Serbia delays flight resumption until May 18

The resumption of commercial flights to and from Serbia has been delayed until May 18, the country's coronavirus taskforce has confirmed. "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport will be open on May 18 and that is when flights will resume", the taskforce said. Initially, the government announced services would restart "around May 1". Yesterday, it adopted a draft decision to enable operations from May 1 onwards but noted that a final decision on the opening of the country's airports would be made in consultation with doctors. In the Official Gazette, the revised measures note that commercial flights can resume as of May 1 if airports and all of their supporting infrastructure are completely sanitised, while all staff will be required to wear masks and gloves. 

All incoming and outgoing passengers will have their temperatures checked, while the country’s coronavirus taskforce has adopted a decision for all incoming passengers to be tested for Covid-19 within 24 hours of their arrival, however, it hasn’t been outlined in which manner the tests will be conducted. In March, all passengers arriving on repatriation flights were transported to state-run facilities where they were tested for the virus and kept there until they received the all clear, usually within three days. The practice was halted in April with all incoming travellers ordered to self-isolate at home for a period of 28 days.

Air Serbia has been selling tickets for flights across its network from May 1. The airline itself has so far not commented on when it plans on resuming commercial flights. The carrier has been operating repatriation services for stranded citizens since mid-March until last Friday. No more flights of the sort are planned in the near future. A significant number of Serbian nationals are still believed to be stranded across the world. In Germany alone, 1.000 Serbian citizens are still waiting to travel back to their home country, according to the Serbian Embassy in Germany.