Air Serbia is in discussions with Turkish Airlines to establish a joint venture with its subsidiary Turkish Technics, which would include a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Belgrade that would primarily cater for the Serbian carrier’s fleet. The airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, noted, “Once our fleet reaches the size of 30+ aircraft, that is the time when you need to look into the options to have your hangar facility at your base. At the moment, we are doing our base maintenance tasks across multiple facilities throughout Europe. As was already mentioned by Turkish Technics, we are having a discussion with them on a potential joint venture and the development of such an option at our home base. However, it is not the only option, and we are exploring other possible solutions. These things do not happen overnight - they require time and negotiations”.
The Serbian carrier currently outsources its base maintenance after issues arose with its previous provider, the Belgrade-based Jat Tehnika. “At the moment, all base maintenance is outsourced. During the spring period, we used predominantly Turkish Technics in Istanbul. During the winter season, we are using the Atitech facility in Naples, Italy. For our ATRs, we use maintenance by Aero Technic BG in Sofia, Bulgaria. We are completely changing our current approach and we are booking maintenance slots for the next three to four years, instead of relying on slot availability from season to season”, the CEO said.
Commenting on its relationship with Jat Tehnika, Mr Marek noted, “In the past, we have been using Jat Tehnika next-door here in Belgrade. But they are booked up way forward, and without securing slots we cannot rely on resource availability. Last winter season we had a lot of delays caused by Jat Tehnika. However, we are continuing our discussion and finding synergies for how we can also establish a strategic partnership - which would be logical, having close cooperation with a provider at your base”.
Over the summer, Turkish Airlines’ Chairman, Ahmet Bolat, said the company was considering opening an MRO subsidiary in Serbia. “We are working on that [MRO subsidiary] with investors, for example in Belgrade, Serbia. We will make a decision accordingly. We are always open to opportunities and evaluate future prospects. That’s the important thing”. Mr Bolat said.
It is very good that Air Serbia looks for other options and not only to rely on Jat Tehnika.
ReplyDeleteI hope deal with Turkish will be successful.
+1
DeleteSerbia should educate more young people about aviation and its benefits. Simply, educate more young people, explain them possibilities of carrier advancements "good pay after they get experience" and last and most important salaries in aviation industry from the begging to the end their carrier. And s.. load of young people will be more then happy, to be mechanics and other needed personnel. Money for young people is like a glue for mouses, if they don't know they will not participate.
DeleteSerbia actually does a lot to educate young people in aviation. Much more than almost all countries in the Balkans.
DeleteThere is the Aviation Academy in Belgrade , which is a state school that is unique in the region educating aviation personnel. The academy comprises of
- Aviation high school
- College of applied studies (bachelor degree)
- Training centre for aviation personnel (MRO, pilot school, ground personnel). The curriculum has been drafted in cooperation with Air Serbia. MTU, Jat Tehnika, Belgrade Airport and the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate
http://www.vakademija.edu.rs
There is also the Traffic Faculty at the University of Belgrade, which has a module called "Aviation Transport". If you select that module you have subjects such as fleet management, airline management, sustainable development of air transport, schedule planning etc. You can also do masters studies in air transport at this faculty
https://www.sf.bg.ac.rs/index.php/en/
Serbia also has its own flight training university in Vrsac
https://en.oanakademi.com/university/vrsac---smatsa-flight-training-university
Nice.
DeleteYes that is a lot but still there is not enough of personnel needed for lets say JAT tehnika not to mention future MRO. Simply said, if you want people show them the money!
DeleteThere is more then enough, what they need is not to work for JAT tehnika and AirSerbia.
DeletePeople here stop thinking 1500$ paycheck gives the employer right to abuse you a long time ago.
How many service( maintenance)lines does JAT Technika actually have?
ReplyDelete6-8?
Delete9 on their website
DeleteThe company is actually in a complete shambles.
DeleteWhat happened to that company that repairs their engines in Belgrade. I didn't follow the case, sorry. Does anyone have any information and also where in Belgrade the facility is located.
ReplyDeleteMTU. They have a 6 years agreement for V2500 engine maintenance repair and overhaul
DeleteThank you
DeleteInteresting development. I wonder if it lead to more than just MRO cooperation.
ReplyDeleteCould be considering they are looking into TK frequent flyer and have a big codeshare network.
DeleteIt looks like they will develop their own FFP but it would be much more useful if they used TK.
DeleteWhat is the issue with Jat Tehnika?
ReplyDeleteThey don't have enough workers, they are focusing all their resources in passenger to cargo conversion of planes, in 2021 they even lost their European permit to service planes although they regained it later.
DeleteIt was taking them ages to do maintenance on JU planes.
DeleteExactly.
DeleteYU-ARB was sitting there for 5 months!
It was not ARB (332) it was APB (319).
DeleteParts missing in global supply chains, no booking upfont in the MRO and waiting months for its slot etc.?
DeleteYes, correct. YU-APB.
