Jat Marks the 55th Anniversary of Flights to Athens
On April 24, Jat Airways marked the 55th anniversary of introduction of scheduled flights to Athens. On the flights to the capital of Greece and vice versa the flag air carrier provided special services to its passengers and handed them gifts as a small symbol of gratitude for their longstanding loyalty. Aleksandar Milutinović, Jat Airways Branch Office Director in Athens, presented to the fifty fifth passenger who checked in at Belgrade’s airport for the Jat’s flight JU 438 on the Belgrade -Athens route a voucher for two return tickets on any of Jat’s destinations at the winner’s choice. The lucky winner was Mladen Stiović from Belgrade.
The destination between Belgrade and Athens is maintained by Jat’s planes three times a week while the route will be enhanced with the fourth flight in the high season.
"Aeroput", Jat’s predecessor, introduced the Belgrade-Skopje-Thessalonica route already in 1930 as its second international air route receiving from the Greek authorities the status of the most favoured air carrier. Having resumed its operations after the World War Two, Yugoslav Airlines introduced flights to Athens on April 24, 1951 as one among its first destinations.
JAT maintained its scheduled flights from Belgrade to Thessalonica and Athens with all types of aircraft within its fleet: DC-3s, Convairs, Caravelles, DC-9s, Boeing aircraft of the type 707/727/737 and ATR.
The fact that in 1994 the company’s planes flew on the Belgrade-Thessalonica-Athens route as its second resumed destination after the one to Moscow, immediately after the sanctions against FRY were lift, speaks best both about cooperation and friendship between Serbian and Greek peoples and Jat’s significance at this market.
Before the breakdown of the former Yugoslavia the most famous tourist agencies from Greece introduced in their programmes cultural and tourist centers here while a number of tourist groups, mostly from America, arrived on the Adriatic Sea via Athens. After 1991 all organized travels to our country were reduced only to travels of athletes in periods of competitions. It is expected that, owing to discount and promotional campaigns, the tourist industry will recuperate in Serbia & Montenegro, especially in spa and mountain centers, and in places with historical heritage, too. Initial interest in destinations in the country and the region is already noticeable.
Today, Athens is developing as the receptive destination in Jat's traffic net. Charter flights to Greek islands become more and more frequent in summer months and maintain traffic with a larger number of islands. The highest rate of increase is expected this summer.
Businessmen, mixed-marriage families, sportsmen, seamen, students who attend lessons at Greek universities, and tourist in summertime, make most numerous passengers on the Belgrade-Athens route. As of 2000 the number is continually increasing and in 2005 it reached the number of ten thousand passengers in scheduled traffic.
In the region of Athens lives and works a small colony of Serbia & Montenegro's citizens which numbers – according to the data from 2001 – about four thousand people. They intensively make business and private contacts with the mother country.
Jat's branch office is the only official branch of any of Serbian companies in Athens. It was founded in 1952, the fact which ranks it among the oldest Jat's branch offices abroad. Its seat is in the city's centre in the immediate vicinity of Sintagma Square. To many of our citizens the premises of the seat are a cozy nook of the mother country. Everything in the branch office is conceived to be for the purpose of every passenger while five employees strive to execute any business - which is in the interest of the local Serbian diaspora - on mutual satisfaction. Since the passengers recognize this Jat can be proud of its service quality and on-time traffic performance. | 
