Criminal charges against MAT

MAT's final chapter

The Macedonian aviation authorities will file criminal charges against the management of MAT days after it grounded the carrier’s sole remaining aircraft, therefore putting the airline out of service. The aviation authorities have accused the Macedonian national carrier of selling tickets for flights despite the fact that they cannot be performed because MAT no longer has their Boeing B737-500. This applies to tickets that were sold after the aircraft was ceased. The authorities explain that because the other means of transportation were, and will not be, provided for passengers with MAT tickets, criminal charges will filed. MAT Macedonian Airlines’, only aircraft, the Boeing 737, has been grounded due to safety concerns according to the Macedonian Agency for Civil Aviation (ACV). ACV will initiate both misdemeanour and criminal proceedings against the Chairman of the Management Board of MAT Zlatko Petrovski, as well as the director of the company Gjorgji Cackirov and inform the Macedonian Government of the matter. MAT is owned by Živko Gruevski (48.43% of shares) and Zlatko Petrovski (48.43% of shares) while the remaining 3.14% of shares are owned by minor shareholders.

Currently there is no resumption of services on behalf of MAT in sight. This leaves 180 employees in doubt of their position within the carrier. With MAT grounded, Serbia’s Jat Airways has now become the largest carrier operating out of Macedonia with a total of 11 weekly flights, which will be increased to 13, starting June 1.

Charter wars - continued

Sky Airlines awaiting license for Serbia flights

The officials at Serbia’s Jat Airways have responded to local media which have been writing that the national carrier has been restricting access to foreign charter carrier to commence operations to Belgrade and Niš. Radoslav Stanković, the president of YUTA (the Serbian Travel Agents Association) says that Jat has no authority on choosing which airlines are allowed to operate to Serbia and that the national carrier is being blackmailed. On June 1, 2009 Jat’s charter operations license to Turkey and Egypt are expiring and the officials from those countries are announcing that they won’t extend the licenses until their charter carriers are allowed to fly to Serbia. Stanković says that “It is unbelievable that they are asking us to transport thousands of tourists to their countries and that we are being blackmailed at the same time. I can’t understand how the Turkish and Egyptian authorities are deciding whose aircraft will transport us to their countries this summer. This has never been seen before. This means that they want us to send our tourists exclusively via their airlines. No country in the world would agree to this”.

However, Stamenković says that the charter carriers from these countries are not to blame rather that it is “individual interests”. “The Government of Serbia sent a letter earlier this year to travel agents in the country stating that during the summer seasons the same rules will apply as last year, which means that foreign charter carriers will not transport Serbian tourists. Upon this order 97% of travel agencies made an agreement with Jat Airways for summer charters. However, 1 tourist agent made an agreement with foreign carriers, even though this is illegal. This is how the problem began”, explains YUTA’s director. He did not wish to name which tour operator is in question. Serbian passengers do not care with which carrier they will travel to their summer vacation since ticket prices are all included in their holiday packages. Stamenković says that if the government does not care for Jat to make 25 million Euros, like it did last year thanks to charter traffic, then it should clearly announce this.

No matter of the outcome of Jat’s charter operations to Egypt and Turkey this summer, all of Jat’s scheduled services to Istanbul are not affected by this decision as charter licenses are spate from regular licensed flights. In a study conducted during February and March this summer Serbs have chosen Greece as their number one holiday destination followed by Bulgaria, Turkey and Egypt.

Adria interested in Niš service

Niš Constantine the Great Airport passenger terminal

Slovenia’s Adria Airways is interested in commencing services to Serbia’s third largest city, Niš. In order for the service to begin a new aviation agreement between the two countries must be made as currently it only allows the national carrier from each country to operate 1 destination in the other (Ljubljana for Jat and Priština for Adria). The new service could bring Niš Constantine Airport back to life as the airport is currently only served by Jat Airways with 2 weekly flights to Zurich.

However, Niš could be getting a major boost this year. Turkish companies such as Atlasjet, Pegasus Airlines and Sky Airlines are interested in commencing services and Jat is hoping of starting services from Niš to Vienna. Niš is Serbia’s third largest city but it cannot rely on wide scale passenger traffic. The city lacks foreign investment therefore limiting business travel. However, it is attractive to some carrier because of its extreme low costs (many airlines have been offered free handling fees for the first 6 months of operations) and its close proximity to the mountain resort of Kopaonik is an added plus. Other carriers which used to operate flights to Niš were Montenegro Airlines on a seasonal basis (from Tivat) although it has decided not to return this year and Thompsonfly which continues with winter charters to London and Sofia. The authorities believe that the airport’s future lies in cargo operations and plans have begun to develop the airport in a major cargo hub for South Eastern Europe. Niš and its airport were heavily damaged during the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia while the airport was reopened in 2004 after its reconstruction was funded by the Norwegian Royal Family. Late last year the airport was cleared of all cassette bombs which were found in close proximity, undetonated since 1999. This work was carried out by Russian experts.

Charter wars

Atlasjet Belgrade service under question

With the Serbian national carrier, Jat Airways, on one side and 3 Turkish and 1 Egyptian carrier on the other a war has developed in order to gain licenses to perform charter services to and from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Some Serbian travel agencies have made agreements with foreign carriers to commence services to Belgrade this summer however the Serbian National Association of Tourist Agencies (YUTA) and Jat Airways are strongly against the move. However, the Turkish and Egyptian authorities are equally as frustrated and some of Jat’s charter services (the rare sector in which Jat performs extremely well passenger wise) is under question.

