Letonia's Baltic Aviation System gives up strategic partnership with Jat

Letonia's Baltic Aviation System has given up the strategic partnership with Jat Airways, the Serbian Ministry for Infrastructure and Energy said in a statement on Friday (2 December 2011).

The ministry stated that the company had not officially announced the reasons for giving up the partnership with Jat.

The ministry's working group in charge of the transaction, consisting of representatives of Jat, government institutions and advisers, is preparing a proposal for future steps in overcoming the difficulties in the public transport, that is, air traffic, which should be adopted by the government at one of its next sessions.

Unofficially, two options are being considered. The first is that the state forms a new national airline by itself, and the second is that Jat enters a restructuring process. In both cases, the new company will have about 400 employees, and it will rent new airplanes. Since Jat currently has over 1,200 workers, about EUR 8 million are needed for the social program, that is, EUR 300 per year of work for each employee.

The company Baltic Aviation System, co-owner of Air Baltic, was the only company to purchase the documentation for the participation in the government's tender for a strategic partner to form Serbia's new flag carrier.