| Jat Airways (IATA designator JU) is the national carrier of Serbia and Montenegro, former national carrier of Yugoslavia, and the sixteenth-oldest airline in Europe.
It was founded on 17 June 1927 as Aeroput, the name changed on 1 April 1947 to Jugoslovenski Aerotransport
(JAT), then to JAT Yugoslav Airlines and finally to Jat Airways in January of 2003.
After World War II Jat resumed its network with DC-3 and JU-52 aircraft. Later DC-6 s were bought for long-haul routes,
and CV-330/440 for short-haul routes.
In 1963, the first Caravelle jet aircraft joined the Jat's fleet. In 1969 the
first DC-9 (out of 16) and in 1974 the first two Boeing 727-200's arrived (out of 9).
Long-haul routes to America, Australia and Far East were serviced by Boeing
707s, which were 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 737-300s.
These were famous for their new silver livery.
During those golden 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). This record still remains unbeaten in Eastern Europe today (with exception of
Aeroflot).
But in 1992 Yugoslavia broke up and Jat stopped all international services because of UN sanctions. During that time Jat had only domestic lines, between Belgrade, Podgorica, Tivat, Nis and Pristina. Finally,
in 1994, Jat resumed its international services with aircraft that had been repainted with a new livery.
In 1998 Jat ordered 8 Airbus A319s. The original delivery date was in June
2000 but it has been postponed indefinitely. Today, Jat is searching the way to cancel that order and to purchase Boeing 737NG aircraft instead.
The company has plans to restart long-haul operations to North America (New York, Toronto, Chicago) in June 2005 with two
Boeing 767 aircraft it plans to lease. It also has plans to replace aircraft
for domestic destinations with Embraer 170s or CRJ-700s.
Scheduled destinations: Domestic: Belgrade, Podgorica, Tivat, Nis; International: Amsterdam, Athens, Banja Luka, Basel, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels,
Cairo, Copenhagen, Damascus, Dubai, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Istanbul, Larnaka, Ljubljana, London, Malta, Milan, Monastir, Moscow, Munich, Ohrid, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sarajevo, Skopje, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Trieste, Tripoli, Tunis,
Vienna and Zürich.
The fleet:
- 4 ATR-72 (YU-ALN, YU-ALO, YU-ALP, YU-ALR)
- 5 DC-9-30 (YU-AJI, YU-AJJ, YU-AJK, YU-AJL, YU-AJM)
- 10 Boeing 737-300 (YU-AND, YU-ANF, YU-ANH, YU-ANI, YU-ANJ, YU-ANK, YU-ANL,
YU-ANV, YU-ANW, YU-AON)
- 3 Boeing 737-400 (YU-AOO, YU-AOR, YU-AOS)
- 2 Boeing 727-200 (YU-AKI, YU-AKK)
- 1 DC-10 (YU-AMB)
External links
|
