New name, new jets and new bases for Jat
Jat Serbian Airlines, the proposed name for the successor of Jat Airways, will be created as a subsidiary of the Serbian national carrier in mid December and will launch operations on March 31, 2013. The airline will take over Jat’s slots, fleet, international agreements as well as some 600 employees. Following Tuesday’s meeting between the Serbian Ministry of Finance and Airbus, it has been agreed for Jat to financially lease eight new aircraft from the leasing company ILFC. Four Airbus A319s will join the existing Boeing fleet in March. By the fall of 2013 a further four ATR72-600s will also join the fleet. ILFC will fund the A319 training for two groups of cabin crew while Airbus will finance training for another four sets of cabin crew. Jat will also place an order for four brand new Airbus A320s, set for delivery from 2015. Under the agreement, the airline will take out a loan from a French and German bank to finance the aircraft and, as a result, settle its 1998 Airbus order dispute. A Memorandum of Understanding between Airbus and the Serbian government will be signed in December, while the official order for the new aircraft will be made in February 2013.
Yesterday, the Serbian government formed a task group to prepare for the creation of the new national carrier. The transition process should be smooth since Jat has no debt towards its international partners. The government doesn’t plan to privatise Jat Serbian Airlines until at least 2015. It is expected the new carrier will be operating with a positive zero by the end of 2014 and will be in profit by the end of 2015. The government will then sell a 49% stake in the carrier, if it is able to find a suitable partner.
It has been proposed for the new national carrier to keep “Jat” as a part of its name since the brand has been in existence since April 1, 1947. As the years pass the carrier will slowly begin to retire its aging Boeing 737-300s. However, Jat will also look into launching flights from Skopje where it would open up a new base with two Boeing 737-300s, as well as a base in Sarajevo. The Serbian government will meet with Airbus again next Wednesday.
Jat Serbian Airlines? don't be ridiculous. name Jat should go to history, like the country whose name it bears. so, instead of Jat it should be SAT Serbian Airlines.
ReplyDeleteas for old 733s, two should go to SKP (to form AeroMak), one or two to Bosnia(to form new Bosnian airline), rest to stay in Serbia, some to be transferred to AGX some to be refitted into QC
I agree with you. ''Jat'' is important only in Serbia. And I am glad that new airline will continue with ATR and sad because there won't be any new Boeing in fleet. Živi bili pa videli
DeleteI wonder if Jat will receive a new livery... I really hope they do.
ReplyDeleteI like that the name Jat will stay.
This people are totaly mad! Who needs name JAT anymore? Stupid ,stupid and stupid!
ReplyDeleteDon't be ridiculous. Brand recognition is hard to buy. VW even bought Škoda rather than make up its own name.
DeleteWhy thay don't simply call it QUANTAS SERBIAN AIRWAYS HA HA HA
ReplyDeleteit is Qantas.
DeleteWhy would they use that name? Don't you know what the letters stand for?
I guess you
Ok spelling mistake (Qantas) and yes I do know what JAT stands for and finaly what did you want to say with I guess you?
ReplyDeleteplease re-read what i wrote above as your comment is totally irrelevant.
DeleteJAT has 600 employees???! wtf for?
ReplyDeleteI bet they could make do with 200 tops.
Jat has 1,200 employeess. 600 will get sacked.
DeleteAeroput.
ReplyDeleteThis was the very first name and a predecessor of JAT.
The old logo and colours could be beautifully redesigned.
Alas, I doubt that those who are in charge of Jat Airways' branding and marketing even know that this blog exists.
Just google Aeroput and click on images.https://www.google.com/search?q=aeroput&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TnebUKzHAcXRhAfq4IAY&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1366&bih=643
Here is one example http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aeroputl.htm
Bad news for jat haters aka njemacki-konjusari
ReplyDeleteDitch the name, quit the YU-nostalgia!!!
ReplyDelete+2
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DeleteBut again, JAT stand for Jugoslovenski Aerotransport. JAT Serbian Airlines doesn't make sense!
ReplyDeleteJat Serbian Airlines reminds me of that awful Macedonian airline MAT Airways that had a Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) (see its livery: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4139/4876516294_800d751b08.jpg). It was not Kon Tiki, it was not MAT and in the end it was neither.
