Bede BD-5B ZK-XBD c/n 3904 as seen at Momona (Dunedin) on 09-09-2005

Anonymous has finally cracked it. Well Done.

I imagine it was the withdrawal of the part about "what the active runway was" that finally gave the game away !

Zoran Djurišić - there is a black sheep in every flock

Podgorica’s chief prosecutor Djurdjina Ivanović has pressed power abuse charges against Zoran Djurišić, the CEO of Montenegro Airlines. The prosecutor says that Djurišić has defrauded the company of several hundreds of thousands of Euros, the national broadcaster of Montenegro reported. Charges have also been brought forward against the legal unit chief in the company Vladimir Djelević. He is charged with irresponsible supervision. Between 2002 and 2006 Djurišić and Djelević reportedly signed unprofitable aircraft lease contracts with Master Airways, without the approval of the airline’s board of directors. Master Airways was to be the Montenegro Airlines subsidiary in Serbia, however it never gained a license. Djelević was supposed to be the CEO of Master Airways. Montenegro Airlines has also failed to report its financial handlings for 2008 even though, as a public company, it is required to do so by law.

Zoran Djurišić shouldn’t worry about his position within the airline at all. As a member of the political party which is currently in power in the country, on Tuesday, Djurišić was elected for another 4 year term as the CEO of the airline.

Easier said than done

Milan Jovanović, the president of the Jat Airways Pilots Trade Union has said that a new fleet is necessary so that the airline can adequately recover. He believes that extending the lifeline of the current fleet will cost the carrier more than investing into new aircraft. The pilots union welcomed news from the management that the carrier will be leasing 2 Boeing B737-700 next generation aircraft which are expected to enter the airline’s fleet during September. He also stated that the Serbian Government has neglected the national carrier for many years and that it must make a decision whether it wants the airline to survive.

After last year’s privatisation fiasco, Jovanović said that the airline should not be sold in the near future because many issues within the airline still need to be settled before the carrier can look for a partner. He also commented that the situation within the union is stable and that Jat’s pilots are currently happy with their conditions however he noted that many pilots are leaving the airline because they receive better offers from East European and Asian carriers. Despite the fact that Jat has too many employees, the only area it does not have too many employed is the pilot sector. He says that new pilots have been recently employed at Jat. The airline pays its pilots 3.000 Euros per month, which according to Jovanović is quite low when compared with other airlines in the region.

Jat Airways currently has 1.200 employees. The airlines downsized its workforce in the last 12 months by 600. Just before the collapse of Yugoslavia, the airline had nearly 9.000 employees.

The smiles start to fade

It has become clear that the entire aviation industry in the Ex-Yu region has been seriously affected by the global financial crisis. The two airports in Montenegro, Podgorica and Tivat, are no exception to the global trend. Both airports are reporting significantly lower passenger figures for the first 6 months of the year. The news comes at the back of a decline in visitors to the Montenegrin coast.

At Montenegro’s main airport, Podgorica, traffic from January to the end of June, when compared to the same period last year, decreased by 24%. A total of 191.181 passengers passed through the airport’s terminal this year, compared to 236.188 last year. It should also be noted that the number of aircraft operations also decreased which would naturally cause a decline in passenger figures. At Podgorica there were 9% less flights then from January to the end of June last year.

Similar results can be tracked at Tivat Airport. The number of passengers passing through the airport during the first half of the year declined by 22%. There were a total of 171.679 passengers this year compared to 208.823 last. However, the number of flights operated to Tivat significantly declined when compared to 2008 (by 19%). This is because many charter carriers have avoided Tivat this year with less people travelling.

Both Tivat and Podgorica are reporting more arrivals into the country then departures. July and August will be key for both airport’s as it will indicate the extent to which this year’s tourist season has been affected.

No improvement at Jat

Despite its hub airport, Belgrade, hosting this year’s largest sporting event, Jat Airways did not manage to increase passenger figures as the global financial crisis drags on. Jat transported a total of 108.959 passengers in June which is 23% less than in June 2008. The average cabin occupancy rate stood at 57%, compared to 64% in June 2008. To Jat’s most important market, Montenegro, flight operations were decreased by a hefty 33%, naturally decreasing passenger figures between Belgrade, Podgorica and Tivat by 44%. Jat’s Euro-Mediterranean services also saw a 16% passenger decrease this June when compared to last year. Jat’s B737-300 fleet spent the most time in the air. In the first six months of this year Jat transported a total of 451.779 passengers which is 22% less than the same period last year.

