The tale of Jat’s fleet renewal continues
Jat Airways’ management board will, most probably, meet during the week to make a final decision whether the airline should lease two Airbus A319s or two Boeing B737-700s. The management board has already ordered the CEO to begin procedures for the lease of new aircraft and requested for the airline’s planning department to choose the aircraft type that would best serve Jat’s needs. The department had selected the Boeing B737-700, but it seems that there is a shortage of these aircraft on the market at an affordable price (official explanation from the airline). This is why the board is now looking at Airbus aircraft. Furthermore, if Jat leases the aircraft directly from Airbus’ leasing company, the problem of the 8 A319s ordered 12 years ago could finally begin to be solved. Jat’s CEO, Srdjan Radovanović, has already suggested that the Airbus jets are frontrunners in the race.Once the aircraft type is chosen Jat will begin tender procedures and interested parties can place their price offer for the aircraft they wish to lease to the Serbian carrier. The tender commission will then choose the best offer, Radovanović told the “Tanjug” newsagency. The new aircraft should be in the airline’s fleet by January.
Whether the abovementioned will occur remains to be seen. Talk of leasing 2 Boeing B737-700s has been ongoing for the past 2 years.
In the meantime, JU adds two more frequencies to ATH, after OA cancellation.
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of BS - A319s are equally hard to get - they are like gold today - especially the younger types...
ReplyDeleteI think they've been talking about this for over a year already! Talk, talk, talk. Plan, plan, plan. Yet never a concrete action. Honestly, do some management trainee courses in Hong Kong. I guarantee, with a similar working attitude, you could turn a poor fishing village into a global financial centre in 50 years. Let alone Belgrade has always been a strong regional hub,
ReplyDeleteGO AIRBUS!!!
ReplyDeleteThere'll be no new Boeings, and there'll be no new Airbus in the fleet. Talk about over the top theatrics!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous #2
http://www.speednews.com/EquipmentResults.aspx?Search=Aircraft&Aircraft=A319
http://www.airtrading.com/jta.htm#a320
You are right - they are hard to get, but not impossible. The main question would be could they afford them...
If they wish cooperations with ex YU Carriers and since JA,JP,OU have already A319s, it probably would be wise to have aircrafts from the same family.....
ReplyDeletebut there is too many buts and ifs, so let s wait and see...
There will be still a lot of water flowing the Danube and the Save until we see any decisions or progress :-)
This is a decision that is impossible to predict. One one side, there is the political equation with the Airbus aircraft. France is supplying Serbia with aid and is due to send some money soon, and Sarkozy is visiting Belgrade soon to strike a deal over the Airbus affair. Purchasing Airbus will indeed help solve the Airbus crisis and it will be a Serbian company purchasing European planes. So there is that side...
ReplyDeleteAnd the other side is that JAT has always had an American fleet. Majority of the time it was Boeing aircraft and JAT's subsidiary, JAT Tehnika, is well-equiped for Boeing aircraft but not Airbus, which could complicate things for both companies.
So all in all, it is tough to predict, but for me personally, Airbus would be the better choice. And when things come down to it, I'm pretty sure that's what JAT will choose.
For all those arguing that it is only talk and will never happen, it must happen or the airline is fucked...simple as that...
this airline is fu**ed for several years already... honestly, if you're not able to pay the wages, or at least not on time, how are you going to lease planes??? Somebody pls explain that.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteTrue the airline has been screwed for years now. And that is why it must be privatized. What the government plans to do is to buy 2 planes now and stack the debt on the JAT Airways credit. When JAT becomes privatized and changes its name to something like Serbian Airways, then the JAT debt will be separate from the new company, and the government will pay it off as time goes by.
It is amazing how people just talk but no one actually goes to check their specs. First of all, the question is what does Jat need,that is what is the purpose of the purchase/lease?These two type of aircraft are similar but also way different and I say this from engineering standpoint as I'm Aerospace engineer. Both of the aircraft have the same engine output (around 26,000lb of trust). Boeing 737-700 (note it is a standard 700 and not C) has max rang of 3,440 nm,max speed of 0.78 mach and take off W of 70,000kg. It also can hold up to 149 passenger and has cargo hold of around 27 m^3. Fuel tanks can hold 26,000 l of fuel. Operating service ceiling is 41,000ft.
ReplyDeleteAirbus A319 has max range of 3,700 nm with a maximum take off W of around 75,500kg. Max speed is 0.82 mach and it can hold up to 160 passengers. It's cargo can hold up to 27.62 m^3 and fuel capacity is of around 24,200 l. Operating service ceiling is around 39,000ft.
@ JU520 BEGLAX
ReplyDeleteJP also have CRJ's, OU Dash 8's, YM ERJ's...dont know what you were trying to point out.
