Igor Salinger/BELGRADE
Zika Petrovic, general manager and chief executive of JAT Yugoslav Airlines, has been assassinated. He leaves JAT struggling to recover from a flight ban linked to the Kosovo crisis, but on course for privatisation and possible membership of a global alliance.
Petrovic was shot in Belgrade on 25 April. The murder happened with JAT at a crossroads, a European Union flight ban imposed during the Kosovo crisis having been lifted and flights to most European destinations resumed, but with a trade embargo still in place.
Privatisation is planned and, on 31 March, Petrovic revealed that JAT was in talks over joining a global alliance. He also set a target of returning "to all markets that JAT was present in before 1992", and confirmed that eight Airbus A319s would be delivered from July 2001.
Of JAT's 30-aircraft fleet, one-third are in service and a third are leased to other carriers. The rest have been stored or cannibalised.
Petrovic joined JAT in 1968, becoming general manager in 1992.
Source: Flight International
