Air Serbia has been forced to perform base maintenance of its aircraft outside of its Belgrade hub after its service provider, the Czech-owned Jat Tehnika, had its Part 145 approval suspended by the European Air Safety Agency (EASA), which enables it to work on aircraft operated by European carriers. As a result, Air Serbia, which had its first plane undergo scheduled base maintenance in late September after several months, has sent its jets to Bacau in Romania, as well as Adria Tehnika in Ljubljana, the latter owned by Avia Prime, the same company managing Jat Tehnika. The Serbian carrier has emphasised that base maintenance of its aircraft being performed outside of Belgrade has no impact on the safety of its fleet or its flight schedule.
Jat Tehnika had its approval suspended in late July, however, the European Commission formally announced the decision this week in its progress report on Serbia. With exception of another Serbian maintenance company specialising in light aircraft - GAS Aviation - all other aviation stakeholders in the country passed the EASA audit carried out this summer. “In the domain of aviation safety, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency continues monitoring the application of the EU safety standards implemented in Serbia, and in the course of 2021, it detected several deficiencies in the oversight of certain maintenance organisations, which led to the suspension of two approvals. The Agency will conduct a standardisation inspection in Serbia in April 2022”, the European Commission noted.
Air Serbia had hoped Jat Tehnika would be able to restore its approval by the fall but, as this did not materialise, was forced to seek base maintenance elsewhere. Many airlines perform maintenance work on their aircraft outside of their hub airport or home country, however, it is unknown if the airline has incurred additional costs in doing so. Air Serbia's own maintenance division provides line maintenance for its aircraft, which is certified by EASA. Jat Tehnika, once an integral part of Air Serbia's predecessor Jat Airways, was separated and transformed into a stand-alone state-owned company in 2006. It was privatised and sold for 10.4 million euros in December 2019.
In a statement, Jat Tehnika’s owner Avia Prime said, “The temporary suspension of certificates is quite common in the industry, so there are certain guidelines and procedures we have undertaken. We will submit a plan of concrete measures to EASA to address the three issues that have been pointed out to us. We have informed our customers about our current situation and we did not receive any negative feedback. We do not expect any issues with other contracts as we use other certificates from Jat Tehnika’s rich portfolio on a daily basis. Although we fully respect the Agency’s decision, we will undertake the necessary steps and procedures to restore this temporarily approval suspension”.
I'm wondering how much extra it will cost JU. While other airlines do this too, LH has maintenance in other countries because it is cheaper (cheaper workforce) but don't think this is the case here.
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely come at a price.
DeleteI am shure adria tehnika is expensiver than jat. As work force in slovenia is probably paid more than in serbia.
DeleteNot many airlines do maintanance at their own hub. Usually hubs are located at places with higher salaries.
DeleteNot nececerly, Lh for instance is doing the oposite in many cases (ofc they have many substances if you are right for them) but they maintain their a320 at croatia tehnika. And I am shure that Lh salary is bigger.
DeleteBut it is also the capacityes. Lh hangar us ussualy full of wide bodyes so they don't have place to maintain narrow bodyes.
"The temporary suspension of certificates is quite common in the industry"... ehhhmmm, not quite Avia Prime, it's common only for companies where standards are deteriorating or crumbling otherwise MRO certificates remain valid.
ReplyDeleteGood PR attempt, but try better next time.
Jat Tehnika is the only EASA 145 organisation with a suspended approval. Yeah, quite common :D
DeleteTheir statement is hilarious.
DeleteIt is the proverbial whistling in the dark...
DeleteShame on Jat Tehnika
ReplyDeleteShame on Avia Prime
DeleteTheir Ljubljana base seems to be doing fine. They have a lot of European customers.
DeleteI think it more down to the local level management.
DeleteThis is probably a stupid question but I'm not very knowledgble in this area. What happens if an aircraft can't actually depart to fly to another country to do maintenance? Is this managed then by the airline's line maintenance or what?
ReplyDeleteThe airline can get a one-off approval to ferry an aircraft to maintenance provider, it's quite common in case aircraft receives large damage at an airport without maintenance facilities - it can be for example ferried with gear down or unpressurised.
DeleteThanks for the explanation. Interesting.
Delete@09,06
DeleteHere is an example of an aircraft that sustained damage outside its base and had to be ferried for maintenance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Flight_407
They could use Croatia Airlines Technic as well.
ReplyDeleteI think this will never happen.
DeleteWhy? Don't be so sure
DeletePolitical reasons as always
DeleteAir Serbia used a Croatian company for its digitalization process so it really has nothing to do with politics. It also flies to several Croatian cities, has featured Croatia on its front cover in its inflight magazine...
Delete@Anonymous09:06
DeleteThey could use Croatia Airlines Technic as well.
