Passenger numbers continue to decline

Jat cabins empty as passenger numbers decline

As May draws to a close Jat’s passenger figures continue to decline for a 6th consecutive month. The airline has published its results for the month of April. In the first 4 months of 2009, Jat Airways has carried a total of 261.203 passengers, 602 tonnes of cargo and 210 tonnes of mail. Comparing to the same period last year and with 19% less flights Jat carried 19% less passengers, transported 34% less cargo and transported 10% more of mail. The Cabin Load Factor (CLF) which stood at 53% by the end of April in 2008 now stands at 50%, 3 index points lower. In the first 4 months of the year Jat is particularly noting a decline in passengers travelling to Montenegro. Passenger numbers on lines to Tivat and Podgorica declined by a large 55%.

In April 2009, Jat transported 77.273 passengers. This means, compared to last April, passenger numbers have declined by 18%. In April 2009 the CLF stood at 57% which is a decrease from 59% in April 2008.Compared to last year the only sector seeing an increase in passenger numbers is charter services. There were a total of 15 more charter flights in April 2009 compared to the same month last year. Charter flights have increased by 10% this year while passengers on charter flights have also increased by 12%.

By the end of April 2008 a total of 15.000 passengers travelled with Jat to Montenegro while this year the number is 5.646. On Euro-Mediterranean services Jat carried a total of 67.323 until April 2009, compared to 74.894 passengers last year. Passengers travelling on Jat’s charter flights increased from 3.833 to 4.305 this year. Nevertheless, April is so far the best performing month for Jat so far this year. The low passenger figures are a result of the global financial crisis. The airline will publish its May results in a few weeks. Last year Jat recorded its best May passenger figures since 1991, which will be tough to beat this year.

Croatia Airlines plans Iran service

Tehran

Croatia’s national carrier is in negotiations with a tour operator to begin seasonal summer charter services from Dubrovnik to Tehran, the capital of Iran. The last group of Iranian tourists visited Croatia’s coast in 2007 when Turkish Airlines offered services from Tehran to Zadar in cooperation with Croatia Airlines. However, this arrangement did not continue into 2008 due to the political situation in Iran. Currently Croatia Airlines is unable to come to an agreement with the tour operator in order to begin services to Iran. Nevertheless the management of the Croatian national carrier believes that the service to Tehran could be very profitable if operated during July and August in cooperation with a tour operator. Croatia has invested greatly in the promotion of its tourism offer in Iran in the past few months. Croatia Airlines is hoping that this way it will contribute to the Croatian tourism industry which is facing an extremely difficult summer due to the global financial crisis. If the flights become a reality it would be Croatia Airlines’ longest service.

Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines will be wet leasing a single Bombardier CRJ200 from Adria Airways. The aircraft, registered S5-AAG, is in the Star Alliance livery. It will be used mainly on services from Zagreb to Munich, Zadar and Pula until the arrival of Croatia Airlines’ new Dash Q400 in July.

Montenegro Airlines changes aircraft order

From Embarer E195 to E175

Only a few days after receiving its second new Embarer E195 jet, Montenegro Airline CEO, Zoran Đurišić has said that its final order for the E195 will be changed to an Embarer E175.The E175, like the E195 is part of the Brazilian company’s E-jets family. The main difference between the two aircraft is that the E175 can seat some 80 people while the E195 model can seat approximately 120 passengers. The change in the aircraft order comes as demand falls across the aviation industry. However, Đurišić says that the Montenegrin national carrier, together with Turkish Airlines, is one of the rare national carriers in Europe reporting an increase in passengers this year. The contract for the order change will be officially signed next Thursday in Paris.

In the meantime the debate of who should take over the Montenegrin carrier is intensifying. El-Al Israel which has so far shown great interest in the airline is sending a delegation to Podgorica, for a second time in two months. The management of Montenegro Airlines will meet with the El-Al delegation next week. Yesterday, a Greek business delegation held talks with the Montenegrin Government. The delegation which included the Restis Group, Greece's fifth-largest shipping company, showed interest in Montenegro Airlines. The Restis Group would like Montenegro Airlines to begin scheduled 3 weekly services from Podgorica to Tel Aviv via Rhodes and Athens. The 3 weekly service would, according to the Restis Group, be increased during the summer period. Yesterday, Sun d’Or International Airlines, an El-Al subsidiary began services from Tel Aviv to Tivat.

Star Alliance dumps Adria and Croatia

Star Alliance ends regional membership

The world’s largest airline alliance system, Star Alliance, will get rid of its regional membership scheme whose members are both Slovenia’s Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines. The group plans to present an updated corporate governance on the sidelines of the IATA annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur next month and the step is expected to be formally announced there in addition to other changes. Croatia Airlines, Blue 1 (Finland) and Adria Airways are currently the only regional members. Their status is more restricted than that of a full member. None of the three airlines have been invited to join the main alliance system. However, the principle of unanimous voting for new members will no longer be applied, which could clear the way for smaller carriers such as Croatia, Blue 1 and Adria to become full members.

Star formally invited Greek carrier Aegean to join the alliance as a full member today. The airline is expected to finally join the largest alliance in mid 2010. Aegean will bring nine new destinations to the alliance network plus a sizeable domestic network that Star Alliance so far has not had access to. Its principle competitor, Olympic, is not yet aligned with any of the other groups. Star officials point out that Lufthansa's proposal to add Aegean was quickly adopted. Turkish Airlines, geographically the nearest member, did not object to the plans either. Lufthansa was the sponsor of both Adria’s and Croatia Airlines’ membership in Star.

The airlines expected to join the alliance this year are Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM Airlines. Next year, besides Aegean, Air India will also join the alliance. Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines become regional Star Alliance members in 2004. Their fate in the alliance will officially be announced next month.

