Jat Airways gets new CEO

Velibor Vukašinović takes over

Velibor Vukašinović will today become the new acting CEO of Jat Airways, replacing Vladimir Ogjenović who has been running the carrier since 2010. Mr. Vukašinović has never worked at Jat. He had trained at the flight academy in Zadar before completing a degree at the University of Belgrade, majoring in philosophy. He has worked as a factory test pilot at Serbia’s UTVA general aviation plane manufacturer. From 2004 until 2009 Mr. Vukašinović worked as a flight inspector at the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate. He is currently a member of the task group in charge of restructuring Jat and is also a member of the United Arab Emirates - Serbia direct investment task group. Since March 18, 2013 he has served as an advisor to the outgoing CEO.

In his first interview, Mr. Vukašinović noted that it was important that the government had decided not to shut down the airline but admitted Jat was a “hot potato”. “My first job will be to renew the fleet so we can successfully carry out this year’s business plan”, he said. Mr. Vukašinović believes that a strategic partnership with Etihad Airways would be a privilege. “Etihad is currently in the process of screening Jat after which talks will be held to see what suits them and what suits us”.

Velibor Vukašinović replaces Vladimir Ognjenović whose legacy will be mixed. During his time in office the airline has halved its fleet and is currently experiencing a major aircraft shortage, forcing it to cancel flights and cut down on its operations. Furthermore, Mr. Ognjenović was instrumental in shutting down the airline’s representative offices across the world leading to tumbling sales in several markets. On the other hand, Jat has managed to maintain its passenger numbers in the face of fierce competition through constant promotional ticket sales, though this has hurt the airline’s finances. Two years ago, EX-YU Aviation News wrote about the string of disastrous choices made by the government in the past decade to run Jat. Mr. Ognjenović is now set to become the deputy CEO of the Serbian carrier.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:46

    The comment about closing representative offices abroad is very interesting. I'm wondering which offices are closed and which ticket sales dropped as a result? It seems to me that people here generally agreed that those offices are an unnecessary expense...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      They closed their office here in London

      Delete
    2. BA88815:14

      And...?

      I am under impression that majority or pax are using online services to buy tickets.

      Nothing wrong with service desk at LHR...

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:48

    Would anyone know at what stage is Jat in terms of their fleet renewal ?

    How many aircraft is missing as of right know ?
    Perhaps not as many as the full summer season is still not on... ?
    At what dynamic will the new aircraft be replaced ?
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:08

    Zrakoplovna kompanija Lufthansa dodijelila je Zračnoj luci Zagreb ZLATNU medalju za kvalitetu usluga prihvata i otpreme zrakoplova i putnika za 2012. godinu, prema rezultatima internog istraživanja kvalitete usluga u zračnim lukama u okruženju.

    U konkurenciji su bile zračne luke: Prag, Varšava, Bukurešt, Beograd, Sofija i Budimpešta.

    "Uz sve kolegice i kolege iz zračne luke, posebno ističemo Sektor prometa putnika koji je stručnošću, profesionalnošću i velikim zalaganjem, posebno zaslužan za ovaj izvanredan rezultat", poručuju iz Zračne luke Zagreb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This has been featured in the News flash section on the left.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:10

      OK - whoever is posting this news about Zagreb repeatedly, please cut it out - you are being very abnoxious.

      @EX-YU, I think the news deserves an article, not just a news flash. Just an opinion from your user... :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:05

      This blog is not exYU but Serbian blog with some information about others. There is huge discrimination about Croatian air traffic.

      To compare:

      Croatian air traffic is 100% bigger than Serbian
      - still there are 30% more information about Serbian air traffic (639) than Croatian (491)

      Croatia Airlines is 40% bigger than Jat
      - still there is 82% more topic about Jat (427) than Croatia airlines (236)

      Even there are almost same number of topic about Niš (56) and Zadar (68) and Zadar airport is several times bigger than Niš.

      Those numbers does not need any more explanations.

      And to say that gold medal from one of the biggest air companies with 120.000 employees and more than 100.000.000 passengers did not deserve fto have separate topic but some «left side flash news» is not just discrimination to ZAG but also offense to all exYU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:12

      So, what if the blogger has more stories on serbian aviation ?
      If the blog is based in Serbia, its author will naturally be more familiar/more involved in the happenings of the serbian aviation market thus will be more inclined to report on them.

