The Serbian Ministry of Defence has announced that the government has formed a working group to re-establish air services between Belgrade and Pristina. There have been no scheduled flights between the two capitals for almost twenty years.
This is not the first time the governments of Serbia and Kosovo have been in talks to resume air operations. During reconciliation discussions in 2015, flights were expected to resume within months. However, nothing eventuated.
The working group is made up of experts from the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, and the Directorate of Civil Aviation. As part of its remit, it will also deal with a radar post at Kopaonik which is expected to facilitate air traffic management in the region.
Kosovan airspace is currently managed by Hungary through the state-owned company HungaroControl. Pristina airport manages around 15,000 passengers per week, with a large share going on to Zurich. The only one of its near neighbours it is connected to is Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
