One of the events that marked the past year is the completion of the recapitalization of Air Serbia. This returned the national carrier, after 10 years, back to state ownership.
For more observant individuals, the exit of Etihad from Air Serbia could have been expected. Since 2018, the state has been increasing its ownership stakes more seriously while Etihad’s share has been decreasing. After the pandemic, Etihad found interest in other markets, primarily in Asia. Although the divorce was amicable and mutually satisfying, the public began to question who fared better in that marriage.
“I believe that every country should have its own national airline. It wouldn’t make sense for more developed and larger foreign states to invest so much in their national carriers if it didn’t have some logic. In the last three years during the COVID crisis, we saw the importance of a national carrier in terms of transporting goods and people around the world,” says Luka Popović from Ex-Yu Aviation.
The state assisted Jat. For example, in the 2013 budget, almost four million euros were allocated just for maintaining current liquidity for a loan with an interest rate of 5.25%, which was adjusted quarterly to the growth of Euribor. But that wasn’t enough to get the company back on its feet.
“The management was not professional. Air Serbia also had a problematic aircraft order with Airbus that couldn’t be realized. It was an order from 1998, and it was a big problem, both financially and it was practically resolved overnight when Etihad, as a huge airline with an excellent relationship with Airbus, managed to solve it in favor of Air Serbia,” emphasized Popović.
After more than two decades, direct traffic to America is opening up, and direct lines to China are being established. The regional network is expanding to Croatia and North Macedonia. In addition to passenger transport, cargo traffic is being launched, and last year, 20 captains were promoted.
“If it weren’t for the partnership with Etihad, the company couldn’t have formed an adequate fleet at that time. In terms of organization, Etihad brought many changes that JAT didn’t have before. These changes are reflected in the organizational scheme, so to speak, the division of tasks that we still apply and maintain today, but at the same time, in the organizational sense, we have improved some things through numerous automations,” noted Bosko Rupić, Director of Commercial and Strategy at Air Serbia.
Analysts consider it crucial now to see how Air Serbia will continue independently.
“We still have plans to expand into the Chinese market in the coming years, work on fleet expansion, increase the number of people, both in the flight crew and the rest of the company. So, the direction defined in previous years is definitely continuing,” emphasized Rupić.
Air Serbia ended the last year with a profit, transporting a record-breaking more than four million passengers to over 80 destinations.
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