Wealthy Russians using Serbian loophole to avoid EU flights ban

Rich Russians are exploiting a loophole to flee to Europe and circumvent an EU-wide ban on flights to and from Russia.

Air Serbia, which is mostly state-owned, has doubled the number of direct flights from Moscow to Belgrade to 15 a week to meet rapidly rising demand after the EU banned Russian planes and airlines from its airspace. Russia closed its airspace to EU and UK planes.

Serbia is not a member of the EU and has not imposed sanctions against Russia. The only European air corridor left open to Russia is the Balkan country.

In the first week of March, seat capacity between Russia and Serbia increased by 50% compared with the week before, according to ForwardKeys. In the coming weeks, capacity will be increased further according to the company.

The vice-president of insights said that Serbia has become the gateway for travel between Russia and Europe.

Cyprus, France, Switzerland and Italy are the top destinations for Russian arriving in Serbia. Russians are traveling to the UK, Austria, Germany, and Spain.

At the time of writing, there was only one business class seat left on the flight from Moscow to Belgrade, which cost 583 dollars and had no economy class seats.