The airline also reported that it suspended flights to Dubrovnik because it was not given enough guarantees that the flights would be given the green light by the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency, in Belgrade last week. The Croatian aviation authority says it gave enough assurances to the Serbian carrier.

Skywings International B737-300 now in Skopje

A new airline will grace Macedonia’s skies today when Skywings International begins operating scheduled services to nearly all former destinations of the now, almost defunct, national carrier of Macedonia. Skywings International will initially operate with 1 Boeing B737-300 (fitted with winglets). The aircraft has been leased from a German airline, Hamburg International, which will operate Skywings and it is expected that all flights from Skopje and Ohrid will be operated by its own staff. The aircraft has already arrived in Skopje and has received a new Macedonian registration - Z3-AAJ.

The airline was to be launched today at 07.00 with an inaugural flight to Podgorica, according to the airline's website. However, the flights have not been listed at the airport in Skopje or Podgorica and neither has it been listed in the largest ticketing reservation system called Amadeus. However, the flights can be booked on the airline’s website.

The airline was registered in Macedonia in April this year and its CEO is Dragan Dojčinovski. The airline is also apparently operating a flight to Berlin at 09.45 today although it has not been listed anywhere except on the airline’s website. It will also operate flights to Brussels, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Rome, Stuttgart and Hamburg from Skopje, mostly once per week. From Ohrid it should begin operating flights from July 23 to Amsterdam while flights to Dusseldorf are expected to begin on July 25.

In case of any new developments of this relatively unknown airline, it will be updated on the blog.

This is the second in a series of archival news items which are being published each Saturday. The news items date back from the late 1970s until 1989. This collection of news articles have been published in various newspapers and official historic publications.

The following article gives an idea of some of the unique initiatives the national carrier of Yugoslavia had. The special concept the following article talks about took place in 1979.

First paintings auction over the Atlantic

The history of Yugoslav Airlines has recorded scores of flights whose importance, scope and public interest surpassed national boundaries. The auction of artworks onboard JAT aircraft at an altitude of 33.000 feet may be singled out in terms of originality and exclusivity.
Less than two months after the first modern DC10 joined the JAT fleet, on February 16, 1979 a unique and historic event in global civil aviation took place at 33.000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. JAT announced the first auction of paintings ever to take place aboard an aircraft. The first flight to enjoy such an honour was JU500 from Belgrade to New York. Therefore, collectors and art enthusiasts were in a position to bid during the course of the flight and buy renowned artworks. A tag indicating that the painting had been purchased in the first “Gallery over the Atlantic” was placed at the back of each artwork. As a special token, each painting was inscribed with the altitude at which it was purchased.

The idea was met with remarkable public interest both in Yugoslavia and abroad. This was a good signal to the management that many of these auctions should be organised in the future. Thus, JAT organised a total of 11 auctions of paintings from 1979 to 1989. All of the auctions were held on flights to New York, except for the last one which took place on a flight to Los Angeles. The special significance of these auctions was that the net proceeds from the sale all went to charity organisations. Only the artworks by renowned, academic, local Yugoslav painters were entered in the auction. More than 300 paintings by over 150 artists were entered for the eleven auctions held once annually (with the exception of 1989 when two auctions were held). Some of the artists which entered their paintings for the auction were Milan Konjović, Peđa Milosavljevič, Vladimir Veličković, Olja Ivanjicki, Mersad Berber, Dušan Džamonja, Mića Popović, Ljuba Popović, Ivo Vojvodić, Nikola Rajzer, Jože Cijuha, Jože Tisnikar, Ivan Rabuzin, Vangel Naumovski and many others.

Passengers on these flights, who were mostly travelling as part of the JAT Air Lift package tours, included many domestic and international art lovers as well as numerous collectors and gallery owners from Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries.

All of the paintings found in the “Gallery over the Atlantic” had previously been displayed in galleries in Zagreb, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. Upon arriving in New York and Los Angeles the paintings were put on display in galleries in both cities.

Next week: First JAT DC10 arrives