Yugoslavia has decided to gradually reopen its air space, shut since NATO started airstrikes against the country last March, to all foreign airlines, a top aviation official said Thursday.

Branko Bilbija, director of the Yugoslav Aviation Administration, said that all parties concerned finally agreed to the normalization of air transport in the Yugoslav air space following four to five months of negotiations in Paris, Brussels and Rome, the state new agency Tanjug reported.

Under the agreement, from the small hours of Thursday Yugoslavia resumed navigation services in 55 percent of the air space from 9000 to 13,000 meters above sea level in Bosnia, Bilbija said.

Meanwhile, flights from Central Europe to Greece and the Middle East will be guided by radar in Yugoslavia. New flights to Croatia and Italy are also to be opened.

Bilbija said normalizing air services in the country will not only bring in foreign currency but also prompt its air service modernization.

Foreign airlines will save a lot of money by flying the shortest route from Europe to the Middle East via Yugoslavia, the director said.

Up to now, Yugoslavia only resumed navigation service for air links with Macedonia after the end of the 78-day NATO bombing. (Xinhua)