Jat pilots call for less competition

Pilots against competition

The Independent Union of Serbian Pilots has slammed the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate for issuing licenses to foreign carriers, while Jat Airways does not enjoy the same benefits in other countries. “Turkish Airlines has been approved double the amount of flights to Belgrade than Jat Airways, contrary to international agreements. Furthermore, Wizz Air has been granted a license to set up a base in Belgrade while Jat would never have the same rights from Budapest”, a press release from the Union reads. The pilots blame individuals from the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate and the Ministry of Transport for working against Jat’s interests.

The pilots have extended their support for the government’s bid to restructure Jat and create a successor national carrier next March. They believe the airline must have a market share of 50% from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. So far this year, Jat’s market share has stood at 40%, followed by Wizz Air which enjoys a share of 11%. Serbia, which is a signatory to the European Open Skies Agreement, is not obliged to issue licenses to every carrier which requests one, since it is in the first phase of implementing the agreement. However, the Aviation Directorate adopted such a stance in 2009, which saw the arrival of several low cost airlines including Niki, Wizz Air, SkyWork Airlines and Flydubai. Previously, the Directorate would ask Jat if it had any objections for another airline to launch services to Belgrade.

This winter, twenty airlines are operating scheduled flights to Belgrade. The number will be boosted to twenty one next week when Qatar Airways launches its service from Doha. Jat, which has managed to withstand increased competition in the past few years, has done so on the back of its own revenue as it has been forced to significantly reduce its ticket prices. Nevertheless, the Serbian carrier has no direct competition on several routes. These include Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tel Aviv and Thessaloniki. However, Wizz Air operates flights to alternative airports to several of the abovementioned cities.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Why worry? Jat is going bankrupt next March anyway, when the new airline is formed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:10

    Hello dear Jat, welcome to 2012! It is not 1988 any more!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Doot09:50

    BWA HA HA HA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BA88810:16

    Am I the only one who got scared reading about this?

    Are they for real?

    This is just confirmation of Jat being run by crowd frozen in 1988.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:30

      How scared would you be in Turkey then? You would consider them equal to North Korea.

      Delete
    2. BA88822:41

      Erm...not sure I get this...

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:43

    BEG passenger growth for October is only 1%.

    The airport handled 275.583 passengers. So far this year the airport handled 2.918.112 passengers which indicates growth of 8%.

    I wonder what caused this drop in passenger growth at the airport.

    Hopefully November numbers are better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:45

      Number of air operations decreased by 3% during the same period.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:34

      Mainly small aircraft operate lately. SOF is still leading with 2,974,348. Zagrab probably 2 million.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:48

      3rd millionth passenger was already supposed to be at Beg, no ?
      What is going on here ?
      BTW, Zagreb today changed some of their stats for several previous months and even a few from 2011
      (I am positive as I constantly check).
      Apparently, in October ZAG had 4% growth over 2011.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:41

      Yes, the growth in November will be 4 to 5%.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:45

    Omg, they are dead serious.
    No comment!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:22

    It may not be in JAT's favor but it is certainly in the traveler's interest to have more airlines, more destinations and lower fares.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jat is extreemly cheap now, i needed to go to Sarajevo last month, from amsterdam to belgrade was 180e with jat, cheapest flight + direct one. But no thnx, even if they pay me 180e, i'm not flying in things that are that old.

    Wizzair holland-blg was 110e, but that low cost crap is to risky, so it was lufthansa to zag.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:35

      Who cares?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:02

      What's risky? I sincerely hope you're not implying security risks.

      Delete
    3. Flying old planes risk :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:56

      Last month no plane of Jat went hiatus...
      thus you missed an opportunity to save
      some bucks my dear FSX Snob !
      ; )

      Delete
    5. Im not saying there falling out of the sky (yet) but the chances are much bigger :) Or like last year, a pannel that falls off on someone's head inside.. good old planes.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:37

      The engines of Jat's planes are quite new. If maintained properly a plane can fly virtually forever, it is the operating cost that increases. There is no more risk in flying Jat than any other company.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:05

      FSXNOOB is just a troll.... why you even bother discussing things with him based only on his personal feelings about Jat...?

      Delete
  9. Anonymous14:10

    Skywork to Bern is NOT a low cost carrier. Every time I have looked for a flight it has been more expensive than Swiss.

    jjh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doot08:54

      ya, no kidding.

      They were cheap maybe the first two weeks they started.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous16:18

    Why is Air Ones flight today to and from Belgrade cancelled?

