The airline "Air Serbia" has announced that it has informed the company "Marathon Airlines", whose services it used and with whose plane the incident took place at the "Nikola Tesla" airport, that it is terminating cooperation with them, reports Euronews Serbia.
They announced that, regardless of the results of the investigation, the cooperation with the company "Marathon Airlines" will be terminated as of tomorrow, February 21, 2024. No "Air Serbia" flight will be operated by the aircraft of that Greek company.
"The flights that were supposed to be operated by 'Marathon Airlines' will be distributed to other planes in the fleet, in order to maintain the continuity of traffic," it was pointed out.
As it is pointed out, all passengers, in accordance with the regulations, have the right to standard compensation, as well as compensation for other costs incurred as a result of the flight being delayed by one day. Passengers can exercise their rights through a special form that is available on the Air Serbia website, and the requests in question will be resolved as a matter of priority.
"In addition, taking into account the above-mentioned circumstances, the company has decided to fully refund the money from the purchased tickets for that flight to all passengers at the same time." That decision also applies to 91 passengers out of the initial 106, who traveled to Dusseldorf from Belgrade on yesterday's (February 19) delayed flight," it added.
Air Serbia concludes that it has not, and will not, advertise the details of flight JU324 from February 18, while the investigation is ongoing.
Investigation underway
Investigation of the plane "Air Serbia", which on Sunday evening with a badly damaged fuselage and no wings, nevertheless landed safely at the "Nikola Tesla" airport, is managed by the Traffic Accident Research Center.
How RTS unofficially, they are treating this case as a "serious accident" for now. The center states that it is still completing the investigation from the scene and investigating the circumstances under which the forced landing took place, and that after that it will see whether the case will be characterized as an "accident" or will continue to be treated as a "serious accident".
They point out that the plane is made by the Brazilian company "Embraer", and that they are waiting for the arrival of experts from Brazil who will help in the investigation and analysis of the damage to the plane.
In addition to the Traffic Accident Research Center, international organizations will also be involved in the investigation because "Air Serbia" leased the plane from a Greek company.
Petar Vojinović, editor of the aviation portal Tango Six and a man well versed in the aviation circles of Serbia, previously told "Time” that, according to “reliable sources,” air traffic control did everything right.
"Air traffic control approved an adequate location on the runway for takeoff, but at the last moment noticed that the plane was not at that location," Vojinović told Vreme.
Airport: "We are cooperating with the competent authorities"
Belgrade Airport "Nikola Tesla" confirmed to RTS that they are cooperating with the authorities conducting the investigation, as well as that all the details and causes of the incident will be known after the investigation.
"Air traffic at the Belgrade airport is running smoothly, and all competent services are working on very quickly establishing the technical conditions for the functioning of the airport and for landing and take-off in conditions of dense fog", they point out from the Belgrade airport.
Vojinović previously told "Vreme" that the pilot kept telling the air traffic control that he was going to runway D6, so that the plane would appear on runway D5.
"Everything is marked very clearly - mixing up the output practically never happens. Conditions were good, dusk but well lit. So it's inexplicable," he says.
"The controller saw this and warned the pilot three times in different ways that he was in a shorter position, asked them to calculate the take-off performance and offered to go back down the runway. They said from the plane that they can take off like this. In such a situation, the controller did everything he could and the responsibility is completely on the pilot who is the only one who knows how much the plane weighs and how much engine power, speed and runway it needs," says this expert.
Air Serbia: The passengers were safe
For more detailed information about the case from "Nikola Tesla" airport, everyone points to the national airline "Air Serbia", which for now has issued a statement in which they state that the plane is on "Air Serbia" flight JU324 from Belgrade to Dusseldorf, which performed by a partner company, returned to Belgrade for technical reasons.
"Air Serbia" also stated that "passenger safety was not threatened at any time".
Judging by the photos of the damaged plane ail and how the 106 passengers on that flight experienced an accident, it is not quite so. As one passenger from the damaged plane told "Vreme" on Sunday, they were flying low like in the movie "Mission Impossible".
"Immediately after takeoff, something broke, the plane shook," our interlocutor stated.
Criminal liability
How he finds out unofficially N1 The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Directorate of the Criminal Police, launched a preliminary investigation in order to determine all the circumstances related to the forced landing of the plane on flight JU324 from Belgrade to Dusseldorf.
"There is an independent government body, the Traffic Accident Research Center, and they have to produce a complete report in less than a year." This must not be used in criminal proceedings either, the names of the crew members remain anonymous, and this serves the aircraft manufacturers and the entire industry to know what they have to fix," Vojinović told Vreme.
As for criminal liability, he adds, only the prosecutor can assess that.
"This was not an Air Serbia plane. The plane and crew are part of Greece's Marathon Airlines. That company is responsible for disciplinary sanctions against its crew," concludes Vojnović. "And Air Serbia will probably additionally check their crews, which should be done according to the procedure, by, for example, checking them in the simulator."
