Kraljevo Airport to open in October

Construction work at Kraljevo Airport ongoing
Work on Serbia’s newest airport in Kraljevo, named Morava, is ongoing and on schedule. Construction work is currently being carried out on the control tower and terminal building with the airport set to open in time for the 2011/12 winter season, which begins on October 30. From November, smaller aircraft such as the ATR72 will be able to use the airport and its facilities. From the 2012 summer season larger passenger jets will have the ability to land as the runway will be lengthened. This winter, some 50 people will be employed by the airport while another 150 will find employment next summer.

Morava Airport is being built on the grounds of the Ladjevci military air base. Part of the airport will continue to be used for military purposes. The construction of the new airport, which amounts to 32 million Euros, began this spring. The Serbian Government has invested some 14 million Euros into the project while a considerable amount, up to 10 million Euros, has been provided by the Government of Turkey. Other investors include Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Control Agency.

Morava Airport lies between 3 larger cities – Kraljevo, Čačak and Kragujevac. The Serbian Ministry of Defence said last week that the airport has a catchment of 2 million people and is also likely to attract cargo airlines. However, there is scepticism whether the airport will be able to attract any passenger traffic. Niš, located in Eastern Serbia, has so far been unable to handle more than 36.000 passengers in a year since its reopening in 2004. Others argue that the airport’s proximity to Kragujevac, where the Fiat auto maker is based, and its close proximity to the Kopaonik mountain resort will be enough to lure an airline or two.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Will the bankrupted JAT get a base there too?

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  2. ANONYMOUS09:06

    HAHAHAHA! Funny. Is today April 1st?

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  3. Anonymous09:17

    Waste of money!

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  4. Anonymous09:29

    As funny as 5m in SKP!

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  5. Anonymous09:37

    So if I understand correctly, the airport is set to open after tens of millions of Euros of investment and yet there are no scheduled air services set to begin as soon as it opens?

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  6. Anonymous09:49

    Anonymous, the huge SKP investment is done by private company and not the government. For the Morava airport you and your people payed for it, in Macedonia we didn't give a single EUR for SKP as it will be run for the next 20 years by the private consortium that invested over 200 million EUR.

    I know it is hard to accept that somebody else in your vicinity is going forward and forward while you are in the same place, but that's not my fault.

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  7. Anonymous09:58

    Macedonia going forward? Pls explain!

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  8. Anonymous10:09

    They managed to get a brand spanking new airport without having national airline, they surely must be going forward only for this reason!

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  9. Anonymous10:45

    if u say so, i thought that was even bigger waste!

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  10. Anonymous10:55

    Just another joke airport

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  11. FlyingJack10:56

    I wouldn't be that ironic regarding opening of the new airport and personally I believe that in the near future it could receive decent traffic. I give more chances to this airport rather than to Niš.

    As far as I am familiar with overall economic, migrant and ethnic situation in the catchment area of the new airport, some of the potential profitable routes could be following:

    Istanbul targeting passengers from Sandžak region who at the moment are using PRN for their travels to IST
    Either Treviso or Verona in Italy :
    Estimates say that around 25000 migrant workers live in the region of Veneto, roughly half of them are from the Morava airport catchment area. At the moment for their travels they use busses as the only link.
    The same route would be certainly highly welcomed by truck drivers too, as Kraljevo - Kragujevac area has dozens of departures every day to the mention region. Many times they need to travel one way only in either direction.
    Paris has a vast population of migrant workers from the area who at the moment fly to BEG and than continuing by other links to their final destinations.
    Similar applies to Stuttgart and Munich and seasonal to Scandinavia.

    Than, please do not forget that the new airport is in the close proximity to several tourist destinations able to attract a lot of foreign travelers in the near future. Vrnjačka banja spa resort is about to be taken over by the same company that owns Karlove Vary and who prepared the similar project for Vrnjačka. And several other spas are in the region too, Mataruška just to mention is even closer to the airport.
    Kopaonik ski resort is an hour drive from the new airport as compared to three hours bus ride from the nearest INI airport.
    Guča is at 35 km from Morava airport and despite it is a single summer event it attracts thousands of foreigners every year. Several summer charters could be workable.

