Jat's present and future

Promising takeoff in 2010

Jat Airways’ outgoing CEO, Saša Vlaisavljević, has given an interview to a Serbian newspaper daily providing readers with an insight into the current situation at the airline, a more optimistic 2010 and his future affiliation with the Serbian national carrier.

Q: Jat is interested in taking over shares in MAT Macedonian Airlines. Are there any plans for similar cooperation with other regional carriers?
Vlaisavljević: Our goal is to have strong and successful cooperation with all carriers in the region. In the second half of the year we will organise a large summit in Belgrade where representatives from all carriers in the region will be invited. It will give us an opportunity to improve relations and our business results.

Q: You are leaving the airline to become the city manager of Belgrade at a time when Jat is successfully managing to get itself out of the crisis caused by the failed privatisation and the economic situation. Why?
Vlaisavljević: The work undertaken by this management has now been successfully completed. Its main aim was for the airline to survive and this has been done. The next phase was to manage to revitalize the airline which will be done as we have secured a large loan from the Serbian government. I will be leaving the airline as soon as Jat signs a new agreement with its independent technical maintenance division Jat Tehnika as costs for maintaining the aircraft with Jat Tehnika is currently extremely costly.

Q: What will happen after this?
Vlaisavljević: After this is done a new management is expected, a new fleet will begin to arrive from 2010 and the carrier will be revived in many sectors. Therefore passengers can expect big changes within the next year.

Who will be Jat’s new CEO?
Serbian media have discovered that Jat’s next CEO will be named by Saša Vlaisavljević. The new CEO will most probably be one of Vlaisavljević’s closest aides. However, Vlaisavljević will remain on the company’s board of directors which will receive a great deal authority. Vlaisavljević will be Belgrade’s new city manager but will provide a few hours each week to actively engage in Jat. Vlaisavljević’s reign at Jat has mixed feelings amongst employees with many criticising the way the cost cutting measures have been carried out.

Flying dots to disappear?
Jat’s much criticised “Flying Dots” livery could soon disappear. The carrier has asked young designers to create a new visual identity for the carrier at the upcoming Belgrade Design Week. The winning designers will receive free tickets from Jat to a destination of their choice however it is not expected that the carrier will apply the new look soon. The winning livery design could be applied in 2010 when new aircraft arrive.

New cabin crew
Jat has called on males and females aged 18 to 25 to apply to become cabin crew at Jat Airways. The new cabin crew will go through a 3 week training course culminating with a swimming test. The new cabin crew must also be fluent in Serbian and English and have basic knowledge of a third language. A total of 25 new cabin crew will be accepted. Meanwhile 4 cabin crew members have been promoted to purser positions after a 10 week training course. From late April a further 10 cabin crew member will commence a 10 week training course to become members of the senior cabin crew.

Jat Catering to improve
The independent company providing catering aboard Jat Airways flights, Jat Catering, has named its new CEO. Aleksandar Bogdanović, who has worked in Jat since 1983, has announced improvement in the catering offer at Serbia’s national carrier within the next few months with the launch of the new catering campaign “National company, national service”.