Austrian takes over MAT service

More visits to Skopje - Austrian Arrows Bombardier Q400

Austrian Airlines will be adding an extra four services a week, on top of the existing Vienna to Skopje daily flights to be operated by Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft. MAT Macedonian Airlines operated this service 4 times per week in a code share agreement with Austrian. As MAT has been grounded, the code share will now end and Austrian Airlines has committed itself to flying the route with its own services. The existing daily flights will remain the same, and as such the carrier will move to 11 services a week. “The new step represents a significant expansion in seating capacity. The Balkan region represents an essential and strong pillar of the strategy of Austrian Airlines”, the carrier said in a statement.

Operating under the Austrian Arrows brand, the new 72 seat Bombardier services will be operational from June 2 this year. Macedonian Airlines (MAT) has run out of aircraft in the past three weeks following the misunderstandings between the carrier and the Civil Aviation Agency, which were triggered by the overhaul of MAT's sole aircraft, the Boeing B737-500.

From June 1, 2009, Adria Airways will have the greatest share of services from Skopje. It will have a share of 19.7% of all flights, Jat Airways will enjoy a share of 16.9%, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Austrian Airlines both with 15.4% of all flights from Skopje, Croatia Airlines with 11.2%, CSA Czech Airlines with 8.4%, Turkish Airlines with 7%, B&H Airlines with 4.2% and Bulgaria Air with 1.4%.

Jat to disappear

2010 - the end of Jat Airways

After Jat Airways’ aircraft, a B737-300 registered YU-ANJ, entered service on Monday with a new look interior, the carrier's outgoing CEO Saša Vlaisavljević revealed that Jat Airways will no longer be the name of the Serbian national carrier. The new name of the airline will be revealed in spring of 2010 when new aircraft are expected to arrive. The new aircraft, besides a new name and logo, will have a new livery while each aircraft will carry the name of a city in Serbia. The new name will include the name “Serbia” in it so it is easy to associate with the country. Vlaisavljević says that the name will be changed due to great public pressure to do so. The new name of the airline will either be Air Serbia, Serbia Airlines or Serbian Airways. The new look will also see a big restructuring within the cabin crew department and young cabin crew will be employed, an unwelcome peace of news for the current Jat cabin crew.

Vlaisavljević said that the new visual identity will cost the airline approximately 250.000 Euros but that the process, which has been delayed many times, must be complete when new aircraft start arriving. Jat’s current look, known as the “the flying dots”, was applied in 2003 when the airline changed its name from JAT Yugoslav Airlines to Jat Airways, after Yugoslavia ceased to exist. On Friday, Jat will name a 3 member team which will be involved in the negotiation for the purchase of new aircraft. This team will travel to the Paris Air Show which will be held from June 15 to 21 where an agreement should be made for the purchase of 3 new ATR72-500s, to replace the current ATR 200 series, in the airline’s fleet.

Jat’s current CEO, Saša Vlaisavljević will leave his position on June 1. Will his idea of a new look be carried out by the next Jat administration remains to be seen. Vlasavljević also made a promise for a new look in 2006 although plans were put on hold. This is why this news must be taken with caution. If the plan goes ahead, the name “Jat” will disappear from the skies for the first time since 1947.

Mixed results

Zagreb ends negative trend

The largest Croatian airports have reported their passenger volumes for April of 2009. When compared to last year most airports are reporting negative trends however Croatia’s main airport, Zagreb, has ended its few months of negative decline. Zagreb Airport reported an increase in passenger figures when compared to last April by 2%. There were a total of 168.111 passengers in April 2009 compared to 164.834 in April 2008. The reason for this could be due to Easter as it fell into the month of April instead of March like last year. Another airport doing well last month was Zadar, which reported an increase in passengers by 64%. The increase which has occurred due to the arrival of Ryanair has seen 14.585 passengers pass through its doors in April. Rijeka also managed to increase passenger numbers by 8%. A total of 7.414 passengers passed through the airport this April compared to 6.848 last year.

Airports continuing to report negative trends are Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and Osijek. The worst affected this April, due to its low volume of passengers, was Osijek. The airport saw only 137 passengers compared to 887 last year, a decrease of 85%. Also performing badly was Pula whose passenger numbers decreased by 51% to 9.381. Dubrovnik saw a decrease of 7% with a total of 68.907 passengers this April. Split performed the best out of the worst with a decrease of only 1%. It had 54.878 passengers this April compared to 55.440 during the same month last year.

The number of passengers transiting through Croatian airports were recorded in Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Zadar and Rijeka. Zagreb saw the largest decrease of transiting passengers in April with figures falling by 53% compared to last year, meaning more people are choosing not to travel on from Zagreb. In contrast Dubrovnik, Pula and Rijeka saw an improvement with more transiting passengers.

The results, like all during this year, have been largely affected by the global financial crisis.

New flights from Banja Luka

Banja Luka Airport terminal building

B&H Airlines and Serbia’s Jat Airways are negotiating with the airport of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, Banja Luka, in order to begin new services from the airport. Jat Airways, which currently operates 3 flights per week from Belgrade, is interested in beginning services to Tivat in Montenegro from mid June. Banja Luka Airport is trying to persuade B&H Airlines to introduce a stopover on its new flights from Sarajevo to either Stockholm, Gothenburg or Copenhagen. B&H Airlines operates 3 flights per week from Banja Luka to Zurich which according to Banja Luka Airport CEO is recording satisfactory passenger numbers. “The flights to Zurich are very popular which is the reason why the number of flights have been increased from 2 to 3 per week”, Velimir Bobić, Banja Luka Airport CEO said.

During 2008 a total of 12.000 passengers passed through the airport’s doors, while this year the number is expected to be significantly increased. The airport’s management believes that passenger figures would be even higher if the rigorous visa regime currently in place would be lifted. Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina must have visas to travel to any country within the European Union and they are often difficult to get.

Currently, the cost of tickets from Banja Luka to Belgrade one way amount to 148 Convertible Bosnian Marks (75 Euros) while a return ticket costs 273 Convertible Bosnian Marks (139 Euros). A one way ticket on flights to Zurich cost approximately 178 Euros, although there are 10 different pricing options, all of which depend on the amount passengers stay in either Zurich or Banja Luka, depending on which city they travelled to. Plans for the launch of the low cost Sky Srpska, which was to have its hub in Banja Luka, have been delayed until further notice.

