Zagreb/Belgrade - Loudly billed as the big "return after 18 years," tourist charters from Belgrade to the Croatian resort of Dubrovnik have been scrapped after only two flights, authorities in Zagreb confirmed Friday. Only two "promotional" flights had been agreed, one completed Thursday and the other planned for Monday, but the rest were not, Croatian transport ministry spokeswoman Marinka Haluzan said.
"Other flights were not allowed because there is no bilateral air traffic agreement between our countries," Haluzan told the German Press Agency dpa.
The Serbian carrier JAT advertised the flights as a return to the Croatian market 18 years after the former Yugoslavia disintegrated.
But it has now stopped taking reservations and is refunding the 800 tickets sold, the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti said.
Serbian officials said talks would continue next week. In Zagreb, Haluzan said Croatia "in the past insisted on the air traffic agreement ... it is unclear why the other side did not want it."
Charter flights are not a part of air traffic agreements between countries, only regular airline flights. However, the agreement is a "basis for charters," Haluzan said.
Serbian tourists faced a similar problem when Turkey revoked permits from JAT charters to its summer resorts, reacting to Serbia's refusal to open the charter-flight market to Turkish companies.
Belgrade eventually allowed private Turkish carriers to take Serbian passengers. The cost of the haggling was eventually borne by tourist companies, which bought rooms in Turkey in advance and lost much business owing to uncertain flights.
Talks with Croatia are even more complex, because they involve issues of ownership over airports and other companies which remain open from the days of the former Yugoslavia.
"We expect that the talks might continue next week, but the question is whether the other side, Serbia, will want to continue," Haluzan said.