YUTA believes that letting foreign charter carriers commence services to Serbia could be a move which will directly harm the national interests of the country and the national carrier. Although Jat does not decide which carrier is allowed to fly to Serbia it has joined YUTA in its pursuit to get rid of these airlines. In order for other carriers to fly to Serbia they need to be issued a license by the Serbian Civil Aviation Authority. The authority informs Jat of which airline would like to commence services to Serbia and Jat gives their opinion if these should go ahead or not. However, Jat’s decision is not binding and is simply in place to see what the national carrier thinks. The trouble is that the Turkish and Egyptian authorities are now angry at Serbia and will take away Jat’s charter license if their carriers are not allowed to commence services to Belgrade and Niš.

Nevertheless it seems that the issue has been resolved for now, at least when Jat is in question, as the airline’s charter flights to Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheik and Antalya all departed on Sunday and arrived in Belgrade today.

The airlines which are interested to commence charter services to Serbia is the Egyptian Lotus Air which would fly to Belgrade from Marsa Alam from June 15 to October 29 and the Turkish charter companies Pegasus Airlines, Atlasjet and Sky Airlines which would connect Antalya to Belgrade via Niš.Jat’s charter services have been a big success since Montenegro Airlines ended charter operations from Belgrade in the summer of 2006. With practically a 100% share of the charter flights it would be difficult for Jat to lose it now, particularly when its struggling in the scheduled flights sector. The only charter carrier which has been issued with a license so far is the Tunisian Nouvelair from Monastir to Belgrade.

MAT grounded!

End of MAT?

The national carrier of Macedonia has been grounded until further notice by the Macedonian Civil Aviation Authority. The aviation body accused MAT of putting its passengers in danger by not repairing the front wheel on its sole fleet member, the Boeing B737-500. MAT’s CEO denies the charges and accuses the aviation authority of trying to destroy the carrier. Problems started earlier this year when the Macedonian Aviation Authority demanded that the front wheel of the Boeing 737-500 be changed. It gave the carrier until April 24, 2009 to make the change otherwise it would ground the aircraft. Since the airline did not perform the needed changes the Macedonian Aviation Authority did not wish to extend the given deadline. The seizure of the aircraft has led MAT’s flights into disarray with the first causality being 150 passengers from Skopje hoping to fly to Vienna. The flight had been cancelled and passengers were rerouted to their destination using other airlines.

MAT’s management says that passengers were never in danger and that the airline’s pilots and technicians would never allow the aircraft to operate have passengers ever been in danger. Furthermore the carrier says the last time the Macedonian Civil Aviation Authority undertook a safety review of the airline they found no faults. MAT says that it has ordered the replacement part which will take a few days to arrive because “it cannot just arrive over night”, Kristevski said. The replacement will cost the airline 50.000 American dollars, a major figure for the cash strapped carrier. The latest turn in the MAT drama has led to the cancellation of all flights this weekend which included flights from Skopje to Zurich and Istanbul.

It is now uncertain what awaits MAT. The latest development can only intensify the takeover of the carrier, with Serbia’s Jat Airways expected to be the new owners. MAT's managment is hoping that once the replacement part arrives the carrier will be able to fly again. He accuses the Macedonian Civil Aviation Authority of double standards as they have issued the Turkish charter carrier Tarhan Tower Airlines with a license to fly from Macedonia even though the Turkish Civil Aviation authority revoked the airline’s license in 2007 and the airline has been bankrupt ever since.

MAT has now been left without any aircraft as its other fleet member, a CRJ900, has been stored in Ljubljana after MAT was unable to pay for its operations. According to a poll on this blog earlier this year 61% of those that voted believed that MAT will no longer be flying by the end of 2009.

Code shares in abundance

Spanair - Croatia Airlines' newest partner

Croatia Airlines is using its status as a regional Star Alliance member to form plenty of new code share agreements with other carriers in Europe this summer. This way the Croatian national carrier will provide better services for its passengers and will be able to profit from the code share agreements. Croatia Airlines will start code sharing cooperation with Spanair. This budget Spanish carrier has been a Star Alliance member since 2003. The new code share will be made possible with the inauguration of new, 3 weekly flights, from Zagreb to Barcelona starting June 9. Croatia Airlines is offering in code share, Spanair flights from Barcelona to domestic destinations within Spain. These are Alicante, Bilbao, Granada, Ibiza, Jerez, La Coruna, Madrid, Malaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla and Vigo. The code share flight from Zagreb to Madrid via Barcelona in cooperation with Spanair will be in direct competition with the new nonstop Zagreb – Madrid service operated by the Spanish national carrier from July 4. Still within the Iberian Peninsula, Croatia Airlines has signed a new agreement with the Portuguese national carrier TAP. Via Barcelona, Croatian travellers will be able to fly on Croatia Airlines code share flight, operated by TAP, to Porto. The two carriers already code share on the TAP flights to Lisbon via Bologna from Zagreb.

For those interested, Croatia Airlines has been a regional Star Alliance member since 2004, with its membership sponsored by the German giant Lufthansa.

New flights as profits soar

Will new flights lead to more passangers?

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has been impacted by the global financial crisis as the number of passengers that have passed through the airport have declined however profits are greatly on the rise. While airports in the region are reporting significant financial losses, in particular Podgorica and some airports in Croatia, Belgrade made a profit of 387 million Dinars (3.2 million Euros) in the first quarter of 2009, which is 2.5 times more than the same period last year. In 2008 the airport made a profit of 14.161.231 Euros. The airport management emphasises this as a great success as passenger numbers have been reduced. The airport authorities say the result has been achieved by cost cutting measures the management has implemented. However, others would state another reason. The airport has been heavily criticised for the extremely high tax passengers have to pay. The airport’s resident, Jat Airways, has particularly criticised the 16.5 Euro airport tax its passengers have to pay.

