Jat sale - take two
The Serbian Government has confirmed that its tender for the sale of Jat Airways will begin on Monday, August 1. The terms of the tender will be extremely flexible. The conditions are that the new owner must be an airline or aviation consortium. Once they take over Jat they must continue cooperation with Jat Tehnika and Jat Catering, which were separated from Jat several years ago. The new owner will be required to buy Jat and set up a new national airline, to be operational by the beginning of 2012. The new owner will also be a majority shareholder and it will be up to them to decide whether to close Jat or keep it as a charter airline. The new national airline would take over Jat’s slots, employees, route network and so on, while the new owner will be required to purchase new aircraft. All other details will be negotiated directly with the government, including the price.Companies have until September 30 to purchase the tender documentation. A similar sale ended up in failure in 2008 as no companies answered to the government’s call. If history repeats itself the government will not set up a new airline, rather, it will keep Jat Airways in its current form.
Currently, the only national EX-YU carrier successfully privatised is B&H Airlines, with Turkish Airlines having a 49% share in the Bosnian carrier. Montenegro Airlines’ sale failed last year as no one was interested in the 30% of shares offered by the government. There are increasing calls for the debt ridden Adria Airways to be sold as well.
@ Ex-Yu aviation
ReplyDeleteI recommend deleting "successfully" in the last chapter of the article and leaving just privatised, as BH Airlines privatisation process and fate is all but successfull.
The terms of the tender will be extremely flexible.
ReplyDeleteSo flexible that the Govt may in fact have to *sell* the airline to the new buyer because of its debt/worthlessness, or the eventual price for the buyer is something like 1 euro (or god-forbid, 1 dinar)? Those ageing 733s aren't worth terribly much, and legacies don't have a numeric value...
@ FlyingJack
+1. Tocno! Spot on.
Offering 2 dinars for the lot....as Bora Corba would say :P
ReplyDeleteMaybe warm memories worth some nickel? :)
ReplyDeleteDoes JAT actually own all of thoes 737's, I think some are under finance or directly leased from a finance group. If so that means that the buyer would not be purchasing an entire fleet but rather the brand name, i.e. Olympic Airlines > Olympic Air.
ReplyDeleteI've heard things about SU and their intrest in a larger broader Aeroflot brand including a purchase of either CSA or JAT. Let's just wait and see.
I heard Azerbaijan might be interested in aquiring JAT. We shall wait and see.
ReplyDeleteNow, if they are interested, I'm not sure how this will be seen in the EU, considering we have an open sky agreement signed with them.
OT: Anyone heard if Wizz will be opening any new destinations from Belgrade? Would be nice to see :)
ReplyDelete@EX-YU:
Можда бисте заиста могли да направите да нема на овом блогу anonymous, јер изливи национализма и шовинизма у последње време је заиста фрапирајуће.
I've heard Malaysia Airlines is looking into this deal. Would be so nice to have non-stop flights to Kuala Lumpur if it really happens :)
ReplyDeleteI think Malaysia Airlines would be too out there. We don't have trade or any links with that country. Also, we are one of three countries which has limitations when applying for certain visas (MNE and Israel are the other two).
ReplyDeleteAzerbaijan on the other hand wants to purchase three ports along the Danube in Serbia, and trade has increased, as well as bilateral relations b/w the two countries.
"must continue cooperation with Jat Tehnika and Jat Catering", "and set up a new national airline, to be operational by the beginning of 2012"... Very flexible, yes.
ReplyDeleteIs this a joke?!? Please God, ground JAT once and for all! Someone will get hurt in those flying coffins!
Latest information is that Albanian Airlines are looking into making a generous offer for buying JAT. Their objective probably would be setting bases in Belgrade and Pristina this way making a pan-Albanian coverage on all western and eastern European routes.
ReplyDeleteThe source for the post got it wrong concerning obligatory cooperation with Tehnika and Catering, and it is not intended to be a privatisation of JAT, but rather formation of a new airline, as the Govmnt. decision from 2010 originaly reads.
ReplyDeleteI hope they will make finally a normal airline! This one is everything but customer oriented.
ReplyDeleteIs the Serbian government using this as a way to primarily rebrand the natonal airline or are they keeping the JAT name?! Also I'm wondering if the sale might attract some interest in the Gulf/UAE airlines like Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air .. which can potentially give them a well-developed entry point in this part of Europe and further develop a regional network with Belgrade as a hub.
ReplyDeletePS.
Everyone, please stop and think before you post nationalist/chauvinist comments and retorts.
"Also I'm wondering if the sale might attract some interest in the Gulf/UAE airlines like Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air ..."
ReplyDeleteNo, they might be interested in an AIRLINE, Jat Airways is just a glorified bus transport company! :)
You can bash JAT all you want, but it still has a lot to offer (from my perspective). Pilots are very good. Stewardesses might not be the youngest around, but they are very competent (I've been in an airplane a few times when a passenger was having medical problems and they handled it very professionaly). Their airplanes are ancient but they somehow manage to fly when others are grounded (I flew ZRH-BEG during snowstorms at the end of November last year, when vast majority of flights were cancelled but we got to Belgrade... a few hours late, though). And they have great slots (e.g. at ZRH) :) And 30kg baggage allowance and good ticket prices.
ReplyDeleteIn my ideal world, someone will come, bring new(er) planes, replace JAT Ketering (or at least replace those horrible triangle sandwitches) and keep everything else the same...