Busy, no spare cappacity @Croatian airlines technical maintanance, Lufhansa is now one of the main customers so all hangers taken over by this. New Hanger should be built soon, but as of now, all 3+1 hangers occupied by contracts. Cappacity fully used up till late 2025. 5th large hanger is planned but that was stalled due to covid pandemic, work on it should resume i think next year if funding in place.
Pretty disappointing and inconvenient for Air Serbia. I'm sure they are not happy.
ReplyDeleteThe EU did them a favor.
ReplyDeleteI assume they will eventually get their approval back.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so
DeleteStill isn't an excuse for Air Serbia operating such an old fleet. They desperately need to renew it and ASAP. Pandemic or no pandemic.
ReplyDeleteThat's a whole different problem. But it doesn't seem this management wants to deal with it.
DeleteFleet renewal comes with a price. And they obviously don't have money for it at the moment.
DeleteHad they asked and made a fleet renewal plan, I'm sure the state would be willing to help. They especially could have done it now during the Covid crisis when state aid is a widely accepted tool.
DeleteYes, but keep in mind that the Serbian state's pockets are emptying too, especially with prolonged covid crises.
Delete^ Not based on the amount of new military aircraft and helicopters they are buying.
DeleteAnon at 09:05 you are comparing Apple's and pears
DeleteYes the fleet is old but there has not been a single delay past summer due to technical reasons.
Delete@anon 11:17
DeleteThere was lot of delays because of technical issues. You forgot Hurghada flight for example that had to return 2 times to Beg for example.
@09,12 & 09,28
DeleteThe average age of JU's fleet has been reduced the past several years. B733's are gone and replaced with younger A319's. Even the older A319's are being replaced with younger aircraft.
YU-APL and YU-APM that joined the fleet last year were 10 years old, while YU-API which just left BEG is just short of 22 years old.
To say they are not doing anything on renewing their fleet isn't true. For an airline that isn't making money, this I guess is the best they can do.
A new aircraft order would need to take in account future expansion as well. 15-20 narrow bodies doesn't come cheap, nether will they arrive immediately.
@09,55
There is only soo much that a government can intervene with Covid subsidies. We see that with AZ. It's one thing giving 100 million euros and a billion for fleet renewal.
Prior to the pandemic, the A220-300 was listed at 91.5 million USD. 15 aircraft of the type would cost JU 1.37 billion USD. Even with a 20% discount, which I doubt JU would get, the price would still be over a billion USD. There is no way Serbia could justify this, considering OS which is more than 4 times the size of JU received 600 million EUR.
Will this also apply for the ATRs?
ReplyDeleteI believe it applies for all aircraft.
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteFor those interested
ReplyDeleteYU-APF got services in Bacau from 27th of September until 18th of October
YU-APE left for Ljubljana on 19th of October for maintenance
Also YU-APB is in Billund. It left yesterday but I don't think it's maintenance because its flight numbers indicates a charter.
DeleteYU-APB is in Billund because it flew the Red Star football team for a game and it will stay there until tonight when they finish the game. So not related to aircraft maintenance.
DeleteThat's a nice layover for the crew :D
DeleteJU once used the service of Lufthansa Technic when there was an issue with the A330. Technicians from Germany came to BEG.
ReplyDeleteYes LH Technik even reported about it
Deletehttps://www.lufthansa-technik.com/race-against-time
That's an interest read from Lufthansa Tehcnick. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteThat must be an expensive service.
DeleteIt's not a big deal for JU. Large scale maintenance of their A330 is done elsewhere too I believe (it was in Abu Dhabi until YU-ARB came) but it is a big deal for Jat Tehnika.
ReplyDeleteWell it's different when you have just one plane needing fly somewhere to get maintained and it's different when the whole fleet has to go somewhere else. It is more costly as I'm sure other maintenance providers are more expensive than Jat Tehnika.
DeleteYU-ARA was also serviced in DUS and IST.
DeleteWon't this affect their schedule in the summer which is tight as it is when plane has to fly somewhere else? It prolongs their return to service.
ReplyDeleteAirlines with small fleets like Air Serbia usually time for base maintenance to be done in off season or outside of summer season.
DeleteOk that makes sense. But regardless I think it would be much more convenient if they could do maintenance 200 meters from the gates at their home airport.
DeleteOf course. There is a reason they are doing it in nearby Romania and Slovenia.
DeleteDoing due diligence and background checks to who you are selling a company obviously not a thing in the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteWith no intenetion of defending anyone here, Avia Prime did have purchases in Slovenia (Adria Tehnika) and Poland (Linetech) which are both relatively successful and have had no issues.
Delete@anon 09:52
DeleteAdria was on upper level compared to Jat Tehnika last 20 years. Just check their client list.