Serbia’s largest airport has also reported that there will be an influx of new services this summer. Tunisian charter carrier Nouvelair will begin services to Belgrade from its hub in Monastir. Flights will operate twice per week which will add significant competition for the two carriers already operating on this line. There are a total of 11 weekly flights from Belgrade to Monastir with Jat Airways operating 7 flights and Tunisair operating the other 4. The new service will lead to 13 flights per week between the two cities. Meanwhile Turkish Airlines will increase its flights from 5 weekly to daily by the end of May, from Istanbul. The low-cost Norwegian Air Shuttle will introduce new services to Stockholm from May 23 while LOT Polish Airlines will begin with 4 weekly flights to Warsaw which will provide excellent short connection times for passengers transiting to New York, Chicago and Toronto. Jat will commence services to Abu Dhabi in May with flights operating twice per week.

No Easter = no passengers

Jat Airways cabin crew search for passengers

Passenger numbers have continued to slide for Serbia’s national carrier Jat Airways with the airline reporting a 23% drop in passengers in the month of March when compared to last year. Jat transported a total of 63.313 passengers, 179 tonnes of cargo and 57 tonnes of mail. The only sector improving this March compared to last is the amount of mail transported as it increased by 24% while cargo fell by 28%. A big disappointment for the airline is the cabin occupancy index which only reached 50%, 6% less than last March. Passengers travelling towards Jat’s most important market, Montenegro, declined by a large 53%. The number of charters operated fell by 43% but passengers on charter services increased by 24%. Jat can boast that it has significantly improved its on-time arrivals and departures to 83% (10% more than last March), although the majority of late departures were due to busy airports.

The main reason the carrier saw such large declines in most sectors is because of the absence of Easter. Last year Easter was in March which usually sees increased passenger activity. This year however the Easter holiday fell into the month of April. Jat will hope that with Easter and the launch of its popular Belgrade – Pula service it will see small declines in passenger numbers this April, if not even a modest rise in passengers.

Paris flights a success

Paris – Podgorica flights booked out

The first group of tourists from France came last night to Montenegro’s capital Podgorica after flying with Montenegro Airlines’ shiny new Embraer 195 aircraft. With a total of 113 passengers onboard, the aircraft was operating with full capacity. It landed at Podgorica Airport after which the French tourists proceeded towards Petrovac where they are staying in the hotel “Palas”. The tourists were welcomed by Rajko Uskoković, the Montenegro Airlines manager of the Paris office. On this occasion, he pointed out that this arrival of French tourists marks the beginning of a successful cooperation between Montenegro Airlines and tour operators from France. “Groups of tourists from France will be coming to Montenegro by scheduled flights of Montenegro Airlines until the end of October 2009. During the month of May the Montenegrin national carrier carry out 23 flights from Paris to Montenegro and this indicates the high interest of French tour operators for Montenegro Airlines flights”, Uskoković emphasised.

Despite the fact that this year has been marked as the year of crisis, Uskoković said that they managed to reach a deal with one of the most important tour operators. “From April 10, 2009 until the end of October 2009, tour operator “Prodintour” will have a certain number of seats reserved under the fixed rental on Montenegro Airlines flights. Montenegro Airlines has put in effort into making its scheduled flights competitive on the market when compared to airline companies in the region “, Uskoković said. He explained that the Montenegrin carrier will have three flights per week to Paris until the middle of June when a fourth flight will be introduced. “By the end of this year, we intend to carry out 152 flights from Paris and thus transport more than 1.400 passengers which will be a new record for the airline”, Uskoković concluded.

Montenegro Airlines’ main competitor on the Podgorica to Paris line is Jat Airways via Belgrade.

B&H Airlines launches 7 destinations

Soon in 7 more European cities

Nearly a month after the 2009 summer schedule flights have begun, B&H Airlines has published that it will be introducing a total of 7 new destinations, all of which will be launched in May. The new services have been made possible after it was agreed for Bosnia’s national carrier to receive a Boeing B737-400 from its new owners, Turkish Airlines. This will be the airline’s first jet engine aircraft which will join the existing fleet of 2 ATR72s. The new aircraft will be mostly deployed to Scandinavian services. The 7 new destinations are Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Prague. This adds a total of 18 weekly flights to the existing schedule. Out of these destinations Vienna will enjoy the most visits on behalf of B&H with a total of 5 weekly flights operated by an ATR72. Services to Copenhagen will operate twice a week with the Boeing 737-400, as will flights to Dusseldorf and Gothenburg. Flights to Berlin Tegel Airport will also be served twice a week but with the ATR72. Flights to Copenhagen will only be served once a week with B&H’s new fleet member while services to Prague will operate a total of 4 times per week with the ATR72. The new Boeing fleet member will finally see BH achieve its goal of commencing services to Scandinavia where there is a significant Bosnian Diaspora.

The carrier has also announced a regional expansion with services to Zagreb, Podgorica and Skopje. The Skopje service would operate via Podgorica. However, these flights have not been listed in the reservation system and timetable. It remains to be seen how successful the new routes will be.

All flight details can be found in the new route launches section on the right hand side.

Jat's present and future

Promising takeoff in 2010

Jat Airways’ outgoing CEO, Saša Vlaisavljević, has given an interview to a Serbian newspaper daily providing readers with an insight into the current situation at the airline, a more optimistic 2010 and his future affiliation with the Serbian national carrier.

