Užice Airport to open in September

Užice Airport to complete work on terminal building by month's end

Užice Airport, in western Serbia, plans to open its doors in September following the completion of a multi million euro redevelopment project. Located in western Serbia, the airport was destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign. However, the Serbian government and the European Union have jointly invested over one million euros into the creation of a project masterplan, while significant funds were put into the removal of unexploded bombs around the airport's runway. Its control tower was reopened in 2013 following a major overhaul by the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency. During the week, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport donated a further 407.000 euros to its counterpart in Užice on top of necessary equipment it provided last year. Belgrade Airport's General Manager, Saša Vlaisavljević, said, "We ended last year with a gross profit of 32.5 million euros, so we are in a position to invest. However, this is not all. We will also donate a two kilometre parameter fence".

The construction of Užice Airport's small terminal building will be completed by the end of the month,. Last week, the airport completed tender procedures for the renovation of the general aviation terminal, as well as for work on the building's roof, plumbing and electricity. By September, the airport will also install necessary lighting. "The terminal will be completed in some twenty days, while the airport will be fully functioning by September", Užice Airport's General Manager, Saša Savić, says. He adds, "We will do our part of the job. It will be up to the tourist board to attract visitors to this region. Technically, the airport will have the capacity to cater for aircraft such as the Boeing 737-300, however, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We will go step by step. We are negotiating for the launch of commuter flights with small aircraft that have the capacity to seat up to thirty passengers. If there is demand for larger aircraft, we will work towards adapting the airport to handle such flights in cooperation with Belgrade Airport".


Local authorities hope for the airport to be used for charter and cargo flights. The region is home to some of Serbia's most exported goods. However, it is also close to several major cities in the former Yugoslavia, with Sarajevo and Belgrade just 118 kilometres away. During the 1996 summer season, JAT Yugoslav Airlines operated a two weekly Belgrade - Užice - Tivat service. Over the past few years, small private aircraft have used the airport during the daytime. Užice is Serbia's thirteenth largest city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District. It has a fairly developed road and rail network. The entire redevelopment of the airport is valued at nineteen million euros. Questions have been raised whether the project is viable, following the construction of a modern passenger terminal in Kraljevo, in central Serbia in 2012, which has not been used since. Užice is one of a number of local airport project currently planned or under construction in the former Yugoslavia. You can review others here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:05

    Foreign visitors to this blog should be informed that we are in an election campaign, just like KVO was opened by DS under similar circumstances a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      +1, rodger and over ;)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      Try at least reading the article before bringing politics into it. The redevelopment of Uzice started before the main party in this government even existed.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      Yeah and what was done exactly? Uzice is still a mess it was for decades now. So they just remembered Uzice existed because they want a few votes from that region.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      @ AnonymousApril 9, 2016 at 9:23 AM
      Deactivation of mines started in 2010 and was completed recently. Before that was completed nothing else could be done.

      Delete
    5. Uzicani su neuporedivi sa svojom upornoscu, za razliku od Kraljevcana, pa i Cacana. Ne sumnjam. Ponikve ce akticirati za comuter saobracaj septembra meseca. Za otvaranje ✈Morave ostalo je do izbora od danas jos 13 (luckie number)dana. Ako koalicija Aca Vucica pobedi, usta opet ne sumnjam, onda ✈Moravi ostaje jos 67 dana do javno proklamovanog obecanja. Ne samo obecanje Pretsednika Vlade, vec i Ministarke Mihajilovic. Izbori su, pritisci su. Iskusenja su... Jedno je sigurno. ✈Morava ce biti otvorena!✈ Ponikve, kao i Niksicki i Trebinjski aerodrome kasnije. Nadam se da su Braca Karici iskovali dovoljno motika za zemljoradnicki narod Srbije. Avijacija takodje hrani ljude, pa i u Srbiji. U ovom slucaju Centralnoj. I ✈Morava i ✈Ponikve. ✈Sombor, ✈Sjenica, ✈Vrsac... dolaze kasnije. Jer su deo Aerodroma Srbije. Za sada pre poletanja svako dobro. ✈Radovan. KVO✈SYD

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:03

      This government has carried out most of its promises and more, unlike the bandits that preceded it. So I'm pretty confident they will activate this airport. Not sure about the September deadline, though.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:28

      Hahah admin, please delete the comment above.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:05

      Not even ExYu Aviation is beyond the reach of bots and other lowlives anymore.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:07

    Whatever I may think of the project, it's good that they seem to be realitstic at least.

