Air Serbia saw two anonymous e-mails report bombs on board two of its aircraft bound for Russia yesterday, as well as one today for a fourth day in a row. The threats targeted Air Serbia’s service from Belgrade to St Petersburg, as well as to Moscow. All the e-mails were sent prior to departure, resulting in the St Petersburg service being delayed over three hours, while yesterday's evening Moscow flight was late two hours on take off and today's three hours. All of the threats, along with the previous three, turned out to be false. While most of the e-mails being sent to Belgrade Airport are from Ukraine, the one from yesterday was submitted from Poland. They come amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Air Serbia is continuing to serve the Russian market for now. Despite media reports in Russia that services are being discontinued and that some passengers have received e-mails of flight cancellations, the airline is only reducing its frequencies to Moscow from fifteen weekly rotations to eight weekly, with some travellers subsequently being informed that their flight has been cancelled. Starting March 21, the carrier plans to maintain a daily departure to the Russian capital, with two flights operating on Fridays. The reduction in frequencies come in response to external pressure for the airline to discontinue its flights, as it remains one of the few European carriers still able to operate into Russia. Most flights from Moscow have been sold out over the coming weeks.
Air Serbia has not commented on its Russia operations since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. According to the TangoSix portal, in addition to the sustained hoax bomb threats, the airline’s website has also come under attack from hackers on several occasions over the past week, targeting ticket sales. Furthermore, its employees have also received threatening e-mails. However, there are few solutions to the ongoing bomb scares. Due to short turn around times, the aircraft operating flights to Russia cannot be thoroughly checked for explosive devices prior to departure, a process which takes hours as each piece of equipment on board must be screened.
Crazy
ReplyDeleteActually Rosaviyatsia didn't give them the permit for 15 flights beyond the two week period they initially got.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was Vucko's decision, not Putin's.
DeleteI believe they got permits until the start of the summer season - March 27. But they are reducing frequencies a week early.
DeleteThey got them for two weeks which is why they never loaded the flights beyond that period.
DeleteVucko just used it as PR and the world fell for it.
They did have flights loaded for next week.
DeleteThere were 2 daily flights scheduled for all of next week. Or you think people are getting non existent cancellation emails. Please don't spread misinformation. There is enough of it going around as there is.
DeleteThey are reducing them for one week, there was no plan to operate beyond that period. Like someone wrote that's what they got from the Russian side.
DeleteNo one disputes the schedule after 27th of March. I'm talking about next week that they had 2 daily flights planned. And they reduced it. So obviously even if they got the ability to increase flights after 27th of March they would have reduced it. So it's not PR like someone claims, they actually reduced flights.
DeleteWhere you see that?
DeleteLast time i checked (last night) flights to both LED/SVO were as usual 4/15 weekly respectively until 27th March, with some flights still having availability.
Others are sold-out.
Well you obviously didn't see well. Check their website and booking systems. There is one flight per day from Monday. Two flights on Friday. Just like the article says, if you read it.
DeleteLast time i checked was last night.
DeleteI don't know if anything changed since then.
LED is still four weekly until 27th March as previously.
Obviously it changed.
DeleteNext week there are seats only available on Monday and Tuesday (from Moscow) because they will use A330. From Wednesday everything is sold out until 29th of March.
DeleteObviously flights to LED stayed the same.
DeleteThey probably rebooked some pax from Moscow onto them and onto the next flights.
Makes you think if it is worth keeping these flights.
ReplyDeleteOf course it is, they are printing money on them. They should not cancel them because of a few lunatics.
DeleteWill Poland investigate who send the email?
ReplyDeleteAha sure. At least here in Serbia we are not disillusioned about the EU.
DeleteSerbia should investigate who sent the threat, issue a warrant for arrest and request Poland to extradite the individual to be prosecuted in Serbia. This will be a way to prevent similar incidents becoming normal in global aviation, while at the same time seeing how serious EU is of Serbia's EU membership.
Delete+1000
DeleteJatbegmel 16:35
Serbia should investigate, find and issue arresting request to Poland and to Ukraine.
This is becoming a big problem.
ReplyDeleteDuring times of war there will always be fanatics and lunatics. Air Serbia as a young carrier cannot afford yet to receive an avalanche of critics in maitaining the flights to Russia.
