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| Former Jat CEO tipped for Belgrade Airport top job |
The former CEO of Jat Airways, Saša Vlaisavljević, is the frontrunner in becoming Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport’s CEO after its former head, Velimir Radosavljević was arrested earlier this month, accused of signing a damaging deal with low cost airline Wizz Air. The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, said the government will likely propose for the airport’s board to name Mr. Vlaisavljević as its new CEO in the coming period. Mr. Vlaisavljević is a former member of the Democratic Party which ran the country from 2008 to 2012.
Saša Vlaisavljević managed Jat Airways from October 2007 to March 2009, rising from the position of Jat's Ground Operations Director to CEO over night. He started off at the company in 1995. During his time as CEO, the bulk of the management was replaced with those from the airline’s handling division at Belgrade Airport. Mr. Vlaisavljević heavily reduced the airline’s network of destinations and closed several key representative offices across Europe where ticket sales reportedly decreased significantly afterwards. He is also held accountable for signing a damaging agreement with Montenegro Airlines from which Jat never recovered. Furthermore, the former Jat CEO made several announcements during his reign indicating the carrier will go bankrupt, causing extensive damage to the company’s business. After being declared incompetent to lead the airline, the government awarded him with a job as Belgrade’s City Manager but it lasted for three weeks before he got into a dispute with the city mayor. He later served as one of the many Vice Presidents of Serbia’s Chamber of Commerce and has since been promoted as the Chamber’s director. In late 2012, Mr. Vlaisavljević was also a candidate to lead Belgrade’s Red Star football club. Incidentally, during his reign, Jat Airways signed numerous damaging sponsorship deals with the club, all of which have been terminated since the launch of Air Serbia. During his only full year in office in 2008, Jat recorded a loss of 28 million euros, following a small profit in 2007.
This year marks an important one for Belgrade Airport as it prepares to be put up for concession and is likely to be managed by a company from the United Arab Emirates. The airport has seen record passenger growth so far this year. In late March, Mr. Vlaisavljević said, “Given the number of available gates at the airport and a demanding schedule, with the largest amount of air operations ever recorded, its capacity will be stretched to the limit during the summer season. Immediate investment in the airport’s infrastructure is needed”. He added, “With Etihad’s strategic partnership with Air Serbia, we have a major opportunity that we cannot let slip”. On Monday the Serbian government dismissed Velimir Radosavljević, who is currently facing trial, as CEO of Belgrade Airport. Saša Vlaisavljević was born in Bihać in 1968. He graduated from Belgrade University’s Faculty of Transportation.
This is one of the worst desicion GoS could make...
ReplyDeleteI guess once the arabs are taking over he ll be gone again
ReplyDeleteLets hope he will not make too much damages in the meantime
If this is true, that means serious buyer for airport is found and deal is getting closer. I hate to say it, but for those hoping for airport to have new owner, this is good news.
DeleteThis is an excellent article! Not just translating daily news but making the whole background story. Thank you, Ex-yu!
ReplyDeleteThis guy is an absolute moron, anyone remotely familiar with aviation knows this. The good thing is that Air Serbia is running the show at the airport so his expertise will be very much limited.
ReplyDeleteTime to sell BEG airport stock :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.belex.rs/eng/trgovanje/hartija/dnevni/AERO
Yeah, with this guy on top, it is time to sell the stocks
ReplyDeleteWhat a disaster.....
ReplyDeleteZasto je lose? Covek je decenijama clan Partije, obavljao je najodgovornije drustvene duznosti i vi ga sad nalusavate. Ajte molim vas....
ReplyDeleteIma pna cuvena scena iz "Otac na sluzbenom putu " citiram ..." ja sam bio vojnik Partije. Morao sam! " " a mozes li da spavas brate moj? " " ne mogu . "
Disastrous but expected. He will do anything the government tells him and when you are signing secreat concession deals that is the type of person you want to have by your side.
ReplyDeleteToliko o Acinim direktorima.
ReplyDeletePa pokupili su sve najgore iz drugih partija :)
DeleteToliko o javnim konkursima...
ReplyDeleteThe credibility for the Serbian government goes down the drain. Sad.
ReplyDeleteThe credibility of the Serbian government IS already down the drain, for last 25 years or so
DeleteOvaj ce biti kratko sve do potpisivanja ugovora za lizing Aerodorma, do oktobra najaduze.
ReplyDeleteda, ali kakav je imbecil, šteta koju on napravi može da bude nepovratna
DeleteWell, isn't that the point? So in a year or 6 months PM can go hysterically exclusively prime-time public to say what a disaster is happening with BEG, that he can't believe he's the only one who can publicly say it, how our Arab partners threaten to leave the Air Serbia deal and that he ordered to find a solution in two days, even if it means that Serbia takes all the debts and sells the airport for $1, to our Arab friends, of course.
DeleteIf it wasn't for our hysterical prime minister, we wouldn't be have Air Serbia today. ;)
DeleteIf the new airport is as successful as JU then be it.
Can someone link us with a source for JU's increasing Budapest service to 11 weekly?
ReplyDeleteThere's a link on yesterday's article
DeleteNo, there isn't, it tells only about Ljubljana, not Budapest.
DeleteThis incompetent behavior is endemic of the situation in Serbia and the Balkans. Here's a novel idea, how 'bout an international call for this job? Why not find the best qualified person to lead BEG into this next phase of expansion?
