Jat Airways

Jat Airways (Serbian pronunciation: [jât]) is the national airline of Serbia and the former national airline of Yugoslavia, and has its head office in the Jat Airways Business Center in Belgrade.^[1] It was established in 1927 as Aeroput, making it currently one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation. Its flight operations are based at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, and the airline operates scheduled international services to 34 destinations in Europe and North Africa, as well as charters and wet leases.^[2]

History

Aeroput

The company was founded on 17 June 1927 as Aeroput. Its first international flight was in 1929 between Belgrade and Graz (Austria).^[3] In 1937, the expansion of international routes and an increase in passenger numbers enabled Aeroput to acquire the Lockheed Model 10 Electra. Aeroput continued to operate until the Second World War. On 1 April 1947, the name was changed to JAT - Jugoslovenski aerotransport (Yugoslavian Air-transport), then to JAT Yugoslav Airlines and finally to Jat Airways in January 2003.^[4]

The founding of Yugoslav Airlines

In 1946, it was apparent that, due to the nature of its tasks, the Yugoslav Air Force would not be able to become involved in the nation's post-war build-up of civil aviation. Consequently, preparations were made for the formation of an air transport company. Three Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport planes and three Junkers Ju-52 (captured during the war) were flown to Czechoslovakia to be converted into passenger aircraft. The name chosen for the new airline was JAT - Jugoslovenski aerotransport.

In 1949, Yugoslavia was faced with a dire international position: isolated both by the West and the East. This caused further rationing of fuel, difficulties in procuring spare parts and the cancellation of all flights to Eastern European destinations. JAT was forced to survive on 6 domestic lines. When Yugoslavia turned to the West, an agreement was made with Swissair to open the Belgrade-Zürich route, which was inaugurated on 24 August 1949. Company stagnation marked the operations in 1949, because the traffic volume was well below fleet potentials and transport needs in the country. However, 1954 was in many ways a turning point. Convair CV-340 / CV-440 Metropolitan aircraft were purchased for short-haul and medium-haul routes, after which the Douglas DC-3 was used only on domestic routes. Multiple international and domestic routes were opened soon after. In 1957, six Soviet Ilyushin Il-14M aircraft were bought, and it was the only plane made in the Soviet Union used by JAT. Douglas DC-6B were bought for long-haul routes in 1959.

The jet age

In 1963, the first Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 6-N jet aircraft joined the JAT fleet. In 1969, the first McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 jet (of 16) arrived, followed in 1974 by the first two (of 9) Boeing 727-200 aircraft.^[5]

Long-haul routes to North America, Australia and the Far East were flown by Boeing 707s, introduced in 1970. In 1978, a wide body McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (which was chosen over the Boeing 747-200) was purchased to succeed the Boeing 707s on the longer-haul routes, although the 707s stayed in service into the 1980's on ad hoc charters and as scheduled-flight replacement aircraft. The purchase of a DC-10-30 wide-body aircraft was followed several years later by the purchase of a medium-range aircraft.^[5]

In 1985, JAT was the first European airline to purchase Boeing 737-300s. During those years, the company carried 5 million passengers annually and served 80 destinations on five continents (19 domestic, 45 medium haul and 16 long haul routes). JAT also constructed a large hangar to accommodate wide-body aircraft and a jet-engine test stand at their Belgrade hub.

During this period JAT built several airports in Yugoslavia, primarily on the Adriatic coast.

The Nineties

In 1992, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke up and the Yugoslav wars started. As the national carrier of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and disintegrated by the wars of Yugoslav secession, JAT was forced to stop all domestic services. Resolution No. 757 passed by UN Security Council on 20 May 1992 resulted in economic sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. For the first time since World War II, international transport was forcibly terminated. This was preceded by the decisions of Germany and Italy to interrupt any traffic with Yugoslavia: on 21 December 1991 - Germany (the largest market for JAT in Europe, with 7 flights daily and 40  million German marks gross annual profit), followed by Italy on 10 January 1992. The US introduced the embargo on air traffic with Yugoslavia on 2 May 1992: the last JAT flights to America were to Chicago and New York City. That day, the JAT management decided to re-route North American long-range flights to Canada. However, Canada immediately copied the actions of the USA, and operations across the North Atlantic finally had to be terminated.

