The twelve year old saga between Jat Airways and Airbus might finally be coming to an end after the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of new aircraft in London, yesterday. “I’m certain that this is a step forward in Jat entering the family of European airlines which are renewing their fleet through the purchase of Airbus aircraft”, Srdjan Radovanović, the CEO of Jat Airways said. Andreas Kramer, Airbus’ deputy vice president for sales in Eastern Europe, was also upbeat about the signed agreement. “Serbia as a country and Jat as an airline are one of our priorities and we are certain that the Serbian aviation industry has a bright future”, Kramer said.The “Tanjug” news agency reports that this memorandum includes an outline of the way in which the acquisition of the new Airbus aircraft will be handled. In 1998, JAT Yugoslav Airlines ordered eight Airbus A319 aircraft. Although the carrier paid 23.5 million Dollars, the aircraft were never delivered. While the order was more of a political statement, many have also criticised Airbus for the overpriced aircraft (the entire order amounting to 580 million American dollars) and the fact that Yugoslavia was about to be hit by a fresh round of United Nations economic sanctions, thus forbidding Airbus to deliver the aircraft to the country.
It is believed that the Airbus order will be revised in order to suit Jat’s current needs. It is also believed that the airline recently signed a lease for two Boeing B737-700 aircraft from a North American airline, although exact details will be revealed closer to the aircraft’s delivery date in late September.
And on the left panel, a story that LAN yesterday at Farnborough signed for 50 more A32x, but fails to mention the airline has relatively-new A318s to offload as part of the deal...
ReplyDeletePut the two together, that explains how JAT might finally be able to update its ageing fleet. My guess would be new 4 319s using the deposit from 98, and up to 10 2nd-hand 318s, providing a much leaner, efficient fleet to cater for current and future needs.
Tehnika is a non-issue: if you are a business, you have to provide service for the product your market wants. They will have to change to Airbus ASAP, or risk seeing their rivals grow...
Tehnika is just an excuse not tu porchase Airbuses.
ReplyDeleteall i want to say is: let's see that miracle
Apart from Tehnika which doesn't belong to Jat anymore I am thinking about how many of their cabin/flight crews have to undergo Airbus training and what is the final price of the deal (not to think about the time needed for the switch)...
ReplyDelete@Frequentflier
ReplyDeleteYes the 318 would be the perect choice...NOT!
No airline is happy with them hence why it has proven to be a total failure in the aviation business (naturally not counting the private aviation). Jat does not need 318's, Jat needs to stick with Boeing, why change something that is good!
shouldnt be a problem training crew onto Airbus ac, especially if theyre looking into brining newer crew into the airline. they sent a couple years ago several crew to be trained for the B767 ac, when the airline had plans, even a schedule for 3 p/w flights to JFK and 2 p/w to YYZ was made, but the flights never got the rights.
ReplyDeleteI would stick with the A319 from that family, i agree the A318 isnt worth taking, but something should replace the DC9. As for JAT Tehnika, i agree that they should be a problem any more considering theyre not a JAT sub.
318 is too heavy for its size.. that costs a lot of unnecessary landing fees....
ReplyDelete319 is a great aircraft.... but JAT is probably making the deal to have good or better cards in the EU membership poker.
On the other hand I don t see why they should switch to Airbus after being for decades a Boeing and MD Douglas Customer. 737-700s and some Embraers would do it...
If Jat is really trying to impress the Eu for the membership then they are doing it all wrong. In order to trully fascinate them they should be the first one to order the 380 at the F air show!!!
ReplyDeleteThey can get like 3, that is enough for now... I mean the saga with the 319's is almost over, we need something new here ;)
When those arrive Jat should configure them in one special class, GSP class having 950 passengers for their special new flights Belgrade-Skopje-Podgorica-Tivat-Sarajevo-Banja Luka-Beograd! Could work, no?
Oh yes, naturally since the 380 routes are considered the 'golden ones' they should get the cabin crew from the Golden Age of Jat, I mean aren't those fossiles still flying around scarring Jats passengers?
ReplyDeleteLets not forget that Airbus aircraft are similar in terms of age to Boeings. Maybee they should wait until newer models come out or get a few Tupolev 204's which are actually good aircraft.
ReplyDeletetupolevs are too much capacity for Jat. They don't need as much. 737-700 is ieal with a nice mix of a few -800
ReplyDeleteWhy go to Aribus, the whole Europe is not on A32s series. Just few exemple left on B737.
ReplyDeleteNot to say that A32s is much better in cockpit than B73sNG.
There is a pilot training and maintenance problem, though there are many facilities in Croatia and Slovenia to handle heavy checks while line maintenace (training) is not so costy.
And if you have a deal signed, and it is a good one, prices are now very low, why not taking it.
Tupolev is a good plane, yeah right.
ReplyDeleteanyway, what would i do:
2 A318
2 A320
4 A139
Jesus why is everyone so hooked on those god damn unefficient 318?!
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why almsot no one is happy with them, LAN Chile is trying to get rid of them, AF is just operating them because its AF and RO has gone all Boeing (not that happy wiht them)... So looking at that you still insist that JU should get them... Please.
