BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbia and Croatia will resume flights between their capitals from mid-December, 23 years after they were interrupted at the start of the 1991-1995 war, Air Serbia said Friday.

"Starting from Dec 12, Air Serbia will fly from Belgrade to Zagreb twice a day," a spokesman for Serbia's national airliner told AFP.

"The new line will respond to a demand from our clients... and will allow them to save time as they will no longer have to travel by car or train" between the two capitals, some 400km apart, Air Serbia manager Dane Kondic told local media.

Flights between the two cities were interrupted in 1991 when conflict broke out after Croatia proclaimed independence from federal Yugoslavia and immediately faced an armed mutiny from its Belgrade-backed Serb minority which opposed the secession.

The conflict claimed 20,000 lives.