I have not been blogging much lately due to be very busy at work and other things.
Recently I saw the new desk at the Nikola Tesla Airport of Air Serbia. JAT (Jugoslav Airlines Transport) recently sold 49% of the airlines to Etihad Airlines, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates. JAT was 100% owned by the Serbian government and had debts of 170 million Euros.
Considering how hard it is to make money on any airlines, it is a big risk for Etihad. I understand why the government owns the airlines, but it is not a good idea to own one, and it is a drain on the Serbian taxpayer and government. Hopefully the expertise of Etihad and the extra resources will make the airlines profitable. The JAT planes were very old and in dire need of investment. In my opinion, they should sell it all off and get out of the business entirely, although that might be against EU law to have a foreign, non-EU company own a major airlines in Europe. Serbia has many state-owned enterprises and properties that need to be privatized and hopefully this is a trend that will continue.The sports clubs Red Star and Partizan are two that come to mind…
Another problem is market size. There are too many regional airlines in the Balkans as each small country has their own carrier. The market is just not big enough to support so many different airlines.
I like the new logo. The double eagle is homage to the Serbian Orthodox crest, and the lines below look somewhat like Arabic script. I am looking forward to flying on the new Airbus A 319, “Novak Đoković” and wish Etihad and the Serbian Government best wishes for profitability!
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