      I do believe that this blog can always try to do better, but it's doing fine. Specifically, I am pointing out how the news on ZAG's gold from LH deserves its own article.
      However, it is clear that this blog generally does OK.
      It covers most of the main topics of the entire ex yu market, which is sometimes not easy. Discrepancies are not that large given that this is serbian based blog covering the ex yu aviation news...

      If the blog was designed like the Croatian Aviation Forum, it would probably have "avijacija u susjedstvu" section. Instead it's trying to cover it all.

      Chill out. It's not the end of the world.


      Btw, I am croatian from Zagreb.

      p.s.
      @EX YU - you should really try to publish topics like these in the main article section

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:34

      Than it is not exYU, but Serbian air forum with information from neighbors (Croatian air forum is Croatian, not exYU).

      It is not normal that Croatian air traffic is 100% bigger but still has 30% less topic, and that Lufthansa gold medal for Zagreb is not topic subject.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:48

      Actually I don’t see ANY Croatian press reporting this, not even dedicated aviation websites so ex-Yu did more than any other by actually reporting it. And I presume that whoever is running the blog tries to post news that is actually interesting and will get more visits. I doubt news about Zadar or Osijek is going to attract much visitors.

      Delete
    7. While the award is a great achievement the press release from Zagreb Airport doesn't contain more than a few sentences, which renders it impossible to create a lead news story, which, as you might have noticed, contains a similar format of having between 300-350 words. Rather than reporting the news as part of an article related to Zagreb Airport on a completely different matter sometime in the future, it has been given a special mention in the news flash section and shared on the EX-YU Aviation twitter page as well.

      If you think there is not enough news from Croatia you are more than welcome to share news which you think should be reported to exyuaviation@mail.com

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:51

      fair enough!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous23:12

      OK - thanks for the feedback Exyu Aviation. To some degree it makes sense.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:15

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous14:40

    With politicians involved in JAT, JAT will never stand on their feet. Politicians have destroyed JAT.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous15:14

    - Test Pilot
    - Philosophy major
    - No business experience

    Yup, that's the perfect airline CEO candidate! I'm looking forward to another CEO announcement 12-18 months from now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why the concern? The experienced, "Mr. Ognjenović, is now set to become the deputy CEO". HE can help the new CEO.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:55

      With his resume, he should be a Chief Pilot at most. Actually, he was a test pilot for UTVA, so he's probably not even qualified to be an airline pilot.

      There are two types of candidates I want to see running JAT:
      1) someone with previous airline management experience
      2) someone with a strong business background that has a proven track record.

      In either case, the candidate should be someone external with no ties to the government. I'm tired of these clowns that only care about lining their pockets and their friends' pockets with cash. It's business as usual in the Balkans.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous16:10

    Is the Gold Medal award from Lufthansa really that big a deal? I guess in our little world it may be. But really, from what I can tell, a German airline, granted a huge airline, gives an award to an airport that professionally handles their passengers... And this from a choice of a few central & eastern airports. I mean really this award isn't even on a All-European ranking. Not even from the European Association of Airports or similar organization.

    PS not knocking ZAG, the same would apply to any other airport.

    -- Charlie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:38

      100.000.000 passengers per year, 120.000 workers... that is at least respectable what huge organization like this give you a credit.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous17:22

    So guys, you think it's all about one more politically suitable follower in the list? In addition, the one who was dismissed from the CEO position for sure can not be appointed as the deputy for the position. Illogical things, aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous17:43

    So that EXPERT is one of those who were in commission for new planes to lease and which:

    - did nothing from November till March
    - did not even have meeting in 42 days till end of January
    - thought that is like going to supermarket and buy some bread, so they have time for type rating and leasing
    - and now they will have just 2 A319 in July (much too late), no A320, and no ATR 72-500, so 2 out of 6 planed planes

    I am so sorry that this kind of person is head of Jat again. By this way you will not take the best from Etihad possibilities.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous19:37

    He looks like Calibos from "The Clash of Titans".. o.O

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OXR5e1PTsqk/UIL2eWPqsMI/AAAAAAAAJX4/AdP2MNfurzk/s1600/calibos1981.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous20:10

    Acting CEO (vrsilac duznosti) zato sto za pravog CEO mora da se raspise konkurs. Vrsioce duznosti mogu da postave bez konkursa.

    Ovako se zaobilazi zakon o stranackom zaposljavanju koji je Dinkic najavljivao u predizbornoj kampanji.

    Srpska posla.

    ReplyDelete

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