Same could be said for due diligence on who Avia Prime was buying.
Delete^ True
DeleteEmbarrassing for Jat Tehnika but also JU as their customer.
ReplyDeleteHow can it be embarrassing for JU? I mean there were even EU carriers using their services.
DeleteGood luck to Jat Tehnika finding any new clients after this.
ReplyDeleteMaybe African carriers?
DeleteThey didn't have them before, doubt they will have them in the future.
DeleteOuch!
ReplyDeleteCrazy
ReplyDeleteHow come they are doing the maintenance in two different places now by two different companies? Wouldn't it be more logical to choose one?
ReplyDeleteMaybe this way can do it quicker?
DeleteWhat is the maintenance company in Romania?
DeleteThe company is called Aerostar.
DeleteLet's see where the third plane goes :D
DeleteJU was probably hoping that Jat Tehnika would regain its license by now, which obviously hasn't happened. This was probably the best they could do.
DeleteHow did this even happen? What has been going on at Jat Tehnika?
ReplyDeletePoor management is seems.
Delete*it
DeleteMisery
ReplyDeleteOMG enough with the drama! Wizzair is basing aircraft at Belgrade airport and has been doing out of base maintenance for years. Wizzair has younger planes but they don't do maintenance at BEG and it's no big deal. Air Serbia is now doing it, so what!
ReplyDeleteNo one said it was an issue. The issue is Jat Tehnika lost its EASA Part 145. And Wizz Air does not do base maintenance in Belgrade. It does it in Budapest.
DeleteTrue. Wizz does line maintenance in BEG but base one is done in Budapest.
DeleteAnother evidence of double standards used against Air Serbia. When Wizz does base maintenance outside Belgrade no one mentions it. When Air Serbia does exactly the same, reactions range from negative to catastrophic.
DeleteWho is saying this is catastrophic for Air Serbia??? Or blaming JU for that matter? Most people are commenting it is catastrophic for Jat Tehnika.
DeleteReally? You didn't read "Pretty disappointing and inconvenient for Air Serbia... It will definitely come at a price...If no other effect this for sure has a very negative impact on passengers...Pretty disappointing and inconvenient for Air Serbia...Still isn't an excuse for Air Serbia operating such an old fleet...Not good" etc. Time for your ophthalmologist visit.
DeleteYou found 6 comments out of over a 100. And again no one said it is catastrophic. People commenting that it will be more expensive, well I agree, it probably will otherwise they would have sent planes elsrwhere fron the start if it were cheaper. The only person being agressive and rude is you.
Delete@19,13
DeleteYou keep insisting that JU operate an old fleet but don't mention that the average age of the fleet has actually reduced the past several years.
Also, not too sure how this will have a negative impact on pax. It's not as if JU is forcing pax to pull out tools and start fixing aircraft.
It's an inconvenience to JU not being able to service their aircraft at base, but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll come at a price. Lots of airlines service their aircraft outside of their base. LH has maintenance bases all over Europe, QF have serviced aircraft in MNL, literally lots of examples where aircraft are ferried for maintenance. If it wasn't cost effective all airlines would service their aircraft at base.
Overall, this is only bad for Jat Tehnika.
Six examples to illustrate mob mentality triggered by Air Serbia. Dual standards are even worse. Wizz does exact same thing and no one ever said "Pretty disappointing and inconvenient for Wizz air... It will definitely come at a price...If no other effect this for sure has a very negative impact on passengers...Pretty disappointing and inconvenient for Wizz air" etc. Those who use every mention of Air Serbia to insert negative comments are aggressive, not those who point it out.
DeleteComment at 20:41 was addressed at Anon at 19:23, not JATBEGMEL.
DeleteDoes Bacau have an aircraft maintenance centre? And the biggest question is, will Jat Technika carry on functioning? I mean who will become their client after this revoking process?
ReplyDeleteWell their biggest and most important client is Air Serbia and something tells me they will be back.
DeleteWhat do you mean does Bacau have an aircraft maintenance center?
Deletehttp://www.aerostar.ro/index-en#
Delete"The temporary suspension of certificates is quite common in the industry,.. " actualy not, it's quite the opposite.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise. Avia Prime was founded by corrupt Czech PM Andrej Babis
ReplyDeleteNo. Avia Prime is 50% owned by founders of Linetech, an independent Polish MRO, and only 50% by Hartenberg Holding, a Czech private equity company. They are both shareholders via a Czech holding company Avia Prime a.s.
DeleteBasically the idea in 2017/2018, when the deal was made, was that Linetech founders continue to deal with the operational side of the business and Hartenberg Holding provides money for and manages the expansion - maintenance of new types of planes plus new locations (acquisition of Adria Tehnika took place before that deal).
