Turkish Airlines has denied that it wants to turn Jat Airways into Balkan Airways, a claim made by the Minister without a portfolio in the Serbian Government, Sulejman Ugljanin. The Beta news agency reports that the Board of Directors at Turkish Airlines was caught off guard by the minister’s announcement, explaining that no decision had ever been made to purchase the struggling Serbian carrier. “At the moment the Board of Directors has made no decision to form a strategic partnership with Jat”, a statement from Turkish Airlines reads.Meanwhile, the Serbian carrier will suspend flights to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana as part of its destination rationalisation scheme. Passenger loads on the Ljubljana flights have always been light and the recent arrival of Adria Airways on the same route put even more pressure on Jat. However, the final nail in the coffin was delivered after the decision made by Jat’s former management to sign a codeshare agreement with Adria (ordered by the former CEO himself), virtually handing over most of its own passengers to its rival. Adria, which is also struggling on the route, benefited greatly from the codeshare deal. Jat Airways will operate its last flight to Ljubljana on Friday, March 25. Adria will remain as the sole operator on the Ljubljana – Belgrade – Ljubljana service. However, Jat is expected to stay in Slovenia as it will operate 2 weekly flights to Portorož, if the long delayed launch of the new service commences on February 20.
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