is the national carrier of
Serbia , former national carrier of
Yugoslavia , and the sixteenth-oldest airline in
Europe .
The company was founded on
17 June 1927 as Aeroput (Аеропут). On
1 April 1947 the name was changed to Jugoslovenski aerotransport - JAT (Југословенски АероТранспорт), then to JAT Yugoslav Airlines and finally to Jat Airways in January
2003 .
After
World War II Jat resumed its network with
Douglas DC-3 and
Junkers Ju 52 aircraft. Later
Douglas DC-6 s were bought for long-haul routes, and
Convair 330 and
Convair 440 aircraft for short-haul routes.
In
1963 , the first
Caravelle jet aircraft joined Jat. In
1969 the first
Douglas DC-9 (of 16) arrived and in
1974 the first two
Boeing 727-200 aircraft arrived (of 9).
Long-haul routes to
North America ,
Australia and the
Far East were flown by
Boeing 707 s, introduced in
1970 . In
1978 a widebody
Douglas DC-10 was purchased to succeed the Boeing 707s on the longer-haul routes, although the 707s stayed in service into the 1980s on ad hoc charters and as scheduled-flight replacement aircraft.
In
1985 Jat was the first European airline to purchase
Boeing 737-300 s. During those years the company carried 5 million passengers annually and served 80 destinations on five continents (19 domestic, 45 medium haul and 16 long haul routes).
In
1992 the
Yugoslavia broke up and Jat stopped all international services because of
United Nations sanctions. During that time Jat operated only domestic services, between
Belgrade ,
Podgorica ,
Tivat ,
Niš ,
Priština and for a very short time
Užice -
Airport Ponikve . Finally, in
1994 , Jat resumed its international services with aircraft that had been repainted with a new livery.
In
1998 Jat ordered 8
Airbus A319 s. The original delivery date was June
2000 but this date has been postponed until a total of $16 million is paid off to Airbus. Jat is expecting its first A319 in Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport by June 2007.
In
April 2000 director general
Žika Petrović (Жика Петровић) was killed in a mafia-style execution, in front of his family home in
Belgrade .
Jat sold its last DC-10 on 24 June 2005. During 2005 the company also phased out all remaining 727 and DC-9 aircraft from its own routes. Some of its ageing Boeing 737-300 will follow in a few years time. The last airworthy DC-9 is leased in
UAE . The DC-9s are due to be replaced with leased CRJ-700 aircraft in the spring of 2006.
The company had plans to restart long-haul operations to North America (
New York ,
Toronto ,
Montreal and
Chicago ) in June
2005 with two
Boeing 767-200 ER aircraft that it had planned to lease, but these plans have been postponed and changed. Jat Airways now plans to receive its Boeing 767s in early 2006. Flights to New York from Jat Airways have been cancelled because USA did not move Jat to "Category 1" agreements that are needed for the permission to fly in US territory. Recently, Jat Airways cancelled its lease for 2 Boeing 767s due to the cancelling of flying to the USA. However it will work with another airline (most likely
Uzbekistan Airways or
Turkish Airlines ) to start flights to the US through
Belgrade
Jat Airways is not a member of any alliances or partnerships but does codeshare on some routes with
Lufthansa ,
Austrian Airlines ,
Air France and
Aeroflot . Jat Airways has recently started a campaign to join
SkyTeam with
Air France a major suporter of the campaign.
The Jat Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft:
- 4 ATR-72 (YU-ALN, YU-ALO, YU-ALP, YU-ALR)
- 8 Boeing 737-300 (YU-AND, YU-ANH, YU-ANI, YU-ANJ, YU-ANK, YU-ANL, YU-ANW, YU-AON)
- 2 Boeing 737-400 (YU-AOR, YU-AOS)
