* Deal stops short of equity stake Serbia had hoped for
* JAT, Etihad to team up on flights
* Etihad to start flights from Belgrade on June 15
(Reuters) – Serbia’s loss-making JAT Airways has secured a marketing alliance with Gulf airline Etihad Airways to share route-booking codes, stopping short of the equity tie-up mooted by Serbia’s government.
Mired in recession and struggling to find investors in the crisis-hit European Union, Serbia had hoped Abu Dhabi-based Etihad would buy a stake in JAT, with media reports suggesting 49 percent was up for sale.
Etihad Chief Executive James Hogan told a news conference on Monday that any investment could be a long way off.
“We have to look at JAT to see if that opportunity exists. It is still a very early stage of that process.”
JAT will add its JU code to flights to 21 destinations within Etihad’s network, while the Gulf airline will put its EY code on all 23 JAT flights to Europe, Hogan said.
Etihad will start operating flights between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade on June 15, following Gulf competitor Qatar Airways, which started flights between Doha and the Serbian capital via Ankara late last year.
Serbia has been trying to offload JAT for years.
Last month the government said it was ready to take on 170 million euros ($222.66 million) of the carrier’s debt, pay leases for six new aircraft from EADS’s Airbus and secure severance payments for redundant workers.
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