New flights from Zagreb and Podgorica

The Swiss based airline Flybaboo has commenced regular services from its base in Geneva to the Croatian capital of Zagreb making it the only airline to operate between the two cities this winter. The flights began on Tuesday, October 28 and will be operated twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday. The flight approximately takes 2 hours. It will primarily cater for the Croatian and Bosnian dispora living in Geneva that will now be able to, without transiting through other airports, reach their homeland. The passengers travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to reach home by transiting at only 1 stop in Zagreb. The flights are operated using a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 Turboprop, which is able to seat 78 people.

Meanwhile the 2009 summer season is already being planned in Montenegro’s main hub Podgorica. The second largest British airline, BMI, has recently announced that it will commence services from London’s Heathrow Airport to the Montenegrin capital following the success of Montenegro Airlines’ Podgorica/Tivat to London-Gatwick line. The new flights will commence on May 1, 2009 unless the destination is dropped by BMI’s new owners Lufthansa.

Belgrade Airport plan to save Jatand improve hub

The government owned Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport of Serbia has reported that by the end of 2008 it will have a profit of 18 million Euros which is 14 million greater than last year. The airport is now conducting a plan to reduce the dilemma of Serbian national carrier Jat. It was recently reported that Jat will be selling some offices worldwide including a few offices inside Serbia to reduce costs. The CEO of Belgrade Airport is proposing that they purchase the offices and allow Jat to continue operating them. The purchase would amount to 35 million Euros. However there is a split inside the Serbian government. The Minister of the Economy as well as the Serbian Privatisation Agency want to see Jat’s properties sold while Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and the Ministry of Finances believe that Jat can survive without selling out extremely valuable and lucrative property. It is expected that the government will today either adopt or reject Jat’s development strategy for the next 4 years. It was supposed to be passed last Thursday however the differing opinions within the government postponed the protocol until this week. Meanwhile Jat Airways has been accusing Belgrade Airport for not helping the airline enough because it must pay some of the most expansive taxes and operational costs in Europe to operate from their Belgrade hub.

Meanwhile Belgrade Nikola Tesla will, on November 20, 2008, commence operating the category IIIb runway landing system. This system allows aircraft to depart and land in the worst of weather, especially during low visibility. Beforehand flights had to be diverted to Niš or other nearby airports due to their inability to land during fog. For now only Zagreb’s Pleso Airport and Belgrade Airport have the new system out of all the EX-YU capital city airports. The system was installed 2 years ago however only now has it been approved for use by the Civil Aviation Board. In late December 2007 many flights were cancelled and delayed due to fog and this should now become a thing of the past. There is only one category better than this system however it is used by barely a handful of the largest world airports. Furthermore the airport is devising a plan for the construction of its Terminal 3. More information about this vision and project will be known within the next month.

New Adria and Belgrade flights

Slovenia’s national carrier Adria Airways is already in the advance stages of finalising its summer 2009 schedule which begins on March 29. With the arrival of new aircraft more new services can be expected. Adria Airways will launch scheduled flights to the capitals of Spain and Bulgaria in order to meet the demand. Soon more information will be known about the new flights from Ljubljana to Madrid and Sofia.

Meanwhile Pegasus Airlines of Turkey will commence regular services to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport from January 25, 2009 after receiving necessary slots from Belgrade Airport and an approval from Serbia‘s Civil Aviation Authority. The new flights will operate from Istanbul’s alternative base - Sabiha Gokcen Airport. The flights will depart from Turkey’s largest city to Serbia’s capital every Monday and Wednesday late in the evening while it while its return flights will be operated on Tuesday and Thursday just after midnight. The aircraft to carry out the operations on this line will be either a B737-500 or a B737-800. This will bring the number of flights operated from Belgrade to Istanbul to 13 times a week. Currently Jat Airways operates to Istanbul Ataturk Airport 6 times a week while Turkish Airlines operates to the same airport 5 times a week.

New Zagreb Airport terminal designcreates controversy

Zagreb Airport is set to quadruple in size according to its expansion. The main hub of Croatia will get a new terminal which will enable five million passengers to travel through it every year, compared to the current capacity of two million. The new design (pictured above) was unveiled earlier during October. Current facilities are expected to be renovated by next summer, while the new building is created 2.5km north-east of the existing structure. Boško Matković, the airport’s director, said that the project is finally coming to a realisation 20 years after it was first proposed. He added: "We now have to request a construction permit, the drawing up of implementation projects and issue a tender for contractors. If everything goes to plan, we expect the works to be completed by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012”. However things are not going to plan.

An anonymous person has filed a report that Jure Radić, Branko Kincl and Velimir Neidhardt plagiarised their project for Zagreb’s new airport from Osaka airport, by the architect Renzo Piano. The report was given to the chamber of architects and engineers of construction. The chamber confirmed that there is no valid signature on the report, so they do not know who reported the architectural proposal for Zagreb’s new Pleso airport. The report requests that Radić, Neidhart and Kincl have their permits permanently revoked because of the plagiarism. The report also says that the competition was set up, and that people were professionally incompetent to notice a copy. It also said the architects who evaluated the work should have their licences revoked, which includes Jerko Rosino. The winning design caused controversy in Croatia as many believed there were much better designs. The airport authorities in Zagreb said that the allegations of plagiarism are nonsense.

