All flights of "Jat" canceled - "Jat tehnika" discontinued works on airplanes of national airliner

All flights of "Jat Airways" have been canceled. People in "Jat" say that today’s (September 30, 2009) departures will depend on whether "Jat tehnika" will restart the discontinued works on the airplanes.

Air transportation company "Jat Airways" has cancelled all of its flights. The fleet of "Jat" stayed on the ground because the workers of "Jat tehnika" went on strike and discontinued works on the airplanes of "Jat" since the national airliner owes them over 100m RSD.

People in "Jat tehnika" say that their strike has nothing to do with other air transportation companies, and that these companies will not feel any consequences.

The passengers who were supposed to fly last night to Monastir, Salonika, Sarajevo, Skopje, Abu Dhabi and Larnaka, had to go back to their homes.

People in "Jat" offered those people to replace the tickets for some other flights of "Jat" in the following days.

The Director General of "Jat Airways", Srđan Radovanović, told B92 that all flights of the national airliner prior to 3 PM on Wednesday had been canceled because of the blackmailing policy of the representatives of company "Jat tehnika".

Six-month negotiations between "Jat tehnika" and the Government of Serbia on repayment of 117m RSD worth of debt of "Jat" have ended in failure.

- Primary reason is the debt of "Jat" to "Jat tehnika", which currently exceeds 110m RSD and causes us big problems in payment of salaries – said Stevan Mrkonjić from the trade union of "Jat tehnika".

The CEO of "Jat tehnika", Srđan Mišković, explains that the incomes of "Jat tehnika" from the business with "Jat Airways" amount to 70% of whole profit, and that the debt of "Jat Airways" is the reason why the payment of salaries to workers is running late.

The proposal of the CEO that the state should be given more time and that the strike should be put on hold has not been accepted by trade unions.

Company "Jat Airways" apologized to the passengers because the flights from the Belgrade airport on Tuesday night had been canceled, and explained that the next day’s flights would depend on whether "Jat tehnika" started the discontinued works on the airplanes of "Jat".