Belgrade has two terminals which have the capacity to handle five million passengers per year. Terminal two was completely refurbished between 2004 and 2006. The airport is the largest out of all in the former Yugoslavia. Passenger results in July 2010 have broken previous records. According to a 1990 master plan, Belgrade Airport was intended, by January 2010, to have a third terminal, second runway, office block, hotel complex and a rail connection to the city centre.
Belgrade is not the only capital city airport which will see expansion and refurbishment in the near future. Zagreb, Sarajevo and Ljubljana all intend to expand while Skopje is already seeing construction work. Podgorica is the only EX-YU capital city airport which currently has no plans to expand although Montenegro’s largest airport was completely refurbished several years ago.
since it is making money and profit, the airport should invest alone, get a loan from a bank. no need to involve the government all the time.
ReplyDeleteanyways, it is questionable if this investment is needed at this time.
This shows very good managerial approach. They should make plans, but as Anonymous have said, without govt and maybe with some time lag.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they invest just a portion of that money into Batajnica Airport to refurbish it and enable civilian flights from the airport? With its three runways, fantastic position (just a 45 minute drive from Novi Sad and less than 30 minutes from downtown Belgrade), and connection to the national railway, this is a no brainer!
ReplyDeleteIf they turned Batajnica into a civilian airport, then there would be competition between Batajnica and Belgrade for airlines. Right now, Belgrade is a hotspot for airlines and travel, so they are in control. There are more air carriers that are planning to use Belgrade Airport so keeping Belgrade as Serbia's sole civilian airport hub, allows the airport to get more money. It's a very good move to invest into the airport. It's not ready for a third terminal, but definitely ready for a second runway. I agree with this decision 100%.
ReplyDeleteWhen are they starting construction? Any pictures? I hope that soon we'll see flights from north american to belgrade direct.
ReplyDeleteGreat news!Can't wait to see the plans. Since tender for expansion of waiting rooms and finger corridors A and C was closed on 16th of April (http://www.beg.aero/o_nama/javne_nabavke.306.html) as well as purchase of new glass air bridges for all A gates, like the ones already in place on C gates, I assume they will start with that work first and gradually, over the years build the rest: new runway, office block etc.
ReplyDeleteGood decision again and good luck.
Hello Ex yu and company!from where did you get the info about the investment plan?Source please..And if the government is the owner of Belgrade airport....................then they are automatically involved.
ReplyDeleteBye Bye
^Tanjug
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info!
ReplyDelete2nd runway!?!?!?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteNO F*CKING WAY!
London Gatwick airport serves 34 million passengers with 1 runway. Belgrade does NOT need a 2nd runway for at least 30 years.
This is a HUGE joke...
Last anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Gatwick has one runway doesn't say anything. Belgrade needs a second runway simply becuase it needs to avoid the closure of its only runway in case there is an incided or similar things... In addition to that I believe that this expansion will position Belgrade even more as a regional hub. Even if I like the A gates because they are just so damn retro and cool, C gates are far more fancy and cool.
Maybe they should start by removing the archaic boards (the ones that show direction) and replace them with something fresh. I also think that the writtings at the airport should be donw in cyrillic, after all it is the official writting of Serbia.
^
ReplyDeleteUm - this last post by anonymous has to be THE most ridiculous ever posted on this forum. And there have been some very stupid posts on here!
Your justification for a 2nd runway make NO sense at all. Do you know how often you have 'incidents' at BEG that block the runway? That is why every airport in the world has something called an 'Alternate'.
Signs in cyrillic? Yeah - great idea. Make Serbia/Belgrade even lost hospitable to foreigners (read - business people). Ridiculous idea.
According to a 1990 master plan, Belgrade Airport was intended, by January 2010, to have a third terminal, second runway, office block, hotel complex and a rail connection to the city centre.
ReplyDeleteDon't you love hindsight!
It makes one think what would have happened had there been solid economic development (a la Switzerland) instead of all the political instability, corruption and wranglings during this time.
But then again, there's no chance due to the mindset still prevalent right across the region!
@ ANONYMOUS (#12)
There's been some ones which come pretty close to this over the recent time... the best one I still believe has been this recurring call of an SAS-style confederation - a recipe for disaster.
I think the expansion should go ahead. New jetbridges is just a small thing, not all big airports have glass jetbridges but they are nice. I think a bigger cargo centre should be built rather than a new runway. Maybe new flight boards could do, they always go funny with weird lettering popping up especially at the bottom of the boards.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the signage should completely be in Serbian and not a mixture of Serbian and Latinica. Naturally it should underneith have in English like at other airports. We have an official script, use it. No need to accomidate ex-YU republics, there is a reason why they are EX-republics! And to the anonymous person against it, just because Hungarian is in latinica, doesnt mean i can understand or read what is written!
Signs in cyrillic? Yeah - great idea. Make Serbia/Belgrade even lost hospitable to foreigners (read - business people). Ridiculous idea
ReplyDeleteExcuse me but I actually agree with the person. What is wrong with Sofia? DME? SVO? Greek airports? Arab Airports? Just because they have writtings in their own script doesn't mean that they are unfriendly to people. I do not see how a French businessman is going to care if Serbian is written in Latin or Cyrillic, it's still Serbian to him.
In addition to all that the Ex-Yu republics know that in Serbia we use a different writtng so they know what to expect, plus let's not forget that Macedonia and Republika Srpska use the cyrillic as well.
I am sorry but your comment is totally stupid.
According to the constitution both latin and Cyrillic are official scripts so I don’t see the problem if everything is in latin. Unlike many countries in the world, we have the ability to read and write two different scripts so why not use both.
ReplyDelete@ anonymous
ReplyDeleteno, section 10 of the Serbian Constitution writes that "The Republic of Serbia has in official use the Serbian language and the cyrillic alphabet. The formal usage of other languages and alphabets are regulated by law, according to the Constitution." which is seen here:
http://www.parlament.gov.rs/content/cir/akta/akta_detalji.asp?Id=382&t=Z#
And yes, we have the ability to read 2 alphabets because during the days of Yugoslavia Serbian students were made to learn the Latin script where as the Croats the Cyrillic script. What is different is that Croatia have chosen 1 and stuck with it, Serbia doesnt know what it wants!
I agree with the comment about other airports. I have been in DXB and DOH and its Arabic and English, SIN has Chinese script as well.