Adria reports losses

Adria Airways A320

Adria Airways carried 15% less passengers in the first quarter of 2009 when compared to the same period last year, while the drop in revenues also stood at 15%, the flag carrier's chairman Tadej Tufek said on Thursday, May 21. Tufek expects that the falling passenger figures trend will end in the second quarter, when a drop in revenues at the annual level is to stand at 5%.

Tufek explains that the economic crisis had hit the majority of European flag carriers, who are fighting it with price dumping. He added that people are economising and this also shows in the number of travels. Recently Adria Airways launched its new flights from Ljubljana to Madrid. According to Tufek, the new route between Ljubljana and Madrid is expected to carry about 5.000 passengers annually. In 2006, Adria Airways opened the Ljubljana to Barcelona service, which has been operating with two flights per week since this April. With the new route, the company wants to attract both business passengers and tourists. Madrid, which lies in the middle of Spain, is a good springboard for visiting other parts of the country, he added. Flights to Madrid operate twice per week using the CRJ900. Ticket prices start at 185 Euros.

New aircraft arriving tomorrow

Montenegro Airlines Embraer E195

Montenegro Airlines will be receiving its new Embraer E195 aircraft this Saturday, May 23. The E195 will be the second aircraft of its type in the Montenegro Airlines fleet, with the airline still having one on order and a further 2 options for purchase available. The brand new E195 is being leased from GECAS (GE Commercial Aviation Services), a subsidiary of General Electrics, which leases new aircraft to airlines around the world. The new aircraft has a total of 116 seats. With its arrival to Podgorica on Saturday, Montenegro Airlines’ fleet will count a total of 6 aircraft.

Meanwhile, the airline has received some more good news. It will become a member of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in October at a ceremony in Dubrovnik. The AEA is an alliance of 36 of Europe’s largest airlines. Among its members are TAP Air Portugal, British Airways, Air France, KLM, LOT, Tarom, Malev, Turkish Airlines, Iberia, Alitalia, SAS and many others. From the EX-YU region Croatia Airlines, Jat Airways and Adria Airways are all members. Currently, Ivan Mišetić, Croatia Airlines CEO is the president of the association. The membership will allow Montenegro Airlines to be more involved in the process of aviation regulation which is set by the European Union in Brussels.

Croatia Airlines reports big losses

Big Q1 loss at Croatia Airlines

Croatia’s national flag carrier Croatia Airlines has announced its first-quarter loss of 38.3 million Kuna (5.2 million Euros), worse than the 17 million kuna (2.3 million Euro) loss initially expected. The carrier’s CEO has blamed the global economic crisis and falling demand for the bleak result. The airline’s January to March revenues reached only 338 million Kuna (45.8 million Euros), down from 347 million Kuna (47 million Euros) in the first quarter last year, while the total number of passengers fell by 3 percent in the same period. Croatia Airlines’ domestic routes saw a 4% drop in passenger numbers, while its international operations managed to keep about the same number of clients. However, chartered flights registered a 68% drop to mere 2.500 passengers in the first three months of the year. Cargo traffic was down by 16%, reflecting a recession-hit market at home and abroad. Croatia Airlines had an agreement with Cargo Counts for distribution and management of the airliner’s cargo services, but switched to Lufthansa Cargo in early 2009. Direct ticket sales were down by 15% year-on-year, while indirect sales through agents increased by 13%, primarily due to stronger sales on the North American markets.

The management of Croatia Airlines has said it will differ its investments if the negative financial trends continue. One of these investments would be aircraft orders. Croatia Airlines currently has 4 Airbus A319s on order whose deliveries should start in 2012 and it has 4 Bombardier Q400 aircraft on order, 2 of which are expected to arrive this year.

No MAT flights anytime soon

MAT’s Boeing B737-500 – grounded and empty

A month ago the Macedonian Aviation Agency (CAA) grounded the national carrier’s sole aircraft, a Boeing B737-500, deeming it unsafe for flight. The Agency grounded the airline saying that the aircraft’s front wheel is unsafe. The grounding of the aircraft has brought the airline to the brink of collapse as it is unable to fly to the few destinations it is not banned from. The Boeing aircraft has in recent weeks been flown to Belgrade where Jat Airways, MAT’s potential new owners by the end of summer, offered to fix the front wheel of the aircraft for free, which it did. However, the Macedonian carrier and its 180 employees have received yet another blow from the country’s aviation agency after it refused to re-issue an operating license despite the aircraft in question being repaired. "CAA informs the public that a partial servicing of the MAT plane in Belgrade does not meet the requirements for overhaul of the front leg, for which the deadline has expired", the agency released in a press release. Therefore, the CAA says, “we cannot issue the license until a complete overhaul of the aircraft is carried out”. On Monday, MAT stated that the CAA’s decision is a violent attack aimed at putting the company out of operation. MAT has notified the President, the Prime Minister, the Public Attorney's Office, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the diplomatic core, as well as international institutions such as the ICAO, JAA and ECAC on the issue.

MAT’s other aircraft a CRJ900 is still grounded in Ljubljana. This is because MAT has not payed the Canadian plane maker for the aircraft. If MAT does not provide the required finances to the aircraft manufacturer by the end of June, the CRJ will be leased to another airline. The MAT titles from the aircraft have already been taken off.

Jat unveils new cabin look

New cabin from this week

Serbia’s national carrier, Jat Airways, will unveil the new look of its business and economy class cabin onboard its Boeing B737 fleet this week. By Sunday, the first Boeing B737-300 will be sporting the new cabins and will be in service. Saša Vlaisalvjević, the airline’s outgoing CEO, confirmed that the B737-300 registered YU-ANJ, which has been at Jat Tehnika for the past few days, will enter into service later this week with the new cabin product. This will mean that Jat will be changing the look of its seats for the first time since 1999. Not much is known about the new look although the current seating configuration with 2X2 in business class and 3X3 in economy class will remain. The finances for the upgraded cabin product have been provided on behalf of the Serbian government which will mark the government’s first investment into Jat in many years. The new cabin product will be installed on all Boeing B737-300s and the B737-400 aircraft by the end of the year. The regional ATR72s will not be getting the new cabin look as the aircraft type is expected to be phased out by the beginning of 2011. YU-ANJ, the first aircraft to receive the new look was also the first aircraft to receive the “flying dots” livery and “Jat Airways” titles in January of 2003.

