Company "Jat Airways" registered 25m EUR worth of losses in 2008

- Serbian airliner "Jat Airways" registered about 25m EUR worth of losses in 2008 – said Saša Vlaisavljević, the Acting Director General of that public company.

He said in the interview for Beta agency that the final results of operations in 2008 would be known in March, and added that the data at that moment showed that the incomes had amounted to about 155m EUR, while the expenses had been between 175 and 180m EUR.

- Over 20m EUR worth of losses in 2008 were caused by the high price of kerosene, while the rest was the result of the procurement of spare parts – Vlaisavljević said and added that fuel represented about 40% of “JAT’s” expenses.

As he explained, there is no reason for “Jat” to make losses in 2009 since the price of barrel of oil amounts to about 40 USD. The company could also register profit with the existing fleet starting from year 2010.

Vlaisavljević said that the business results in 2007, when “Jat” registered profit, can not be compared with the results in 2008 because the profit in 2007 had been achieved thanks to 17m USD worth of incomes that “Jat” had earned in several disputes in France.

- The last year was the most difficult year in the history of aviation and it can not be compared to any other year - he estimated and about 60 air transportation companies had bankrupted because the price of oil had amounted to as high as 144 USD per barrel, while total losses of global airliners had exceeded 6 billion USD.

Vlaisavljević said that "Jat Airways" had transported record number of passengers in 2008 – 1,341,000, which was about 5% more than in 2007.

Air Serbia ad Beograd

Saša Vlaisavljević