Add to this the investment in state-of-the-art airports and vast new plane fleets, as well as the acquisition of stakes in some of Europe's biggest airlines which have ruptured traditional airline alliances, and it is clear why more and more commercial traffic is making a pit-stop in the region.

CNN: Gulf hubs become travel hotspots

Yugoslavia's state-run Tanjug news agency said the plane was downed at 1900 local time (1700GMT) near the village of Budjanovci, 30 miles north west of Belgrade.

BBC: News | EUROPE | Nato loses first plane

State-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines, the nation's only other carrier, was rebuilding its fleet from one plane and had jobs to protect.

FORBES: Magazine Article

State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane came down in al-Qadissiya neighbourhood.

BBC: Yemen fighter plane crashes into homes in Sanaa