@ Serbian Sausage
1) Jat Tehnika is a seperate company to Jat Airways since 2005. 2) Jat Tehnika has a licence to service Airbus aircraft. 3) JAT's fleet hasnt always been an American fleet and even today isnt. JAT has had Soviet Ilyushin's, French Caravelle's (with one at the aviation museum at Nikola Tesla Airport, German Junkers, even ones built in Yugoslavia, the MMS-3.
As for the credit, either way Serbian tax payers are paying it off, at least when the airline isnt privatised it remains Serbian. We will see if the airline gets privatised, especially now that election campaigning etc will be coming soon.
@JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteI know that JAT Tehnika is separate from JAT Airways, however both are controlled by the government. And I was sure that Tehnika did not have an Airbus operating license (thank you for clarifying that).
And yes JAT did have old Soviet-built planes, but in its modern history, it was using mostly Boeing and Mcdonnell Douglas aircraft.
Unfortunately you're right about the taxpayers being the ones who will have to bust JAT out of debt. But that's how it is in all countries...I just hope the government doesn't fuck up anymore with JAT in order to gain political points.
Why does JAT have to spend so much money on revitalisation, why can't they sell there old scrappy airplanes and buy some used airbus a320's? They could get a great price on some that are a few years old? Also why even brother repairing the old airplanes and leasing ONLY 2 airplanes? Just buy a new fleet! it's not that hard! i sure the serbian government can find the money? why not cut back on the army or something?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThe reason why the gov won't buy a whole new fleet is that 1) it costs too much and there is already too much debt on JAT's credit 2) there are other priorities such as Corridor 10. I understand where you are coming from, but it's just not that simple. Besides, why sell the planes and get 5 used Airbus when you can keep 10 functioning planes that will still fly and add 2 more new ones right?
@ Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThe B733's i dont think are fully payed off by JAT. To continue, those B733's didnt operate fully for many many years, thus dont have the mileage like other aircraft and could fly as long as JAT has spare parts to keep them flying. Beside, JAT still has the A319 deal it needs to fix, with which USD$24 million has gone into. I wouldnt expect anything from the government too btw. Let them take care of more important issues like road and rail infrustructure.
@ Serbian Sausage
I dont think the Serbian people want to bring JAT out of any more trouble. Its been in enough trouble as it is and still today they are paying that trouble off. Many countries look after their national carrier, unlike ours.
@JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteTrue. But most countries weren't bombed to hell and had their infrastructure (including JAT) destroyed for years not so long ago.
If we were in position like Hungary for example, I'm sure we could do much better than Malev. It's all about the money. Once JAT becomes taken over by a private airline or company, then its goal will be to make more money and not make more votes for the government.
@ Serbian Sausage
ReplyDeleteThere are countries who have gone through worse and have better airlines. Ethopia which is a much poorer nation has Ethopian Airlines which has a nice fleet of modern aircraft, widebodies, and are set for further expansion. The war, bombings and sanctions are all in the past, its been a decade since the NATO bombings. Time to get over it and move forward. We can complain about how World War 2 affected Aeroput as well.
Why is privatisation so important to you? who do you think will take the airline? and since when did the JAT bring votes for the government?
anyone got an idea as to what VDA flight 9892 was doing in BEG? routing SVX-BEG-LEJ, a/c: An-124. Arrived in BEG from SVX at 0840 (1h40min late), sat at B6, before heading to LEJ at 1020 (20min late).
ReplyDelete@JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteTrue, but they have a much bigger population than Serbia and when it comes to air travel, population plays a major role. Ethiopia has a population of 85,000,000 and Serbia without Kosovo has 7,500,000. They need wide-bodies for regional travel, we need wide-bodies for inter-continental travel (mainly because of the gas tank and not population).
Privatization is important because it gives the company more access and allows the company to be more orientated towards making more money. As for the privatization, I think Turkish as the best offer. But I wouldn't rule out Aeroflot, or any other airline with a big name. And JAT is a government subsidy, so JAT's interest is to help the government not itself. What do you think the possibility of starting N. American flights means? It's not just for the purpose of making the headlines, but to "gravitate" Serbia towards the West, the EU, USA, etc. So yes JAT is a puppet company of the government, and as soon as it becomes privatized, it's interest will be making more money and not helping the government.
@ Serbian Sausage
ReplyDeleteHow many people in Ethiopia do you think can afford air travel? And its F50's and Dash 8's that do domestic flights, not widebodies.
Turkish probably only wants JAT because of JAT's slots at European and N. American airports. They have B&H Airlines, let them look after that. Turks have had their 500 years in Serbia, time for someone new :p lol
Besides, all business look to make profit, thats the whole idea of a business. And in what way is JAT helping the government? And not even our ministers fly JAT. Saw Djelich at the airport at the Lufthansa check in line (actually he cut through the line and interupted me lol) grabbing a boarding pass on the LH flight to MUC.