DeleteIt seems to me that Jat Serbian Airlines would also suffer from MPD, too. Not quite JAT, not quite Serbian. It wants to be too many things, it's confusing.
You are good observer...
DeleteSerbians also dont know if they want be Serbian,European or Yugoslavian..in the end they are nothing of all.
Or the Bosniaks who can not decide for being Bosnian,Turkish,Bosniak or Albanian...
at least they know they dont want to be Serbian hmm...ridiculous.
I don't like the name - JAT Serbian Airlines, but then again, why didn't you all bitch and moan when CSA was renamed into CSA - Czech Airlines - hope you all know what that stands for?
ReplyDeleteFor me Serbian - or Serbian Airlines is enough. No acronyms, no SATs, SALs etc... just Serbian.
Yes, but then the letters 'C','S' and 'A' have more to do with Czech Republic without Slovakia, than 'Y' and 'U' do with a country that is called Serbia!
DeleteCapish!?
CSA - Czech Airlines is a perfect example of a terrible branding, in my opinion. Czech Airlines would be been a lot better in my view. Clean and non confusing. CSA means nothing to me and I am an East European. In fact, it bring associations in my head of the Eastern block, non-efficiency, state-ownership and poor service.
DeleteAnother Jatovanje! So many planes in past, so nothing happens. Like Zagreb airport! Same shit!
ReplyDeleteThese are the remains of Yugo nostalgia. All these old captains, unionists and staff who had a good time when flying on the DC10 around the world. No one could proof any benefit of keeping the name JAT. On the contrary, JAT had a catastrophic image with western tourists and business passengers. It was just popular with gastarbeiter and old age diaspora pax.The new name should be short easy and connect to the country. I would like FlySerbia.
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ReplyDeleteIATA codes are scarce these days, they would get something like X4. Just look at Croatia Airlines, no to mention any new airline in ex-YU.
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DeleteIn my opinion, the way to keep the name JAT is to rename the airline the following way....
ReplyDeleteJAT---Juzno-Evropski Aero Transport (Southern European Airlines).....Have a full white body with the sash they experimented with, and on the tail have it full blue with the old egg logo. I think that this would work.
This is great idea!
DeleteFfs stop whinging about the freaken name. Who cares what its called as long as they finally get some new a/c and break even first few years. Def open up new bases and compete with wizz because there is money to be made. Also use any spare a/c for lucrative charters to holiday destinations. I flew JAT b4 and i'll fly again as long as the price is right.
ReplyDeleteAt least in the past 20 years I haven't seen or heard a single positive news about the JAT. Not even in domestic media, let alone foreign. They can't rely on domestic or ex-Yu pax only. A lot of commenters here I believe don’t like JAT because of political/nationalistic reasons (for what "J" stands for). Because of all of this I think that keeping JAT name has very little value except if you are jugo-nostalgicar and there is not many of those left.
ReplyDeleteI'm Serbian who live overseas and personally I don't care. I hope that this company prospers which in turn would allow people working for them to be able to support their families and stay in Serbia. It would also allow me to go to spend my money with someone in Serbia rather than LX, OS etc. (just my personal reasons-please don’t beat up on me for this LOL). I think FlySerbia idea from above post is not bad, like FlyDubai. Something along those lines I think would work, show clear distinction from JAT and be seen as modern, new planes,safe etc. But again I'm not a marketing or aviation guru just a careful observer so forgive me for ignorance if I’m missing something here.
However, all this will be pointless if they continue treating the company as a political tool like they did so far. This (and any other state owned enterprise in Serbia) should be given independence and professional management. I know it's not apples and oranges comparison but look at Telekom, state owned now but while Greeks owned part of it politicians were not able to play with it and it's doing OK, employing people, paying taxes, dividends etc. That professional management would first hire professionals in the marketing world to advise them on this. Old mgmt. would consult their own people which as somebody above said, probably don’t even know that this blog even exists let alone anything else. I generally don't trust Dinkic guy but lately he's been talking the talk, now it’s thime to walk the walk. As I said, for the sake of people working there and Serbian people in general I hope it works out .