Q: Jat is interested in taking over shares in MAT Macedonian Airlines. Are there any plans for similar cooperation with other regional carriers?
Vlaisavljević: Our goal is to have strong and successful cooperation with all carriers in the region. In the second half of the year we will organise a large summit in Belgrade where representatives from all carriers in the region will be invited. It will give us an opportunity to improve relations and our business results.

Q: You are leaving the airline to become the city manager of Belgrade at a time when Jat is successfully managing to get itself out of the crisis caused by the failed privatisation and the economic situation. Why?
Vlaisavljević: The work undertaken by this management has now been successfully completed. Its main aim was for the airline to survive and this has been done. The next phase was to manage to revitalize the airline which will be done as we have secured a large loan from the Serbian government. I will be leaving the airline as soon as Jat signs a new agreement with its independent technical maintenance division Jat Tehnika as costs for maintaining the aircraft with Jat Tehnika is currently extremely costly.

Q: What will happen after this?
Vlaisavljević: After this is done a new management is expected, a new fleet will begin to arrive from 2010 and the carrier will be revived in many sectors. Therefore passengers can expect big changes within the next year.

Who will be Jat’s new CEO?
Serbian media have discovered that Jat’s next CEO will be named by Saša Vlaisavljević. The new CEO will most probably be one of Vlaisavljević’s closest aides. However, Vlaisavljević will remain on the company’s board of directors which will receive a great deal authority. Vlaisavljević will be Belgrade’s new city manager but will provide a few hours each week to actively engage in Jat. Vlaisavljević’s reign at Jat has mixed feelings amongst employees with many criticising the way the cost cutting measures have been carried out.

Flying dots to disappear?
Jat’s much criticised “Flying Dots” livery could soon disappear. The carrier has asked young designers to create a new visual identity for the carrier at the upcoming Belgrade Design Week. The winning designers will receive free tickets from Jat to a destination of their choice however it is not expected that the carrier will apply the new look soon. The winning livery design could be applied in 2010 when new aircraft arrive.

New cabin crew
Jat has called on males and females aged 18 to 25 to apply to become cabin crew at Jat Airways. The new cabin crew will go through a 3 week training course culminating with a swimming test. The new cabin crew must also be fluent in Serbian and English and have basic knowledge of a third language. A total of 25 new cabin crew will be accepted. Meanwhile 4 cabin crew members have been promoted to purser positions after a 10 week training course. From late April a further 10 cabin crew member will commence a 10 week training course to become members of the senior cabin crew.

Jat Catering to improve
The independent company providing catering aboard Jat Airways flights, Jat Catering, has named its new CEO. Aleksandar Bogdanović, who has worked in Jat since 1983, has announced improvement in the catering offer at Serbia’s national carrier within the next few months with the launch of the new catering campaign “National company, national service”.

Happy Easter

The St. Sava Orthodox Church, Belgrade, Serbia

To all readers marking today...

Srećan Uskrs
Христос васкрсе
Среќен Велигден

Visit tomorrow to read an nterview with Jat Airways CEO.

Adria eyes Montenegro

Montenegro Airlines Embraer 195

Slovenia’s Adria Airways is the latest company interested in the purchase of 30% of the shares in Montenegro Airlines. Representatives from Slovenia will be arriving in Podgorica within the next few weeks to hold talks with their Montenegrin counterpart. During this week Israel’s El Al held talks with Montenegro Airlines as they are interested in purchasing the carrier as well as the company “Airports of Montenegro” which manages Podgorica and Tivat airports. However, Montenegro Airlines CEO Zoran Đurišić has said that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is the most interested buyer and that talks with this 61-country fund organisation, based in London, have been the most successful so far. EBRD expressed its interest in Montenegro Airlines two years ago and has since held many talks with the company’s management. The Montenegro Airlines privatisation process is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Montenegro Airlines should have 5 aircraft in its fleet by 2010, which Đurišić says will satisfy the companies needs until 2020.

Founded in 1991, the EBRD uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 27 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their private sectors. EBRD provides project financing for banks, industries and businesses, both new ventures and investments in existing companies. It also works with publicly owned companies to support privatisation, restructuring state-owned firms and improvement of municipal services.

TAROM in Croatia

Soon in Croatia

The Romanian national carrier, TAROM, will make an entrance into the Croatian market by introducing two new lines from the capital Bucharest. The carrier will introduce direct flights to Dubrovnik on June 18, 2009 from Henri Coanda Airport while services from Bucharest to Zagreb begin September 2. The new flights will be the only air connection between Romania and Croatia as Croatia Airlines currently does not offer services to Romania. It is interesting to note that the service to Dubrovnik are not seasonal, meaning that it should operate throughout the year. The Dubrovnik service will operate twice a week while the Zagreb service will operate 3 times per week. Flight details can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section.

TAROM is one of the oldest airlines in Europe which experienced particular growth in the early 1990s and more recently in 2007. The airline serves 48 destinations in 22 countries. Croatia will become the first EX-YU country that TAROM will operate services to.

New Niš service

Niš

Serbia’s Jat Airways is considering commencing scheduled services between Serbia’s third largest city, Niš, located in Eastern Serbia and Vienna. The new service could commence during mid summer after Jat Airways successfully completed talks with the management of Niš Constantine the Great Airport. However, the new service will only go ahead if Jat is able to make an agreement with Austrian Airlines. Jat is hoping for the service to Vienna from Niš to be a code share flight with Austrian Airlines operated by a Jat ATR72. The new service would substitute one of Jat’s flights to Vienna from Belgrade. In 2007, Jat started service from Niš to Vienna after the airline was criticised for not paying enough attention to Serbia’s second international airport. However, the service was cancelled after two weeks with a total of 5 tickets sold from Niš and 2 tickets sold from Vienna. Jat operates 2 weekly flights from Niš to Zurich using the Boeing B737-300. Negotiations with Austrian Airlines will commence next week and if successful new flight could begin in mid June.