DeleteDefinitely YES! Make hangars with capacity like JAT, compete with them as soon as in your own country they lie to you. Give it back to them. There comes a time when you have to repair the facilities (JAT), they are not in good condition.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this comment meant to say? Not clear.
DeleteJat Tehnika is not a slave of JU and JU is not a slave of Jat Tehnika. Each operate on its own and look for partners where they think is the most fit.
They brought in big income for Jat Tehnika.
DeleteHow is it, if in the words of JU, Jat Tehnika is booked well ahead by others?
DeleteNothing wrong with the comment. The very truth - as soon as there is something Balkan that is developing - let's destroy it. They lied to JU, delayed the activation of planes, caused delays, forced the airline to hire planes and crews, made them move the planes in the country somewhere in Turkey and Romania.....
DeleteAgree with last anon. The fact that Jat Tehnika lost EU permit to service planes for several months says it all
DeleteVažno je da su naučili na problemima sa početka godine i da brzo deluju.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete"We are booking maintenance slots for the next three to four years, instead of relying on slot availability from season to season"
ReplyDeletesmart
It also shows how much the service is in demand. So JU is on the right track!
DeleteWhat service?
DeleteMRO providers, maintenance, repair and overhaul.
DeleteIt's a bit off topic.... In what period are checks A, B, C done? The first one I know is a small thing and is done all the time, but the others? In what period for example does JU send the A319 for maintenance?
ReplyDeleteA-check happens after 200-300 flights and takes about a day to complete on a narrow-body. B-check happens every 6-8 months and takes up to a week to complete, but many airlines merge this check with their A-check. C-check happens approximately every 2 years and usually lasts about 3 weeks. D-check occurs every 6-10 years and lasts 1-2 months as the entire plane is deconstructed and reconstructed.
DeleteThank you very much
Delete@Anonymus 09:33
DeleteWhat kind of checks are being performed on YU APE,APF??? They are in Naples since mid-October
Oh so that's why I have seen JU planes head to Naples.
ReplyDeleteThey also fly regularly to Naples as their destination also during the winter.
DeleteYes, but I meant flights with odd four numbers.
DeleteWhere would TK have hangars at BEG?
ReplyDeleteThey would probably use Jat Tehnika
DeleteEasier for Air Serbia considering the number of planes they are now servicing in Istanbul.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a big development, not just for JU but Serbian aviation industry as a whole.
ReplyDeleteHow do exactly?
Delete*so
DeleteWhat is Jat Tehnika going to do without its main customer?
ReplyDeleteThey will have even more time to focus on their cargo to passenger conversions...
DeleteRead the article. They are booked way forward. Apparently this is not their "main customer" or maybe not even one of "main customers".
DeleteA Turkish Technic facility in Belgrade would be a major issue for Jat tehnika, not just because they would loose JU as a customer, although they already seemed to have lost them, but also because this new MRO would need staff and I'm sure they would poach many from Jat Tehnika. We will see.
DeleteWhere are YU-APE/APF/APL, Flightradar shows they are currently out of service?
ReplyDeleteAre those A319s? I have noticed in the past few days they are using just a few of them.
DeleteOther than the cargo conversions, does JAT Tehnika have any foreign customers? I remember they used to do a lot maintenance on Boeing birds years ago. They also had a lot of Russian carriers doing maintenance there. Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteIronically, they have some customers from Turkey.
DeleteWhich ones?
DeleteThe major benefit of having a TK subsidiary doing your maintenance is that they have a big stockpile of spare parts and don't have to order new ones from the market where there is a shortage and then have to wait months for it to be delivered.
ReplyDeleteInstead of buying JAT tehnika when you could buy it for pennies, the State privatized it and now national carrier needs to send planes around the world for maintenance. It was not a smart move, but it is what it is and a cheap alternative needs to be found
ReplyDeleteYes they should have reintegrated Jat Tehnika into Air Serbia.
DeleteMozda bi Aerodrom Morava mogla da prihvati potencijalnu MRO. Organizaciju za odrzavanje aviona Er Srbije. Mesta za izgradnju centra ima. Dali ima lokalnih politicara u Kraljevu i Cacku da privucu potencijalni projekat za MRO, to je vec stvar ova dva grada. Neposredno uz Aerodrom,
ReplyDeleteVise puta u proslosti sam pokusao da potenciram tu ideju.
Cak me je primio (sada upokojeni) Nacalnik Raskog Okruga, gospodin Simovic. Da li ja neznam sta pricam ili u ovoj sredini nema sposobnih politicara koji koji umeju da prepoznaju sve potencijale Aerodroma Morave. Sigurno su orijentisani u poljoprivredu. A sanse i mohucnosti prolaze neiskorisceni. Sada su izbori. Glasam za razvoj Civilnog Vazduhoplovstva i gradnju aerodroma. Ako bude potrebno.
Rodney Marinkovic. ✈♥️🛬✈🌐🛬
Milun Todorovic se zadovoljava pljackanjem Cacka i ministarstva saobracaja, izmedju ostalog na njegovu benzinsku pumpu staju autobusi koji idu na Zlatibor i uzimaju putnike, suprotno propisima. Ne znam kakvog buzdovana drze u Kraljevu s obzirom da je tamo Leone mora da je jos gori. Njih dvojica i MRO se bas slazu.