ReplyDeleteI mean deploying your sole A330 to Moscow and selling the tickets starting at 1000€ is too much to begin with.....
JU has been around since 1927 and has survived WW2, communist nationalization, 1990s, 1999, transition...
DeleteIf anyone can operate in these times its them. Plus all this PR is helping them promote their brand free of charge.
If you think constant threats of bombs on board their aircraft promotes their brand...
DeleteThere is no such thing as bad PR, just ask Ryanair.
DeleteJU, the FR of the Balkans.
DeleteYou can ask Malaysia Airlines too.
Delete"JU, the FR of the Balkans."
DeleteTrue, in the sense that both will still exist in a couple of years, unlike every other ex-YU airline.
Anonymous 09:11
DeleteIt did not survive "communist nationalization"... Aeroput was liquidated on December 24th, 1948, and JAT has already been established as a new company at the time (along with short-lived JUSTA).
Only symbolically is Air Serbia descendant of Aeroput, not formally.
Anonymous09:11
DeleteJU has been around since 1927 - Current ASL has got nothing to do with the previous JAT from the 70s and you know it. Current company is a fruit of Etihad and co in 2013.
Air Serbia is the legal successor to Jat, as per Serbian business registry. That's how ot retained all aircraft, staff, international agreements, IATA membership etc. It is not a new company like Air Montenegro.
Delete*it
DeleteAeroPut wasn't liquidated but it was nationalized and it merely changed the owner. It was not shut down in the classical sense.
DeleteNo, that was not the case, it was actually liquidated as a privately owned company. With JAT and JUSTA having been already established.
DeleteInteresting how there are no threats issued against Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Etihad...
ReplyDeleteI seriously doubt these countries would anounce bomb threats and that their airlines would follow security procedures as correctly as ASL.
DeleteYeah, Emirates, the most unsafe airline in the world, who is known to cutting corners when it comes to safety.
DeleteYou can easily find what EK pilots say about their working conditions and how those can affect flight safety.
DeleteWho cares
DeleteThey have zero crashes and are one of the most profitable airlines in the world.
Do you really expect someone to say something to Emirates? The airline is one of biggest buyers of Airbus planes and has kept many Europeans employed thanks to their huge orders, while European leaders are all lining up to kiss the Sheik's feet in hope of getting oil from them.
DeletePeople who know what they are talking about care.
DeleteWhataboutism full time. How can people here compare JU and EK? Serbia tries hard to become a MS, is this the same case as UAE? OK, compare it with TK, but not with EK, it just shows how deep in the whataboutism shit you are. Trying to show how you care, but at the end you dont care.
Delete@09,42
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Flight_521
Yep, one dead in thousands of flights.
DeleteCompare that to TK.
Sure, sloavio, the first thing people sending out bomb threats do is check whether a carrier hails from a EU candidate country... And even if they did, isn't TK a better target with many more flights to more destinations and it's even a NATO country...
DeleteRegardless, forcing Serbia to introduce sanctions will not work. We are not a member state, and are therefore free to decide on our own what we'll do. You're saying Serbia won't become a MS in that case - well, everything about the EU tells us otherwise. We won't become a MS if the EU isn't forced into speeding up the process. If there is an accession date, we can negotiate when will Serbia harmonize with the EU - that can be 6 months before membership, 1 year, 2 years... This way - no, thanks.
Sramota...
ReplyDeleteThis is becoming a joke.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if it will fourth day in a row.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is.
DeleteAs per article
"Air Serbia saw two anonymous e-mails report bombs on board two of its aircraft bound for Russia yesterday, as well as one today for a fourth day in a row. The threats targeted Air Serbia’s service from Belgrade to St Petersburg, as well as to Moscow. All the e-mails were sent prior to departure, resulting in the St Petersburg service being delayed over three hours, while yesterday's evening Moscow flight was late two hours on take off and today's three hours. All of the threats, along with the previous three, turned out to be false. While most of the e-mails being sent to Belgrade Airport are from Ukraine, the one from yesterday was submitted from Poland. They come amid the ongoing war in Ukraine."
