Jat secures short term 737 lease
Jat Airways continues to surprise as the airline announces the short term lease of two Boeing 737-300s. Only last week, the Serbian carrier said it would not be leasing any other aircraft with the airline to move to an Airbus dominated fleet from late October. However, the aircraft are needed for the next few months as Jat continues to deal with a fleet shortage which has plagued the airline since the 2012 summer season, forcing it to cancel hundreds of flights. This is despite the fact that most of Jat’s aircraft are now operational and the airline has recently leased two ATR72-500s.
The two Boeing 737-300s, on lease from Bulgaria Air, are 21 and 23 years old respectively. The aircraft will be arriving in the Serbian capital this week and should be in service by the end of the month. Original plans to lease the two Boeings were blocked by Etihad Airways after Jat was unable to secure a short term lease of the aircraft, however, circumstances have changed. With the lease of the two ATRs and two Boeing 737-300s as well as the B737-200 on loan from Aviogenex, the Serbian carrier will have an operational fleet of sixteen aircraft for the rest of the summer, although one Boeing 737-300 will undergo scheduled maintenance by the end of the month and will be out of service for some time.
Meanwhile, the Serbian government and Etihad Airways are set to finalise the 49% takeover agreement of Jat. Serbian media quoted today as a possible date for the agreement to be signed, though the deal is to be finalised by the end of the month. Another high ranking Etihad delegation visited the Serbian capital last week and held talks with Jat and government officials, with the two sides finalising Jat’s 2013/14 winter season timetable.
Some random information:
ReplyDeleteFirst B737-300:
LZ-BOT
1990-2006 United Airlines
2006-2008 Bulgaria Air
2008-2012 Tatarstan Airlines
09.03.2012 returned to Bulgaria Air and in September 2012 it was stored.
Age: 23.1
LZ-BOO
1992-2005 Varig
2005-2009 Bulgaria Air
2009-2012 Tatarstan Air
2012-present Bulgaria Air/stored
Age: 21.3
So ex-Yu, could you please change the age of the aircraft as you can see both are 21 years old. Bulgaria Air operated a total of 16 different B737s (11 B733, 5 B735) but it currently has only two in storage, the two I mentioned above.
Cheers :)
Aviokarta made the same mistake:
Deletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/1937-jat-airways-ipak-dobija-jos-dva-boeingova-aviona/
Ah sorry my bad, I just saw that you wrote it correctly. It's too early in the morning.
DeleteWell, still, the random information is there.
Best from Sofia :)
Didn't think they will go through with it. It is quite late into the season take on the a/c. 5 a/c is quite a capacity increase. I wonder how long they will remain in the fleet before they go back to SOF.
ReplyDeleteJust a few months, the price was really good because Bulgaria Air has them parked. They are not permanently stored so they still have to keep them in some sort of decent state. In other words, they are not flying yet they cost the airline money.
DeleteThat's why they decided to lease them out.
Probably until October... July and August are busiest months at Belgrade, so Jat could sure use some extra seats. I just wonder how much money did they pay for this short term lease...
DeleteYes but at the same time September is quite busy as well. For the past few years it recorded more passenger numbers than June.
Delete"I just wonder how much money did they pay for this short term lease..."
DeleteAs it is said, not much money.
In addition, when we are about the leasing price, what I wonder is why Sky Srpska couldn't have found some cheap aircraft with up to forty seats to wet lease too and organise scheduled flights to some cities in the western Europe.
Was it for the incapable and inefficient management board Adria's fleet had to be used for flights to Ljubljana only?
The empty airliners CRJ200 were carrying air to and fro all the time.
Wouldn't be the 737-400 be a more appropriate aircraft (if Jat was able to find one)?
DeleteWouldn't the 737-400 be a more appropriate aircraft (if Jat was able to find one)?
DeleteThey could find one, but not for the same amount of money...
DeleteWhat a pity!
DeleteIn addition, and in my opinion, some capable management would have found some the airline needed at appropriate price for there where bulks of plains which were redundant to companies all over the world.
