Centavia

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Centavia (Central European Aviation)

IATA 7N	ICAO CNA	Callsign N/A
Founded		2005
Hubs		Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport
Fleet size		Defunct
Destinations		Defunct
Headquarters		Belgrade, Serbia
Key people		Predrag Vujović - Founder Vladimir Ponjević - Executive Director
Website: www.centavia.com

Centavia (Central European Aviation) was a short-lived Serbian low cost airline. It's hub airport was Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in Serbia while its technical base was in Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany. The airline declared bankruptcy on November 8, 2006.

[edit] History

Centavia was founded in 2005 and received its first aircraft, BAe 146-200, on 15 June 2006 from Meridiana. The aircraft was re-registered as YU-AGL and re-painted with Centavia's livery. Centavia first (charter) flight was on July 8, 2006 to Corfu from Belgrade and it operated only charter flights during the summer of 2006. The airline's second aircraft arrived on August 17, 2006 and has been registered as YU-AGM.

Centavia was to be the first airline to operate flights from Belgrade to Zagreb since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. However, the Croatian authority rejected the airline saying that a free sky agreement with between the two countries had not been signed. Similarly the Montenegrin government denied the airline landing rights. This ultimatly meant the airline was left with no routes and two planes to pay for. Centavia's fleet of two aircraft left the airline for the United Kingdom on November 9, 2006.

Centavia had been forced to suspend all flights in October 2006 after its air operators certificate was withdrawn by the Montenegrin Civil Aviation Directorate. It had been planning to launch flights between Belgrade and Podgorica ^[1].