Good thing no bomb threats are being sent to EU member states which continue to buy Russian oil. And with oil prices up so much, Russia is able to make a good profit from it and cover losses from other sanctions.
ReplyDeleteThese social media freedom fighters who campaign on twitter and Linkedin all day until the next more interesting thing comes along are the worst.
My comment just yesterday on this writes:
DeleteI wonder what kind of an imagine are EU countries giving by buying Russian gas? 1/5 of Russian gas exports in 2021 went to Germany, 35% of Russian gas exports went to 3 EU markets - Germany, France and Italy. EU countries also receive transit fees for this gas as well. Largest importers of Russian coal in the EU were Netherlands and Germany. Largest importers of Russian crude oil in the EU were Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. All EU land borders are open with Russia. Helsinki-St Petersburg train services have more than double the pax capacity per day compared to what JU offers to SVO, and the Finns have intentions to increase capacity. Serbia and its civilians are definitely a problem! Serbia is obviously a problem offering 540 seats at best in a day with its flights to Moscow. Obviously billions of Euros will be made there. Serbia will be the new Switzerland with those 540 daily seats to Moscow. Hypocrisy at its finest!
I would increase to 4x daily, just "u inat dušmanina"
ReplyDelete+1000000
DeleteWhen "dušmani" close their airspace for entire AirSerbia then will be crying again.
DeleteIn that case they will have to close the airspace for entire Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Turkish Airlines and many others.
DeleteNo they wouldnt. Emirates, Etihad, Qatar are not using EU airspace for this.
DeleteTurkish Airlines is using European airspace 6 times per day to reach Russia.
DeleteDamn, how delusional some people are. Serbia will have to follow EU policies against Russia. Why are you fiercly trying to compare the status of Serbia with the one of UAE? Hard to understand I guess. Serbia will have to comply with the rest otherwise bye bye open sky agreement.
Delete@sloavio
DeleteSerbia isn't an EU member and therefore doesn't have to follow every single policy they set. Nor did the newest members do everything to the letter until they joined. For example, Yugoslav (FRY) passports had visa free access to Bulgaria until it joined the EU, where as for EU we needed visas to enter. EU remains devided on many issues, with Serbia in particular, it's the issue of Kosovo where 6 members don't recognise their independence. Even now, there is mixed words regarding Serbia. While a few EU politicians have called for suspending Serbia's EU application, other are calling for expediting its application to join. EU cutting Serbia would only increase Chinese and Russian influence in the middle of Europe, which they don't want either. This was evident when the EU initially refused to send medical help to Serbia at the beginning of the pandemic. China stepped up, which is when EU help started arriving.
While a majority of Serbians stand with Ukrainians, terrorising our citizens with fake bomb threats could dwindle sympathy.
Lol EU already tried that approach with Serbia (the 'bye-bye this and that'). The venture ended with Serbia having the lowest EU accession support out of all candidates. But sure, EU can go ahead and plummet that already low support to the ground.
DeleteThe EU will be silent when it comes to Serbia. Severstal stopped its exports of steel to the EU after they put sanctions on its owner. Now the EU increased Serbia s steel quotas. Lol
DeleteI don't see any solutions to these problems.
ReplyDeleteWell they could lease a plane that would operate exclusively to Moscow :D Hell they operated an Etihad plane a few years ago that just flew BEG-LHR and nothing else.
Delete...and BEG-AUH.
DeleteA solution would be to call the Ukrainian Ambasador for talks to address the issue considering the threats are coming from there. Guarantees would be needed to ensure that measures will be taken to prosecute the individuals making threats to civilian aircraft.
DeleteSerbia should investigate the threats and call for the possible extradition of the individuals responsible, to be prosecuted in Serbia for terrorism.
JU is not breaking absolutely any rules. I don't see an issue. The moral police should not be as selective in their campaigns.
ReplyDeleteThey should block the email address they are getting the messages from :D
ReplyDeleteSend them to spam folder.
DeleteOne thing I really don't understand. In the midst of your country being at war you have the time to send emails, search and explore flight timetables, and find Belgrade Airport's email address. Whether it is an individual or government ordered, I simply wonder how they have the time?
ReplyDeleteBecause it takes less than a minute?