To view the designs in order of the prize it received follow this link. Once there scroll down the page and make your own judgment if the best design won.

Vlaisavljević is out and Vujović is back

In a surprise move (Predrag) Draško Vujović (pictured below) long time Jat employee and the CEO of the airline from 2001 to 2005 will return to the airline in hope he will manage to revive the struggling Serbian national carrier. Vujović successfully led the airline with the reintroduction of key services and the return of Jat as an international airline following 10 years of restrictions which were placed on the airline by the UN. He also led the airline through its name change of JAT Yugoslav Airlines to Jat Airways. Before he was forced to step down in 2005 Vujović was about to create a new Jat subsidiary named Interlink which was to be Jat’s low cost airline although the plan was dropped following a change in management. The management changed after a month long strike organised by Jat Tehnika in 2005 (at the time part of Jat Airways) that paralysed the airline. Following his departure from Jat, Vujović created the unsuccessful Centavia, which was to be Serbia’s first low cost airline, however it struggled and went bankrupt a month after operations began. Vujović has worked in Jat for 20 years (when the 2005 to 2008 period is excluded). He should be officially named by the Serbian gvernment as the new CEO of Jat Airways within the next 5 days (if not today or tomorrow).

Saša Vlaisavljević (pictured above) worked as ground operations manager for Jat Airways at Belgrade Nikola Tesla from the early 90’s and became the airline’s CEO in 2007. He has been heavily criticised by airline company employees for closing down Jat offices around the world and shutting down international services. Vlaisavljević will leave Jat and become the manager of the City of Belgrade. Meanwhile the government has not yet adopted Jat’s development strategy. This is because Serbia’s prime minister and other members of the government do not agree with the recommendations that Jat should sell its international offices in New York, Amsterdam and a few other European cities. With the change in Jat’s management it remains to be seen what will happen.

Adria Airways winter 2008/09Strengthening European services

Today on October 26, 2008 Adria Airways, the national airline of Slovenia will begin with its winter schedule. This winter season, which ends on March 28, 2009, Adria has increased frequencies to some popular services and hasn’t decreased frequencies on almost any other destinations. Seasonal flights have ended. This winter Adria will operate 234 weekly flights to 22 destinations from Ljubljana. It will operate flights using 12 aircraft (2 Airbus A320s, 1 Boeing 737-500, 7 Bombardiers CRJ200s and 2 CRJ900s) as it awaits the delivery of 2 new CRJ900 Next Generation aircraft and 2 Bombardier 1000NextGen planes.

Adria Airways will operate four daily flights to Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna which have all been increased from double daily flights operated during the summer. Furthermore the airline will operate three daily flights to Brussels and Zurich. Flights JP322 and JP342 to Paris will remain unchanged with double daily flights from Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. Flights will be operated 9 times a week to Amsterdam, daily to London, Moscow and Istanbul, five weekly to Stockholm and Warsaw, four weekly to Kiev and Copenhagen and three weekly flights to Athens. Flights to Barcelona will operate twice a week and services will cease on January 4, 2009.

The airline is significantly strengthening its flights within the region including former YU republics. Flights JP700 and JP702 from Ljubljana to Sarajevo will operate 13 times a week, daily flights to Priština will remain unchanged, while Podgorica flights will also remain with the same level of operations it had during the summer – 3 times a week. In Macedonia, the airline will operate to Skopje with double daily flights. The airline also remains committed to Albania’s capital Tirana with 10 weekly flights. Flights to Bucharest will be operated 4 times a week. Adria does not serve any flights to Croatia or Serbia’s capital Belgrade.

The only flights Adria will end are to its 2 seasonal destinations Birmingham and Oslo. The airline will fly into the winter season with new uniforms (pictured above). Adria will also have to prepare to deal with its 2009 summer schedule when many flights from June will have to be redirected to Maribor due to the reconstruction of its hub in Ljubljana.

Cargo centre to save Niš Airport

Niš Constantine the Great Airport, Serbia’s second international airport reconstructed in 2004 after it was bombed by NATO in 1999 has struggled in the past 4 years to attract airlines. The airport’s management has more than once accused the national carrier Jat Airways of ignoring the city even though in 2006 Jat introduced flights to some 4 destinations from Niš, all of which struggled to maintain more than 10 passengers. Despite promises from the airport management low cost airlines have been more than reluctant to operate flights to the city, situated in Eastern Serbia. It is currently only served by Jat Airways which maintains 2 weekly services to Zurich. Montenegro Airlines operates flights to the airport during the summer.