    And it's good that even though there were 2% less flights in October that there were 1% more pax at BEG, and the numbers will be exploding even more as Jat Serbian Airlines gets manyyyy new planes and introduces new routes , which will also have foreign airlines notice BEG even more!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:20

      Air One will also stop flying to Belgrade.The route is a disaster.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:07

      lol based on what?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:39

      Who cares about Air One, they're not that important after all, Jat flies to Milan as well.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:47

      Air One is not important, British is not important, Air France is not important, Air Baltic is not important...

      Delete
  11. Anonymous16:35

    ***BRAKING NEWS***
    Niki is withdrawing from VIE-BEG, VIE-SOF and VIE-OTP next summer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:33

      I guess it has to do with the problems in Air Berlin and the cuts they are forced to make.
      Bad news for Sofia which is also losing Lufthansa's link to Dusseldorf.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:40

      NIKI is not really leaving Belgrade.
      NIKI as an airline gets dissolved completely!
      Air Berlin bought with Niki the best airline in Central Europe and because of sheer incompetence destroys this wonderful airline.
      I hate AB!
      So BEG not only looses daily nonstop to Paris with Air France but also nearly double daily to Vienna with Niki.

      I will miss you Niki i loved your silver birds!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:43

      And what is with VIE-PRN ?

      Delete
    4. NIKI stopped flying VIE-PRN back in September. Not sure if this was your question, but your question was not very clear.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:19

      This exactly was my question ,thank you for answer!Why they ended?
      Thanks in advance.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:24

      Niki leaving Belgrade is a big loss...
      Damn Jat will profit from this.
      For Belgrade its getting from bad to worse......

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:49

      Not true.
      They are reducing frequencies on VIE-BEG during January only. From february NIKI operated 12 weekly again until Oct13, and all flights are bookable till then.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous20:06

      It is ok, once the economic situation improves so will the airline offer from Belgrade. I am just worried that price might go up once again between Belgrade and Vienna once Niki leaves.
      If I remember correctly OS used to charge €250 and Jat €180!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:07

      Maybe Wizz Air could step in.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:31

      *operates, sorry.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous22:51

      Air One is not important, British is not important, Air France is not important, Air Baltic is not important, NIKI is not important...

      Delete
    12. Anonymous23:26

      BA stopped flights because Serbians need visas to UK and it was an unprofitable route. JU launched flights to LGW too. W6 does LTN so no need to have daily LHR and 3 times LTN. In summer LGW too!
      JU has enough flights to CDG too, no need to have AF operating.
      Air Baltic used to fly to RIX during the summer only - yet another unprofitable destination.
      I doubt Air One will continue to operate too long, they always have cheap fares and keep cancelling their flights to BEG. Wizz has to launch BGY instead!
      Niki brand will soon disappear and all flights to be operated by Air Berlin. Take a look:
      http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1179038

      Delete
    13. "This exactly was my question ,thank you for answer!Why they ended?
      Thanks in advance.
      "

      After NIKI launched the VIE-PRN route, Belle Air Europe also opened the same connection to VIE from PRN. All of this on top of up to 12 weekly flights with OS, so the competition was fierce.

      NIKI itself on average had about 73-74 pax on each flight, or approx. 65% PLF. So, I really don't know whether they pulled the plug because the loads and, therefore, the profitability were not there or for some other issues.

      I personally did not fly with NIKI while they operated at PRN, however a number of friends and relatives that flew with them were satisfied with service/cost/convenience.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous06:27

      Yes but maybe airport charges in PRN were too high for them to make a profit.

      Delete
    15. "Yes but maybe airport charges in PRN were too high for them to make a profit."

      Maybe. It's impossible to know unless the airline itself comes up with a clear statement, which they did not.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous16:39

    On one point i fully support the pilots. It is incredible what TK has been allowed in Belgrade. In one day they take a full wide-body of passengers with their two daily flights, while Pegasus has been denied a license and Jat can certainly not increase their services to Turkey. TK behaves as a wild animal. Hope they get tamed with the arrival of QR and increased frequencies from FZ.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:33

      If you think that Pegasus will not fly from Belgrade, you are wrong.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:44

      oh and why ? give some insight...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:15

      Why would Pegasus do BEG?! Both TK and JU have more than enough flights to IST. It's even enough to have TK only - new planes, good service and not ageing 737's from the 80's...