Apparently the organic expansion goes much better than the acquisitions. Both Linetech and Adria Tehnika seam to be successful despite very fierce competition among MROs in Central Europe (in RZE, where Linetech has its main facility, there are at least four MROs, the biggest employing up to 1,000 technicians).
Lol, only MRO center in Rze is Linetech. LOT AMS is planing to build big MRO center there but that won't happen in next few years.
DeleteThere are few engine/component MRO companies and Helicopter MRO but non of them are competition to Linetech.
MTU Aero Engines, EME Aero...
DeleteLOT AMS facility is finishing design phase. They hope to start construction 1Q 2022. It is scheduled to open 1H 2023.
LOL
MTU, EME are working only on ENGINES and engine parts. They are not competition to Linetech who works on AIRPLANE maintenance. You can't say they have competition there.
DeleteAnd when LOT build their hangars in Rze, Linetech can just close RZE base, they won't stand a chance competing against them.
Only good company from Avia Prime group is Adria Tehnika, and that's because guys from Adria can make their own decisions regarding work, contracts with customers etc.
All these MROs compete for the same pool of people - employees. But you are right - they do not compete for the same customers.
DeleteAnd other than competing for the workforce LOT AMS does not threaten Linetech. No need to worry about them. First, LOT AMS investment will be done in stages (only 25% - one hangar in 1H 2023) . I guess the final decision about the next planned stages will depend on how well this performs, so we shall see. Second, especially at the first stage most of the work will be done for their sister company (LOT airlines). Third, there is little overlap with what Linetech does in terms of aircraft types (at least now) as LOT AMS intends to service in RZE bigger planes than Linetech.
Still I do not understand how Linetech could have allowed such a screw-up at Jat Tehnika.
Nadajmo se da ce se ubuduce reorganizovati odgovornost, investirati dovoljno u pravi centar za odrzavanje, rviziju i remont aviona i komponenti.
ReplyDeleteRazvoj obnovljenog i uvecanog aerodroma podrazumeva MRO, bar srednje velicine.
Price pout price da se dogadja oduzimanja licenci i ostalih izgovora jeste ogledalo Balkana na proslost.
Srbija postaje zemlja u kojoj improvizacija i opravdanja zavrsavaju oduzimanjem dozvola od strane EASA. Nije objektivno razvijati novi Hub na Beogradskom aerodromu. A imati nerazvijene servise
koji opsluzuje avione. Bilo koju organizaciju u sluzbi vazdusnog saobracaja na aerodromu Nikola Tesla.
🇷🇸✈🌐🛫😀 Rodney.
Any chances to solve all shortcomings by April 2022 i.e., before EUASA inspection?Thx
ReplyDeleteI think they are hoping that will be the case. Although they hoped they would do that by September and nothing happened.
DeleteSo sad what has happened to Jat Tehnika. Once a very good maintenance company.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteReading many of the comments, a common theme seems to put the blame on poor management. However, their loss of this license only happened once they were privatised - it never happened once while they were state owned, right ? So, I wouldn't blame it on Jat Tehnika management, rather, I would put the blame squarely on the new ownership.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Air Serbia Line Maintenance taking over the work that Jat Tehnika did?
ReplyDeleteAll the checks until A-Check, component replacements...
Just increase the manpower..
Intersesting how Ju declared that this suspension has no effect on the airline. I flew twice recently with JU and the interior of the planes was in horrible state where several overhead panel sections were hanging and shaking during the entire flight. If that can be seen what is with what we can' t see? If no other effect this for sure has a very negative impact on passengers who can see that the aircraft is dispatched without a basic cabin check. Needless to add that the plane is dirty, chips everywhere but this is not maintenance so I guess it is alright
ReplyDeletePlane inside dirty? - Cabin crew do not clean the passenger cabin although it is their job at transit airports...
DeleteMost likely it's Jat Tehnika doing their cabin maintenance. JU overall isn't the best in cabin maintenance. I remember the B733's full of silver coloured duct tap covering the holes where ashtrays used to be.
DeleteAs for cabin cleaning, it used to be done at all outstations by a cleaning team until JU went on their cost cutting spree. All turnaround flights have cabin crew cleaning aircraft, however there is only soo much that they can do. I'm sure they don't have vacuum cleaners to vaccuum chips from the floor, however JU should find better ways to cater flights to be less messy.
Unfortunately as well, pax can be worse than pigs, I've been shocked to see how much trash people surround themselves in, regardless how often crew come around to collect trash during the flight.
Cabin crews have vaccuum cleaners and brooms on board for use at transit airports only.
DeleteThis is gonna cost a lot! This is another nail in the coffin for Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteBy that logic, Wizz Air and LH must be long gone.
DeleteHate doesn't have logic.
Delete