However, there now seems to be an investment that could save the airport and benefit the whole region. The CEO of public company Airport Niš Radisav Radojković, and the director general of company Eymaxx Management GmbH from Vienna Mihail Miler, recently signed a contract for the joint financing of the development of a logistics, commercial and cargo centre to be located at the Constantine the Great Airport. The investment, which everybody expects to be the catalyst for development in Niš, and the whole region of southeast Serbia, is worth 61.3 million Euros and construction will start in spring. The Viennese company participated in the tender together with investment fund Chayton Capital from London. The contract was signed in the presence of the Minister for the Environment and Spatial Planning of Serbia Oliver Dulić, the Deputy Ambassador of Austria Urlike Hartman, the Mayor of Niš Miloš Simonović, and the representatives of Niš’s city council. “This is our first logistics centre in Serbia. We also want to develop a trade centre at the airport and invest a total of 100 million Euros in several phases. The first phase will result in the creation of 500 new jobs”, Miler pointed out.

Is this the revival the airport needs? Only time will tell. Niš (pictured above) is Serbia’s third largest city population wise.

NOTE: Adria’s winter 2008/09 schedule, which begins tomorrow, will be published tomorrow. Apologies for the delay.

Big plans for Montenegro’s airports

Airports of Montenegro have announced that they have served their millionth passenger this year 2 months earlier compared to 2007. Last year the millionth passenger passed through the doors of Podgorica and Tivat Airport on December 12. Airports of Montenegro, the company that regulates the two international airports in the country, is expecting that this year they will serve 1.1 million passenger. It is expected that, this year, 10.000 aircrafts will be served, an increase of 12% compared to last year. Officials from the company have concluded that the constant increase in passengers is as a result of the continuous improvements at the airport terminals. In its statement the company also mentions that in 2008 various investments have taken place including the instalment of the new information system for electronic check-in and improved baggage handling and boarding procedures. Currently the reconstruction at Podgorica’s old terminal 1 is under way as well as the expansion of the apron at Tivat. The total of these two investment stands at 6 million Euros.

Furthermore the master plan strategy is currently in development. The plan will outline the expansion and management of both airports until 2023. The master plan will also outline the pace at which the two airports will be expanded.

Croatia Airlines to order 4 Airbus A319s

The leading airline in the EX-YU region, Croatia Airlines, has signed a firm contract with Airbus for the purchase of 4 Airbus A319 aircraft. The aircraft will join the fleet in 2012 and 2013 while the cost of the deal is currently unknown. The aircraft will have a two class layout with a capacity of 132 seats and will be deployed both on domestic and international services. The new order brings to a total of 12 Airbus aircraft in the fleet. The Croatia Airlines fleet currently consists of 4 Airbus A319s and 4 A320s as well as 2 new Bombardiers Dash 8-400s (with another 2 two join the fleet next year, replacing the two current ATR42s one of which is leaving the fleet on the 25th of October this year with its last flight from Zagreb to Podgorica). The airline can activate another 4 options for the Bombardier aircraft. By next year the fleet size should consist of a total of 12 aircraft. The average age of the Croatia Airlines fleet stands at 9.3 years. Croatia Airlines has the youngest fleet out of all the national carriers from the EX-YU republics.

"This strategic decision will allow us to meet the future demand of our customers with the most modern, fuel efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft," said Ivan Mišetić, Croatia Airlines President and CEO. "We are very pleased that Croatia Airlines, one of the largest and most successful airlines in the region, has further confirmed its confidence in the A320 Family by expanding its order backlog with Airbus," said Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy. "This shows the airline’s satisfaction and clearly demonstrates the high demand for the A320's advanced technology and efficiency in the years to come."

Skopje struggles to surpasslast year’s growth

In the month of September the total number of passengers transported at Macedonia’s main hub, Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, stood at 59.457 passengers, which is an increase of 2.8% in comparison with same month of last year. From the beginning of the year to the end of September the airport has seen an increase of 6.7% in passenger numbers. It is still questionable if Skopje Airport will manage to surpass its last year’s growth of 15.5% by the end of the year. At the moment it is highly unlikely as flights to 3 destinations – Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamburg will be ceased as of October 26 by the national airline MAT. Total number of aircraft operations in September stood at 1159. Commercial aviation (scheduled, charter and cargo flights) had increased by 2.3% compared to last year and for now the airport authorities do not expect a fall in the number of operations.

The most frequent lines travelled by passengers from Skopje are Vienna and Zurich, with the biggest increase in passenger numbers to Ljubljana, Istanbul, Budapest and Zagreb and the greatest decrease compared to last year on flights to Zurich, Belgrade and German destinations Dusseldorf and Hamburg/Berlin. On direct charter flights to tourist destinations in Turkey, Egypt, Spain, Tunisia and Sicily in the period from June to September, 29.112 passengers were transported or 62.1% passengers more than last year, and represents 10.2% of total passengers numbers.

Jat to close landmark New York office

In an attempt to reduce spending and costs Jat Airways will close its landmark office in New York, open since 1971. The office, located on the famous Fifth Avenue, has been the airline’s office during its golden years as JAT Yugoslav Airlines as well as the not so golden years during the 90’s and more recent years. The airline used to operate regular flights from Belgrade and Zagreb to the largest city in the United States. The office has been host to many distinguished guests over the years including Serbia’s Crown Prince Alexander, the world number three tennis player Novak Djokovic and many others. It is still uncertain if the airline will sell the office or simply lease it. Furthermore the airline’s office in Amsterdam will be leased out with offices to be opened at the airport which will reduce costs. Jat Airways has many offices outside of Europe (with its own representatives from Serbia) including those in Tunisia, Tripoli, Cairo, Dubai, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne. The airline once had offices in many US cities including Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles. Just before the civil war Jat was to open an office in Caracas, Venezuela.