DeleteIf bombs were falling around me, it would be the last thing on my mind.
DeleteI'm surprised that JU has decided to ride it out.
ReplyDeleteI think war is a bit worse than people doing email and phone pranks.
ReplyDeleteIt's a war that has absolutely nothing to do with this airline, which, like someone said, is not breaking any rules.
DeleteGenerally, I have good opinion, most of the time, how JU is doing business, and glad about the results achieved. But, if Serbia (at least verbally and formally) is in the process if joining EU, and if EU set the rule that there will be no flights to Russia, than flag carrier of Serbia is breaking current temporary EU rules. Not taking sides, not saying EU rule about stopping flights to Russia is good, you are just not right saying JU is not breaking rules in this situation.
Deleteprocess of joining, not if joining, autocorrect
DeleteAt the time EU was giving money to EU countries in order to recover easier from pandemic in aviation sector nobody thought that Serbia should get it as well as that country is in the process of joining EU. They cared only about EU members.
DeleteLet them use the same logic here as well.
The process of joining EU is not event remotely the same thing as being a member. That process is something that can last for decades. You can not expect a candidate country to share full package of obligations and duties, while not having access to the full package of benefits as members do. Once (and if ever) Serbia becomes a member, it will have to fully comply with the EU policy.
DeleteAnon 11:40 better learn some things before you write:
Delete"The European Union is the largest donor in the Republic of Serbia. Since 2001, the EU has provided, through several various instruments and funds, more than EUR 3 billion in grants to the Republic of Serbia in order to support the reforms."
Plus let's not forget that the EU blocked export of medical equipment to Serbia during covid.
DeleteYet it's OK for EU to still buy gas from Russia.
DeleteNot just gas but oil too! Meanwhile inflation in the EU is exploding and it is not showing any signs of slowing down.
Delete@anon 13:48
DeleteIt has nothing to o with the point I stated. Promasio si ceo fudbal.
Being donor is something totally different. The amount of money EU members get from EU funds is much bigger and can't be compared to non-EU countries that get peanuts.
But when we talk about obligations and duties Serbia is seen as the full EU member.
That is the point I was talking about.
Add more flights! That would be appropriate response.
ReplyDelete1000+
DeleteMy guess is that demand will subside by the end of April. Then one daily flight will be more than enough, primarily for Serbian people living in Russia.
ReplyDeleteAnd the trains from Finland keep on rolling into Russia problem free.
ReplyDeleteSent a bomb email to the Finish rail operator since it upsets you so much that Russian citizens still have a way to leave their country.
DeleteIt does not upset me. What upsets me is the double standards and hypocricy.
DeleteCancel Culture is in Full Swing.
ReplyDeleteMadness.
ReplyDeleteBut nobody threats TK, EK and QR!
ReplyDeleteWhy would any company self impose sanctions when no one asks them to do so. The EU objected to the increase of flights to Moscow, not the flights themselves. Serbia can not impose sanctions on Russia, which was clear from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteTurkish Airlines is overflying EU using B777-300ER on their flights to Moscow daily. Turkey is also "in the process of joining the EU" and a long-term NATO member.
When/if the EU says something like "Those who fly to Russia cannot fly to EU", I am sure both Air Serbia and Turkish will stop flights to Russia.
Air Serbia will stop flying there if the EU closes airspace for flights destined to Russia. At the same time, Turkish will have the option to fly the other way, overflying Georgia and Kazakhstan, if they deem viable.
I feel incredibly sorry for all the involved people suffering, but let's stay out of this battle. March 24th is approaching rapidly as a cruel reminder of how most people in Serbia and Montenegro felt under not so different circumstances. We must sit this painful game out.
I offered accomodation to friends who want to leave Ukraine and that is the most I can do.
Regards from Novi Sad.
Hosting more than 5 million refugees, Turkey has a strong hand against EU. What does Serbia have, visa free entrance to Iranians, Chinese, Russians?
DeleteTo start, there is no vosa free entry from Iran.
DeleteI do not know what Serbia has, and I did not compare it to Turkey. I only know Serbia does not have the luxury to take sides in this horrible war among two nations, both of whom we think of positively. Air Serbia should fly where it is allowed to fly, with respect to all valid conventions and rules and regulations.
