JAT’s sixteen year Airbus saga comes to an end
After sixteen years, the European plane manufacturer Airbus has approved the cancellation of JAT Yugoslav Airlines’ order for eight Airbus A319 aircraft. The cancellation was finally agreed upon following joint talks between Airbus and JAT’s successor Air Serbia, as well as its part owner Etihad Airways late last month, putting an end to the saga. “Air Serbia cancelled eight A319s originally ordered by JAT in August 1998. None were delivered. However, this order has already been compensated with Etihad Airways' order for ten A320neos in November 2013. Those aircraft are due to be operated by Air Serbia”, an Airbus report, outlining its February order books, states.
JAT Yugoslav Airlines ordered eight A319s in the summer of 1998, in a deal worth 580 million American dollars. The politically motivated order did not suit the airline’s needs at the time. Although JAT deposited over 23.5 million dollars, none of the aircraft were ever delivered. Their arrival was initially delayed by troubles in the region and the imposition of United Nations sanctions onto Yugoslavia, barring the world’s second largest plane manufacturer from delivering the aircraft. Following changes in the country’s political establishment in October 2000, the company was in no state to finance the costly order. Yugoslav Airlines’ initial successor, Jat Airways, as well as the Serbian government, made attempts to revise the agreement ever since without much success with Airbus unwilling to allow Jat to defer the order onto another airline. In 2012 Airbus threatened to sue the Serbian government over the 1998 deal.
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| JAT pilots pose in front of this test A319 in Belgrade in August 1998 when the order to purchase eight jets of its type was made |
Following Etihad’s acquisition of Jat Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates moved swiftly to resolve the issue. The deposit paid by JAT for the aircraft has been credited toward the pre-delivery payment for ten Airbus A320neos ordered by Etihad late last year which are to be operated by the Serbian national carrier. The new A320neos will be delivered between 2018 and 2020, replacing Air Serbia’s fleet of leased Airbuses currently in operation.
Comments
Konacno neka i ovaj troll ode u proslost.
Posle gotovo cetvrt veka odstranjen veliki kamen oko vrata poreskih obaveznika kao i komercijalne vijacije Srbije. Prava vest za pocetak radne sedmice!
Rod. Marinkovic, Kraljevo / Sydney
Whats with the green train?
Wasn't a frequent flyer when this pic has been made (suppose late 70ties - mid 80ties).
What was its purpose?
I know of the blue train though but it didn't have anything to do with aviation.
Sada vise nema prepreka za eventualnu nabavku i drugog tipa aviona (Boing, Bomabardier, Embraer....) u nekoj buducnosti
Sjajna vest, pozdravljam.
What sounds a bit alarming is that if the 23.5 million was credited to Etihad and if they still effectively lease the aircraft to Air Serbia than this money is lost to both Air Serbia and the Serbian tax payer forever.
Was this a part of the "secret deal" and shouldn't at least half of the 23.5 million be credited to either Air Serbia or the Serbian government as per the partnership split agreement.
Da li je moguce da kad avioni stignu, Eithad ih da AirSERBIA-i na lizinig??
Jel postoji negde definitivna potvrda da ce Ju biti 100% vlasnik?
Hvala
If this is the case, than there is no secret deal, why would it be. This was on JAT's books and Etihad saw it as an oportunity.
Also, $23mil is not the same in 1998 and 2013.
If it was paid as a % of the total order, than today its worth much more than $23mil.
Why I said no secret deal Q400, is because this whole issue was so widely publicised over the past 15 years no one can argue that they did something secretly.
What we can say is that they might have tweaked the story so we don't notice right away whats going on ;)
http://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/2336-air-serbia-odlaze-za-maj-pocetak-letova-ka-varni/
Proslog meseca imali su 8 (osam) porucenih A319 i 0 (nula) porucenih A320neo.
Dakle, porudzbine A319 vise nema dok porudzbine A320neo nikada nije ni bilo (osim u jednom saopstenju za javnost, ali putnicki avioni se isporucuju onome ko ih plati a ne onome ko napise saopstenje).
Kako sada stvari stoje, te avione ce Etihad davati u lizing Er Srbiji. Ako cenu tog lizinga umanje za prebijen dug sa Airbusom onda ok. Ako, pak, prebijen dug sa Airbusom iskoriste da sebi spuste cenu kompletne porudzbine A320neo, onda su Srbi jos kako ostali bez 23 miliona.
Purger nije nikada rekao "izgubili". To je totalna neistina!!!!
Ja sam tvrdio da je u vrijeme Jata to bila glupost i politička odluka koja je ozbiljno gušila Jat (nemogućnost kupovine drugih aviona poput Boeinga), što piše i u ovom tekstu.