Meanwhile the Serbian finance minister has announced that the government will not invest any money in Jat due to EU regulations which outline that governments cannot support the national airline (which is the root of problems for Alitalia and Olympic). The announced purchase of new aircraft will probably be made possible through banking leases. Jat’s development strategy should be made public on October 23.

The closure of the New York office was not met with enthusiasm from Jat’s employees. It should be known by the end of the week if Jat’s current CEO, Saša Vlaisavljević, will keep his job.

Despite global crisisMontenegro Airlines with good results

The Montenegrin national carrier, Montenegro Airlines, has transported more than 400.000 passengers during the last nine months, which is by one fifth more than it has been the case during the same period last year. It is expected that a Montenegro Airlines financial report, to be published within the following days, should show that the company has achieved positive business results during these nine months. The number of passengers on international flights has increased by 78%. The airline had 11 regular lines and serviced 20 charter destinations this summer. When statistics are broken down in more detail it can be seen that 39% of the total number of passengers transferred were tourists. The airline has recently introduced flights to London and Milan. The flights to London have proven profitable. Up until now 5.000 passengers have flown on this line. Use of capacities on these flights are 70% at the moment. The flights to Milan are somewhat weaker in terms of results. The current use of capacity on the flights is at disappointing 32%.

Good news for all passengers is that Montenegro Airlines will not change its ticket prices in the upcoming period, despite the developments at the global financial markets.

XL Airways emergency in Belgrade

A Boeing B737-800 from Germany’s XL Airways has made an emergency landing at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport (as seen above) after fire broke out in the left engine. The aircraft with 182 passengers was on route from Frankfurt to Antalya when fire broke out in its left engine. Flying over Serbia’s airspace, the pilot immediately requested emergency landing at Belgrade’s airport. Landing safely at Belgrade, the aircraft was escorted by the emergency fire services and paramedic services. Upon landing there were visible flames coming from the engine. This is the most serious incident at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport since a Lufthansa jet skidded off the runway 3 years ago. The seriousness of the situation is highlighted by the fact that the plane could have exploded above Belgrade had the pilot not responded quickly. Due to pressure in the engine the pilot had only 5 minutes to make an emergency landing. Luckily the aircraft was above Serbia’s capital at the time and could make a quick emergency landing. The passengers, which are currently at Belgrade Airport, will be flown to Germany this evening. The emergency occurred at 07.47 this morning.

Belgrade Nikola Teslawith strong winter schedule

The winter season at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport in Serbia begins on Sunday October 26, 2008 and will last 5 months until March 28, 2009. The airport is expecting a growth of 10% in air traffic when compared to last year, despite a few airlines ending certain services including the airport’s biggest user – Jat Airways. Although Jat will end its flights to Gothenburg, Munich, Prague, Tripoli and Malta it will increase frequencies to regional destinations – flights to Podgorica will operate 3 times a day while to Tivat twice daily. Flights to Skopje will be operated on a daily basis, Dusseldorf with 5 flights per week, Trieste 4 times weekly while Milan is newly introduced with 3 flights per week and Thessaloniki will feature in the winter schedule for the first time (twice a week). As a result Jat will operate 161 return flights weekly which is roughly the same as last year.

After Jat, Lufthansa and Montenegro Airlines will operate the largest amount of flights from Nikola Tesla Airport. Lufthansa will operate 3 daily flights to Munich and 2 daily flights to Frankfurt (although it will end services from Dusseldorf which will be taken over by Jat with 5 weekly flights). The Montenegrin national carrier will operate the identical amount of frequencies from Tivat and Podgorica as Jat. Alitalia will operate daily flights to Rome and Milan while Swiss will operate twice weekly flights to Basel (on top of its flights to Zurich). The airline will increase its capacity by upgrading its equipment to an Airbus A321. Meanwhile ČSA will operate daily flights to Prague and Turkish Airlines will increase from 3 to 5 weekly flights from Istanbul.

The airport expects it will have around 865.000 passengers in the 5 winter season months which would see an increase of 5% compared to that period last year when the airport had 824.000 passengers. In total the airport is poised to have more than 2.5 million passengers by December 31, 2008.

MAT Macedonian Airlines winter 2008/09Farewelling three destinations

On October 25, 2008 MAT Macedonian Airlines, the national airline of Macedonia will begin with its winter schedule. As usual for this time of the year MAT will be decreasing its regular frequencies. This winter it will operate flights using 3 aircraft (2 newly leased Boeing B737-500 aircraft and a CRJ-900).