One line of reasoning is that Jat should go, as it doesn't have a positive brand impact, and should be replaced with a Serbian-something name. Hate to be the one saying this, but Serbia has far more negative impact than Jat could possibly have.
DeleteThe other is basically "no more Yugoslavia, name it after the country". Sure, but again, you run into brand awareness issue and, in a way, I actually believe Jat brand could be more susceptible for pax in the region, especially if they want to consider secondary hubs in SJJ and/or SKP, or anywhere else but BEG and INI. And lets not forget the Kraljevo International Airport.
A new generic name (FlySEE, or something of sorts) just screams lowcost and you instantly start comparing the fares with FR, U2, W6. I don't think this would work.
All good points. I guess one can make many arguments but I do agree with FlySomething looking low cost.
DeleteAs I said I'm just a bystander and that's is the reason why this should be left to independent professionals.
BTW, Tarom named new CEO and CFO. I don't know if they are any good but CEO is ex Luxair president (from Belgium) and CFO is British. They hired professionals to run the business. Does anyone know what TAROM's ownership structure is?
Did Air France and LOT actually decide on suspending BEG for the winter season? Cause they're still operating the flights and they're still bookable.
ReplyDeleteI just received an e-mail from Expedia saying that my CDG-BEG flight (March 26 2013) is cancelled and they rebooked me on another (Jat) flight which leaves 3 hrs after the originally scheduled flight. So, instead of 1.5 hour connection arriving from JFK I ended up with a 4.5 hour connection and flying on Jat's 737. :( I checked the flights for that period and the booking engines only give me Jat flights with AF code.
DeleteWhen BA announced that they would close LGW-PRN route one could still book flights for up to a year in advance. If you did then when the flights were taking off the booking service BA would first try and rebook you with a different airline (and get a cut for doing so) or in the worst case scenario returned the monies to you.
DeleteBEG is on its way to loose all important airports: LHR, PRG, CDG and who knows what's next...? Maybe LOT will cancel their flights definitely too...this way JU will take even more monopoly on the routes!
DeleteI would not mind the name JAT to stay in a manner similar to KLM or LOT. After all, it is a name of an airline flying from Belgrade for over 50 years.
ReplyDeleteWhat I need as a customer is a safe, reliable airline connecting Belgrade to all important points in Europe, Africa and Middle East, with convenient schedules, punctual flights, professional staff and decent legroom at reasonable prices. If all that is achieved profitably, the last thing on our minds should be whether JAT is written on the fuselage or not. New Olympic is a good example how company can be overhauled using the old brand. Alitalia as well.
JAT Serbian Airlines sounds just fine as long as they spell it JAT and not Jat.
"...connecting Belgrade to all important points in Europe, Africa and Middle East..."
DeleteYou're not asking much, just connections to all important points.
I know. "All" does sound like an insane thought. But Belgrade is actually not far from that. Better coverage of Spain, Portugal, France and Russia is needed. Prague is missing from the list as well. Other than that, Europe is pretty much well covered... For the city and the airline of this size.
Delete@Vladimir
DeleteAnd which "important points" in the Africa and the Middle East should Jat cover. I hope you realise that you really are not asking for much.
Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos sound like some pretty important African "point" to me, for example.
Geeez, mate! It was obvious that the guy was speaking of Cairo and North Africa where Jat had some presence in the past and perhaps can do something in the future, and not those cities where long-haul is needed.
DeleteBR from Chicago, Petar
And in the end.. it will be SAT lol
ReplyDeleteIt is ridiculous to say that passengers would not fly if the airline bears the name Serbia in it. Somebody mentioned pax from Kraljevo, but I think he thinks of long bearded guys from Novi Pazar heading for IST....
ReplyDeleteI agree that Jat Airways offsprings in Macedonia and Bosnia should have neutral names. What about Jat Balkan? I think that Jat Serbia is very bad choice and like the proposed name FlySerbia a lot.
typical serbian busines (srpska posla :)
ReplyDeleteWhere is the problem.
ReplyDeleteJat Serbian Airlines till 2015,and then after privatization Serbian Airlines without Jat!
