the aircraft. Now the aviation authority has said that MAT’s management has hidden from them the fact that an engine is heavily damaged. According to the Macedonian Aviation Authority, the technical division of Jat Airways in Belgrade found that one of the engines was heavily damaged and informed the management of the national carrier of Macedonia. However, the airline failed to mention this to the aviation authority.MAT has asked the country’s aviation body to issue a flying license for the aircraft to return from Belgrade, where it has been serviced, to Skopje. The aviation authority responded to this by saying that it had contacted the engine manufacturer which said that the aircraft cannot fly with the current state of one of its engines. The Macedonian Aviation Authority has requested for the engine to be replaced. MAT has already replaced the front leg of its aircraft.
Macedonian media is speculating that MAT’s owners will register a new company, named Mat Airways, in partnership with Serbia’s Jat Airways. MAT Macedonian Airlines has been grounded since April this year.
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ReplyDeleteMAT Macedonian Airlines has no chance to survive. It is practically dead. The Z3AAH B737 500 is in BEG waiting to be reared which will never happen with this lessor. The owner has already sent a team to BEG to check the acf to take it over.
ReplyDeleteMAT has a very bad history of dues.
The due of MAT is like this:
JAT - cca 10.000.000 US$without interest (the high court in Geneva has already ruled)
CIT - (leasing of B737 Z3 AAF) cca 2.800.000 US$ (The court in New York has ruled and decided)
EUROCONTROL - cca 2.500.000 Euro (courts in Germany and Italy have ruled)
Bombarier - cca 2.100.000 Euro (The leasing of the CRJ900 Z3AAG) The court is ruling)
MAKPETROL - cca 2.000.000 Euro, Macedonian fuel supplier. (under government decision).
Airport Skopje-Ohrid - unknown due, but a lot also under government dicision.
Various spar part suppliers - cca 500.000 euro, unknown process.
Labors - cca 500.000 Euro, some ongoing court processes.
False ticket sales while the company was already not in operation - cca 300.000 Euro. process unknown but the Macedonian Aviation Authority must act.
Bank loans - cca unknown and process unknown
There might be some more.
The two owners, Zlatko Petrovski and Zivko Gruevski, have already `sold` their own property to the family members. According to them, they have nothing.
Macedonia is the only country in the region which has no airline but has a lot of passengers.
For years, the only model for airline owners was only steeling the money from everybody.
Now it is obvious that the passengers and the Macedonian CAA are in favor of foreign companies.
We are waiting for something new.