Jat’s CEO announced that the airline will first purchase 4 ATR72-500 aircraft in early 2010 which will replace the current 5 ATR72-200s. Vlaisavljević says that the 500 series is quieter, quicker and more economical. The airline will then purchase 3 Boeing B737-700 aircraft followed by 3 to 4 regional aircraft with a capacity of 80 to 100 seats. All the funds for the purchase of the new aircraft will be provided on behalf of the Serbian government. After the entire fleet renewal process is complete the government will decide if they will attempt privatise the airline for a second time.

Only a few hours ago it was announced that Saša Vlaisavljević will definitely leave the airline on June 1, 2009. There are currently 3 candidates for Jat’s CEO position. They are Vladimir Ognjenović, Jat’s current commercial director, Stojan Dimitrijević, Jat’s current manager in Germany and Đorđe Brdarsko, Jat’s current director for ground handling. Saša Vlaisavljević will become the manager of the City of Belgrade. However, he will remain in the airline’s board of directors until 2013.

Dubrovnik Airlines to expand

Dubrovnik Airlines soon with regular low cost flights

As the peak of the summer season begins to arrive, new airlines have announced services to and from Croatian cities. The national airline, Croatia Airlines, will face serious competition in Zagreb from the local charter Dubrovnik Airlines as it announces regular low cost services. Dubrovnik Airlines, founded 5 years ago and based in Dubrovnik, has until now operated European charter services with its 5 member fleet combination of MD82s (3 aircraft) and MD83s (2 aircraft). The airline will inaugurate low cost regular flights out of Zagreb from June. Flights will operate to Helsinki twice per week, Madrid three times per week, Rome three times per week and Stockholm also 3 times per week. Madrid is shaping up to be the new destination of the year as Iberia also prepares to launch the service later in July. All flight details will be visible soon on the right hand side in the new route launches section. Despite competing with Croatia Airlines, Dubrovnik Airlines has leased one of its MD83s to Croatia Airlines as the national carrier awaits the arrival of its delayed Bombardier Q400 jets which are now scheduled to arrive in June.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian charter carrier Lotus Air will unexpectedly begin services to Osijek. These flights, which begin on June 15, were originally supposed to operate from Hurghada to Belgrade however the Serbian Aviation Authority has denied issuing the Egyptian charter carrier a license, in order to protect the national carrier Jat. Serbian tour operators which have already made agreements with Lotus Air will now have to transport their holiday makers to Osiejk where they will connect to Hurghada. Jat Airways still has a license to operate charter services to Egypt with services to Hurghada, Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh. However, Jat recently lost its charter license for flights to Antalya, Turkey after the Turkish authorities were unsatisfied with the fact that Turkish charter airlines only received a license to operate to Niš, but not to Belgrade within Serbia.

B&H postpones flights and reports losses

B&H cabin crew...waiting for passengers

Despite the much publicised arrival of B&H Airlines’ Boeing B737-400, provided on behalf of owner Turkish Airlines, the Bosnian carrier has once again postponed the launch of its new services. Flights to Dusseldorf (to operate twice per week) and Berlin (which will also operate twice per week) have been postponed by yet another week with the flights now launching on May 26, rather than May 19. The only explanation for the cancellation of the service can be low ticket sales. The airline was forced to terminate flights from Tuzla to Frankfurt earlier this year due to low ticket sales. Yesterday, the airline launched its flights to Stockholm (with a 30 minute delay) while its maiden flight to Vienna is scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the airline’s CEO Nudžeim Rečica, publicised last years financial result reporting that the airline incurred a loss of 1 million Euros. The bad financial performance is being blamed on an unstable American dollar, the global financial crisis and the extremely high price of fuel in the first half of the year. B&H Airlines carried around 70.000 passengers in 2008 and faced competition from a variety of carriers. Up until now over 80% of Sarajevo’s traffic has been generated by airlines originating from somewhere other than Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the first three months of 2009, B&H Airlines is reporting significantly lower passenger figures compared to last year. The airline’s CEO hopes that things will pick up during the summer season.

EX-YU airlines see Eurovision potential

Logo of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest held in Belgrade

The Eurovision Song Contest, the largest music contest in the world, takes place tonight in Moscow after two semi final rounds, which were held on Tuesday and Thursday. A total of 42 countries across Europe and West Asia compete in the multi million Euro competition, hoping to impress the European public which votes after the performances. In the final each of the 42 countries is asked to deliver points based on tele-voting. Starting in 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest, held every year, has become one of the most extravagant, expensive and talked about events in the world. The event is organised by the national television broadcaster in the country. Each year the host city of the contest attracts thousands of visitors boosting tourism, appeal, prestige and helping the national carrier of the country attract passengers. This trend has been seen in past years. In 2008, Belgrade hosted Eurovision for the first time, after the country won in a landslide in the 2007 edition in Helsinki. The hosting of the contest saw Belgrade see thousands of fans arriving across Europe and Jat Airways reporting its best May passenger results since 1991. In May 2008 the airline transported 116.956 passengers, 19% more than in May 2007. The airline also reported its best Cabin Load Factor (CLF) since 1990. In May 2008 Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport saw the most passengers pass through its doors since 1991 as well. The host of the Eurovision Song Contest is the country which wins the previous year.

B&H Airlines will be hoping it will profit from Eurovision next year. Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the favourites to win the contest in Moscow. With the airline beginning a large expansion this year which will be concluded with the arrival of a second jet engine aircraft in the spring of next year, B&H will hope that a potential Eurovision in Sarajevo in 2010 could reproduce Jat’s success last year. Up until now over 80% of Sarajevo’s traffic has been generated by airlines originating from somewhere other than Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a string of successes in Eurovision, Serbia failed to qualify to the final for the first time this year. Similarly, Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia also failed to qualify. Croatia made it to the final although its predicted chances of winning are not great. Nevertheless, all 42 countries participating will vote in the final. B&H is the airline which has most to gain out of a potential Bosnian Eurovision win.

Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989 with the group Riva brining the contest to Zagreb in 1990. In 2007 Serbia, participating for the first time as an independent nation, won the contest, which allowed Belgrade to host the 2008 event. The Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast in some 50 countries across the world including Australia and New Zealand and watched by over 150 million people.

Will it be B&H Airlines or Croatia Airlines with a smile at the end of tonight? Only time will tell.

UPDATE: Norway wins

Jat to Dubrovnik from June

Dubrovnik

Jat Airways, Serbia’s national carrier, will begin seasonal flights to the Croatian seaside town of Dubrovnik from late September if the Croatian Aviation Agency issues the airline the license for these flights. Jat’s CEO and commercial director met up with Dubrovnik Airport’s management on Wednesday to discuss future partnership initiatives. Dubrovnik Airport management issued Jat landing and departure slots (times). Despite the airline not having a license yet, airports are allowed to allocate times when the airline can fly to and from the airport. Jat would operate flights with an ATR72 from Belgrade on Monday morning and Thursday afternoon. The two weekly flights would begin in mid June and would operate until the last week of September. Standing in the way of the flights is the Croatian Civil Aviation Authority which has been reluctant in issuing licenses to the Serbian carrier. Jat had to delay the launch of its flights from Belgrade to Pula this year because the agency was late in issuing a license. However, Jat’s management is optimistic that the airline will be putting a second Croatian destination on its route map in mid June. Jat resumed flights to Pula, after more than a decade, last year. The airline operates 4 weekly flights to Pula and has applied for a 2 weekly year round service although the Croatian Aviation Agency is yet to approve this. The new service to Dubrovnik might be accompanied by new flights to Vienna from Serbia’s second international airport, Niš.

The management of Dubrovnik Airport and Jat said that they will create a new relationship and let other people deal with the past. Jat’s management also talked with representatives from the Dubrovnik tourism board in order to find ways to promote the new line. Jat’s last flight from Duborvnik was operated to Belgrade on August 6, 1991. If all goes to plan Jat will begin services to a third Croatian city, Split, next year. Croatia has been heavily promoted and advertised across Serbia’s capital Belgrade this summer.

Meanwhile, the airline’s management announced that it will be keeping its “flying dots” livery. Despite asking designers to create the airlines new visual identity during Belgrade design week (for which the designer/s of the winning work will receive free tickets), Jat’s management said that this is a non-binding competition, meaning that it doesn’t necessarily have to be applied. Currently the airline has received over 100 designs. From the EX-YU republics designers from Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have sent in their work while designs from Japan, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Romania and Bulgaria have also been received. The winner will be chosen by the end of May.

Mixed news from Adria

Adria reports bad results but gets award

Adria has reported that its total loss in passenger figures so far this year, compared to last year amounts to 14.7%, making the second largest loss in passenger figures amongst the leading EX-YU airlines, after Jat Airways. From January to April, the airline also saw significant declines in actual traffic and capacity while its average load factor stands at 54.7%, making it the best in the EX-YU, followed by Jat (51.2%) and Croatia Airlines (49.4%). When compared to 32 other national carriers in Europe, Adria ranks in the middle with its results. The biggest looser so far this year in all areas has been Icelandiar, the national carrier of Iceland as the country continues to crumble economically. Turkish Airlines continues to post impressive results despite the global financial crisis. The airline has the best results amongst European carriers so far.

However, it's not all bad news. According to figures from Bombardier Aerospace, the Canadian manufacturer of the Canadair Regional Jet, Adria Airways has logged the highest dispatch reliability rates for the CRJ100/200 aircraft series. Bombardier Aerospace has awarded Adria Airways its Annual Airline Reliability Performance Award for 2008. The winners were selected on the basis of statistical data kept by the aircraft manufacturer for the entire fleet of Canadair Regional Jet passenger aircraft around the world. The analysis takes into account delays and cancellations of flights for technical reasons. The awards recognise operators who log dispatch reliability rates of 99% or better. This is the second time that the Adria has won the award for the highest dispatch reliability rate in the CRJ category. "This is major recognition for Adria Airways, since it demonstrates the high quality of our fleet maintenance while also increasing confidence in our CRJ maintenance services, since this is the second year in a row that Bombardier Aerospace has classed us among the safest airlines in the world", Tadej Tufek, chairman of the Adria Airways management board said

Meanwhile, preparations are being made for the major construction project about to be launched at Adria’s hub Ljubljana. The Slovenian Air Traffic Control has selected construction company Imos to build a control centre at Slovenia's main international airport at Brnik. The decision follows the much publicised annulment of the previous project after a corruption scandal.

Montenegro Airlines to Skopje

Montenegro Airlines soon operating to Skopje

Montenegro Airlines is considering commencing scheduled services to the Macedonian capital Skopje. According to Macedonian media, the commercial director of the airline Čedomir Đurišić announced the news after talks between Montenegrin and Macedonian aviation agencies. There is good will from both sides to connect both countries via the air. The new service, which would be operated by Montenegro Airlines, could start as soon as mid June with services from Tivat to Skopje. The line would at first be seasonal but if successful could continue throughout the year and flights could be introduced from Podgorica. Montenegro Airlines would operate to Skopje 4 times per week and would allow Macedonian passengers to connect to Montenegro’s popular service to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. However, this new service has been announced in the past but had never occurred. It seems this time it is the most closest to becoming reality. Montenegro Airlines would join Adria Airways, B&H Airlines, Croatia Airlines and Jat Airways from the former Yugoslavia operating flights to Skopje. There is currently no direct air link between Montenegro and Macedonia.

Meanwhile, Ohrid Airport is also served by two airline from the former Yugoslav region. Adria Airways operates flights from Ljubljana while Jat Airways serves the seaside town from Belgrade, with the latter service beginning on June 1.

