Air Serbia’s sole Airbus A320 aircraft has been grounded at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport since arriving from Belgrade four days ago due to a technical issue, which has since been fixed. However, sanctions imposed by the European Union onto Russia have so far prevented the aircraft from returning back home, ahead of the peak of the summer season. According to media reports, the plane had an issue with one of its engine cowlings which has since been replaced in Moscow. Despite this, the aircraft did not receive approval from plane manufacturer Airbus to take off. Each spare part installed onto an aircraft is registered and must be traced by the manufacturer. It is believed that since the European airspace firm no longer supplies spare parts to Russia in response to the war in Ukraine, it did not give approval for the aircraft to return to service.
Air Serbia has not commented on the matter and has neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Airbus has suspended all support and delivery of spare parts to Russia. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has expressed its opposition to the sanctions placed on aircraft parts shipments, noting “IATA does not support bans on the export of commercial aircraft equipment and spare parts because this potentially impacts the safety, which is always the top priority”. Several carriers have discontinued operations to Russia over the past few months due to the withdrawal of insurance coverage for commercial flights or lack of technical support in the country. Among them are Air Astana, Vietnam Airlines and SriLankan Airlines.
Air Serbia is seeking a solution for the return of its aircraft. The development has had a knock-on effect on the remainder of Air Serbia’s network. The airline utilised an Air Montenegro Embraer 195 aircraft over the weekend to operate its flight between Belgrade and Zurich and was forced to deploy its ATR72 turboprop to Athens several days ago, usually maintained by Airbus aircraft. Furthermore, the airline has modified operations with its wet-leased Boeing 737-700 jet from Greece’s Lumiwings and extend its use on scheduled flights into June. This week, the Serbian carrier will commence a major expansion of its network, which includes the launch of thirteen new routes and a notable increase in frequencies across its network.