DeleteKako ne znate, pa u Kraljevu je glavni gospodin "aerodrum"... On je sigurno taj koji će pogurati rad aerodruma.
DeleteAir Serbia will have better maintenance with Turkish Technic
ReplyDeleteAnd they had bad maintenance with Jat Tehnika? Pleaase...
DeleteThey had a delayed one, let's not forget they waited for that engine for about 5 months
DeleteWhy take precious land away from BEG when you have Kragujevac 30min flight away?
ReplyDeleteSituation is similar to that in Ljubljana, where Maribor could be a MRO base
Postovani Anon 9:42. Da li ste mislili na Aerodrom Moravu za potencijalnu MRA Bazu? Zae nije ovaj aerodrom svega trideset pet kilometara buducim Gruzanskim Koridorom. Od Cacka dvadeset, a od Kraljeva petnaest kilometara. Na Moravi mesta ima. Dali ima spremnih ljudi da dozvole i prihvate povoljne mogucnosti? To je drzavna volja i sposobnost lokalnih politicara da privucu MRO Bazu .
DeleteSpozdravom, Rodney. 😀✈
Mogu li avioni da se dopreme tim koridorom do Lađevaca pošto vazdušno velika većina ne može?
DeleteA strange approach to doing business. If you are also looking to establish a strategic partnership with Jat Tehnika as he claims, you typically avoid critising in public as he does in the very same sentence. It is not helpful and everybody avoids it as this brings nothing positive.
ReplyDeleteNow Jat Tehnika, if they were unprofessional to the same degree, should come out and respond by saying for example that different to other airlines JU never planned maintainance ahead, always wanted to do maintance last minute, never discussed realistic timetables, was always looking for short term solutions with issues recurring as a result etc.
As an example, a lot of airlines had issues over Boing 787 or Max or over engines, and one could not hear any harsh words said in public by any airline to Boing or to engine manufacturers.
Jat Tehnika do not have time for praznorek.
DeleteInterested to see how this will work out and if TK does set up an MRO subsidiary.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they going to call the JV?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't even reached an agreement about the JV, let alone naming it.
DeleteOne thing that JU should focus on with any future MRO provider is improving the state of the cabins!
ReplyDeleteYes, much needed.
DeleteThis would be big news for all involved
ReplyDeleteWhy does not JU establish its own MRO?
ReplyDeleteIt's expensive, time consuming considering the need to gain all necessary permits and certifications and there is a general lack of staff, especially in aviation maintenance.
DeleteJU ne moze ni svoje linisko odrzavanje da sastavi kako treba koliko im je ljudi otislo a ne da pravi MRO. A tek o organizaciji u njihovom odrzavanju ne treba trositi reci.
DeleteWould not be surprised if TK eventually buys into Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteFirst MRO then the airline.
DeleteWhen can we expect them to do this? Next year?
ReplyDeleteWell yes, it's doubtful it will happen in the next month until the year is over, especially since they are still in discussions.
DeleteMost likely when you see an announcement that Erdogan is coming to visit Serbia, you will know the deal is done.
DeleteLooks like a done deal.
DeleteThe fact that Turkish Airlines is interested in a joint venture with Air Serbia shows that Air Serbia is doing something right to even be considered by a giant airline such as Turkish.
ReplyDeleteJust prepare the money and you'll have JV with Delta...
DeleteYeah sure. JU is completely meaningless with 80+ destinations. The airline with 13 next door is much more important...
DeleteWhich airlines use JAT Technika? Are there that many customers? It cannot give its home airline a chance. JU you have to think about it this is funny! Let us provide services to Ukrainian airlines, and send ours to Turkey. Very smart.
ReplyDeleteEven funnier is that some Turkish carriers do maintenance at Jat Tehnika.
DeleteWhich Turkish carriers?
DeleteHow much will this cost JU. I doubt it comes for free.
ReplyDeleteProbably less than ferrying planes around Europe.
DeleteAnd what about SR Technic which has a base in Serbia? What do they do?
ReplyDeleteOnly office staff based in Serbia (due to lower costs), not maintenance.
DeletePity it's just office operations
DeleteJat Tech shift to cargo conversions seemed like a good idea. Passenger to Freighter (P2F) conversions were in very high demand during the pandemic, but the industry is now seeing a dramatic reversal.
ReplyDeleteIt is a JV with an Israeli cargo company which has conversions planned for the next few years. So market situation does not impact much on that.
DeleteOno sto niko ne kapira oko JatT je da oni te konverzije ne rade vec to rade Izraelci. Oni uzimaju prostor i nesto support staffa, konverziju rade kontraktori koje angazuju Izraelci. Ostatk Jata je u potpunom kolapsu, ne znam dal u ovom trenutku imaju coveka za probu motora…
DeleteThey should speed this up
ReplyDeleteSeems like JU learnt its lesson from this year
ReplyDelete