DALLAS — Air Serbia (JU) will introduce Embraer E190 and E195 aircraft into its fleet for the upcoming summer season. This marks the return of regional jets on JU flights since the wet-lease contract with Marathon Airlines (O8) terminated in mid-February following an accident at Belgrade Airport (BEG).
On 18 February, an E195 operated a service under the wet-lease agreement with O8 from Belgrade to Dusseldorf on behalf of JU. Flight JU324 took off from runway 30L but collided with lighting or antenna structures, sustaining severe fuselage damage, according to a Flight Global report.
Days later, Serbian prosecutors sought information to determine the runway intersection to which air traffic controllers (ATC) had directed an Embraer 195 before the jet collided with structures on take-off. The office is investigating whether the crew received instructions from ATC to utilize intersection D6 or D5 for take-off.
Belgrade Flights
Air Serbia plans to have Embraer aircraft back in its fleet starting mid-April. The first flight on the Belgrade-Frankfurt route is tentatively scheduled for April 15. The aircraft will then operate flights to Bucharest and Nuremberg on the same day.
That same month, the Embraer aircraft will operate 37 flights out of Belgrade, offering 3,996, according to Cirium Diio data. The most frequent destinations include Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Mostar, Athens, Gothenburg, Bucharest, Podgorica, Stuttgart, Tirana, and Milan. Air Serbia has scheduled 118-seat E195 aircraft for its network from May onwards, operating 347 flights from Belgrade to 21 destinations.
Two Embraer aircraft remain in Belgrade, including the damaged jet involved in the BEG accident, registered as OY-GDC. It is expected to be written off after the investigation is completed.
OY-GDC. Photo: Alberto Cucini/Airways
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