Meanwhile Jat’s director for commercial operations, Vladimir Ognjenović, said that Jat is preparing to commence services to Dubrovnik next summer. He stated that Jat insisted to operate the successful seasonal Pula service throughout the year however the Croatian Aviation Board rejected to issue Jat a renewed license. He also stated that Jat wanted to commence this year’s service on March 29, however once again because the Croatian Aviation Board was late in issuing a new license it will have to wait until April 23 to commence the 4 weekly service from Belgrade.

Croatian airports hit by crisis

Empty Zadar Airport

In the month of March, Croatian Airports have continued to feel the negative impact of the global financial crisis with the number of passengers declining at all major airports when compared to the same month last year. Unlike February when at least some airports managed to report positive results, March also suffered because there was no holiday (Easter) like last year. Osijek Airport suffered the most with passenger numbers declining from 1.423 this time last year to 62, a decrease of 95.6%. The next worst performing airport is Zadar which saw traffic fall by 36%. From 40.085 passengers in March 2008, Dubrovnik reported 25.189 passengers in March 2009, a decrease of 35.6%. Pula and Split also reported negative results with passenger numbers falling between 25 and 28% at the two airports. The country’s largest international airport, Zagreb, could not withstand the downturn and continued with a second consecutive month of negative results. In March 2008 Zagreb served 164.356 passengers while the same month this year the number fell to 149.086, a 9.3% decrease. The great rivalry between Zagreb’s Pleso Airport and Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla continues although Belgrade is still just winning the race. From January to the end of March, Zagreb has served a total of 410.373 passengers while Belgrade has served 432.107 passengers.

These results are not overly concerning when the financial crisis is taken into consideration however it is worrying that even though flight operations increased at nearly all Croatian airports when compared to last year (the number of flights operating to Croatia) the number of passengers is still significantly down. This may cause some worry as many new services which will commence to and from various Croatian airports during the summer will not necessarily increase passenger numbers.

Code shares and SPA’s with El Al

Shalom Montenegro Airlines

Montenegro Airlines and the national carrier of Israel, EL Al, which is interested in the purchase of 30% of shares in the Montenegrin carrier, will soon sign Special Prorate Agreements (SPA’s) and code shares with each other. The SPA would allow Montenegro Airlines to sell tickets on select El Al destinations and El Al would be able to do the same with Montenegro Airlines with both airlines sharing the profits. However the SPA agreement relies on bilateral government agreements. Only once an agreement is signed between the government of Montenegro and Israel can the cooperation take full swing. After successful talks in Podgorica yesterday, Montenegro Airlines CEO Zoran Đurišić will travel to Tel Aviv next week where further negotiations should take place. Montenegro Airlines has a total of 50 SPA agreements although with different carriers.

“Montenegro Airlines is looking for a strategic partner so we don’t come into a situation where the big fish will eat up the smaller one”, Đurišić explained stating that El Al is not the only carrier showing interest in Montenegro Airlines with carriers from Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany also interested. Three years ago the government of Montenegro adopted a plan regarding the privatisation of 30% of Montenegro Airlines. While Đurišić says that there is no time frame until when the privatisation should be complete he states that it would be most beneficial that it occurs by the end of the year. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has also shown great interest in purchasing these shares.

El Al representative Hayim Romano said that Montenegro Airlines is a good partner and that he expects improved cooperation between the two airlines. “I hope that the SPA and code share agreements are only the first step in what should be a successful and long term cooperation”, Hayim said. He states that charter services between Tel Aviv and Podgorica should begin this year while a permanent line depends on the bilateral agreement between the two countries. Yesterday it was reported that El Al would demand taking over “Airports of Montenegro” if it bought Montenegro Airlines however Hayim said this was not discussed yesterday although he adds “all options are open”.Israeli companies have, in the last 5 years, intensified their investments in the region especially Montenegro and Serbia. Montenegro Airlines could become the second EX-YU airline to be partially privatised by the end of the year with a takeover of MAT Macedonian Airlines on behalf of Jat Airways expected in August this year. Last year Turkish Airlines took over the Bosnian B&H Airlines.

El Al in Montenegro bid

Podgorica Airport soon part of El Al Israel Airlines Limited?

The national carrier of Israel, El Al, is interested in taking over, together with the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) some 30% of shares of Montenegro Airlines which have been put on sale by the Montenegrin government. Montenegro Airlines CEO, Zoran Đurišić, confirmed the news saying that negotiations between the two begin today when the El Al president in charge for the European market visits the airline’s management in Podgorica. The officials from the two companies will discuss business results in the last few years, development perspectives of Montenegro Airlines and passenger and flight security systems. If El Al is successful in its bid it would become a minority shareholder with the government still a majority holder of shares. However, the government has said it would sell most of its shares within the next few years if the new partnership proves successful which would allow El Al to become a majority owner. El Al, however, is conditioning the Montenegrin government, as it also wants to buy Podgorica and Tivat Airport, rather the company “Airports of Montenegro”, which controls Montenegro’s two international airports. This could prove as an obstacle as the government has no plans to sell this company which has been reasonably profitable in the last few years.