From Skopje MAT will be ending its flights to Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamburg. Flight IN451 was operated once a week to Amsterdam while flight IN320 to Berlin was operated twice a week. Flights to Hamburg were also operated twice a week. Despite this, MAT will continue flights to Germany by continuing services to Dusseldorf which will operate twice a week using a B737-500. Services to Istanbul which were operated 6 times a week will now be operated twice a week using the CRJ-900. Flights to Rome will continue to be operated twice a week using the airline’s both aircraft types. Flights to Vienna will continue operating 5 times a week with a daily code share flight serviced by Austrian Airlines. There will be 11 weekly flights to Zurich with another 2 flights operated in a code share by Helvetic.

From Ohrid the Sunday flight to Vienna will continue to run via Skopje. Flights to Zurich will be maintained once a week while the flight to Amsterdam which was operated via Skopje ends as mentioned above. Currently in the preliminary schedule there is no news of new destinations.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon Adria Airways’ 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog.

Adria introduces new uniforms

The Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways celebrated the 20th anniversary of its in-flight magazine and presented its new uniforms on the occasion. The new uniforms, which the staff will start using in November, are designed in the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, when air travelling glamour was at its peak. Hats and gloves give the new uniforms a touch of retro look. The predominant colour of the new uniforms, blue, is complemented with white and grey. Badges and name tags are made of silver metal. The pilot uniforms will meanwhile remain dark blue with golden marks. The uniforms were designed by Jelena Proković with the help of Barbara Znidar and Saso Radović and made by apparel maker Labod. The Adria In-Flight Magazine celebrated 20 years since it was first published. Its first issue was in English and German, since Adria Airways mostly carried out charter flights at the time. Now the most popular version is the Slovenian-English. The magazine comes out six times a year and besides informing the passengers about the company, flights and safety measures, it now also showcases tourist destinations in Slovenia and abroad.

Jat commencing negotiationswith Embraer and Bombardier

The management of Serbia’s national airline, Jat Airways, will within the next 10 days commence negotiations with the Canadian Bombardier and Brazilian Embraer aircraft manufacturers in order lease new aircraft, through what commonly known as a “financial lease”. According to Jat’s development strategy, created after the unsuccessful privatisation, to be published on October 23, the Serbian airline will in the next 4 years invest 50 million Euros in new aircraft. The airline will in the next 4 months commence negotiations with Boeing as well, in order to secure a purchase of 3 Boeing B737-700 aircraft to be operated on medium range flights. It has been revealed that the airline will purchase 4 aircraft with a capacity of 70-100 seats, 5 ATR72-500 aircraft and 3 Boeing B737-700. A financial lease, which is becoming more popular in aviation, is either a new aircraft, or if not new, it must have at least 75% of the aircraft's usable life left and also gives the airline an opportunity at the end of the lease term the option to purchase the aircraft at an agreed price. The price of Jat’s lease would range between 120.000 and 160.000 Euros per aircraft which should be acceptable to the airline that has an income of 150 million Euros.

Jat’s new strategy outlines that the airline will decrease the number of destinations but will increase the number of frequencies to destinations. The airline’s ultimate goal is to have daily flights to every destination with double daily or more to regional destinations.

British Airwayshappy with Dubrovnik results

During the winter season 2008/09 British Airways will be flying to Dubrovnik 4 times a week – Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, which is an increase compared to the previous winter season when flights were operated 3 times a week. This is because the airline has been recording good results to Dubrovnik. During the summer season, when flights were operated on a daily basis from London-Gatwick, British Airways transported 24.000 passengers to Dubrovnik while the load factor amounted to 90%, an extremely good result for an inter-European holiday destination. British Airways’ representative for Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that the airline is extremely happy with the amount of passengers on the line mentioned above which is becoming more popular every season. The airline plans to introduce more frequencies from the 2009 summer season. British Airways does not operate to the country’s capital Zagreb or any other city in Croatia.

Flights from Dubrovnik this winter season will depart on Tuesday and Sunday at 16.40 while on Thursday and Friday they will depart at 14.40. Flights are operated using a Boeing B737-400 and last 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Montenegro Airlines winter 2008/09New flight to London

From October 20 to 26, 2008 Montenegro Airlines, will begin with its winter schedule. For Montenegro Airlines this usually includes the decrease in frequencies as the tourist season in the country comes to an end although despite cutting frequencies the airline will also introduce a new flight and cease operations to a few lines. The airline will be operating this winter with 6 aircraft (4 Fokker 100’s and 1 Embraer 195 jet) as the airline awaits the arrival of its new 2 new Embraers, although it is uncertain if the deliveries will be made before the 2009 summer season begins in late March.

From its base in Podgorica to its most important market, Serbia, Montenegro Airlines will increase its currently operated 19 weekly flights to 21. This has been done in accordance with Jat Airways as the both airlines agreed to evenly distribute their flights so they no longer have clashing departure times. The equipment used will be a mix of the airline’s both aircraft types. Flight YM500 from Podgorica to Vienna will decrease in frequency however the airline has secured a code share agreement with Austrian. Frequencies to Frankfurt, Rome, Paris and Zurich will all decrease while flights to Moscow will remain unchanged. From the EX-YU region Montenegro Airlines will end its seasonal flights to Niš and increase its frequency on flight YM180 to Ljubljana from 1 to 2 per week (with another 2 flights operated in a code share by Adria Airways). Montenegro Airlines will also be introducing flights to London-Gatwick to be operated every Friday.