      Delete
    4. Doot08:58

      Personally, I would LOVE it it Pegasus came to Serbia.

      I would take the bus to Kraljevo to fly them.

      I need to get to the Anatolian side of Istanbul and it can take up to 3 hours in rush hour. Plus, Pegasus is a great low-cost airline. Best I've flown.

      Delete
  13. SuisseOuest17:57

    Seriously, they should not be complaining. If they had the more flexible fleet, they'd have >50% share easily. They should especially not complain about TK - many of these passengers are transit pax which wouldn't fly Jat anyway. And I don't believe that O&D market is so large.
    Similarly for Budapest: they don't have the resources to open a base there and it wouldn't survive anyways. Hell, if it was that easy, why not open a base in Nis?
    Anyways, let's hope that "new Jat" that pilots are excited about ends up being a profitable company run on market principles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doot09:00

      absolutely right about TK vs Jat; O&D vs transit.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous21:00

    For all of you that think governments around the world don’t protect their airlines even when they are not government owned I’d like to share following information.

    Several years ago Emirates wanted to increase frequency on their Dubai-Toronto route. Based on the Air Canada’s complaints, Canadian government denied them permission. This caused huge diplomatic spat that resulted in closing if the small Canadian military base in UAE that was used as a logistic stop when supplying its troops in Afghanistan. And Canadian government doesn’t even own them.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_Arab_Emirates_aviation_dispute

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous05:07

    Really...less competition? Why not then just close the doors for anytype of foreign investment to come into the country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:02

      I think you are mixing things up. What kind of investment you see here. The fact that TK refuels more at BEG. OK I’ll give you that, catering will sell more, I’ll give you that too. What would be fair is that increased frequency is shared so that, at least partially, they employing Serbian a/c, pilots, cabin crew etc. If Jat can’t increase frequency to IST , TK shouldn’t be able to increase to BEG.

      All I’m saying is that as a national carrier they should have first choice. Now I understand that aviation authorities always try to strike fine balance between this and giving more options to passengers.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous05:11

    SERIOUSLY can we ban the next moron that posts a reply in regards to air crafts falling out the sky cause there "old" ......How uneducated are you, Im well aware that your obviously not in the industry and your knowledge is based on aircrash investigations shows or some forum that you get to read once a week but seriously if you have no idea then dont post and dont talk to people about it as if your educated..... Do you understand your actions could possibly deter people from flying wit any airline because of your stupidity to think aircrafts will call out of the sky because they are 25 yrs old?????

    I had the opportunity to fly in a DC-3 Yesterday at bankstown australia a 70 yr old aircraft and it fliess as good as the 15 year old seminole i fly daily and mind you if you met the LAMES that work around in GA they arnt that bright and cant wait to be pissed on the weekend yet they know there job and how to do it as well as the importance of maintainance for such aircraft..... Jats planes have a structure of 25 years and have rigorous engineering and maintaince procedures they need to go through as do most old airliners and if its anything to go by in recent years then older aircraft actually are more maintained and more closely inspected for default or irregularities then newer aircrafts due to certain procedures not needing as much attention due to age...

    But then again if you want to post that you must awell add that Qantas a international carrier has had more incidents in recent yrs with aircraft then all of the carriers on the balkans together.

    Now on topic i agree and disagree competition is healthy for travelers and tourism in general it jus needs to be monitored and carefully judged on acceptance... TK has had to many advantages and not only by Serbia but by alot of other european countries where they are granted rights which the countries national carrier dont recieve in return from Turkey... As for Wizz Air is a different carrier altogether they dont represent Hungry, they arnt owned by the Gov nor are they a subsidary to a national carrier where as if Malev back then wanted to approach im sure they wouldnt have recieved the grant to open up shop

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:11

      you are right and I agree. However I always avoid 25 years old aircraft although I know maintainance is what counts instead years of operation.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      Well, if those aircrafts are OK why on earth you want to buy expensive A319?

      Also I will never use 25 year old plane if I have alternative. I will never use 25 year old taxi, and plane...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:03

      These 733s are OK, but as they are 25yrs old they are expensive to operate.
      BTW, don't hate air crash investigation, it's an amazing show which IMHO shows that planse don't crash because they're old, old planes crash due to faulty maintenance and most planes crash due to combination of bad weather and human errors...

      Delete
  17. Anonymous07:04

    Well he made some cash now with washing dishes, and cant fly jat. I be he moved to holland dirty poor for wartorn country.....

    ReplyDelete

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