Air Serbia (JU, Belgrade) will begin flights to the United States next year Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vučić, has revealed. Following a meeting with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) Chairman, James Hogan, in Belgrade last week, Vučić told the press: “I have some good news. By the end of 2015 Air Serbia will fly to the United States”. He added, “That is excellent news in a sea of problems we are facing”.

The launch of the flights is dependent on Serbia being upgraded to Category 1 safety status by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Initial A330 services are expected to launch to Chicago O'Hare in late 2015/early 2016 followed by New York JFK.

"During the FAA’s latest assessment of Serbia’s aviation authorities last month, the agency found it will have to undertake an additional check before upgrading the country from its current category two status to category one," EX-YU Aviation News said.

In January, Airlines For America (A4A), Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and the Air Line Pilots Association, successfully petitioned the US Department of Transportation to reject the Serbian carrier's application to codeshare with Etihad on flights to the United States. In their petition, the group successfully argued that Etihad's 49% stake in Air Serbia would allow the Emirati carrier to control its operations thereby violating the standard US requirement that foreign airlines serving the United States be owned and controlled by the airline’s country or that country’s citizens.