From its secondary base in Tivat the 23 weekly operated flights to Belgrade will be reduced to 14 using the Fokker 100. Flights to London that have been operated twice a week will end and will be rerouted via Podgorica as mentioned above. Flights to Moscow will be decreased by one flight. Flights to Paris will also cease operations from Tivat.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address.

B&H finally receives international safety approval

The Bosnian national carrier, B&H Airlines, has for the first time fulfilled international standards of air safety. In the last 2 months the Bosnian carrier was subjected to checks by three international organisations. One was from the European commission, the other from the European Union and the third from IATA. The three organisations completed checks of over 1.000 documents, regulations during flights, aircraft maintenance and company organisation. By fulfilling all international safety standards B&H Airlines now joins other carriers from the EX-YU region which have already fulfilled such obligations – Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines, Jat Airways, MAT Macedonian Airlines and Montenegro Airlines. B&H Airlines has never had a fatal incident. The approval is a boost for the airline’s new strategic partner Turkish Airlines.

New technology onboard Croatia Airlines

Croatia Airlines is introducing a new technology system which will help reduce the workload for the cockpit crew and improve passenger safety. The Lido eFlightBag is an IT solution designed to allow an almost paperless cockpit by replacing manuals with electronic versions. Lufthansa Systems, which created the system, currently provides IT solutions for the airline for planning and management. Captain Milenko Radić, senior vice president of flight operations at Croatia Airlines, said the new technology can keep pace with the company's dynamic growth. "We can now increase the efficiency, not just in areas like fuel consumption and corporate administration, but in our cockpit processes as well," he said. According to Lufthansa Systems, the Lido eFlightBag helps lower costs because the efficiency of fuel consumption and administration can be increased.

B&H Airlines winter 2008/09More flights to Turkey

On October 25, 2008 B&H Airlines, the national airline of Bosnia and Herzegovina will begin with its winter schedule. With as small amount of destinations and a fleet of only two aircraft (ATR72’s) there won’t be many changes however some lines have been rerouted and some reduced while others increased.

B&H Airline has recently been purchased by Turkish Airlines. The exact amount of shares purchased is still uncertain (49% or 51% - to be announced in the following days) however B&H Airlines is increasing its frequencies to Turkish Airlines’ base – Istanbul. Flights will be increased from 4 per week to 6 flights per week. The Sarajevo to Frankfurt service will increase from 2 weekly to 3 weekly flights.

Furthermore B&H will replace the nonstop Sarajevo – Stuttgart service with a stop via Mostar from October 26. Flight JA214 will be operated twice a week. Frequencies to Zurich will remain as they have been operated during the summer – 4 times per week and the same goes for Cologne which will continue to be operated twice times a week. B&H’s only destination within the EX-YU region, to Skopje, Macedonia, will be decreased from 2 flights to 1 flight per week. The airline will maintain its code share agreements with Jat Airways from Sarajevo to Belgrade and Croatia Airlines from Sarajevo to Zagreb. B&H Airlines will continue operating from Banja Luka to Zurich via Sarajevo.

This is BH Airlines’ last timetable before the privatisation process is officially completed. The 2009 summer season should offer a greater variety of services with new aircraft expected.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon the Adria Airways, Montenegro Airlines and MAT Macedonian Airlines 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog.

Low cost airlines not interestedin Montenegro?

Since the independence of the small republic of Montenegro from its state union 2 years ago, the government has not received any request from low cost airlines to commence services despite the country seeing an increase in tourism each year and having 2 international airports. The Government of Montenegro says that low cost will commence flights to the country when they see that they will be able to make a profit and when the government gives them approval. The Montenegrin government is requesting low cost airlines to fly to its airports throughout the year, which many airlines such as Ryan Air, Easy Jet and Jet2.com see as unprofitable as they believe their flights could only make money during the summer season. This is in contrast to neighbouring Croatia where the government has put no ultimatums to low cost airlines and as result many operate to cities such as Split and Dubrovnik on a seasonal basis.

Meanwhile the national airline, Montenegro Airlines, is announcing that it will, in the following few months introduce a “low cost scheme”. This will offer 15 seats on each flight at low-cost airline prices. However there have been suggestions that the Montenegrin Government is protecting its national airline, as the company begins to grow and enter new markets, as well as order new aircraft. Despite this, Tivat and Podgorica have seen a rise in passenger numbers this year. This news is particularly surprising for Tivat Airport which has been left out from the schedules of airlines that operate charters to Tivat during the summer as these airliners have moved to Podgorica due to a noise curfew imposed at Tivat from this year.