During that time, JAT operated only domestic services between Belgrade, Podgorica, Tivat, Niš, Priština and - for a very short time - Užice-Ponikve Airport (many of these were money-losing destinations). Finally, in 1994, JAT resumed some of its international services, with aircraft in a new livery (after EU lifted the air embargo). In 1998, JAT ordered 8 Airbus A319, this was seen as a political stunt by the president.^[6] The original delivery date was June 2000 but this date has been postponed until a total of $23.5 million is paid off to Airbus while Jat is hoping to divert the deal to another airline. Soon after all flights were cancelled as Europe introduced a new ban and FR Yugoslavia was bombed for 78 days.^[5]

In April 2000, director general Žika Petrović was killed in a mafia-style execution, in front of his family home in Belgrade.^[5]

Proceeding the new millenium

After the regime's overthrow on 5 October 2000, the FR Yugoslavia was accepted back into international organizations and sanctions were dropped. JAT was given the rights to fly across the continents. To celebrate the move that coincided with the country restructuring from FR Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro, JAT Yugoslav Airlines changed its name to Jat Airways on 8 August 2003. The airline resumed service to destinations across Europe, Asia and Africa. Jat sold its last McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 with the registration YU-AMB named as the "City of Belgrade" on 24 June 2005 to Nîmes, France based company TAT Industries for dismantling aircraft for spare-parts. During 2005, the company also phased out all Boeing 727 and DC-9 aircraft. The last airworthy McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with the registration YU-AJK was leased to the United Arab Emirates company Eastern SkyJets. The DC-9s were to be replaced with 2 leased CRJ-700 aircraft scheduled to arrive at the end of 2006, but did not, because government representatives did not want to sign the documents.

The company had plans to restart long haul operations to North America's cities of Chicago, New York, Toronto and Montreal in June 2005 with two leased Boeing 767-200ER aircraft but these plans were postponed. Jat then intended to re-start the flights to New York City in May 2006 and to Toronto in June 2006 with a leased Boeing 767-200ER aircraft from Polet Airlines, but were never given rights to fly to the destinations. Jat Airways has since received the rights to fly to Canada.

Jat Airways is not a member of any alliances or partnerships but does code share on some routes with Adria Airways, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, B&H Airlines, KLM, LOT Polish Airlines and TAROM. Jat Airways also has a special prorate agreement (SPA) on flights to and from Australia with Emirates via Dubai.

Jat Airways introduced its online booking system in September 2006 and electronic tickets in April 2007. Jat Airways celebrated 80 years of service on 17 June 2007. In 2007 and 2008 the airline received an award as one of the five best brands from Serbia. It also received an award for its television advertisements celebrating 80 years of service.^[7] On 3 July 2008 the Serbian national carrier reestablished air links with Croatia after a 17 year absence.^[8]

Ongoing privatization

Due to competition in the Serbian market, the Serbian government (Jat Airways owner) considered privatization as an option for future development of the airline.^[9]

In 2007 several airlines expressed interest to purchase and invest in Jat by purchasing the airline or becoming a strategic partner. These included Russia's Aeroflot but also Icelandair, Air India, Air Berlin and Air One.^[10]

Encouraged by such interest, in September 2007 Rothschild & CIE, Clyde & CO LLP, Citadel financial advisory, Aviation Economics and Dekonta became Jat Airways’ financial advisors. They monitored and suggested the best privatization offer. On 16 January 2008, it was announced that the government of Serbia would sell 51% of its shares.^[11] On 31 July 2008, the tender for the sale was announced. Investors were able to submit offers to buying a minimum of 51% and a maximum of 70% of shares. Companies participating in the purchase had to provide an Air Operators Certificate (AOC). Interested investors were given a deadline of nearly two months, until the end of September, for submitting binding offers. The starting price for the airline's 51% share was 51 million Euros, decreased from the earlier announced 150 million in order to increase interest.^[12] However, on 30 September 2008, it was announced that no company had sent in an offer for Jat Airways and as a result the company would not be privatized.

In 2011 the Serbian government announced that it would create a successor to Jat Airways, a new national airline which would take over Jat’s employees, international agreements, aircraft and airport slots.^[13] However, it would only do so in cooperation with a foreign airline which would be part owner of the new Serbian national carrier. As a result, on 1 August the tender to find a strategic partner for the new airline began.^[14] Baltic Aviation Systems was the only company to purchase the tender documentation but decided not to participate in the process any further. It is unclear whether the government will go ahead and create a new national airline.

Throughout the several privatization attempts, including the latest one, there have been no disruptions to the airline’s operations. The airline is wholly owned by the Government of Serbia and has 1,230 employees.

Liveries

Yugoslav Airlines

When the name Yugoslav Airlines first appeared on aircraft in 1950 the airline had a simple, mainly white livery. During these years there was a Yugoslav flag on the tail, and on the body the words Jugoslovenski aerotransport. Shortly afterwards the airline changed its livery, when the word on the tail section with a red shaped egg on the tail in which JAT was written in white colours. The rest of the tail was blue, with Yugoslav Airlines written on the fuselage in red. There were variations of this livery during the 60s, 70s and 80s. The biggest change in this period was when the first Boeing 737-300 aircraft arrived with a silver body.

