Air Serbia: Millions in compensation to the passengers of the almost fatal flight, and the investigation is underway

The public has almost forgotten the flight JU324 from Belgrade to Dusseldorf from February last year. But, 106 passengers remember very well because they almost died then.

Only these days did Air Serbia pay part of the passengers the money for the out-of-court settlement, "Vreme" finds out.

This raised the question of how far the investigation into responsibility for this near-fatal incident had come. Although the fuel leak from the punctured tank posed a serious threat to the safety of the passengers on flight JU324, the services and Air Traffic Control  Nikola Tesla Airport were not mentioned in the investigation of potential liability, writes Tango Six.

Additional concern is caused by the fact that, despite the serious damage to the aircraft, plane was directed towards the standard air bridge of the passenger terminal - without special warning, evacuation or implementation of emergency procedures.

The passengers left through the gate as if nothing had happened, although the aircraft had previously taken off from the wrong part of the runway, attached the antenna and circled over Belgrade for more than an hour with a fuel leak.

The accident on this flight still remains, from an expert point of view, an open question. Although the preliminary report does not indicate a technical failure, the immediate and indirect causes - including lapses in communication and decision-making - have not yet been fully elucidated.

More than a year and four months after the incident, the final report of the Road Accident Research Center has not been published, despite the legal deadline of 12 months.

The investigation is still not closed, and key actors, including Air Serbia, have maintained minimal or almost no communication with the public.

Incident JU324 still without an epilogue

Air Serbia did not advertise regarding the statements of passengers and lawyers.

The company previously claimed that "passenger safety was not compromised", although no one followed the procedures prescribed for such cases.

Although the crew mistakenly caused the incident, those same pilots managed to land the aircraft safely — an aspect that Air Serbia, for unknown reasons, did not use in its communication.

An even bigger problem is the absence of a final report from the Center for Traffic Accident Investigation (CINS), which promised to submit a report within three months. 16 months have passed since then.

According to the law, CINS is required to publish a final or at least an interim report with recommendations to prevent similar errors 12 months after the incident, "Tango Six" writes.

However, the final report does not exist on the CINS official website. Instead, EXPO 2027 and investment projects are being promoted — while key security issues continue to be swept under the rug.

Out-of-court settlement

"Vreme" previously wrote that about fifty passengers hired a joint lawyer asking Air Serbia to compensate them out of court for non-material damages due to the trauma and consequences they suffered.

The agreement was reached at the end of last year, and the money was deposited these days. According to "Vremena" sources, it is about a million dinars per passenger.

Other passengers, who were not part of this group, did not receive anything except routine compensation of around two hundred euros for the canceled flight. Those familiar with the case call the behavior of Air Serbia "arrogant", and the company itself remains silent when asked by "Vremen".

However, the path of these fifty passengers to settlement was bumpy.

What happened

A near-fatal accident occurred when the pilot of the Brazilian-made Embraer E195 LR went onto the wrong part of the runway, even though he was warned about it from the control tower.

Thus, the pilot left the take-off distance too short, so the plane "drove" on the grass, took off too late and hooked the antenna outside the runway. It circled the sky over Belgrade for about an hour and, despite being solidly damaged, still landed safely.

After that, Air Serbia terminated its cooperation with Marathon Airlines, whose plane and crew it hired for that flight.

Air Serbia then announced that it "regrets", but also that "passenger safety was not threatened at any time". That sounded cynical to many passengers.

One passenger previously told for our newsletter Medjuvreme how she experienced the moments after the blow to the antenna, which was heard clearly and loudly.

"They turned off the lights and the steward used a flashlight to see if there was any damage inside. The children on the plane didn't hear either. It was as if they all joined their mental forces to make sure it ended well. I wouldn't describe it as fear for myself, but I did think: is that it? Thank God, my child has grown up," she said.

One passenger says: "While we were flying I had a feeling that everything was going to be fine. But when we landed, entered the gate, I just fell and burst into tears even though I don't normally cry."

"The Arrogance of a Semi-Private Company"

Some passengers claim that their traumas remain to this day. They are no longer allowed to step on the plane.

Less than half of the passengers - about fifty - organized themselves through the Viber group, so they came forward in front of the airline as one. "Some lawyers told us there was nothing to it, others gave us unrealistic hopes," says one person from that group.

In the end, sources say, they were represented by lawyer Jasmin Duštinac, who is well connected in high circles.

Even so, it was not easy - they report that Air Serbia denied any blame during the negotiations and claimed that the trauma of the passengers was unprovable. They indicated that the day after the incident, the passengers were transferred to their destination on a backup flight and that no one was afraid of flying then.

Allegedly, the Air Serbia negotiators said that they are not afraid of a trial or negative articles in the press.

One lawyer familiar with the matter calls it "the arrogance of a semi-private company," but adds: "Our system hardly recognizes fear as a basis for damages in court." And more - the trial is an expensive and uncertain adventure.

Photo: Time

Secret deal

That's how they thought in the group of passengers who asked for compensation. According to the agreement, they received about one million dinars per passenger, less than they originally wanted. Lawyers are entitled to a commission of twenty percent.

"Perhaps we could have received a larger sum, but it would have taken who knows how long in court. So we gave it up. We are not very satisfied, but it is better than being mistreated in court," says our source.

No one will talk about this by name because the agreement forbids it to be discussed publicly.

Some other families tried to cope on their own, outside of this group. They were rejected or ignored. "It turns out that the good will of Air Serbia is whether they will pay something or not," commented one person familiar with the case.

Apparently, everything will come down to this sum of fifty million dinars, which was paid out by Air Serbia, quietly, far from the public eye.

After the accident, investigations were launched by the Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Center (CINS), as well as by the Belgrade Prosecutor's Office. There was no trial, and the CINS report is still awaited.