The new Jat

Government searching for “new Jat” partner
The Serbian Government issued a call for the privatisation of its national carrier Jat Airways, after which it will set up a new national airline with the strategic partner and close down Jat or turn it into a charter airline. In its call for bids, the government issued some new terms and conditions. Only airlines which have carried 1.5 million passengers in 2010 or financial investment companies associated with other airlines can participate in the tender. The cost of the tender documentation amounts to 10.000 Euros.

If the sale is successful, the new part owner will set up a new national carrier with the Serbian Government. The government will invest 400.000 Euros into the new airline and would own 51% of the shares while the other 49% would be held by the strategic partner that wins the tender. Talks with the tender winner would begin in November when it would be decided how the new airline should be called, among other things. The entire processes would be completed by the summer of 2012. Passengers wouldn’t be affected by the national carrier change. The aim of the new company is for it to be competitive with other European airlines.

The tender call was published yesterday in The Financial Times. Analysts believe the tender will fail and that setting up a new airline is a mistake. However, most agree that the government is serious in its bid to sell the airline. The Jat Airways workers union fears many will lose their jobs as a result. Some 1.100 people work at Jat Airways. If the tender does indeed fail, Jat Airways will continue to be the national airline.

Do you think anyone will answer the tender call? If yes, who?

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:54

    let jat airways stay because to been like 80 years of JAT.....

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  2. Anonymous10:20

    charter airline? I think thats ridiculous!I think the contract should state that the new owner of JAT has to continue the activity of the regular air traffic and force them to renew the fleet .. otherwise some big company could buy it just to make monopol from and to belgrade and we gonna have to fly to far more expensive and via Frankfurt, Vienna or Istanbul and Moscow..

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  3. omg @ 1100 people. Hello fat-trimming time

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  4. I really do not understand why your goverment does not value the brand Jat has for decades.
    As Serbia is not in the EU yet, now would be a good time to investi goverment captial in it, make a profitable airline and be prepared for the EU as than it is just so much problematic to solve anything.
    The 6 A32s and 4 ATR72-? fleet would be quite good + 2 733 for the charters in the summer?

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  5. Anonymous11:25

    Aeroflot nam je potreban, a ako ne onda Lufthansa!!!

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  6. 1.5 Million pax, this means Croatia could buy Jat. This way Jat could be a 'feeder' for OU via Zagreb. :)

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  7. Anonymous12:39

    I think OU has bigger issue than buying JU :)

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  8. Anonymous13:02

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Anonymous13:04

    Haha, OU will not purchase JAT...

    if they would, with what money!?


    And I think Aeroflot would help us out, transalantic flights etc...

    Lufthansa may just become a feeder... they made have like 40 daily flights to Germany haha.

    Who knows, maybe they would give us transatlantic flights from BEG too? Turn it into regional hub.

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  10. Anonymous13:05

    They should name the airline SAT - Serbian Aero Transport....

    SAT - always on time ;) hahaha

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  11. Anonymous13:06

    Ohh please just russians NOOOO
    I wouldnt mind to be Lufthansa. :) I also agree with anonymouse2 that Jat shouldnt be an charter airlines. The buyer must have strategy and to be in the same business.

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  12. Anonymous13:20

    @AlexNikolic

    I don't think that OU has bigger problems than buying JAT. Despite some problems it is doing much better than either JAT or Adria, so please stop dragging it down to that level with useless comments.
    Personally, I think OU would not be interested in acquiring JAT (fleet is too old among other reasons and a limited growth). There is not much to gain. Lets wait and see if any of the big players take the bait and bid for this airline.
    I do also think that Serbian government should be very careful as to whom they sell the airline and it should under no circumstances become a charter one. Serbia deserves to have a national airliner.
    Peace!

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  13. I have always thought that JAT should change its name to "Juzno-Evropski Aero Transport" . In English they it would be translated as "Southern-Euripean Airlines". This way they can keep there short form of "JAT" and they have just opened up to a wider market. They would have easy connections to cities in Southern Europe. Fuselage would be painted an all white colour, while we paint the tail the blue with the original JAT logo in it. I know people would say that the names when translated are not the same letters. Well my argument is that KLM in english is Royal Dutch Airlines. Just a thought to play around with.

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  14. Anonymous14:02

    Nice chat guys, it is really interesting to follow it.
    Unfortunatelly, for Serbia, there will be nobody even ineterested in buying out tender documentation, JAT even less.

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  15. Anonymous14:19

    SAS Group could by jat and rename jat too SAS- Serbian, with red colour instead of blue, and be part of the sas group as SAS-scandinavian :) hehe djust a fun story :=) / Philswe

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  16. @Adriatic
    I like your idea and it uses a logo that Southeast Europe is familiar with.

    @Aleks
    Why Russian? It would not mean transatlantic flights, it would mean connecting in Moscow and who wants to go that far east to connect from the US. The best would be Lufthansa, but realistically I am not sure many airlines would be interested. Turkish is a possibility, but definitely not the best option seeing as what they have done with BH.

    It would be sad to see this brand disappear, but it has happened to bigger and more well known brands.

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  17. Anonymous17:05

    I dont think that anybody who is sane is interested to buy an overstaffed, corrupt, politically driven airline with most aged fleet in Europe. The name of the game was/is that somebody from the ruling coalition is friend or relative with someone from Deloitte Serbia. Ring a bell? A couple of people made nice money on a dead cow! The government will be happy to hand over the hot potato JAT Airways to the new government after the elections.

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  18. Anonymous19:03

    Sell it to Lufthansa for 1 $
    and rename it to LSFA
    Lousy Serbian Feeder Airline ...

    ReplyDelete
  19. LatviansKnowHowToDoIt03:35

    'Government searching for “new Jat” partner' - and you call this news?

    Suggested name: AirBelgrade (its hub)
    Suggested partner: AirBaltic

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  20. Anonymous13:10

    Nobody will invest in JU. It will finally be fully destroyed and closed as every other state-owned company in former Yugoslavia. And politicians will get good money to let LH fly as Serbian national carrier.

    We call that import lobby!

    ReplyDelete
  21. frequentflyer13:55

    I too don't think we will see a tangible outcome here, at least not in the short timeframe suggested by govt. A deliberate offer to an outside group may in fact be the way forward: IAG or the AF/KLM conglomerate shouldn't be discounted just yet either.

    Readers on our forum might also be interested to hear a more 'global' balanced view on the state of JAT from Centre for Aviation, I know I found it quite interesting to see how they perceive the region and airline!

    http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2011/08/03/serbia-attempts-another-jat-airways-sale--third-time-lucky/page1

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  22. it would be nice if Emirates bought Jat, they are filthy rich :D

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  23. Anonymous15:30

    @ LatviansKnowHowToDoIt:

    Are you blind? Have you not seen how much trouble Air Baltic are in and 'ol Berty Flick is about to be put in jail for scamming the Latvian government...

    AS for everyone else - this is NOT a sale of JU, it is the chance to establish a replacement company and put JU to its death bed where it belong.

    ReplyDelete

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