Adria to launch CRJ1000

The CRJ1000 soon in Adria livery

In November 2007 Adria Airways placed an order for one Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft, a completely new plane in the production stages. The Slovenian national carrier will now become the launch customer of this aircraft type, which should arrive in the first half of 2010. The aircraft has a capacity of 100 seats but is much more cost effective than others in its class. Bombardier's first production CRJ1000 NextGen is undergoing final interior installations at the company's Mirabel, Quebec, facility in Canada. Aircraft 19001 will shortly join Bombardier's CRJ1000 prototype to prepare for review by the flight operations evaluation board and entry into service, according to director of CRJ programmes Jean-Guy Blodin. The air framer has been flight testing the prototype at its Wichita flight test centre since September 2008. The testbed aircraft has logged almost 400 hours and is "over 50% done" with flight testing. The aircraft is currently undergoing icing tests. The CRJ1000 NexGen is scheduled for certification in the fourth quarter of 2009, with an entry-into-service in the first quarter of 2010.

Bombardier has secured 45 orders for the 100 seat regional jet. Besides Adria other airlines that have ordered this aircraft include Air France, MyAir and Brit Air. Adria currently operates a total of 14 aircraft with 2 Airbus A319s, 1 Bombaridier CRJ900 and 1 CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft on order.

B&H launches B737-400 service

Newest member of B&H Airlines fleet

B&H Airlines this morning launched its first scheduled flight from Sarajevo Airport using their new Boeing B737-400. The Bosnian national carrier received the aircraft yesterday and information has surfaced that the aircraft will be transferred into B&H ownership, rather than still being an aircraft owned by Turkish Airlines. Despite the aircraft still wearing Turkish registration, the airline will receive Bosnian registration within the following month when all paperwork regarding ownership is finalised.

The B&H B737-400 departed this morning at 6.15 from Sarajevo Airport to Istanbul Ataturk Airport (flight JA102). Later today B&H will inaugurate its service to Copenhagen. Also operated by the B737-400, the aircraft should depart from Sarajevo at 12.00 and this will be the final service operated by the Boeing aircraft today. Tomorrow, B&H Airlines will launch services to the Germany with flights to Dusseldorf and Berlin starting up. On Wednesday flights to Gothenburg will begin while on Saturday flights to Stockholm should commence. Next week B&H will launch services to Prague although the fate of the flights to Vienna, scheduled to launch next Monday is still unknown. The Boeing B737-400 will operate for B&H Airlines on flights to Istanbul (daily morning flight), Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg and Copenhagen. The new aircraft will fittingly be named “Istanbul” joining the two ATRs named Sarajevo and Mostar.

Open skies above Serbia

Jat’s domination in Belgrade could end

Three years after Serbia signed the European Union Open Skies agreement, it will finally ratify the arrangement next week in parliament. The Open Skies will allow foreign carriers to begin services to Serbia without having to go through the current bureaucracy and would make Serbia’s Civil Aviation Agency powerless to stop carriers from flying to Serbia’s airports. Serbia’s Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković said that the ratification of the agreement would lead to greater competition and would therefore lower ticket prices for passengers but would also transform Serbia into an aviation hub. It is believed that Open Skies would lead to a greater number of low cost carriers to fly to Serbia although this is questionable as none have expressed interest. However, Open Skies would allow airlines such as Malev, Aegean Airlines and Adria Airways, which have been attempting to fly to Belgrade for many years, to start services. Open Skies would also end bilateral agreements between Serbia and European Union member countries. This means that if an agreement had been made between Serbia and another country (for example Slovenia) that only the national carriers can fly to each, these agreements will end.

The agreement could be disastrous to the national carrier Jat Airways which will have to battle with more competition. The Serbian airline is unable to improve services until early next year when it should receive funds to purchase new aircraft. Jat has not commented on the Prime Minister’s comments regarding Open Skies. Open Skies will take effect some 3 months after it is ratified by parliament next week.

B&H gets B737-400

First B&H Airlines Boeing B737-400

B&H Airlines will be receiving its first Boeing B737-400 aircraft tomorrow, May 10. The airline’s first jet engine aircraft will enter the fleet on Monday with its first scheduled service for the Bosnian carrier from its hub Sarajevo to Copenhagen, a new service launched thanks to the arrival of the aircraft. The Boeing B737-400 is from Turkish Airlines which has provided the aircraft as part of its deal with the Bosnian government, agreed upon late last year when it took over shares of the company. The aircraft has been painted and fitted with the interior of B&H Airlines in Istanbul.

This upcoming working week will mark a beginning of a major expansion for B&H Airlines. The airline will begin flights to Copenhagen, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg and Stockholm within the next 7 days while flights to Prague will begin in 2 weeks. Services to Vienna have been postponed. Originally planned to begin this week, the flights were moved to begin on Monday, May 11 but have now been further postponed until May 18, despite the fact that the airline has received necessary licenses to begin the Vienna service. One of the reasons the flight might have been moved could be because of a lack of sales. The service should operate 5 times per week.

The new B737-400 for the B&H Airlines fleet has been registered TC-JDG (Turkish Airlines registration). It is unknown if the aircraft will receive a Bosnian registration because the deal of the lease of the aircraft is unknown. The new fleet member will bring the number of aircraft operating for B&H Airlines to 3 with 2 ATR72s.

Zagreb’s new terminal project cancelled

Visualisation of Zagreb Airport’s new terminal

The much talked about, completely new, Zagreb Airport terminal stretching on 70.000 hectors of land with a capacity of handling 5 million passengers annually with 12 air bridges has been cancelled. The project has been abandoned due to the global financial crisis despite Croatian analysts believing that the country is better placed than others in the current world recession. The project, which would have cost a total of 285.9 million Euros, was supposed to make Zagreb Airport a regional leader. The ideal look of the new terminal was chosen last year. The airport is just one of some big scale infrastructure projects in the field of transportation which have been cancelled.

