Air Serbia was exposed to a string of bomb threats over the last week, causing some of its flights to be diverted and others to be delayed. The bomb threats were anonymous and sent via email.

Their purpose was to disrupt Air Serbia’s operations to Russia after the airline saw a sharp rise in demand to Moscow and St Petersburg as a result of the Serbian Government not imposing sanctions on Russia. Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines are the only airlines that allow passengers to travel on a single ticket between Russia and Europe.

The first bomb threat came on Friday

It all started last Friday, 11th March, as Simple Flying reported at the time.

Air Serbia’s flight JU652 was en route from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG) to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) when an anonymous email was sent to Belgrade Airport warning of a bomb threat on board the aircraft operating that flight.

The aircraft operating the flight returned to Belgrade, where it was inspected by Serbia’s anti-terrorism police, but no explosive device was found, Serbia's Interior Ministry reports.

The aircraft was scheduled to depart at 13:50, and it did so on time. It was airborne at 14:14, according to FlightRadar24, but within minutes of departing, it was forced to turn back to Belgrade due to the bomb threat. In the end, the aircraft only departed Belgrade at 21:41 and landed in Moscow at 02:34. It was scheduled to arrive at 19:00.

On the way back, as flight JU653, the aircraft was supposed to depart Moscow at 21:00 and arrive in Belgrade at 22:15, but, in the end, it only left Moscow at 04:24 and landed in Belgrade at 04:55. By the time it parked at the gate on arrival, it was almost seven hours late.

Air Serbia A320 Belgrade Airport
Air Serbia will continue its services to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Photo: Getty Images

More bomb threats followed

The second bomb threat came three days later, also on flight JU652, on Monday 14th March. This time, the aircraft was much further on its flight path en route to Moscow. It had already been flying for almost 40 minutes by the time the second anonymous bomb threat triggered a diversion back to Belgrade.

Once again, the anti-terrorism police inspected the aircraft and found the email bomb threat to be false. And, once again, the bomb threat reportedly originated in Ukraine. The aircraft finally took off from Belgrade at 20:21, almost seven hours behind the scheduled departure time of 13:50. On the way back to Belgrade, it arrived at 03:19 instead of 22:00, giving it a delay of five and a half hours.

The third bomb threat came back one day later, on Tuesday 15th March. However, this threat came before the aircraft had departed, and so it resulted in only a three-hour delay. Still, the threat once again prompted a full inspection of the aircraft. It was also reportedly sent from Ukraine, citing Serbia’s good relations with Russia.

Air Serbia A330
Flights were delayed by as much  as seven hours. Photo: Getty Images

Two threats in one day

Then, on Wednesday 16th March, a further two threats were made, delaying Air Serbia’s flights to both Moscow (SVO) and St Petersburg (LED).

The airline has never made any announcements to comment on its flights to Russia, even when it almost tripled seat capacity to Russia in response to an increase in demand.

However, the Serbian President said to the media last week that Air Serbia would revert back to its old Moscow flight schedule in the near future. This will mean that it will operate eight weekly frequencies between BEG and SVO, just like it was doing before Russia invaded Ukraine.