DeleteWhen elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. So we should sit this out, be quiet and hide, like a snail. We need to survive.
Regards from Novi Sad
So sad developments with this airline, I have no room for extra reactions.
ReplyDeleteThis is pure terrorism.
ReplyDeleteAnd the most of Europe is quiet about it.
They are quite passive and stupid the way the are acting currently. First take off the Russia bound flights from the airport timetable or add additional non existing flights to mask up the real flight. Change flight# and ADSB settings, get additional time to perform pax due diligence screening. Organize early gate closing/ Get the sniffing dog brigade into action prior to boarding and not call them to get to the airport from town once they receive the treat. Park the AC on a remote stand and have security around it until boarding completed. Many more proactive measures can be taken so to ignore the false alarm once it is sent. This will continue for sure so they must take some steps to beef up security and not to sit and wait until a treat is delivered because there will be treat # 5, 6, 7 etc ... who started this will not just be nice now and stop it.
ReplyDeleteSince Bosnia is not involved in sanctions they could rent a plane and sent a daily to Moscow. At that point you will see a ton of EU airlines introduce routes for those connections.
ReplyDeleteIf EU will cover Air Serbia's losses incurred due to the war, I say OK, stop the flights. However, if no money is received by the EU, I say continue the flights.
ReplyDeleteIf you are in the EU, you get the money for following EU rules, but Serbian companies got nothing for COVID and the EU even banned exporting medical equipment to Serbia during COVID.
EU didn't ban sending medical assistance, they refused the initial call for assistance. EU has sent medical help during the pandemic to Serbia, however only after China responded to Serbia's request for help.
DeleteIs Air Serbia obligated to provide food and accommodation for the Russians that miss their connections from Belgrade because of those bomb threads?
ReplyDeleteOf course. Duty of care is obligatory regardless of the cause.
DeleteWell, AS can offer special experience, of course with extra fee….
ReplyDeleteSo ok, "find"a bomb after one of the next e-mail threats from Ukraine or Poland, whatever. Make PR show out of this, accuse sender and demand investigation, alarm all the security agencies and UN Security Councile. If they want to play dhirty, let them be.
ReplyDeleteSeems like this article was updated to include that there was another bomb threat today!! crazy
ReplyDeleteBecoming more likely those emails are organized effort from Ukraine. One high level call from US/EU to Ukraine could stop it if they want to stop it. So far they don't want it, just using Ukraine as a proxy to put pressure on Zerbia.
ReplyDeleteWell, three of their aircraft are in Serbia. I would advise the Ukrainian ambassador to inform his govt to do what they can to stop these bomb threats, otherwise those a/c might have issue leaving Serbia (like persistent bomb threats, for example haha).
Delete+1
DeleteExactly.
DeleteThey should be sued for damages or a/c retained.
If they are clever, they may take an extra-check for every flight to Russia BEFORE it start an with passengers onboard.
ReplyDeleteSo if then there is a call or an e-mail, it can be ignored...
Apparently they scheduled tonight's departure from a remote stand meaning it'll be probably screened before flight.
DeletePerfect! Now they can increase flights to 3 or more every day and use only one aircraft that will be on a remote stand and purely for Russia-bound flights.
DeleteThey surely should.
DeleteApparently the theory is confirmed.
DeleteThe flight departed more or less on time.
It seems boarding was done on the new cargo platform.
More or less 1 hr late, the previous flight was 3 hrs late.
DeleteThe stupidity of Serbian officials in this case is outrageous.
ReplyDeleteThey reduced the flights to please the EU and what they got in response are bomb threats (including from an EU country) not every third day, but now three times a day.
Those behind it are obviously not being prosecuted and are acting with pure impunity.
Obviously, they won't get EU's help to prosecute who is behind those threats neither they will receive financial compensation for loss of revenue.
It is happening with EU's silent complicity what amounts to state terrorism.
The least they could do is to enforce similar measures as with El Al/Isreali flights and simply ignore those stupid threats.
Just a thought, back in the 70's, when I visited the former SFRJ, I remember we had to identify our luggage, at the aircraft, before boarding. This was done in ZAG, SPU and DBV.
ReplyDelete