An Air Serbia plane took off from Belgrade for New York Thursday — the company’s first direct flight to the US after a 24-year interruption which began during the Balkan conflicts. The direct connection “will boost our economic growth and bring our country closer to the US and American people”, said Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic at the launch. In 1992 JAT Airways — the Yugoslav predecessor of Air Serbia — stopped its direct flights to the US after international sanctions were slapped on the country over Belgrade’s role in the bloody conflicts surrounding the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Air Serbia is now the only regional airline offering direct flights to the US, and a company official said 15,000 tickets have already been sold. <br/>