Montenegro Airlines CEO also stated that Montenegro Airlines recently adopted its 2008 financial report where it was established that Montenegro Airlines has operated with a total loss of 701 thousand Euros. In his words, Montenegro Airlines has made an unprecedented financial turnover of 61 million Euros, which is 15 million Euros more than in 2007. “We shouldn’t forget the fact that last year was a year of crisis in the air transport industry when many companies went bankrupt. Some of the companies in the region registered losses of up to 20 million Euros”, Đurišić explained declaring that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) published information of a 5.3 billion Euros overall loss amongst world carriers. Đurišić claims that, despite the losses, Montenegro Airlines is a stable company and until now it has not asked for help from the government. “We are implementing a special-purpose plan of cutting expenditures for a couple of months. There was a 20% salary cut, representatives from various countries were withdrawn and business travels have been minimised. By cutting all these expenditures we have managed to remunerate the existing losses”, he emphasised.

El Al Israeli Airlines operates to 45 destinations and is widely acknowledged as the world’s safest airline. Although sometimes criticised, the airline has air marshals on all flights, rigorous passport and baggage checks at airports while most new aircraft have an anti missile protection system which defends the aircraft from potential missiles. The carrier operates with a 37 member all Boeing fleet. El Al also has its own cargo division and owns the charter airline Sun d’Or International Airlines.

Happy Easter

Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Ljubljana, Slovenia

To all readers marking today...

Sretan Uskrs
Vesele velikonočne praznike

Visit tomorrow to read about Montenegro Airlines’ potential new owner.

JAL in EX-YU

Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400 soon in Ljubljana and Dubrovnik

The national flag carrier of Japan, Japan Airlines (JAL), will be performing its usual summer charter services from Japan to Europe. JAL has announced it will be operating 13 European charter services for the Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) during the summer of 2009. Service is operated by the Boeing B747-400 aircraft, which seats between 356 to 372 passengers. One of the destinations that will be served are Ljubljana in Slovenia and Dubrovnik in Croatia. The jumbo jet will be in Ljubljana twice during the week from August 29, 2009 to September 6. It will operate services from Tokyo Narita Airport to Ljubljana while the return flights will operate from Dubrovnik to Tokyo. In the week from September 4 to September 11, passengers will be able to fly from Fukuoka to Dubrovnik via Sapporo. The return service will operate from Ljubljana to Fukuoka via Sapporo. Finally, the airline will end its European summer charters with 2 flights from September 10 to September 18 from Tokyo Narita to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport while the return flights will operate from Dubrovnik. Other European charter destinations that will be included by JAL this year consist of Stockholm, Bergen (Norway), Prague, Budapest, Riga, Milan, Rome and Athens.

Meanwhile, Swiss International Air Lines has started code sharing services with Croatia Airlines on flights between Zurich and Split and Zurich and Dubrovnik. Until now the two airlines only code shared on services between Zurich and Zagreb.

MAT takeover a step closer

Zlatko Petrovski (centre left) and Saša Vlaisavljević (centre right) sign a new cooperation agreement in Belgrade

Serbia’s Jat Airways and MAT Macedonian Airlines representatives yesterday signed an agreement in Belgrade on finding the best business solution involving the payment of the overall debt with interest rates that Jat demands from Macedonia's national carrier. The agreement was signed by Jat’s outgoing CEO Saša Vlaisavljević and the president of MAT’s Board of Directors, Zlatko Petrovski. Both airlines state that interest was shown for establishing various forms of cooperation between the two, from technical and commercial aspect as well as a majority takeover of MAT on behalf of Jat Airways. “By improving the companies’ partnership, Jat Airways is once again confirming its goal to become a regional leader and is showing willingness with its presence on the market to improve the services for passengers from Macedonia”, the MAT CEO stated. Jat management states that Skopje Airport served 660.000 passengers in 2008, 35% of which travelled with MAT and another 10% travelled with Jat.

On April 14, 2009 Jat representatives will travel to Skopje where they will determine the financial situation at MAT and what has to be done to renew the airline which has been riddled with problems in the past few months. Within the next 15 days a group of experts will determine the amount of shares Jat could buy from MAT while the takeover documentation is expected to be signed just prior to summer which could make Jat Airways the new owner of MAT Macedonian Airline bys August.

It now seems imminent that Jat will once again play a big part in MAT’s future. It was Jat Airways, then known as Yugoslav Airlines, which established the national Macedonian carrier in 1994.

Pula prepares for busy summer

Pula

The seaside town of Pula in Croatia is preparing for an influx of tourists and new air services as summer approaches. The number of Serbian passengers at Pula Airport is expected to triple this year compared to last when a total of 1.200 Serbian tourists flew from Belgrade to the largest city in the region of Istria. This year 4.000 Jat passengers are expected as the carrier introduces seasonal services to Pula on April 23 twice a week, increasing to 4 from June 1 and ending on October 24. Pula Airport CEO Bruno Rogović says that the airport is in negotiations with certain airlines to open regional non-stop services from Priština, Ohrid, Podgorica and Sarajevo. Rogović also says that these flights are still in the planning stages and that passengers will know more about them by the end of the summer season, in late October.

Recently the low cost Ryanair commenced seasonal services from London to Pula while charter carrier Arkefly will commence services from Amsterdam in April. Croatia Airlines will commence services from Pula to London in July and to Paris in April. The Austrian budget carrier InterSky will commence service from the German city of Friedrichshafen while passengers will be able to travel with Viking Airlines from a total of 5 cities to Pula. Low cost Norwegian Air Shuttle and Germanwings are also introducing services to Pula.

Most upcoming flights to Pula have already been added in the new route launches section on the right hand side of the blog. Those that haven’t will be added soon.

