Air Pink (Belgrade Nikola Tesla), its wholly-owned subsidiary Air Emeralds, and nominally unrelated - but based at the same address - Star Fly Wings have all had their Air Operator's Certificates (AOCs) suspended. While Air Pink owner told the Serbian media the airline requested the suspension, the development follows reportedly negative results of an EASA safety audit.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has revoked the three airlines' Third Country Operator (TCO) authorisations on February 28, followed by the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate's decision to suspend the AOCs. The EASA cannot directly enforce AOC suspension for non-EU carriers.

The European Union regulator did not provide any details regarding the decision and told ch-aviation it would not comment on individual TCO cases. Various Serbian media reported that the decision was based on unspecified paperwork irregularities the EASA allegedly found during a mid-February inspection.

Air Pink is 50%-owned by media mogul Željko Mitrović (partially through his Pink Media Group firm). The other 50% is controlled by Aleksandar Ilić. The business charter specialist claimed last September that it was planning to expand its business into scheduled flights as a low-cost carrier. Air Emeralds is wholly owned by Air Pink, while Star Fly Wings is controlled by Nikola Petrović, godfather to Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić.

Mitrović confirmed to the Danas daily that the AOCs were suspended but claimed it was at the airlines' own request. He did not elaborate.

The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment.

The business charter operators did not respond to ch-aviation's requests for comment.

According to Eurocontrol data, Air Pink has an active fleet of thirteen aircraft, including two Cessna C525s, one Cessna C525B, eight Cessna C560XLs, and two Legacy 600s. Air Emeralds operates a further three Cessna C525s, one C525A, two C525Bs, one C550, and one C560XL. Star Fly Wings does not appear to operate any aircraft and has no website.