Despite having half of its fleet grounded and cutting down on frequencies and destinations, the Serbian national carrier saw its passenger numbers increase in January. Jat Airways welcomed 77.962 passengers onboard its aircraft in the first month of the year, an increase of 4% compared to January 2012. This is despite a fall in the number of operated flights. The number of passenger travelling on Jat’s scheduled flights increased by 2%, on Euro Mediterranean services by 4%, while figures were down by 10% on services to and from Montenegro. The average cabin load factor stood at 63%, down by 4 points.
Jat ended 2012 as the second busiest carrier in the former Yugoslavia, behind Croatia Airlines. It handled 1.364.272 passengers, an increase of 11.9% on the year before. The average cabin load factor for the entire year stood at 73%. Passenger numbers improved on Euro Mediterranean flights by 11%, on charter services by 50% while flights to Montenegro were hit by an 8% passenger slump. Jat operated almost the same number of flights in 2012 as it did in 2011, increasing by only 1%. Jat’s aircraft spent an average of 9.2 hours in the air on a daily basis last year, 2% more than in 2011. In another sign of Jat’s aging fleet, a total of 988 flights were delayed due to technical problems.