JAT Yugoslav Airlines

With the reintroduction of international flights in 1994 after two years of economic sanctions, JAT introduced a new livery and corporate image. A "euro-white" livery was adopted and the centre-piece was a new tail logo which contained a stylised Yugoslav flag with the white colour being represented by a pair of white wings, the larger wing symbolising Serbia and the smaller Montenegro. For the first time, the word JAT was written on the aircraft in small blue letters. The words Jugoslovenski Aerotransport were painted on the starboard side and Yugoslav Airlines on the port side and these were written in silver italic script. In 1996, the livery was slightly modified, with JAT being painted in billboard size at the front with a small Yugoslav flag in the "A" in JAT. During this time, as a result of the extensive leasing of aircraft by JAT, most aircraft lost the tail logo completely. The livery was updated again in 2001 with the flag in the billboard titles disappearing, and the words Yugoslav Airlines and Jugoslovenski Aerotransport being painted in blue using the same font as the main logo. Not all of the aircraft received this update as the livery was updated again with the introduction of the new name of JAT Airways.

Jat Airways

In 2003, the airline changed its name to Jat Airways.^[15] A national competition was held to design the new logo and livery. The winning design had 3 dots on the tail: blue, red and blue. The fuselage of the aircraft had a large Jat Airways written on it, with Jat in red and Airways in blue. The new logo was the name Jat Airways written with 3 dots in blue, red and blue following it. Jat Airways painted only one aircraft in these colours, a Boeing 737-300 with the registration YU-ANJ.

Jat started painting its aircraft all white and in 2006, most aircraft were white with a small Jat Airways logo. In December 2006 the airline decided to return to its dot livery. By August 2007 all aircraft had been painted. The livery is slightly different from the previous dot livery. It has the dots on the tail, but the small jat titles remain rather than the big Jat Airways logo across the fuselage.

Destinations

During the winter season (30 October 2011 – 24 March 2012), Jat Airways will operate 141 flights per week to 29 scheduled international destinations.^[16]

Codeshare agreements

Jat Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:^[17]

Services

Jat Catering

Jat Catering, although a 100% owned subsidiary of Jat Airways, is a standalone operation responsible for its own economic infrastructure, management and profitability. Under the guidance of its chief executive officer, the company’s prime responsibility is the preparation of in-flight meals for Jat Airways. Jat Catering offices and kitchens are situated in the industrial area of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport.

For commercial airlines the company also makes special meals for vegetarians, toddlers and vegans. In 2011 the government decided to auction off the catering company to interested buyers from catering field. The auction is scheduled for December 2011.^[18]

On board

The aircraft of Jat Airways are fitted out in a two-class configuration. In the Boeing aircraft, Jat has a business-class section and an economy-class section. On ATR 72 aircraft, the airline offers a one class all economy configuration with the business class section, which used to be located in the back removed in mid 2008. Every passenger gets a complimentary copy of Jat’s in-flight magazine “Jat Airways Review”. All drinks, food and duty-free items are available during the flight.

• Jat Economy Class

Includes copy of Jat Airways Review Magazine, dark blue leather seats with limited reclining capabilities, and stowaway tray tables. From June 2009, the airline began refurbishing its Boeing 737-300 economy class section by replacing the seats.^[19]

• Jat Business Class

Includes copy of Jat Airways Review Magazine, large black leather seats with limited reclining capabilities, and stowaway tray tables.

Frequent Flyer

"A Trip More" is the name of the Jat Airways Frequent Flyer Programme. If passengers fly with Jat on five return or ten one-way international flights in a twelve-month period passengers will gain a free round-trip flight with the ability to make a reservation.

Jat Airways passengers who are participating in the Lufthansa programme "Miles & More" can earn miles flying Jat Airways on select routes between Serbia and Germany until 1 April 2012, as the two airlines terminated codeshare agreement from 30 October 2011.

Charters

Jat Airways organizes individual and group charter flights on all types of Jat Airways aircraft, both domestic and international. The users of this service include tourist agencies, sports teams and fans, artistic groups and ensembles, as well as participants of congresses and fairs. Most charters take place during the summer time to Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, Tunisian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Bulgarian holiday resorts.

Freight

Jat Airways offers cargo services on all destinations in its network with special cargo only flights to Podgorica and Tivat in Montenegro. However Jat also operates these two cities as passenger flights.

Jat Tehnika

Although legally a separate company from Jat Airways, Jat Tehnika provides services and maintenance for Jat's fleet and other airline companies, such as Sky Express, Cimber Sterling, Jet2.com, Astraeus Airlines, UT Air and Transaero Airlines.

