Aviation History
Serbian civil aviation traces back to Aeroput, founded in 1927 as one of Europe's earliest airlines, which was nationalized after WWII into JAT Yugoslav Airlines and grew into a major European carrier before being battered by the 1990s Yugoslav wars and international sanctions. Renamed Jat Airways in 2003, the loss-making carrier was overhauled through a strategic partnership with Etihad Airways and relaunched as Air Serbia in 2013, before the Serbian government reacquired full ownership in 2023.
Established 17 June 1927 as the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, one of Europe's pioneering airlines.
Following nationalization after WWII, the carrier was reorganized as JAT Jugoslovenski Aerotransport, flag carrier of socialist Yugoslavia.
IATA figures placed JAT as the tenth-largest airline in Europe, serving 76 destinations in 39 countries.
The breakup of Yugoslavia and resulting international sanctions severely curtailed JAT's network as the airline became a public company in February 1992.
The carrier was renamed following the political transition from Yugoslavia to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
After a strategic partnership agreement signed in August 2013, the airline relaunched as Air Serbia on 26 October 2013 with Etihad Airways holding a 49% stake.
By November 2023 the state had bought back Etihad's stake, returning Air Serbia to full Serbian government ownership.
Air Serbia · formerly JAT Yugoslav Airlines / Jat Airways
Wikipedia, Air Serbia corporate history
Aviation Firsts
Banjica airfield — Belgrade (1910): The first airfield in Belgrade, inaugurated in 1910 (no exact day given); long since defunct and built over. · Wikipedia ↗
Kalemegdan Fortress airfield — Belgrade (1911): Opened in 1911 at what is now the site of the Belgrade Planetarium; defunct. · Wikipedia ↗
Pancevo airfield — Pancevo (1923): Operations began in 1923 on Aeroput predecessor CFRNA's Paris-Istanbul route via Belgrade; later became the airfield of the Utva Aviation Industry after WWII. Current operating status was not established this session. · Wikipedia ↗
Belgrade International Airport (Dojno Polje / Novi Beograd) — Belgrade (1927): Opened 25 March 1927, used until early 1964; the site was later redeveloped as part of Novi Beograd. · Wikipedia ↗
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport — Belgrade (1962): Construction began April 1958; officially opened 28 April 1962 by President Tito; renamed Nikola Tesla in 2006. Serbia's only currently-operating major airport among the five sites checked. · Wikipedia ↗
Several genuinely distinct historical sites exist, and no source frames any single one as 'Serbia's oldest airport': oldest-ever-founded site = Banjica (1910, defunct); oldest currently-operating commercial airport = Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (1962). Reported distinctly rather than forcing a single winner.
Aeroput (1927): Founded 17 June 1927 as a private joint-stock company with heavy government oversight (state representatives sat on its board and approved routes, pricing and aircraft choices). Formally liquidated 24 December 1948 when Yugoslavia's new communist government banned private joint-stock companies; its assets were nationalized. Wikipedia's own account is internally inconsistent about the handover, stating both that 'the airline continued as Jat Airways' and, separately, that it had already been 'rebranded and reestablished in 1947 as JAT Yugoslav Airlines' -- a timeline that does not reconcile with the 1948 liquidation date. Air Serbia's own Wikipedia article describes itself in its lead as 'the successor to Serbia's and former Yugoslavia's national airlines, including Aeroput, JAT, and Jat Airways' (Air Serbia, IATA: JU), but no transfer of assets, certificates or liabilities between distinct legal entities across the 1948 nationalization is documented anywhere accessible this session. The 1927-to-today lineage is therefore best characterized as the company's own historical-continuity/branding narrative rather than a confirmed unbroken legal succession. · Wikipedia ↗
Menzies Aviation (United Kingdom), 2022: Menzies Aviation's own press release (19 August 2022) documents its entry into Serbia via a 70%-stake acquisition of Flystar Aviation Services, a Belgrade executive-aviation ground handler — the earliest documented foreign GH entrant found. Serbia's commercial handling market was separately liberalized in July 2023; Menzies began full commercial handling at Belgrade around August 2023, ahead of Greece's Goldair Handling (December 2023). No source calls Menzies literally "first," so confidence is tentative. No evidence was found that Çelebi operates in Serbia — its recent expansions are to Kenya and Indonesia only. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · AviationPros ↗