Adria Airways renewing its fleet

Adria Airbus A320 soon to be replaced

As reported yesterday the Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways has signed a letter of intent to purchase a new Airbus A319, valued at around 45 million American dollars, the company wrote in a press release released Monday. The company plans to successively replace its three Airbus A320s with the new modern Airbus A319 planes by 2013 as part of the strategic plan to modernise its entire fleet. After four new Canadair CRJ900s, this is Adria's fifth new plane in the last five years. The trade union of Adria's pilots already said it welcomed the work of the management in the modernisation of the fleet.

The Airbus A319s belong to the same category as the Airbus A320s, which means the pilots, the cabin crew and the technical personnel will need no additional training, Adria Airways explained. Furthermore, the new plane are more economical and environmentally friendly compared to the existing fleet and conforms to the carbon dioxide emission standard that steps into force in 2011. Its usual capacity is approximately 120 seats. The airline says that the A319 is economical for the route profile of Adria Airways. One of the A320s that are being phased out has been leased to the Libyan Afriqiyah Airways.

New destination and new fleet

Adria Airways cabin crew, now in Madrid

This April, Adria Airways began operating a new scheduled service between Ljubljana and Madrid. This new service aims to serve both business travellers and Slovenian tourists, among whom interest in visiting Spain is growing. Tourists from Spain are also expected. Adria's 86-seat Canadair Regional Jet CRJ900 aircraft will fly between Ljubljana and Madrid twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Special offer tickets are available from 162 Euros until April 20. From the inauguration until July 31, 2009 passengers on the new Ljubljana–Madrid–Ljubljana route will receive double points from the Adria Corporate Card programme. “Spain is one of the most popular destinations for Slovenian holidaymakers, while interest in Slovenia is also growing among Spanish tourists”, Tomaž Kostanjšek, Adria's director of sales and marketing said.

Meanwhile Adria Airways has signed a letter of intent to purchase a new Airbus A319, valued at around 45 million American dollars, the company wrote in a press release yesterday. More news regarding the deal will be published on the blog in the following days.

MAT drama continues

MAT going to court

It is no secret that MAT has had more than bad luck in the past few months. It has been banned from flying to 3 countries, Skopje Airport is threatening to sue the airline, it has stored one of its most modern aircraft and it is in debt. The national airline of Macedonia blames all of these factors on Zoran Krstevski, the director of the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency. The company informed that the reason it will sue Krstevski is because he has stated many lies to the media regarding the multi million Euro debt, which has caused damage to the company with passenger numbers dropping. MAT’s report states that, Krstevski has been driven to destroy MAT due to personal reasons and hidden motives. The MAT statement continues by saying that Macedonia is the only country in the world in where civil aviation authorities are against their own air carrier. The Civil Aviation Agency responded that they believe that MAT wants to pressure them into reducing the safety conditions for flights.

Meanwhile no new information has been announced regarding the potential Jat Airways takeover of MAT. Although both airlines stated that they would provide information to the public during last week, they have stayed quiet. MAT says that another 2 airlines are also interested in the takeover. Rumours state that one of the other carriers interested is also from the former Yugoslavia while the other is Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airline recently took over B&H Airlines while a Turkish company has been chosen to manage Skopje and Ohrid airports.

Overnight flights begin at Priština

Now open 24 hours a day

From April 1, 2009 Priština International Airport has opened its doors to passengers, airlines and aircraft 24 hours a day and 7 days a week ending its midnight time closures. The airport handled its first scheduled passenger flight to land after midnight on April 2. This decision was made by the management of Priština Airport following requests by airlines which wish to land at the airport during night time. Technical and financial analysis showed that allowing the airport to be open 24 hours would be beneficial for profits. This initiative was also conditioned upon a close cooperation with state agencies like Kosovo Police and Customs Services as well as the Kosovo Civil Aviation Authority.

Priština Airport management considers this decision as one of the most important ones it has taken in the past years, marking a huge step for the company in the field of civil aviation development. So far Priština Airport’s working hours were from 6.00 until 22.00. The first overnight flight arrived at 1.00. It was Adria Airways’ flight from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. Adria has confirmed that it will have seven flights a week landing an hour behind midnight. Another four overnight flights have also been confirmed by Croatia Airlines. “There is sufficient interest by the airlines for overnight flights. So far two companies have confirmed flights on this schedule but during the summer season we expect increased requests. Another company which is expected to start overnight flights is Swiss International Airlines", Agron Mustafa the Managing Director of Priština Airport said. According to him the launch of overnight flights has opened new perspectives for foreign investments in Kosovo. The overnight flights will be beneficial for European carriers wishing to attract many transit passengers from Priština continuing to the United States and Canada.

Passengers desert Adria

The smiles soon to fade

Four months into the new year passenger data for Slovenia’s Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines have finally surfaced. Although figures are only for the first two months of the year the Association of European Airlines (AEA) has published passenger numbers for 32 carriers on the continent. From the data one can note the large decrease of passengers across Europe while Adria Airways is performing the worst out of the three largest national carriers from the EX-YU region.

In January the Slovenian carrier saw a 10.8% decrease in passenger numbers when compared to 2008. During that month Serbia’s Jat Airways performed the worst with a total 14.6% decrease. Croatia Airlines was one of the rare carriers in Europe to have positive results. Largely thanks to the World Handball Championships and domestic traffic the Croatian carrier managed an impressive 4.7% increase in passenger figures for the month. However even Croatia Airlines could not sustain growth in February. The carrier had 2.8% less passengers in February 2009 than last year. Jat Airways had a drop of 15.1% while Adria fared the worst with passenger figures dropping by 19.1%. Adria also noted big drops in cargo transportation, capacity and cabin occupancy.