Fleet

The Jat Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 1 January 2012):^[20]

Historical fleet

Jat Airways (Yugoslav Airlines) has operated the following types of aircraft:

In the 1950s and 1960s Jat Airways (then known as Yugoslav Airlines) used to operate several Douglas DC-3, Convair CV-340 and Convair CV-440 Metropolitan, Douglas DC-6B, Ilyushin IL-14M and Junkers Ju-52. In 1981 Jat Airways shortly operated a single Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar leased from Royal Jordanian Airlines. A year after there was one RomBAC 1-11-561RC One-Eleven leased from TAROM in the fleet.

Miscellaneous

• The Aeroput MMS-3 (reg. as YU-SAR) became the first passenger aircraft made in Serbia in 1934 under Aeroput's brand name. Also Aeroput ordered two Spartan Cruiser II aircraft and a licence to build further aircraft of the same type. In 1935 one Cruiser II (reg. as YU-SAP) was built under Spartan's licence for Aeroput by Zmaj aircraft company in Zemun.^[21]
• In 1953, JAT began organising their flights with the introduction of flight codes. The first code, JU720 was used on the Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana route, while the return flight took the code JU721.
• Towards the end of August 1959, JAT transported its millionth passenger since the founding of the company back in 1927.
• A JAT Boeing 707-321 flew around the world. Commencing on 10 November 1974, the flight took 19 days to complete, flying: Belgrade-Beirut-Bombay-Singapore-Tokyo-Honolulu-Los Angeles-New York-London-Belgrade.
• Jat Airways was the first operator of the Boeing 737-300 aircraft in Europe. It arrived at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport on 8 August 1985 as YU-AND.^[22]
• Jat Airways was to become the first operator of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft. However, due to the break-up of Yugoslavia and the imposition of sanctions on Serbia, the aircraft were never delivered.
• In 2004, Jat Airways was named one of the safest airlines in Europe by IATA. Jat pilots are among the best trained pilots in the world.^[23]
• Former JAT flight attendant, Vesna Vulović, holds the world's fall record when she fell from 10,160 metres (33,333 ft) with no parachute and survived.^[24]
• In 1985, while still known as JAT Yugoslav Airlines, a JAT aircraft picked up Mahmoud Abbas in Rome, Italy as he sought political asylum in Yugoslavia after American authorities requested to arrest him.^[25][26]
• In 2002, the company utilized its fleet for UN missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Second Congo War.^[27]
• After Slobodan Milošević died in the Hague, a Jat Airways aircraft carried his body for burial in Serbia on a regular commercial flight from Amsterdam on March 15, 2006.^[28]
• Since 1994, Jat Airways has used the following slogans: In safe hands (U sigurnim rukama) [2010–present], The best fly with Jat (Sve najbolje leti „Jatom“) [2007-2010] and More than Flying (Više od letenja) [1994-2007]

Incidents and accidents

See also

• Aeroput
• Air Yugoslavia

References

External links

• Jat Airways (English)
• JAT Yugoslav Airlines - Details and Fleet History
• “Jat“ hoće da leti preko bare
• “Jat” sanja Čikago
• „Erbas“ pregovora sa „Jat Ervejzom“
• Jat Ervejz i Erbas dogovorili pokretanje novih pregovora
• “Jat” kupuje četiri aviona od Erbasa u 2011.
• Serbian Jat Airways needs new aircraft to compete with others
• “Jat” kupuje četiri aviona
• “Jat” leti na tender
• Vlada pravi novu aviokompaniju
• Raspisan tender za strateškog partnera u aviokompaniji - “Jat” čeka investitore
• Rusija, Nemačka i Turska interesuju se za “Jat”
• Letonci žele “Jat”
• Letonci šalju ponudu za “Jat”
• Produžen rok za “Jat”
• Delegacija Srbije je imala vrlo korisne razgovore sa predstavnicima Rusije, Turske i Azerbejdžana oko učešća njihovih aviokompanija na tenderu za prodaju “Jata”
• Jat: Stiže flota iz zakupa
• “Jat” u ponudi još danas
• Za “Jat” zainteresovan “Baltik Aviejšn Sistems”
• Mrkonjić: Ako nema partnera država vlasnik aviokompanije
• Neizvesnost oko strateškog partnera za “Jat”
• “Baltik Aviejšn Sistem” odustao od “Jat Ervejza”
• “Jat”: Privrednici dižu flotu?
• Mišković i Kostić novi kupci “Jata”?
• Mrkonjić: Od Nove Godine formiranje nove aviokompanije