The base of this company in Belgrade was opened on May 20, 2010, and today four planes fly from it to 25 destinations, he reminds Aero.rs. The company in Serbia employs more than 150 people, while last year it transported nearly two million passengers on routes to and from Serbia.
According to the information obtained by Aero.rs, among the employees at the Belgrade base are Hungarians low-cost airlines there was concern that the new provisions could affect its further work.
Where is the problem?
The focus is on change Rulebook on issuing approval to a foreign air carrier for international public air transport with the Republic of Serbia, which was signed on March 27, 2026 by the acting director of the Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Serbia, Ognjen Babić.
The new wording of Article 3 of the rulebook attracted the most attention:
"In the event that an international agreement enables air carriers of contracting parties to perform regular public air transportation with the use of third and fourth freedom of aviation rights, approval is issued for flights that begin and end on the territory of the country that authorized the foreign air carrier, that is, on the territory of the European Union if it is an air carrier from the European Union."
Although it is only one sentence in the rulebook, it is the one that has been attracting the most attention among representatives of the aviation industry in recent days, writes Aero.rs.
The third freedom of air, as explained in , represents the right of an airline to transport passengers, mail and goods from its country to another country, while the fourth freedom of air allows transport in the opposite direction. In practice, the third and fourth freedoms allow an airline to transport passengers between its home country and another country. For example, Turkish Airlines between Turkey and Serbia or Air Serbia between Serbia and Turkey.
However, the European air traffic market has been operating under much more liberal rules for years.
Wizz Air Hungary has an air operator's certificate (AOC), i.e. a license to perform commercial air transport. In 2020, the company became the first air carrier in Europe to receive an AOC under the direct regulatory oversight of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), instead of national aviation authorities. At the same time, Wizz Air has aircraft and crews based in Belgrade.
Thanks to this business model, the company from Serbia maintains a network of 27 routes using four based aircraft and crews who live and work in Serbia.
This is precisely why some experts question whether the new wording only represents a more precise definition of the existing rules or could be the basis for a different interpretation of the rights of foreign air carriers that have aircraft based in Serbia. In other words, whether the new wording can affect the model according to which a European airline with an AOC from one country has aircraft and crews based in another country.
Rights of domestic air carriers
In addition to the provision related to the third and fourth freedom of aviation, attention was also drawn to the new wording according to which the Directorate can consider the impact of certain changes on the rights of domestic air carriers. The rulebook states that additional approval is required in case of: "change of take-off/landing airport in another country, if this change is significant from the point of view of the applicant's use of traffic rights or affects the rights of domestic air carriers."
Source: Aero.rs
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