Problem solved.
At least the airline has a future.
I really can not wait to see the new ac in our colours.And thank god i have only to wait till march!
I hope with the ATR's they introduce flights from Belgrade to Nis, Banja Luka, Kraljevo, Sofica, and Tirana! So many possibilities of transfer passengers.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like these next few years will be very exciting for Jat and we will see a comeback! :)
JAT Serbian Airlines looks stupid,
Jat Serbian Airlines looks better, with Jat not having to have a meaning by its letters but by the name, which many people know of, and will yet get to know. (bases in Skopje and Sarajevo, woo!)
Hopefully they won't retire many or any planes right away and focus on expanding operation + new bases and competing!
AZAL will hopefully help out Jat too next summer by launching flights via Belgrade for the USA!
Also when is the control tower supposed to start being built? Then that deal with the EU regarding air fair traffic? All exciting stuff!
air**
DeleteOh yeah also Jat is supposed to get CAT 1 status sometime soon hopefully, anybody know when that will be!?
DeleteHow about Serbia Airlines, it's simple and nice! JAT sounds too socialist...
ReplyDeleteI am from Macedonia and I dont care if it is JAT, SAK or GAT.. But I doubt there is a space for Jat to open a base with B733 in Skopje. With W6 flying brand new ac and expanding rapidly, FZ to Dubai and connections to Australia the poor 733 can only capture the charter market to holiday destinations. I really don't understand why JAT does not make stopovers on its numerous charters to Egypt, greek islands and other holiday destinations in SKP cause they can offer transfer Pax and holidaymakers much more alternatives! However wish them good luck and proper marketing!!
ReplyDeleteYou really have something to say .
DeleteGood man.
What about business market and EU diaspora? People might want direct flight to large airports at reasonable prices (e.g. 200EUR roundtrip to CDG/ZRH/LHR). Honestly I don't think Macedonians (or Serbians for that matter) have enough disposable income to make charter airline profitable (2 summer months cannot sustain year long operations)...
Deletebut who will pay the fees of the continious lease agreement? Facing harsh competition in regards to some low costs I am in doubt that this new company will be able to do that in long run, see what happened with Malev, the lease agreements put a big cash burden on the company. Now Jat Airways owns its own jets,and they had no such liabilities to put aside cash for those obligations..It requires strict financial discipline.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! March 2013 is just way too precipitated!
DeleteThey will reduced overall costs by 25-30% through slashing half there current workforce.
DeleteDoubt the lease will be as high as that
Well, if you cannot make your company profitable using leased modern jets, your business model is completely wrong :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the model: why do they need more ATRs? Are they going to add more feeder flights and go with classic hub-and-spoke model and departure waves? Do they replace existing ATRs?
Also, are A320s current generation or neo?
So jats airbuses for zagrab as well. Zagrab just needs to be "done up"
ReplyDeleteITs a bad thing to say in terms of people losing there jobs but the best part of the plan is reducing to 600 people workforce as that itself was almost 50% of op costs for JAT slashing it by half to a realistic workforce gives it every opportunity to be succesful and more importantly Profitable..... I hope it all works out
ReplyDeleteThe French will fuck Jat deep.
ReplyDeleteEight new crapcraft -old and worn out A319 and Atr-
which will get confiscated at any time.
Will the four A320 be neo -
no they will be second hand from Africa the old models.
Instead of throwing their old crap onto garbage dump they sell it to Jat for very much money!
For the money they give employees to leave they probably could buy twenty new Airbus 320 Neo.
What Jat needs is eight new Neoversions now.
Not in 3-4-6-ten years.
Omg that is Serbia
:S
'What Jat needs is eight new Neoversions now.
DeleteNot in 3-4-6-ten years.
Omg that is Serbia'
And what you are saying is, of course, possible because (1) the production of the A320neo is up and running right now and (2) you only need to ring up your favourite aircraft manufacturer and say 'Yo, send me 8 planes right now', and that happens. Right.
^hahahahahahahahahahahaha
ReplyDeleteSome well established croat that got tired of flashing toilets in Germany.
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ^
ReplyDelete