Isto tako sam naglasio više puta, a i u ozbiljnim medijima, da sa Etihadom Air Serbija najviše dobija na zaštiti, te sam odmah naglasio (još daleko prije samog ugovora) da će se vrlo lako riješiti ugovor sa Airbusom kojeg će Etihad uloviti za ja** prvi puta kada naruči avione. Jasno je da Airbus neće staviti u pitanje ugovorčić od 25 milja u kontekstu narudžbe nekoliko stotina aviona.
OVO SAM NAGLASIO NEKOLIKO PUTA I TO PRIJE NEGO JE OBZNANJEN UGOVOR I KUPOVINA AVIONA OD STRANE ETIHADA.
P.S.
No, isto tako sam naglasio da Etihad uvijek može "svoje" avione povući ili ih prenamijeniti (kao ucijenu za produžavanje ugovora nakon 5 godina ili ukoliko izače iz deala), bez obzira što se oni "vode" pod Air Serbiju. Dok god je to Etihadovo vlasništvo dokle oni sa njima mogu raditi što ih je volja 5 do 12, ili čak nakon 12 sati. Naglašavam da u tom svijetlu javnosti (pa ni meni) nije poznat ugovor između Srbije i Etihada u kojem bi se mogla vidjeti obveza Etihada na investiciju u flotu (tko će biti vlasnik tih Airbuseva) i posljedice u slučaju raskida ugovora. I upravo zbog te dvije ekstremno bitne stvari po sudbinu srpskog zrakoplovstva ugovor ne bi smio biti tajan.
I uzgled, zar je trol netko tko se ne slaže sa vašim stavom. No, onda ste i Vi trol. Poglavito što koristite laži u svom komentaru.
No, što se tiće 25 milijuna, pa da su i "poklonjeni" Etihadu to je zanemarivo, sitnica koja je ništa u usporedbi sa štetnosti te narudžbe. Zanemariv iznos na koji se ne treba osvrtati.
Again? Nemjee how much money will JU loose by postponed of Beirut and Varna, rerouting passengers, image, compensations...
In my opinion, one of the problems is the fleet. Though the re-introduction of YU-ALP will help improve the situation in the airline, we should not forget that this aircraft will also need to go to the Netherlands in order to get the new livery. In other words, the relief will be only temporary. I think the management wants to start off the summer season with the whole fleet ready; they can't do this if they need some aircraft to operate the new routes (ie Varna).
On the other hand, the Airbus birds are not all in Belgrade. This has forced the airline to postpone the retirement of the Boeing fleet. At this point, routes such as Skopje, Tivat, Sarajevo..., are operated with the B737-300 which is just too big. Atr-72 is the perfect aircraft for these destinations, the only problem is that there aren't enough to operate all of the destinations mentioned before. Podgorica and Skopje are the only destinations in ex-YU where a jet aircraft is justified- the former because of both cargo and passenger demand while the latter because of cargo (very often a lot of it is sent via Belgrade).
Air Serbia should have five Atr-72 this summer but realistically they should have at least 8... in my opinion.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.669321446444811.1073741838.100001008850604&type=1&l=0d7c1aa729
Da su ulozili nekemilijarde, onda OK, ali u pitanju je 100mil pozajmice konvertovanih u akcije, zar ne? Ili sam ja barem tako razumeo.
Ovo drugo sto ti kazes... da tacno, dok ugovor nije javan ili barem pregledan od neke nezavisne komisije, mozemo samo da nagadjamo.
Moguce je da je kompletna imovina JAT-a bila nemerljivo veca od investicije pa onda 25mil nista ne znaci, ali ja to stavrno neznam.
A ako mislis na klauzule o odsteti u slucaju raskida ugovora, e to je onda druga prica. tu moze svasta da se stavi. To moze Srbiju da JAKO puno kosta ako stvari krenu naopako. Yu se slazem.
Nadajmo se samo da nece ;)
Is current ATR fleet maintained in BEG?
If they are, seriously, why not order or lease if need be another 5,6,7...
Does anyone know?
It seems logical, even to me, a total amateur in avio business, but maybe there is a legitimate reason why management believes they can get away with 4-5 planes...
"This content is currently unavailable"
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.669321446444811.1073741838.100001008850604&type=1&l=0d7c1aa729
And entire HZ railtrack network is getting an upgrade with main corridors getting done first. Speeds on Zagreb - Ljubljana tranche is 160kmph with max speed of 200kmoph on certain sections, but record speed of 187kmph was achieved by HŽ 1142 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/H%C5%BD_1142_series.jpg locomotive in late 80s and early 00s. new trains are all 160kmph train sets with emu's having maximum speed of 200kmph. So there might be a service Zagreb Ljubljana by 2017.
At that time, JAT NONSTOP international destinations from Zagreb were New York, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Montreal, Toronto, Cairo, Algiers, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Lyon, Milano.
