Belgrade Airport plan to save Jatand improve hub

The government owned Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport of Serbia has reported that by the end of 2008 it will have a profit of 18 million Euros which is 14 million greater than last year. The airport is now conducting a plan to reduce the dilemma of Serbian national carrier Jat. It was recently reported that Jat will be selling some offices worldwide including a few offices inside Serbia to reduce costs. The CEO of Belgrade Airport is proposing that they purchase the offices and allow Jat to continue operating them. The purchase would amount to 35 million Euros. However there is a split inside the Serbian government. The Minister of the Economy as well as the Serbian Privatisation Agency want to see Jat’s properties sold while Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and the Ministry of Finances believe that Jat can survive without selling out extremely valuable and lucrative property. It is expected that the government will today either adopt or reject Jat’s development strategy for the next 4 years. It was supposed to be passed last Thursday however the differing opinions within the government postponed the protocol until this week. Meanwhile Jat Airways has been accusing Belgrade Airport for not helping the airline enough because it must pay some of the most expansive taxes and operational costs in Europe to operate from their Belgrade hub.

Meanwhile Belgrade Nikola Tesla will, on November 20, 2008, commence operating the category IIIb runway landing system. This system allows aircraft to depart and land in the worst of weather, especially during low visibility. Beforehand flights had to be diverted to Niš or other nearby airports due to their inability to land during fog. For now only Zagreb’s Pleso Airport and Belgrade Airport have the new system out of all the EX-YU capital city airports. The system was installed 2 years ago however only now has it been approved for use by the Civil Aviation Board. In late December 2007 many flights were cancelled and delayed due to fog and this should now become a thing of the past. There is only one category better than this system however it is used by barely a handful of the largest world airports. Furthermore the airport is devising a plan for the construction of its Terminal 3. More information about this vision and project will be known within the next month.