The Serbian private business jet charter company Air Pink plans to launch from here six months commercial flights according to a carrier model low cost.
The airline intends to acquire two or four jets for its commercial flights project. The company’s CEO, the controversial media mogul Željko Mitrovicwho has close ties to the government, said during an appearance on his morning show televisionthat Air Pink is “about to start big traffic”. “We currently have 22 aircraft in our fleet and we are about to launch commercial flights. We are Europe’s second largest private business jet airline behind Air Hamburg, but we want to launch regular commercial flights as a low-cost carrier with 49-seat Embraer aircraft. We will acquire two or four in the next six months and attempt regular services in the region.”
Air Pink’s entry into the commercial flying arena has been rumored for some time. The airline, founded in 2004, already has an authorization as a ground handling provider at Belgrade Airport and last year recorded a net profit of 4.5 million euros. It has 109 employees and 16 planes, 14 Cessnas and 2 Embraer 135BJs. Additionally, Air Pink has a subsidiary named Air Emeralds. Mr. Mitrović did not elaborate on the company’s plans to launch commercial flights.
Over the past two decades, several attempts have been made to launch new low-cost commercial carriers in Serbia: Inter Air Link by JAT Airways in 2003, Air Maxi in 2005 by Miroslav Mišković, the richest man in Serbia and Centavia in 2006. But each time it ended in failure.