The best is:
8 ATR72-600
7 B737-700
5 B737-800
1/3 757-200
They can easily use them in summer on their charters and flights to Dubai. The plane is quite good and you can easily find them on the market... Please no Tupolevs and 318s
what do u want with Russian aircrafts if not even the Russian airlines are buying them?
ReplyDeleteno european wants to fly with russian airplanes, so if JAT wants passengers and have success in the future, they need to focus on Boeing, Airbus, Embraer or Bombardier
@ Annymous
ReplyDeletei was talking about that Airbus deal, not about what i'd really like to see.
ok, if 318 is bad, then 6 319s and 2 320s.
oh yeah, and i totaly disagree about 757. 767, 777 or 787 are far better options than 757 (it's not even being produced).
the way i see it:
7 737-700s
5 737-800/900s
10 E175
6 ATR72-6
2 767/777/787s
@Nikola
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I mentioned the 757 is because that would be the best solution for Jat at this point. They are cheap, reliable and above all they have proven as a great aircraft for both the airline and the passenger. All this put together plus the fact that they are relatively easy to find on the market makes it the best choice for routes like DXB and numerous charters around.
I do not see where Jat would find the money for either 767,777 or especially 777... I guess you were stating your preferences which is cool, I wasn't, in stead I was stating what I think te best would be given the circumstances.
The fact that 757 is not produced anymore has nothing to do with it being a good aircraft. The 737-300 is not produced anymore but look how many airlines around are more than happy to fly them, heck LH is even upgreading their engines. 752 is flying today and is one of the main backbones of some airlines like American, United, Icelandair...
Sorry I meant to say 787 not 777 twice.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous
ReplyDeleteoh, i thought you were talking about transatlantic flights, that's why i told you about 767/777/787. but still, Jat doesn't have that much passangers to fill up 757. better solution for DXB is 737-8 od 737-9
@ Anonymous #13
ReplyDeleteYou're forgetting two important things:
1. JAT is broke
2. Airbus has JAT money that can't be spent anywhere else
Airbus also have some almost-new planes they would like to find a new home, and i'm guessing would be happy to do a good deal to anyone who would take them.
You clearly don't know much about LAN or the 318. LAN bought them as part of their growth strategy, and its been an incredible success. Phenominal growth in recent years, using 318s as a local and regional workhorse. Simply, they've grown out of them, and need larger capacity aircraft. Part of their success has of course been that most of their competitors are still flying 732s...
And as for the average age of the planes, since when 2.1 years compares with Jat's 23??
http://airfleets.net/ageflotte/LAN%20Airlines.htm
http://airfleets.net/ageflotte/JAT%20Airways.htm
JAT needs new planes. Nobody is denying that. The 318 isn't the most efficient aircraft. Nobody's denying that either. But the link between the two is strong, and this Airbus/JAT saga has gone on long enough... Capacity wise the 318 is very similar to the 733s too helping build reliability before growth.
All I can suggest is maybe do your homework before making incorrect assertions.
@Frequentflyer
ReplyDeleteNaturally you are forgetting that LAN had very little competition at the time when the 318s were acquired. No serious competition on the domestic market, Argentian which is still struggling to have a decent airline Varig at the time in Brasil which was a government funded joke...and so on. My point being here is that they could have covered the lack of efficiency of the 318 by increasing the ticket prices, like mentioned early the 318 is heavy and it has pretty much the same characteristics as the 319 but takes less passengers. I do not see how you can argue that the 318 is the right choice for Jat when only a few airlines have purchased them or as in the case of Tarom have been forced into it (they had a similar deal from Communism)... On the other hand you are saying that Airbus has a few thaa airbus has a few planes that need a new home, so do the numerous 737-700 from AeroMexico who would benefit Jat far more. The -700 is a direct replacement of the -300 series. I understand that jat is broke I was just stating what in my opinion would be the best solution at this point, naturally if they had some CASH.
I still do not understand how you can tell me to go and do my homework when you are proposing that the new fleet of Jat should be made of 10 733, 5 ATR72 and 2 A318... Like you said Jat is broke this fleet configuration will make it all worse as unlike LAN Jat is facing fierce competition on all markets, it needs a plane that will provide efficiency and not only the esthetics- as that is the only thing 318 will provide for Jat.
Tupolev Tu-204 is too go of an aicraft for Jat Airways anyway, so its no use even talking about Jat buying them! What a joke this is...
ReplyDeleteA319 has in many cases 132 seats, so does Jat's all economy 733 (130 seats), so A319=B733
ReplyDeletebuying A318 is no sense, if they have money at airbus, make a deal for A319 and A320 and make better schedule so that less planes is used better.
Jat now has 8 B733 in operation, but with better schedule they could fly more, or with less planes.
^
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know what all of the people who made the previous 22 posts do for a day job - because it certainly has nothing to do with aviation. You think running an airline is like a city bus service, and no concept of economics, yields, costs, politics, or anything else.
I am really going along with this idea. Down with the Boeing and up with Airbus 737NG is the worst aircraft i've ever seen!
ReplyDelete