Jat Airways development strategy12 new aircraft

As reported yesterday the Government of Serbia has announced that the development strategy of Serbia’s national airline, Jat Airways, should be drafted and complete by October 23, 2008. It is expected that the strategy will include the following plan of action. All money that Jat owes to the Serbian Petroleum Industry and air traffic control will be written off, the government will request decreased service and handling costs from Jat’s base Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport until 2011. The government will provide 400 million Dinars (4.977.000 Euros) so that the airline can provide a cash incentive for 400 workers that would be willing to leave the airline voluntary (bringing the number of employed in the airline down to 1.400). The strategy will also suggest for Jat to sell its office space in Milano and Amsterdam and instead open offices at the city’s airport. Jat’s timetable for the 2009 summer season (beginning late March 2009) should be completely changed with unprofitable lines cut while capacity will be increased to popular destinations – Podgorica, London, Dubai, Zurich and Frankfurt.

The government will, through a financial lease, rejuvenate Jat’s fleet with 4 aircraft with a seat capacity of 70 to 90 seats, 3 Boeing B737-700 aircraft (pictured above) and the current ATR fleet will be replaced with 5 new versions of the plane - the ATR72-500 jets. The government will then, in 2011, suggest for the airline to be privatised.

Jat Airways development strategy on October 23

The Government of Serbia has announced that the development strategy of Serbia’s national airline, Jat Airways, should be drafted and complete by October 23, 2008. The plan outlines the short and medium term development of the airline so that the airline can, in the shortest period, continue to grow and develop. The Serbian Prime Minister, minister of the economy and infrastructure minister met with Jat Airways’ management where it was discussed which direction the airline should take in future development. A work group has been formed, consisting of minister advisors and employees from Jat Airways, which are putting together the development strategy and the direction the airline should take. The work group will prepare the strategy by Thursday, October 23 when all the ministers of the Serbian government meet so that the strategy can be immediately passed by the government and put into action.

The privatisation of the Serbian carrier failed when no airline responded to the government’s tender. The government is trying to act on the issue as soon as possible as it has had a lot of criticism directed towards it for the privatisation failure and the neglect of the airline in the past years. The government has promised it will provide a financial injection for the immediate purchase of new aircraft. The type of aircraft and the amount of money needed will be determined in the development strategy report.

B&H Airlines privatisationTurkish Airlines wins bid

The strategic partner for the Bosnian B&H Airlines will most probably be Turkish Airlines. The news will be officially confirmed within the next 10 days. Bosnian media state that the Turkish offer is the most promising with Turkish Airlines prepared to provide B&H with 2 short to medium range aircraft however they are requesting a majority stake in the airline – 51% (compared to the 49% currently offered under the terms of the tender). Turkish has also, as a part of its purchase, promised to provide 2 short to medium haul aircraft, employee training, servicing of aircraft and hiring new employees while all currently working at the airline will keep their jobs.

In 2007 B&H Airlines transported 70.000 passengers and has two ATR72’s operating on 11 destinations. The airline has had financial troubles as it went bankrupt when it operated under the name Air Bosna. The biggest value of B&H is its potential in the local aviation market in which it only has a 14% share. Turkish Airlines is one of the largest airlines in Europe with 106 aircraft, 123 destinations and 12.000 employees. It is a member of Star Alliance.

Another mechanical problem on Croatia Airlines flight

Due to technical problems another emergency has occurred on a Croatia Airlines flight, this time to Munich from Zagreb’s Pleso Airport. The morning flight, which departed at 6.30AM, was force to return to the Croatian capital 30 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft in question is the regional ATR42 which will soon be fazed out of the fleet. At first, the passengers noticed water leaking from the overhead baggage compartments after which reading lights turned off. The pilot informed the passengers that the defrosting valve was not working properly and the aircraft landed safely in Zagreb.

Although not a major incident, it is the third of its kind within the last month. First there was an emergency on a charter flight from Barcelona followed by an emergency on the brand new Dash 400 after flames were seen coming from the engine. On top of this bad publicity Croatia Airlines recently received a category 2 rating from the FAA banning it from flying to the United States more importantly effecting its code share agreement with United Airlines. The Croatia Airlines ATR42’s are 15.6 years old.

Good results for Adria and Jat Airways

In September this year Adria Airways from Slovenia managed to surpass a million passengers for 2008. By the end of the month Adria transported 1.040.037, which is an impressive 18% increase compared to the same period last year. Adria increased the number of its flights by a total of 16% (increase of 17% on scheduled lines and 14% on charter destinations). When compared to last year, Adria has increased the number of passengers on each flight by 4%. When charter flights are not taken into consideration 826.877 passengers flew Adria by September 30, a 21% increase compared to last year. In September alone 132.276 passengers were transported (a 3% increase compared to last year).

Meanwhile the Serbian national airline Jat Airways has managed to overcome troubles to post a good passenger number in August, increasing passenger numbers by 7%. In a statement, the company said it had transported more than 1.120.569 million passengers, some 2.112 tons of cargo and 414 tones of mail as between January and September 2008. The airline also reported a 22% increase in charter passengers. The most interesting figures should be published in December when it will be seen how the major fleet and destination reduction will affect passenger numbers in the winter period. Meanwhile IZIT experts believe that Serbia needs to find a strategic partner for Jat Airways as soon as possible, as otherwise, the airline could go under. Saša Đogović from the Marketing Research Institute (IZIT) told a press conference that the company should have been privatized last year, adding that the state had let Jat down, and that a strategic partner should be found right away, without any tender. Đogović said that the state had to act as a businessman and have a vision for development and a plan to attract foreign investment.

