Jat gets billion in funds

Jat’s aircraft will be fixed

The Serbian Minister for Infrastructure, Milutin Mrkonjić, which is also responsible for transportation, has vowed that the goal of his ministry will be to revive the ailing national carrier by the end of 2010. The government will allocate 1 billion Dinars (11.6 million Euros) in funds. As reported by this blog in the past, the restructuring process inside the company should begin in February 2009. By this time Jat’s current CEO will be most probably be replaced. Due to strict laws and regulations outlined by the European Union, a national government is not allowed to subsidise its national carrier. As a result the funds for Jat (a loan) will be allocated by a bank.

Meanwhile Jat’s CEO Saša Vlaisavljević said "We need to cut the number of employees from the current 1.800 to 1.100. We have already reached an agreement with unions”. He noted that the company has already undertaken a series of measures to cut costs by 11 million Euros per year. "We have reduced the number of airports we are flying to and we have cut salaries", he said. "We also reduced the catering offer in our aircraft". Parts of the funds that will be provided will go for redundancy payments and part to "fix five planes that are currently not operational because we don't have money to buy spare parts”.