Over the course of the previous several weeks, Air Serbia has received a few of bomb threats on its Belgrade-Moscow flights, which it has taken seriously. One Mile At A Time has kept track of these instances, which have totaled around four in the previous nine to ten days, according to the organization.
Threats like this are most likely the result of the airline’s refusal to halt such services in the face of rising international pressure on Belgrade to do so as a result of the Ukraine situation.
The first incident happened on March 11, when the aircraft was forced to turn around and return to Belgrade after departing the airport around 30 minutes after taking off.
Upon landing, JU652 was subjected to a thorough investigation to determine the legitimacy of the threat before departing for Moscow roughly seven hours later, causing substantial inconvenience to passengers.
When this occurred again on March 14, the airplane returned to Budapest took off over the Hungarian-Slovakian border, with One Mile At A Time stating that the journey was a “90+ minute flight to nowhere.”
The aircraft was searched a second time, resulting in a six-hour delay in the flight’s departure from London to Moscow. Another incident happened the next day, with a bomb threat being received before the aircraft was scheduled to fly from Belgrade, resulting in a three-hour delay for that particular flight. The last one occurred on March 17, when the aircraft experienced another delay identical to the one experienced on March 15.
However, although there have been no bad consequences as a result of these threats, there is nothing to prevent the threat from becoming a credible element and causing damage to individuals in the future. Air Serbia has decided to postpone plans to expand flights to Moscow, which they had planned to do in response to the growing demand for Russian nationals and those returning to the country.
Despite the fact that the Belgrade-Moscow route remains the sole means of re-entering the nation, delaying the expansion of aircraft capacity is considered insufficient. Leaders from across the European Union have called for the suspension of these flights and the adoption of Western sanctions, which Belgrade does not seem to be enthusiastic about at the moment.
Belgrade’s intransigence may very well reach the point where it becomes a legitimate threat and, in the worst-case scenario, results in the downing of an aircraft. This is why such harsh criticism is being leveled, since if the threats get more severe, it will require the worst-case scenario to force Belgrade to change course.
Air Serbia will have to proceed with extreme care in the future when it comes to these flights. They should at the very least tighten security inspections for anyone traveling to Moscow if they are not going to cancel the flights altogether.
At this point, it seems that neither the airline nor the Serbian government are prepared to discontinue these services and are instead interested in reaping the financial benefits associated with these flights. When people take advantage of a difficult situation, it almost always backfires on them, whether from a public relations or a human relations standpoint.
This week’s events will be watched closely to see how Belgrade will respond and if they will ultimately proceed with increasing flying capacity to Moscow.