The question is what has changed? If Etihad had originally blocked the lease, why have they changed their minds? It is a big turnaround from them to block the lease, and then change their minds after a couple of weeks. Is the takeover of Jat still on? Or are their other issues that are not being made public?
ReplyDeleteAlso, has Adria returned the $400,000 that was paid to them for the lease of their 319's?
The only thing that has changed is that JU has managed to find a short term lease. EY blocked a long term lease since they don't need the planes after October.
DeleteAnonymousJuly 22, 2013 at 11:08 AM
DeleteWhat 400 000$, you really think JAT paid Adria 400k?
Never happened, JAT owes money left right and centre and this Etihad deal would give them a new lease of life, I doubt Jat was serious when it came to leasing A419/A320, that saga has been going on for a year now, doubt anything will change for foreseeable time, Jat is run by morons and crooks, not much can change when you have this combo a the helm.
It is not said, that the EY-JU cooperation or takeover must end in a success story. Please recall the Emirates take over of SriLankan in the mid-ninetees with a similar model. After 10 years of chaos, sabotage and obstruction from SriLankan staff, state ministers and strong opposition in Head Office, Emirates fled out of the deal and sold back their stakes back to the State. A foreign CEO and a couple of professional managers cannot turn around a company if 90% of staff and middle managament oppose and / or obstruct.....
ReplyDeleteOr the failed takeover of 49% of B&H Airlines
Deleteby Turkish Airlines...
EK had a a short term agreeement with then Air Lanka, I believe for a 10 year period. Once that 10 year period ended, they sold back their shares back to the Sri Lankan government who wanted greater control of the airline. Air Lanka went on to be SriLankan Airlines under EK rebranding, as well as a many changes to fleet aquisition, cabin fitting, crew training etc, and I dont believe much chaged after EK management left UL.
DeleteThe difference here is that this government wants to rid itself with the burden of JAT, even offering to take it debt to be more attractive to investors. Another possitive step was not allowing Mrkonjic near EY officials. I dont think that this government will jepordise the deal with EY, and considering the very friendly relations the Belgrade government has with the Abu Dhabi government, I doubt they would go to sabortage the take over.
JA relationship with TK was always strange, the B734 they sent to JA was overcapacity, along with the A319. The most TK did in JA was bring to SJJ old TK a/c to operate for JA, bringing in only more losses and operating expenses.
It might come as a shock to some but as a slightly eccentric Englishman I have always found Jat staff helpful and polite. They are not over the top with a*s licking like some airline staff but I have never had any problems and on a couple of occasions when other airlines have let me down the Jat staff have gone out of their way to help me. I would like to think that the majority of the existing staff would rather work for an airline that is going to survive and not one that is run by political appointees.
ReplyDeleteI have similar experience. Traveling with my wife from ORD to SKP, missed my OU connection from Zurich to Zagreb. Jat personal at ZRH took us. They gave us 1st class seats since the economy cabin was full so we flew through BEG instead of ZAG. Very good experience.
DeleteI am glad you guys had pleasant experience flying Jat.
DeletePersonally I find them to be an ok airline. Nothing special but they are safe and provide the basic stuff to every passenger.
Some people overreact on here when it comes to Jat. Apparently they want to pay little money yet to receive a 5* service.
Thats cool when economy is full because then you get upgrade to Business class.
DeleteQatar Airways does that too.Jat has no first class you meant business class probably.
Whatever it was, we were welcomed and had pretty nice service. We had some very nice plate of prosciutto and some other meats and cheeses. Really nice. The flight attendant, an older lady, was nice too, she talked to us trying to forget all the hassles we had up to that point. The only inconvenient thing that happened was that our language was actually sent through Zagreb so we had to wait couple of days until it arrives. But that is pretty much expected given the circumstances.
DeleteI always have some fresh underwear and clothes and the important stuff in my hand bagagge!
DeleteThat is what i do since i also missed/lost many times my bagagge...
Hullo "eccentric Englishman" at 6:58 pm, if you hadn't referred to yourself as that, I'd never have concluded you're a one of them.