Zagreb Airport’s current terminal has a capacity of handling 1.5 million passengers annually although Zagreb Airport has handled over 2 million passengers during last year, therefore exceeding capacity. Critics of the new terminal project claimed that money would be more wisely spent if it were invested in expanding the current main terminal, allowing it to handle 3.5 million passengers. The current terminal is in need of an upgrade. It is unsure if any funds will be allocated to Zagreb Airport at all in order for it to improve facilities. Zagreb Airport also lacks air bridges, a rare sight in Europe these days, especially for airports handling over 2 million passengers annually. Meanwhile, Ljubljana Airport’s development is going to plan with major work expected to start during the peak of the summer.

Jat: MAT takeover imminent

MAT’s CRJ900 – currently stored in Ljubljana

Despite MAT recently being grounded by aviation authorities in Macedonia, Jat’s CEO has confirmed that the Serbian carrier will take over shares and revive the national Macedonian carrier. Jat’s team of legal experts are currently in Skopje where they are checking MAT’s legal and financial documentation. These checks should be complete within a week. The findings will be presented to Jat’s management board, after which, the Serbian carrier will send MAT a proposal whether it will take over a majority of shares (over 50%) or less than 50% of shares. The documentation checks have taken longer than expected because MAT did not immediately provide all the necessary paperwork. Also, Jat’s legal team requested more information regarding MAT’s financial reports. Jat’s CEO confirmed that MAT has extreme debt but declined to comment further. He stated that Jat is primarily interested in the Macedonian aviation market which is covered 35% by MAT, while Jat has a share of 10% in the market. “We are also interested in commencing flights from Belgrade and Skopje to Priština through MAT”, Saša Vlaisavljević, the airline’s CEO says. Jat is currently banned from flying to Priština due to the unresolved status of Kosovo in which Priština is located.

Meanwhile, the airline’s inaugural flight to Abu Dhabi on May 5 was a great success with Jat’s Boeing B737-300 awaited by water cannons and Abu Dhabi Airport CEO upon landing. Vlaisavljević confirmed that one of Jat Airways’ Boeing B737-300s has returned to the carrier after a 5 month lease to Air Ivorie. The aircraft registered YU-ANV, has returned after serving in the Ivory Coast and is still wearing the Air Ivorie livery (titles). The Serbian Government has also said it will speed up the restructuring of the airline after it passes a major economic stimulus package, which should combat against the global financial crisis in Serbia, later tonight.

Croatia Airlines considers Kiev service

Kiev

Croatia Airlines will consider opening services from Zagreb to Kiev after Croatia’s minister for tourism and the Ukrainian ambassador to Croatia met in Zagreb. The two discussed about the major profit Croatia’s tourism industry could make from potential Ukrainian tourists. It is expected that Croatia could see 5000 to 6000 more Ukrainian tourists when compared to last year especially during the week of June 6 when the two countries play a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against each other in Zagreb. The meeting was also attended by members of various Croatian tour operators. Croatia Airlines will go ahead with its planned new scheduled destinations this summer despite earlier announcements that they may be cancelled due to the global financial crisis. The new services include flights from Zagreb to Barcelona and Gothenburg as well as to London and Paris from Pula.

Meanwhile, the German low cost airline Intersky began flights from Friedrichshafen to Pula during the weekend while Pula also welcomed some 130 passengers from Moscow which arrived on the Russian Transaero Airlines. It is expected that Croatia will see an increase in passengers from Russia and Ukraine after the country lifted visa requirements for passengers arriving from these countries. Yesterday, the low cost Germanwings began seasonal flights from Berlin to Pula.

2 decades later Jat returns to Abu Dhabi

Jat Airways flights to Abu Dhabi begin tonight

Nearly 20 years after Jat Airways, then know as Yugoslav Airlines, ended services to Abu Dhabi, tonight the airline will restart the route. The flight departs tonight at 22.05, local time, and will operate via Larnaca (Cyprus) for a short technical stop. Passengers continuing to Abu Dhabi do not leave the aircraft. The aircraft will arrive in the capital of the United Arab Emirates in the early morning with passengers being able to connect to flights to Australia using Etihad Airways. Jat’s new service was approved after it made an agreement with Etihad Airways to transport Serbian passengers onwards to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. This service has been mainly implemented for the Serbian Diaspora in Australia which will now have the quickest connection to their homeland by using this combination. Jat had a similar agreement with Emirates Airlines which fell apart late last year when Emirates heavily increased its prices for Jat passengers from Australia and New Zealand continuing to Serbia (similarly it did this to Croatia Airlines). The new agreement with Etihad will also be the cheapest for passengers and has generated great interest amongst the Serbian Diaspora in Australia. For those that will not be able to connect to Belgrade via Abu Dhabi they will be able to do so via Frankfurt, Paris, Istanbul and Athens also using Etihad and Jat. Jat has 2 offices in Australia – one in Sydney and the other in Melbourne. Interest has also been high in Serbia with travel agencies and tour operators promoting Abu Dhabi as the new destination to be.

Jat Airways will operate the service with their Boeing B737-300. The seat capacity will be 123 with 9 seats in business class and 114 in economy. Jat will offer its full meal service on the flight with a total of 2 meals served onboard (one hot from Belgrade to Larnaca and on the return from Abu Dhabi to Larnaca and one cold from Larnaca to Abu Dhabi and on the return from Larnaca to Belgrade). Passengers will also be issued with pillows and blankets while all alcoholic drinks will be free, unlike on Jat’s European services where alcoholic beverages are priced. Jat Airways has also received full rights to sell tickets from Larnaca to Abu Dhabi and vice versa.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and unlike its rival Dubai it has been largely unaffected by the global financial crisis. The national airline of the UAE, Etihad Airways, is considered one of the best in the world and is in the process of major expansion with services already operating to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Jat will operate 2 times per week to Abu Dhabi although this is expected to increase by at least one flight during the winter season.