    You can't expect to attract travelers unless you offer them good connections, decent transport and good infrastructure

    So, do some research before posting ironic comments.

    Plus all those who claim that Morava airport construction goes from Serbian tax payers money only, PLEASE READ the text of the article again as it is clearly mentioned who donated almost half of the amount.

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  12. Aero12:21

    To certain extent I can understand why people from Skopje is expressing their opinions so agressively these days on this blog. It is reaction that can be justify by picking up emotional momentum over new SKP opening. Still, there are no reasons for downgrading anybody else. Opinions who is "going forward who is staying in the same place" do not deserve comments, but deserve to be deleted, as moderator said and did yesterday.
    I encourage him to do the same today!
    Btw, do you dear people noticed this enormous wave of Anonymouses???
    Made me to think to sign myself in the same manner, not because I am afraid of sharing my own thoughts and taking responsibilities for them, but because of being ashamed of sharing this virtual place with them.

    To all of them:
    Get lost from here!!!

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  13. Aero12:30

    My name is Aero as well

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  14. Aero13:36

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. Anonymous13:37

    I don't think we should envy Macedonians on their progress, hell, they are the only airport in the whole Balkan to get so much money in an investment that will last at least 50 years! We should be happy on their progress and take an example of what we need to do in the near future...

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  16. Anonymous14:04

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  17. Smokiman16:09

    I'm sceptical of this airport being a success. It is relatively close to BEG and INI, (and we all know how INI is struggling.) How can it attract scheduled airlines?
    This airport would have had a better chance when BEG reaches some 5-6 mil pax. That way it could have also offered itself as a low cost alternative to BEG. I just don’t think there are enough passengers in Serbia right now to support a new airport, if it is successful I will be pleasantly surprised. Best of luck to Morava.

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  18. Anonymous16:33

    For sure Adria will fly there.
    Average load 0.5 pax x flight (subsidised as Banja Luka).

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  19. Anonymous17:03

    This airport is not needed at all.Serbia should look at Hungary.What do u think guys,will there be flights to USA and Canada next year from belgrade???

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  20. Anonymous19:42

    Just read in Blic that BEG pax numbers for August are 15% up!
    Airport handled more than 2,100,000 passengers this year.

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  21. Anonymous20:57

    Thats great!!!
    Beg will pass the 3 million mark on the begging of December.

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  22. @ growing Anonymous bunch

    If you don't have anything constructive to say, you might as well keep quiet.


    As far as SKP, I'd say " Don't hate...congratulate"

    And finally, on the main topic.

    Waste of money? Perhaps. But, I'll repeat, this will be the best waste of 14 million euros by Gov of Serbia.

    FlyingJack, you are spot on.

    I would also add Zlatibor. In addition, there will be charter flights to summer holiday destinations (Tunis, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, etc). Presently, the options are: bus, car or flight from BEG.

    Investors demand infrastructure, and here it is.

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  23. FlyingJack01:15

    I did not take Zlatibor resort into consideration as it is out of 100 km diameter from Morava airport, but in some point it could be taken as potential catchment area as well.

    Maybe it would be wiser for Užice municipality to quit idea of rebuilding Ponikve airport and to join forces with authorities of Morava airport. Instead of Ponikve project they should focus on upgrade of the current regional road into modern highway as faster connection to Čačak and further to Kraljevo. With modern highway Morava airport could be at 45 minutes drive far from Užice. So why not even that.

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  24. Good luck Kraljevo!! I can def. see JAT, Adria, Turkish, Pegasus, Wizz, even Austrian, starting services from Morava in the first 12 mths.

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  25. ??? yeah sure, now get a new name

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  26. "Investors demand infrastructure, and here it is."


    No one is demanding useless infrastructure.

    Money would be better spent on a high-speed rail link to BEG

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  27. Anonymous08:48

    I think this airport will steal about 30% of BG travelers,
    Y? Cuz probably 50% off traveleres through BG end up travelin south of BG close to kraljevo and further south.
    With just a few air lines,with in a few years it even might b busier than BG...

    ReplyDelete

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