The train service was predominantly for Slovenian passengers, who always had good business ties worldwide, and the best purchase power within former Yugoslavia, but Zagreb had much more flights and destinations then Ljubljana.
Alike service at the time existed in Germany by Lufthansa, Italy by Alitalia and some other european countries.
These were the best times of ex-JAT; rent-a-car services, hotel accomodation in its own hotels and several other products were offered then, punctuality of services was heavily improved, new most modern plane types introduced or just to be introduced, new destinations planned and opened, with FULL PROFITABILITY, and with NO STATE SUBVENTIONS, and JAT was about to become REALLY one of the most important players in Europe.
And than, at that time, one man found out that "Niko ne sme da vas bije !!!
What happened later, we know!
I mean, the order for 8 Airbuses come close to $600milion and the recent order of 10 A320neo's was a $1Billion, or $100 million per jet.
Quite a difference in cost increase over some 15-16 years:)
Thanks
Does anybody know what is Transaero 737 doing in BEG right now?
Every good transit airline has good regional feeds.
Lufthansa- Lufthansa Regional
Delta- Delta Connection
Air Canada- Air Canada Express
United/Continental- United Express
Alitalia- Alitalia Citylinter
Air France- HOP!
KLM-KLM Cityhopper
Air Serbia needs more ATRs to feed the hub if they want to become a serious regional transit airline. Five ATRs aren't enough. They need at least 10+. Even Tarom has 9 ATRs.
Comm'on Aleksandre, maybie you are really good and positive guy, but some more common sense and a touch of feeling for reality, that's definitely what you lack...
Stop trying to instruct others to see "reality". I don't need your advice. The reality is that JU is trying to become a transit airline for South East Europe, and if you cannot see it, I don't know what to say to you. Whenever anyone says anything good about JU (yes, there are a few good things), people like you must attack it so others may know that JU is the worst airline ever. Worst than all other airlines, including all other Ex-Yu carriers and even worse than the old JAT.
We are fans of JU, and what are you? You have so much time that you "will keep commenting on how some people DARE" compare Air Serbia to Lufthansa, etc. Do you really have so much time? Mate, your life is so sad if you have nothing better to do.
No, this is the 16:30-17:30 bank. Originally the 330F from Misrata was supposed to pick-up the cargo around that time but the A330-300 took it in the morning instead.
i know that Lufthansa offers such service 4 many flights 2 and from Frankfurt, probably other cities as well... might b they copied it from JAT.
but a nice story anyway, + didnt know that Zagreb used to have intercontinental connections back then... different story nowadays :(
It would be deployed on:
- Vienna
- Sofia
- Varna
- Skopje
- Banja Luka
- Sarajevo
- Ljubljana
- Thessaloniki
- Budapest
- Bucharest (if not on A319)
By applying the same schedule to all regional routes with early morning arrivals to BEG prior to the first departure rush, they will manage to feed the morning rush hour and tremendously improve they LF.
I believe JU management is aware of it... Hopefully they manage to lease more ATR`s...
As Nemjee said, sending B733 to regional routes is partially responsible for low LF.
Hopefully we see improvement in the upcoming months
TAROM is twice as big as JU. So it is not "even Tarom", but JU goal can be to come to TAROM level in near future.
10 Erbasa nove generacije kroz dill ETIHAD AIRWAYS-a sa proizvodjacem Airbus-a. Posto se ponesto razumem u avio inzenjering, letenje, aerodrome..., lepo bi bilo kada bih neko izracunao po kojoj ceni bi drzava Srbija platila avione da nije Etihada. Dali je razlika veca od 25 mil. evra za 10 Erbasa NEO. Svako zna ko je u svetu komercijalnog vazduhoplovsva da je suvlasnik AIR SERBIA i (mnogih drugih) ETIHAD vlasnik vise od 100 Erbasovih aviona. Taj broj raste. Vas koji ste se uplasili da
novac poreskih obaveznika Srbije ne prisvoji, izmanipulisu ili... Arapi. Stose toga tice, mene okupiraju misli da mi vracamo dugove koje dobijamo na vreme, do zadnje cente. Da ljudi u Srbiji
se UVEK trude da budu LJUDI. Sto se Arapa tice, u ovom i mnogim drugim kappa dole njima sa svima koji drzi do etike, profita, odnosa, digniteta. Slobodna nam je volja, a ona nam daje
mogucnost izbora da budemo ljudi. Uz pozdrav budimo iskreni, trudimo se...
Rod. Marinkovic, AME. Kraljevo/Griffith
http://www.airserbia.com/en/home/main_menu/special_offer/avionom_i_vozom.html
Don't know if it still exists.
I think AF is also doing something along those lines, if I remember correctly there is a TGV from CDG to Brussels.
In saying that, it was probably never meant to be profitable like many state airlines at that time.