Jat Airways today marks the 55^th anniversary of establishing the regular line to Paris. On this occasion the Jat crew on the JU 240/241 flight presented passengers with gifts as small tokens of gratitude for the many years of loyalty.

The present was handed at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport to passenger Milana Bosnić, a photo reporter from Belgrade, in the form of a free Jat Airways air ticket to a destination of her choice. The same was done in Paris where Jat Director-General Nebojša Starčević handed the present to pensioner Marko Mitrović from the Svilajnac broader area. Both winners have set out they are longtime Jat passengers.

Airliners of Jat Airways and Air France fly on a daily basis between Belgrade and Paris under a joint arrangement.

Novica Vulić, Jat Paris Office Head, emphasizes that for Jat France is one of the most important markets. Last year, Jat carried a total of 68,000 passengers on the Paris-Belgrade line, accounting for 56 percent of the overall number of carried passengers on this line.

The financial effects were even more impressive, as this line covers ten percent of Jat’s international sales. The Yugoslav Airlines had opened the regular line to Paris on March 17, 1952, extending its earlier established line to Munich further so as to include the French capital. At the time of severed relations with East European countries, Yugoslavia had been opening more and more to the West and the line to Paris was JAT’s fifth international line to which both countries attached great importance.

JAT flew its DC-3 on this line twice a week. After the Orly airport was opened in 1953, JAT was among the first air companies to begin using this airport. In the recent years, Jat airplanes have been using the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

In the 1980s, JAT flew from Paris to such destinations as Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Split, carrying out up to 13 flights a week. Beginning 1973, it maintained also the line to Lyon.

After the UN-imposed economic sanctions and the flight ban to the European Union member-countries were lifted, Jat Airways flew alone to Paris in the 2000-2005 period with Air France resuming its flights as of two years ago. During the period when Jat alone maintained the line, the two air companies enjoyed developed commercial cooperation, as may be inferred, among other things, from the fact regarding jointly carrying passengers to the US.

So, after Air France resumed its flights – this cooperation was expanded to become a joint arrangement.