Turkish companies eye Morava Airport

Monday, March 7, 2016

The Serbian Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure has announced that Turkish companies are interested in the development of Kraljevo's Morava Airport. Located in central Serbia, the airport’s terminal building was completed in 2012 but has been closed ever since. Following talks between the Transport Minister, Zorana Mihajlović, and the Turkish Ambassador to Serbia, Mehmet Kemal Bozaj, the two sides concluded the arrival of Turkish experts to the the airport soon. Furthermore, officials discussed the possible launch of charter flights from Turkey to Kraljevo. According to an announcement made last August, the Serbian government plans to open the airport for commercial use by mid-2016. Construction of Morava Airport began in 2011 with work on a new control tower and access roads. Later on in the year, the first promotional flight was operated from Belgrade with Jat Airways’ ATR 72 aircraft. In 2012 a new passenger terminal was opened featuring a duty free shop, exchange office, commercial office space, a detention centre, clinic, car park and a cargo depot. Jat Airways soon after announced it would launch a two weekly service from Kraljevo to Istanbul, however, these never materialised. Since the airport lies between several industrial cities, the government is hopeful the likes of the Italian run Fiat-Zastava car manufacturer would make use of the airport and that further business and investment in the area would be stimulated. In addition, part of the Raška region has close historical ties with Turkey and a portion of the local population is expected to use the airport for future flights to Istanbul.