Radar: President's friend sets up new aviation company

Nikola Petrović, businessman and close friend of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, was the central figure of a scandal involving his aviation company Star Fly Wings. Together with two companies owned by Željko Mitrović, Star Fly Wings allegedly falsified flight time data and transported suspicious cargo and passengers, including Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Following an investigation by the relevant European Union authorities, the companies’ planes were grounded and permits revoked. Petrović was not discouraged, and quickly set up a new civilian airline - Flyus. The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate remains silent on the case but a well-informed source told Radar that Petrović’s new company is in the process of getting permits.

EL&MI Group, one of several firms owned by Petrović, is registered for electricity production and on website says it is also registered for finance and aviation. Only one company is listed under aviation - Star Fly Wings, renamed Soft White after the scandal, remains formally active.

Ivana Radulović was appointed CEO of the new airline and is the legal representative of at least five other companies owned or co-owned by Petrović, mainly engaged in power production.

Petrović is clearly serious about the aviation business, but he refused to speak to Radar when asked about his plans for Flyus, permits and whether he intended to shut down Soft White. Radar received 15 questions in reply to its request for a comment along the lines of: “Do you even know who you are and who you work for?

The Serbian Directorate of Civilian Aviation - which only reacted to the Petrović-Mitrović scandal following a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) investigation - did not answer at all. Radar asked the Directorate if Flyus applied for permits for passenger air transport (its registered activity) and whether they were issued.

The Directorate did not respond. A list of licensed operators on the Directorate’s website includes several private aviation companies but not Petrović’s.

Alen Šćurić, a regional civil aviation analyst, told Radar that permits for Nikola Petrović’s new aviation company are in the works. “If the Serbian Directorate weren’t so lenient towards him

Petrović] due to a relationship with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic questions would be asked but it is clear that he can get a permit. I still cannot believe that the idea to do what they

Petrović and Mitrović] did even occurred to them. In aviation that’s a no-no. No one does that - not even the shoddiest company,” Scuric said. He added that AOC license will allow Flyus to travel everywhere in the world - “until they mess up”.

“They really messed up. The worst part is that they falsified the number of flights and did not have to do maintenance on their planes. Of course, that is an extreme problem because that endangered their passengers. They should have lost their AOC license. The Serbian Directorate didn’t revoke it; EASA wanted to revoke it and the Directorate reacted only after its request, but they

Petrović and Mitrović] turned in the permits a day earlier to avoid consequences," Scuric said.