Overall for the first two months of the year Adria Airways lost 14.9% passengers compared to last year. Jat Airways is nearby with a loss of 14.8% while many European carriers can only be envious of Croatia Airlines which overall had a 1.1% increase in passenger figures. The real test for the Croatian carrier will be during June, July and August during the peak of the summer and tourist season. Jat Airways continues to be the only EX-YU carrier to regularly publish its passenger statistics. It should publish its March results during next week. It is interesting to note that the best performing carrier in Europe is currently Turkish Airlines with an 11.3% increase in passengers while Icelandair performs worst with a 26.7% passenger loss.

The figures reveal the extent of the current downturn. Compared to the corresponding months of 2008, passenger traffic across Europe was down 3.9% in January and 8.8% in February, although this latter figure was measured against a 29-day month last year and a truer figure would be minus 5.5%.

Safety plagues Montenegro Airlines

2 incidents in one month - the curse of the Podgorica to Rome service

Recent safety incidents at Montenegro Airlines have brought wide spread publicity to the carrier in the country however for all the wrong reasons. The most recent incident occurred on March 29 when a Montenegro Airlines Fokker F100, bound for Rome from Podgorica, was boarding. As passengers entered the aircraft the electronic lighting system in the aircraft failed and the light for a technical default turned on. Passengers were asked to de-board and the aircraft which was scheduled to depart at 16.20 departed some 4 hours later at 20.30. The problem seemed to have been a minor technical failure however this brought little comfort to passengers, many of which had connecting onwards flights from Rome.

A more serious problem at Montenegro Airlines occurred last month when another Fokker F100, also bound for Rome, had one of its wheels fall off upon departure from Podgorica. None of the cabin crew noticed the problem but they were alerted by Podgorica air traffic control when the aircraft was flying over the Croatian cost. The aircraft immediately turned back to Podgorica. After an hour of cruising above the city in order to burn fuel the aircraft landed safely with one of its wheels missing. All emergency services at Podgorica airport were alerted and on standby in case intervention was needed. There was a total of 28 passengers onboard.

The incidents have led to the debate if Montenegro’s Fokker’s are safe. The majority of its 4 F100s are 18 years old. The overall age of the Montenegro Airlines fleet is 14 years.

Tuzla flights fail

B&H Airline ATR72 skipping Tuzla until further notice

B&H Airlines’ attempt to commence services from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest city located in the East of the country, to Frankfurt has had a disastrous start. The first service which was schedule to commence on March 30 was cancelled after the carrier failed to sell any tickets. On the return service to Tuzla that day only 1 ticket had been sold and therefore the airline decided to cancel the flight. However future prospects for the Tuzla to Frankfurt service do not look promising. Yesterdays service was also cancelled. Flights to Frankfurt are operated from Sarajevo via Tuzla however the carrier has now dumped the stopover.

The Tuzla to Frankfurt service would have been the first scheduled commercial flight after the airport received necessary licenses for civilian flights in 1998. The Tuzla service was supposed to be operated in cooperation with Turkish Airlines through a code share agreement. They were to operate twice per week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Zagreb Airport – past and present

Annual traffic

Zagreb airport is Croatia’s busiest airport and last year passed through the two million passenger mark for the first time. Promoting itself as “Gateway to Southeast Europe” the airport recorded double-digit growth for a fourth successive year resulting in a passenger increase of 50% in just four years. Growth has been remarkably consistent in recent years with traffic only declining in 1999.

The airport’s seasonality profile follows a traditional European city profile with a peak in July. The effect of Easter’s shift into March in 2008 can clearly be seen. The seasonality of other Croatian airports is much more extreme reflecting their role as gateways to coastal resorts.

Airline	Frequency share	Capacity share	Number of routes
Croatia Airlines	59.3%	66.4%	17
Lufthansa	9.7%	7.8%	2 (FRA, MUC)
Germanwings	4.8%	6.3%	3 (CGN, STR, SXF)
Austrian	5.5%	3.5%	1 (VIE)
Turkish Airlines	2.4%	3.4%	1 (IST)
Air France	4.8%	3.1%	1 (CDG)

The national flag carrier Croatia Airlines dominates traffic at the airport and this summer will operate non-stop to 17 destinations giving it two-thirds of all scheduled traffic at the airport. Lufthansa and its partner low-cost airline Germanwings are the next two biggest airlines operating a total of five routes to Germany. Other airlines operating scheduled services this summer include Malev, Wizz Air, Aeroflot, CSA Czech Airlines and TAP Portugal. TAP’s service is to Bologna which then continues on to Lisbon. Wizz Air, the only LCC other than Germanwings with a presence at the airport, operates a single route daily to London Luton.

Analysis of schedule data for this summer reveals that Germany has the most flights and seat capacity. Domestic services are operated by Croatia Airlines to Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar.

Croatia Airlines is present in nearly all of the leading markets except Hungary and Turkey where Malev and Turkish Airlines have a monopoly. Surprisingly there are no flights to either Rome or Milan although regional links continue to grow within the former Yugoslavia. In June Croatia Airlines began 3 weekly regional services to both Priština and Podgorica. Spain is currently unserved though this will change when Croatia Airlines starts flights to Barcelona in June and Iberia launches Madrid services in July. Other new routes starting this summer include Gothenburg (3 times per week with Croatia Airlines) and Tel Aviv (weekly with El Al subsidiary Sun D’Or from April 15). However, routes to Dortmund (with Germanwings), Dusseldorf (with Croatia Airlines) and Geneva (with Baboo) which have started during the last two years appear to have been axed, or in the case of Geneva have ceased at the end of the 2008/09 winter season.