DeleteOh, I am very sorry, it should have been "at 4:02 pm".
DeleteFrom some unofficial sources, JU is to introduce the following destinations from its winter schedule:
ReplyDelete- Zagreb, Tirana, Sofia, Budapest, Bucharest, Banja Luka (already announced).
Those obviously missing in my opinion are Chisinau and Odessa, which see very little competition. No info about flights to Ljubljana though.
By the way CSA is ending Odessa from 28th September 2013.
DeleteActually in the region ZAG and TIA are not planned but two other cities are
DeleteWhy not Zag?
DeleteWitch two others please?
DeleteI would be surprised if TIA doesnt get announced soon.
DeleteMaybe LJU and TSR will reopen from the winter schedule.
OT: Does anybody know why the B737 of Chanchangi Airlines is longtime parked infront Jat Technics? Jat could take this aircraft!?
ReplyDeleteBest wishes from Basel
LZ-BOT first leased B737 from Bulgaria Air has landed on BEG 20 minutes ago
ReplyDeleteIndeed... Will be registered as YU-AOU soon.
DeleteI'm looking to travel to SKP on a staff travel pass (Airline employee). Anyone have any positive/negative comments on flying on a ZED pass on JU, OU, or JP?
ReplyDeleteAs for JU, not any negative references, you just have to check with which airline it is compatible through their interline agreement. Cheers.
DeleteMy company (DL) has agreements with all of them. We have paper agreements with OU and JU. If the loads are better on one instead of the other will they honor the same paper ticket or do I have to have a separate one from each carrier? Thanks for the help. Cheers!
DeleteZED tickets by JAT (Servis karte na srpskom) are open tickets for 6 months, meaning when you book with JAT you will recieve by e-mail the ticket with no printed flight number or date. The ticket is open for 6 months on any flight between the 2 selected points you book, as well as no listing is made. You can make a listing if you wish, but the listing is more to the upload of catering for the flight. I never have issues when traveling on ZED with JAT. Check in is at a seperate desk, I believe its at 510, but they will send you to the right desk.
Delete@JATBEGMEL- I would be originating from AMS (travelling on DL from DTW) then connecting via BEG to SKP. I presume the separate desk you mention is in BEG. For years, I've always purchased a ticket from AMS to SKP fearing getting stuck, but i figured since my travel is in mid-september the load factor would work in my favor since the summer loads have passed. Thank you for the assistance and any other tips would be greatly appreciated. DL has ZED agreements with TK, JP, OU, OS, and JU going to into SKP and I'm just trying to figure my best option. I save at least 100USD by using my employee pass benefits so that I can use on some pivo & kebapi hehehehe.
DeleteHello, somebody said on here the other day that Lufthansa numbers are declining in Belgrade. How is this true when from Frankfurt they are frequently sending their A321's and A320's where last summer majority was A319?? Is it the Munich numbers that are being hit? Or are those bigger airplanes flying empty?
ReplyDeleteIt is not really that surprising when you consider the options people from Belgrade now have to get to North America so LH would have had to see a decline at least at this time in transfer pax. Now in the summer you probably have a high enough demand for O&D traffic which is why your seeing A320 / 321 aircraft type.
DeleteSo the bigger planes are probably not empty but have less transfer passengers than before.
But the person just stated that Lufthansa is performing worse in Belgrade. But this scenario sounds more true! And O&D must have grown then a lot from last summer to / from Frankfurt.
DeleteLH have good O&D numbers to both MUC and BEG. I have flown a fir bit on the BEG-MUC line with them, and most are either Euro-Med connections or O&D. The flights do fill, when I flew at the end of may it was a full ERJ195 between MUC and BEG.
DeleteBesides, because they send a A321 it doesnt mean a full flight, maybe that was the a/c available to them to operate. Equipment varies to BEG.
@ Anon 1429.
DeleteMaybe worse year round demand but the summer remains strong and don't forget Belgrade had decline in passenger numbers earlier this year too.