NEWS FLASH
Rijeka Airport has become a logistical base for Pentagon shipments to the Middle East, according to a report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN). This has resulted in a significant number of cargo flights to the airport this year, which culminated this month with frequent visits by Boeing 747 freighter jets. BIRN notes that the cargo planes are carrying munitions and unidentified military supplies for the Pentagon’s wars in the Middle East. Reporters have identified fourteen cargo flights in the past six months carrying Eastern Bloc-style weapons and ammunition for the US military. Air traffic control at Rijeka Airport declined to comment on the planes’ cargo, but conceded that there had been “many more” of these types of flights this year. The upsurge appears to be the result of the Pentagon’s decision to switch its arms supply-line route to Syria away from Germany. Since April, ten flights have been operated by Pentagon-commissioned air carriers between Rijeka and the US’s airbase in Qatar. Each used a specific call-sign, "CMB", given to cargo flights chartered by the Pentagon. Prior to landing in Rijeka, the planes used a commercial flight number, indicating that the military cargo was picked up in Croatia. In June and July, another four flights to Rijeka were carried out by the Azeri airline Silk Way. Leaked documents from the cargo carrier reveal that these aircraft delivered ammunition for Soviet-style weapons from Azerbaijan to the Croatian coast on behalf of the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, SOCOM. Other airlines operating similar flights to Rijeka include Kalitta Air and Western Global Airlines. The head of Rijeka Airport's Air Traffic Control, Damir Ružić, noted, "There are reasons why those planes are coming here. Rijeka Airport is not the one dragging them here". In the winter of 2012, dozens of cargo planes, loaded with Saudi-purchased Yugoslav-era weapons and ammunition, began leaving Zagreb and Belgrade for Jordan.
pitam se koliko će im to trajati, jedini u Hrvatskoj imaju pad broja prevezenih putnika...katastrofa
ReplyDeletePula i Zadar su pretekli Rijeku davno, a samo će nastaviti rasti. Taj aerodrom bi trebalo zatvoriti
DeleteThis is old news, good morning
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
DeleteImaju pad broja putnika, ali verovatno toliko zaradjuju na kargu da im putnici trenutno nisu ni bitni.
ReplyDeletepa zar je to rješenje? Ugovor sa ovima imaju na par godina, nakon toga će živjeti od.....čega?
DeleteNews is about 1 month old....there is nothing wrong with this activity, the airport is suporting cargo transfers from a legimitate international legal company. It's interesting that southern european countries are scrutinized under a microscope for even a legitimate activity such as cargo!? ExYu aviation slow news day...
ReplyDeleteSo what? These flights are continuing in October. Few weeks ago two B747 cargo at the same time in RJK. It's still relevant. Looks like you are a bit angry it got reported at all. And in actual fact the supply line was changed from Germany because the Germans launched an investigation into its legality. So for you to state that this is legal while a country far more powerful than Croatia is investigating is a strech. This also happens in BEG every few months especially this summer. Silkways was very frequent and active in arriving to take "undocumented" cargo to places lile Kabul.
DeleteOriginal BIRN investigation was published on 5th October. How is that old?
DeleteLupetas gluposti sav kargo prodje preko papira vlade Srbije. Kad ne znas o cemu pricas bolje cuti. Izvozi se municija Jordanu i UAE. Gde posle ide nije nasa briga ni CIA.
DeleteNarocito je legalna. Procitaj malo po netu o tim letovima. Imas materijala koliko hoces, konkretno o Srbiji i Hrvatskoj. Usput nauci se malo pristojnosti kada te niko vec nije naucio.
DeleteI don't care about cargo, I'm sad because this is only airport in Croatia with less passengers than last year! Such a shame!!
ReplyDeleteI agree - why cannot this airport obtain some decent flights from London, Dublin, amsterdam, Paris and so on....which would bring tourists? Huge catchment area including Kvarner islands, Crikvenica coast and Opatija Riviera. It does not make sense... and now they have lost Croatia Airlines Weds flight LHR-RJK for 2018,
DeleteTo sto tebe nije briga je jednako vazno kao lanjski snjeg
DeleteA i ti si bitan kao lanjski snijeg ;)
Deletethere is seasonal flight to Stansted by Ryanair, Dublin from Pula and Zadar, Amsterdam from Pula, Paris from Zadar and Pula......no space for Rijeka. And of course, all of this routes are served from Zagreb as well, which is 1:30h from Rijeka by car.
DeletePentagon hub. Smh. This site is usually above such sensationalism.
ReplyDeleteHow would you call a European airport which has become the main cargo point for the Pentagon for the transfer of arms? Just because you don't like the news does not mean it's wrong.
DeleteBecause most just want to read news where they can write "Bravo Hrvatska".
DeleteThis reminds me of that scandal when it was uncovered that the CIA used some European airports to 'handle' the transfer of POWs.
DeleteWhy is this a scandal?
DeleteBecause whenever the Pentagon needs something moved around its rarely computers and telephones for their personnel.
DeleteI didn't say it was wrong, I said it was sensationalist. I actually wouldn't mind a Pentagon hub in Croatia. But that's ridiculous.
ReplyDelete