Jat Airways asked for money to put out fires in Serbia

The national carrier asked to be paid to join the fight against fires in Serbia in July, media say. Belgrade daily Blic reported in its Thursday issue that six water bomber planes Jat Airways owns as part of its agricultural aviation fleet could have been used to put out widespread wildfires that ravaged Serbia last month. Jat Airways asked for money to put out fires in Serbia However, Director Slobodan Miskovic put a price tag of EUR 687 per one hour of flight for his company's service, which the government found too steep. This came to light in the wake of this week's news that Serbia sent a number of its planes to assist the firefighting operations in Greece. The media wondered why those same planes were not used in Serbia a month ago. Miskovic, however, remained unavailable to offer any answers to reporters. Jat Airways' huge losses have been subsidized for years with the Serbian tax payer money. The sources with jurisdiction in the matter have confirmed the reports. However, it remains unclear why the government failed to react to Jat's demands in July, although party officials forming the ruling coalition sit in the company's managing board. "The government did not consider the possibility to engage Jat in putting out wildfires," a government media office representative told Blic. MUP's rescue operations chief, Predrag Maric, told the newspaper the price Jat was asking for was simply too high. "Seven days of renting those six planes would have come up to EUR 240,000. When we compared the price and the results we could have expected, we decided against the offer," Maric says. "The Russians provided their firefighting Ilyushin plane with a 40-ton water capacity free of charge," he added. Public Enterprise Srbijasume, which manages Serbia's forests, said that only the last ten days of July saw over 19,000 hectares of wood, meadows and pastures disappear in flames. Direct damage that the country suffered is estimated at EUR 9.5mn, including the cost of putting out the fires. It will cost a further EUR 5,000 to renew each hectare of forest. To make matters even worse, the process will take 30 to 50 years to complete. Russians failed to see Serbian fires as business opportunity: Il-76 in action (Beta)

Jat Airways asked for money to put out fires in Serbia

However, Director Slobodan Mišković put a price tag of EUR 687 per one hour of flight for his company's service, which the government found too steep.

This came to light in the wake of this week's news that Serbia sent a number of its planes to assist the firefighting operations in Greece. The media wondered why those same planes were not used in Serbia a month ago.

Mišković, however, remained unavailable to offer any answers to reporters.

Jat Airways' huge losses have been subsidized for years with the Serbian tax payer money.

The sources with jurisdiction in the matter have confirmed the reports. However, it remains unclear why the government failed to react to Jat's demands in July, although party officials forming the ruling coalition sit in the company's managing board.

"The government did not consider the possibility to engage Jat in putting out wildfires," a government media office representative told Blic.

MUP's rescue operations chief, Predrag Marić, told the newspaper the price Jat was asking for was simply too high.

"Seven days of renting those six planes would have come up to EUR 240,000. When we compared the price and the results we could have expected, we decided against the offer," Marić says.

"The Russians provided their firefighting Ilyushin plane with a 40-ton water capacity free of charge," he added.

Public Enterprise Srbijašume, which manages Serbia's forests, said that only the last ten days of July saw over 19,000 hectares of wood, meadows and pastures disappear in flames.

Direct damage that the country suffered is estimated at EUR 9.5mn, including the cost of putting out the fires.

It will cost a further EUR 5,000 to renew each hectare of forest. To make matters even worse, the process will take 30 to 50 years to complete.