经济学人下载:前南斯拉夫的航空公司

Business
商业报道

Airlines in ex-Yugoslavia
前南斯拉夫的航空公司

Balkan unity?
巴尔干的航空公司们，联合起来？

Four airlines may have to merge
四大航空公司不得不合并

EASTERN EUROPEAN airlines are sick.
东欧航线公司的日子可不好过。

Fuel is dear, their markets are small and budget airlines are poaching their passengers.
燃料费用高，市场容量小，就连廉价航空也正抢走他们的乘客。

Most eastern European airlines lose money.
多数东欧航线都赔钱经营。

Malev, Hungary's flag carrier, went bankrupt in February.
匈牙利航空公司Malev就于二月份以破产告终。

To avoid a similar fate, four Balkan airlines are considering a novel strategy: flying together.
为避免同样的命运，巴尔干的四大航空公司想出了一个新点子：比翼齐飞。

The idea is not officially on the agenda when the bosses of Croatia Airlines, Montenegro Airlines, Serbia's Jat and Slovenia's Adria meet in Montenegro on May 19th.
5月19号克罗地亚航空公司、黑山航空公司、塞尔维亚航空公司还有亚德里亚航空公司的老总见面时，这个点子还不在官方的议程上。

But it will be discussed behind closed doors.
但私下里这一问题也将得到讨论。

All are in debt and losing money,
四大公司目前全都负债累累、赔钱经营，

but between them they have many profitable routes.
但在他们之间，也确有一些航线可以挣钱。

Serving the scattered Balkan diasporas ought to be lucrative.
为巴尔干半岛的侨民提供运输服务就应有利可图的。

Zoran Djurisic, the boss of Montenegro, says that before Yugoslavia collapsed,
黑山航空的老板Zoran Djurisic说道，在南斯拉夫解体之前，这个市场里的客户数量多达100万，

it represented a market of 10m passengers a year, of which 7m flew with JAT or Adria.
其中70万的乘客乘坐的是塞尔维亚航空或者亚德里亚航空的航线。

Now, 11m people fly to or from the seven ex-Yugoslav states each year,
现在，每年110万名从前南斯拉夫的七个国家起飞或降落的乘客中，

but only 4m use the four carriers meeting in Montenegro.
只有40万乘坐的是在黑山见面的四家航空公司的飞机。

Bosnia's BH airlines has only one functioning plane.
波斯尼亚的BH公司里能用的飞机只剩一架了。

Kosovo, with a large diaspora, has no domestic airline. And Macedonia's MAT went bust in 2010.
科索沃虽然有大量侨民，但是却没有国内的航空公司。2010年，MAT马其顿航空公司也难逃倒闭的命运。

Mr Djurisic, who called the summit, says that in the short run the four airlines must co-operate to cut costs.
邀请来各位高层的Djurisic先生说，在短期，四家航空公司必须合作才能削减成本。

He hopes that, in five to eight years, they might create a single airline for this whole area, including Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Vladimir Ognjenovic,
他希望5到8年间这些公司能建立一个服务于波黑，马其顿、科索沃等所有地区的统一航空公司。

the boss of Jat, says that such a merger is not realistic unless all are bought by another foreign airline.
塞尔维亚航空公司的经理Vladimir Ognjenovic说，除非有一个外国航空公司收购了我们的全部公司，否则合并就是不现实的。

All four have problems.
四家公司可谓家家有本难念的经。

Jat's ageing fleet glugs fuel and needs lots of costly maintenance.
塞尔维亚航空公司的飞机已然有年头了，不仅费油，而且维护费用也十分高昂。

Two recent attempts to find a buyer for it failed.
两次为自己寻找买家而不能。

Montenegro and Croatia Airlines are packed during the summer holidays but struggle to fill seats during the rest of the year.
黑山航空与克罗地亚航空的飞机在暑假时座无虚席，但其他时候则要尽力招徕顾客。

Adria was bailed out in September with 50m from the Slovene government. Now it is looking for a buyer.
亚德里亚航空公司从斯洛文尼亚政府手里拿到了500万欧元用于度过难关。

If that fails, its last chance is to join forces with the other three, says Klemen Bostjancic, its boss.
现在它也在寻找买家。该公司的经理Klemen Bostjancic说道，如果不能成功的话，他就要最后一搏，与其他三家公司加入联盟。

A spokesman says Croatia Airlines is not interested in any type of merger with the other ex-Yugoslav airlines.
一名发言人说克罗地亚航空公司对任何形式的与前南斯拉夫航空公司的合作都不感兴趣。

But Croatia's minister of transport says that unless the airline revives, a merger with Adria is possible.
但是克罗地亚航空公司的运输部部长却说除非公司能够起死回生，否则还是有可能和亚德里亚航空公司合并的。

Luka Popovic, an analyst, predicts that the burden of history will thwart any merger.
分析师Luka Popovic预测道历史的负担将阻碍合并。

But the airlines may feel they have no choice.
但航空公司可能也别无他选，

And there is a precedent for a merger in stages:
尤其是有个分阶段合并的先例摆在面前：

Scandinavian Airlines began as a co-operative venture between the airlines of Norway, Denmark and Sweden in 1946 and then merged in 1951.
丹麦航空与瑞典航空这两大挪威航空公司在1946年联合投资了斯堪的纳维亚航空公司，并于1951年成功合并。

That could happen in the Balkans, too.
也许巴尔干的公司也应该这么做。