Montenegro focuses on Tivat

New flights from Tivat

As the tourism season begins Montenegro Airlines is turning its attention away from Podgorica to Tivat. The airline is increasing frequencies on nearly all services to the seaside town. The airline will also introduce new routes. Montenegro Airlines will begin flights to the Danish capital Copenhagen. The completely new service in the Montenegro Airlines network will operate from June 30 to September 8, once per week on Tuesday. If successful the airline will consider commencing services from Podgorica during the winter. The flight will operate with the airline’s Fokker F100 fleet. Details can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section. The Tivat to Zurich service will also be introduced with daily flights beginning June 19. The flights will last until September 13. From May 30, Montenegro Airlines will begin 2 weekly flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport which will accompany its already successful Podgorica – Paris service. Frequencies will be increased significantly to Belgrade to 22 weekly flights while the Moscow service will operate 3 times per week. The airline will also maintain its 3 weekly flights to London Gatwick.

There will be many charter carriers operating this summer to Tivat. The newest addition will be Sun d’Or International Airlines, an El-Al subsidiary which will operate from Tel Aviv. Its success will indicate weather the El Al itself will introduce flights to Podgorica.

Croatia Airlines still in winning position

Avoiding the crisis - Croatia Airlines

The three leading airlines from the EX-YU region - Croatia Airlines, Jat Airways and Adria Airways have all been heavily hit by the global financial crisis and the current economic gloom in the Balkans. The latest passenger figures available, for the month of March, have finally been published for Croatia Airlines and Adria, while Jat’s passenger figures were made public weeks ago. A major problem this March, when compared to last was the absence of Easter which sees high scale travel, especially in Croatia. With Easter falling into April, Croatian airports suffered greatly but Croatia Airlines managed to have relatively good results. The airline only saw a decrease of 9% in passenger figures when compared to last March. Having in mind the current economic crisis and the absence of Easter this is a good result. The carrier’s domestic destinations are now more popular than its international services. Therefore the airline is managing to compensate its passenger loss on international lines with domestic routes. It had 190.700 passengers during the month with an average cabin load factor of 51%. Some economists believe that Croatia’s tourism industry could profit from the current recession which would be good news for Croatia Airlines. Despite widespread public anger at the government’s actions in fighting the crisis, European economists believe that this year’s tourism season in Croatia will be better than the one last year. This can already be seen by the large number of charter and low cost carriers starting up services to Croatian seaside resort town. Analysts believe that because of the recession Europeans are choosing to travel shorter distances and Croatia is their perfect solution.

Slovenia’s Adria saw a bigger decrease in passenger figures. Its numbers declined by 14.3%, carrying a total of 68.800 passengers this March. The average load factor on its flights were slightly better than Croatia’s with 55.7%.

Overall European carriers saw their international demand fall by 11.6% where confidence has been dented by unemployment in key markets such as Germany and Spain increased to 8.6% and 17.4% respectively. The newest challenge carriers in Europe must face is the outbreak of the Mexican swine flu. Eastern Europe has been untouched by the virus however there have been confirmed cases in the Netherlands, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, within Europe. However, the good news seems to be that the spread of the virus has slowed.

Charter wars continuedNiš gets new flights, Egyptians rejected

Soon in Niš

The charter wars between Serbia’s Jat Airways and Turkish and Egyptian charter carriers continue. After the media discovered that the Serbian Directorate for Civil Aviation is unwilling to grant seasonal summer charter licenses to carriers from Turkey (Atlasjet, Sky Airlines and Pegasus) and Egypt (Lotus Air, KoralBlue Airlines, Air Cairo and Air Memphis), because it wants to protect the Serbian national carrier, a true war between the Serbian and foreign carriers has developed. However will Niš, Serbia’s second international airport which is struggling to attract airlines, be the one with most to smile about? It seems so. The Serbian Directorate has granted licenses to Atlasjet and Pegasus Airlines from Turkey to begin services from Antalya to Niš, as they requested, however, their applications for flights to continue to Belgrade have been rejected. The Turkish charter carrier Sky Airlines which applied for flights to Belgrade only has also been rejected.

Egyptian carriers Air Cairo and Lotus Air which have applied for summer charters from Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh to Belgrade have also been rejected while airlines KoralBlue and Air Memphis’ licenses have just entered the procedure for receiving a license although they are likely not to be given them.

The director at the Serbian Directorate of Civil Aviation said that passengers should not confuse low cost airlines with charter airlines. He commented that the low cost Austrian based Nikki Airways was not allowed to fly to Belgrade because Austria and Serbia only have an agreement for the national carriers from each country to operate flights to the others. Similarly he said that currently Germanwings and Norwegian Air Shuttle are the only low cost carriers operating to Serbia while Nordic Airways also received a license although the carrier from Sweden ceased all operations earlier this year. The Directorate also mentions that the Hungarian Malev has not received a license for Budapest – Belgrade flights because it owes over 700.000 Euros to Jat Airways. Turkish authorities have said that they might respond in the same manner as Serbian authorities and revoke Jat’s summer charter license. It is not sure if Atlasjet and Pegasus Airlines will go ahead with their Niš service. Meanwhile Egyptian authorities don’t seem to be that worried. Jat’s flight to Sharm el-Sheikh via Hurghada will go ahead as scheduled tomorrow evening.

Greece partially lifts flight ban

Airlines from Macedonia now allowed above Greece

Greek authorities have partially lifted a ban which bans Macedonian airlines from entering Greek airspace and therefore landing at any Greek airport. Air control representatives from the two countries met in Athens two days ago where an agreement was signed between them. Under the new agreement carriers from Macedonia will be allowed to fly over Greek airspace while Greek registered air companies will also be able to fly over Macedonian airspace. However, Greece will still not allow any airline registered in Macedonia to land at any of its airports. The radical move, introduced last year, had a great impact on MAT Macedonian Airlines which was unable to operate lucrative summer charters to the country, just before the summer season began.

The director of Macedonia’s Civil Aviation Agency, Zoran Kristevski, said that this is the first agreement between the two countries in regards to aviation collaboration in the last 5 years. It is also Macedonia’s first step in integrating itself into the new European Union single sky policy. Macedonian carriers have been banned from Greece due to a long running dispute between the two countries due to the name of the Republic of Macedonia, internationally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of. The new move will have little impact for Macedonian carriers as there is currently no one performing civilian air service.