ReplyDelete-- Charlie
BEG is one of the few companies in Serbia that actually make a profit. Why do they want to sell it? It's like shooting your own foot.
ReplyDeleteBEG airport is profitable, but not profitable enough to expand and develop the airport.
DeleteIt is no secret that Air Serbia and partners would appreciate a modern terminal for their hub operation. The current airport management has neither the funds, or the experience to make such a project into reality.
If Air Serbia has ambitions to become a true regional player, with longhaul flights, it will require major development at the airport. The current management simply cannot deliver.
Its not just about the funds, its also about the operations which dont function properly. Baggage handling is a huge issue to start, and these things are minor and inexpensive to fix, but there isnt the will to change it. Same in JU, alot of growth and potential was not put forward until an investor, in this case EY, stepped in. The current people running the show are not innovative and dont seem to put ideas that will exactly be beneficial in the mid or long term. The renovations are great, it is long overdue, but from that there is no plan for expansion to follow the growth. The airport will soon reach capacity, and then what?
DeleteWhat I like about the way things are run in the ME is that they plan for tomorrow, plan for growth, plan big, plan better. JU is a start to a preview of things that could be in our region. I would like to see an investor in BEG to come from the UAE. 30 years ago, DXB was basically a tent compared to BEG, and today it is the 3rd most travelled airport in the world.
Bolje da su postavili nekog sa ovog Bloga nego ovog lako podmotljivog.Najbolje Purgera da postave =D
ReplyDeleteINN
ExYU, can you confirm that Germanwings denied the news of cancelling their Pristina service? And if they really denied it, who was the source of that news?
ReplyDeleteYes, you can read it on the left. Germanwings first said they were cancelling their flights and retracted their statement today.
DeleteUnprofessional and amateurish behaviour from Germanwings, part of Lufthansa Group. Imagine reaction if PR of some Ex-Yu airline did the same!
DeleteI had the same reaction, to say the least. They are trying to identify where it went wrong. However, some cuts are obviously taking place and seeing as the Pristina schedule won't be published for the next couple of weeks and tickets won't go on sale, my only guess is that they could have made an original decision to suspend all flights but then rethought this decision since Germanwings finalised its winter 2014/15 timetable in April and put tickets on sale.
DeleteMessage from Air Serbia:
ReplyDelete'The Croatian airspace control has announced that the Croatian airspace has been closed due to radar failure which caused Air Serbia flight disruptions.
The following Air Serbia flights from Split, Dubrovnik and Banja Luka to Belgrade and Air Serbia flight from Belgrade to Sarajevo have been affected by this disruption:
- Split – Belgrade – JU153 – scheduled to depart at 16.20h
- Dubrovnik – Belgrade – JU143 – scheduled to depart at 16.15h
- Banja Luka – Belgrade – JU103 – scheduled to depart at 16.15h
- Belgrade – Sarajevo – JU112 – scheduled to depart at 14.00h
We are monitoring the situation closely and guests are advised to check the status of their flights on Airport Information boards or call the Air Serbia Call Center at 0800 11 528 (free calls within the Serbian land line and mobile network), +381 11 311 21 23 for calls from abroad.
We apologize for this inconvenience. We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact of this disruption.'
Anyone with more information?
Split departed, but apparently was scheduled for 15.10, not 16.20
DeleteJU153 Belgrade 15:10 17:27 Take off
http://www.split-airport.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=59&lang=en
As far as I can see all flights scheduled after 15.00 were delayed for after 17.00 - problems caused by weather?
Also, one A319 was in Tivat from where it could not depart since their electricity went out.
Deleteu srbiji jednostavno nikada, nista nece da se promeni! u njoj nema hleba, barem ne za posten svet!
ReplyDeleteLatest: Miroslav Musulin promoted as the new CEO of Jat Tehnika.
ReplyDeleteMusulin is an experienced airspace engineer who spent many years in management of Jat Tehnika.
Barem jedna dobra smena...ali ipak videcemo!
DeleteWell, technically, this means that airport is sold or will be given under concession. Since GoS is a puppet government led by foreign interests, this is the logical move... put the man who is so incompetent and whose reputation as a serious businessman is extint as a CEO of Belgrade Airport, give him 6 months to ruin everything so that GoS has an aliby to give airport to Arabs for nothing, and to present that as a "hail Mary" and a "God sent gift" because "Airport is bleeding money" (oh wait that was actually written in an Kurir article that airport is suffering huge losses, but of course, no mention of Air Serbia`s unpaid invoices that are high as 45 M euros in last year)
ReplyDeleteI thought kresimir kucko was the biggest disaster as CEO of OU but it can be worse....it's unbelievable!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with thisd appointment, it's standard for this part of Europe
ReplyDeleteWhy is TAP's night flight cancelled again?
ReplyDeleteThey are experiencing a major fleet shortage. Zagreb flights are often operated with wetleased aircraft as well.
DeleteU ocekivanju najskorijeg pravog pocetka ekspazije i preporoda areodroma NIKOLA TESLA, neka je svima ljudima dobre volje koji pripadaju vazduhoplovstvu i posebno Beogradskom I buducem Kraljevackom aerodromu MORAVA, svima na ex yu aviation...
ReplyDeleteSa Sydney-skog Kingssford Smith-a Airpot-a, Rodney..