Igor Salinger/BELGRADE
Senior officials from eight Balkan carriers have held a meeting in Belgrade to discuss ways of working together to rebuild their operations following the decade of troubles in the region (Flight International, 28 November - 4 December).
The conference, called the "meeting of the scheduled airlines of Southeast Europe", was hosted by JAT's chief executive and general manager Mihajlo Vujinovic. Attending were representatives from JAT Yugoslav Airlines; Slovenia's Adria Airways; Malév Hungarian Airlines; Croatia Airlines; Bosnia's Air Bosna and Air Srpska; Montenegro Airlines and MAT Macedonian. Although Balkan Bulgarian Airlines was present as an observer, Romania's Tarom, which according to JAT was one of the initiators of the idea, declined to attend due to an unplanned management change just before the meeting.
Vujinovic told the airlines that "instead of closing [thin] routes, we should have joint operations on such flights." JAT recently tied up a limited co-operation deal with Air Bosna and Air Srpska (Flight International, 5-11 December).
Of the eight airlines present and filling in the questionnaire, six showed interest for joint commercial operations, four for technical and maintenance co-operation and five for joint training. The officials agreed to form working groups to discuss co-operation further, with Adria Airways heading the group studying commercial aspects, Malév technical issues and JAT training.
Source: Flight International