Croatia Airlines winter 2008/09 Mass reduction of service from Split

On October 25, 2008 Croatia Airlines, the national airline of Croatia will begin with its winter schedule. As usual for this time of the year Croatia Airlines will be decreasing its regular frequencies however there are a few surprises.

Regionally Croatia Airlines is increasing its 3 weekly flights to Priština to 4 times a week. Flights OU310 will be operated 3 times a week by an Airbus A319 and once by an Airbus A320. Flights from Zagreb to Sarajevo will decrease from 18 weekly flights to 14 with the ATR42 completely removed from the line. Flights to Skopje will decrease only by one to daily flights using the Airbus A319. Other regional destinations will remain with the same number of flights although the ATR42 will be removed from the Podgorica line and replaced with the Dash 400.

Croatia Airlines is cancelling its services from Zagreb to Tel Aviv while it will also see large reductions of services from Split, Pula and Dubrovnik. From Dubrovnik, Croatia Airlines is ending flights to Amsterdam, Dusseldorf (only a seasonal destination), London-Gatwick, Paris, Tel Aviv and Zurich while it will keep flights Dubrovnik-Rome and Dubrovnik-Frankfurt. Similarly, Split will see a major reduction of destinations with flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Dusseldorf, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Munich, Paris, Vienna and Zurich all edning while flights to Frankfurt will be operated on a daily basis and Rome will be operated 5 times per week. The big withdrawal of services from Croatian airports (outside of Zagreb) continue with flight to Amsterdam and London-Gatwick also cut from the schedule from Pula leaving the city only with flights to Zagreb, Zadar and Zurich operated by Croatian Airlines.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon B&H Airlines’ 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog.

New Croatia Airlines hangerat Zagreb Airport

Croatia Airlines continues to maintain its position as the leading airline out of all in the EX-YU republics. Not only has it seen an increase in passengers, destination serviced and fleet, its management also yesterday opened the airline’s very own hanger at Zagreb Airport (pictured above) which will give both the airline and the airport bigger opportunity to maintain aircraft. The hanger will be operated by Croatia Airlines and its partner Lufthansa (Lufthansa Technik). It has been agreed that Lufthansa will also service some of its Airbus A319 and A320 fleet at Zagreb’s Pleso. The close cooperation between Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa Technik started as early as 1992. Today Lufthansa Technik provides the airline with Total Engine Support TES and Total Component Support TCS, as well as services covering Airframe Related Components (ARC) and landing gears. Lufthansa Technik had taken over the component support for the Bombardier Q400 fleet of the Croatian airline only recently. Croatia Airlines on the other hand has already performed C-checks for Lufthansa Technik for a while. During a C-check the entire aircraft is subjected to comprehensive checks, among them very detailed functional and structural tests. Airbus A320 family aircraft are due for C-checks after about 18 months. Each aircraft requires somewhere between 1,500 and 2,800 man hours. In Europe Lufthansa Technik has currently performed C-checks mainly at its German locations as well as at Lufthansa Technik Malta. The new cooperation with Croatia Airlines is another step to expand the global maintenance network of the company.

However the new hanger has strong competition from its neighbours – from Jat Tehnika in Belgrade servicing around 10 airlines and Adria’s CRJ hangers in Ljubljana which service CRJ aircraft for many airlines from the EU.

NOTE: Tomorrow we will publish the winter 2008/09 Croatia Airlines timetable and all the changes taking place.

What next?

Following yesterday’s announcement that the tender for the privatisation of Jat Airways had failed, there are a series of talks that must take place in order to secure Jat’s continuation of operations. Unions and workers in Jat are blaming the Serbian government for already determining the failure of the privatisation from the very begging by not signing work agreements with people employed in the company, not creating a social programme for workers and for making Jat Tehnika, Jat Catering and Jat Hotels independent from the company in turn decreasing the airline’s value significantly. The next step that should take place is a meeting between the Serbian Prime Minister and Jat’s current CEO Saša Vlaisavljević (pictured above). At the meeting ways in which the company should be restructured will be discussed including the purchase of new aircraft within the following few months. Vlaisavljević will request 350 million Dinars (EUR 4.560.000) from the country’s budget which will be distributed as a payoff to 400 workers that would voluntarily leave the company, decreasing the number of employed to some 1.400. Vlaisavljević will also demand an immediate creation of a work group which will be able to make larger decisions without the approval of the government. However Vlaisavljević’s time could also be counted. If the government, which determines the airline’s CEO, starts the restructuring process, the CEO position could be the first to be restructured. There are increasing calls from Jat unions for Vlaisavljević to step down due to his inability to deal with the new reality in aviation.

Meanwhile the failure of the tender did not send large shockwaves through Serbia. Unlike in Italy where Alitalia is a major political tool in Serbia Jat does not have very big political influence which has caused an often uninterested attitude on behalf of the government towards their national airline. However one parliamentary opposition member (whose party was in power before the May 2008 parliamentary elections) is calling for the government to immediately revive talks with Aeroflot regarding possible strategic partnership.