    "The airport will have the capacity to cater for aircraft such as the Boeing 737-300, however, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We will go step by step. We are negotiating for the launch of commuter flights with small aircraft that have the capacity to seat up to thirty passengers."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:45

    Odlična vest za maline koje će sada biti na slatkim mukama da li da se izvezu u svet u ledenoj čeličnoj utrobi Iljušina 76 preko Morave ili preko Ponikava.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:11

    This is just simply really, really, really ridiculous. Nothing else needs to be said.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:51

    Like someone wrote

    "In Serbia there is no need for a new-built airport because of many unused airports. An strategy with investing in all tree south-central airports (Nis, Kraljevo and Uzice) could be interessting (no mention of Sjenica because of a to small population around). But I think because of the small and poor market, smartest would be focussing on the central Kraljevo-Morava airport (more subventions and investitions etc.) and trying to attrackt more airlines there. This airport could serve the whole south Serbia from Nis to Uzice. In the north (Vojvodina) there is and will be no need for an commercial airport, just because a lot of established airports are very close (especially Belgrade but also Osijek and Timisoara and also Budapest)."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:54

    Actually there were 4 international flights from/to Uzice last year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How much in km are the distances between Kraljevo (Airport) and Uzice (Airport)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:08

      84km as per Google maps. 1h 37min drive.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous15:02

    Does anyone have an idea what is holding up LYKV opening? I'm sure there are folks on the blog who are 'close' to SNS. Is there any particular reason?
    It's great to see UZC getting ready, but I don't see the point in spending money if the airport ends up like LYKV.
    BTW, what is the operating cost of INI?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:17

      Ne koci niko licno nego Pista i ispred Terminala bi bilo malo nezgodboo za A320 .
      INN-NS

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:23

      Ok za A320, ali ako bi neko sad hteo da krene sa letovima preko leta (turboprop). Turisticka agencija organizuje redovne cartere za Bec i Istanbul, aviokompanija sa EU AOC. Da li je to moguce sada?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:01

      Q400 i ATR 72 mogu cak i E90 ali cisto sumnjam da postoji intresovanje za to .

      Ali bolja opcija je svakako KVO da renovira pistu i da se otvori LCC aerodrom posto steta je da propada nov Terminal da se da FR ili U2.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:08

      Agree, in the meantime, I'd say that municipalities around LYKV should incentivise Austrian to operate several flights per week with Dash in a code share with Turkish.

      VIE-LYKV-IST-LYKV-VIE.


      my2cents

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:16

      Good luck trying to get slots with turboprop aircraft in IST...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:30

      Thanks!
      I was just waiting for someone to shoot this idea down in the true Serbian spirit Btw, I' from Serbia. It took you long enough, 75min.

      It could be an easy one, under the argument of connecting Sanjak and Turkey via LYKV. It's a political decision.
      Alternatively, connect to SAW, not ideal but OK for start.

      P.S. Sadly, 'Mrtvo more' and ' da komsiji crkne krava' sums up Serbian people.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous15:05

    Was the entire runway renovated in Uzice?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous15:22

    Lepo je da Drzava ima sto vise Aerodroma ali je bezveze dati tolike pare sad i na UZC a ne renovirati ili ne uloziti te Pare da se BY vrati opet u INI sa charterima . A pritom Vojska Srb nema ogromno vojno vazduhoplovstvo pa da se Aerodrom iskoristi .
    Bolje uloziti te pare u INI da se poveca broj LCC ma da cisto sumnjam da bilo ko osim BEG moze da ima uspeh.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous16:07

    Nis je kao sto si ovde mogao da procitas krenuo veoma dobro. Sa postojecim linijama moze dostici cifru od 70.000+ sto je 100% vise nego prosle godine. .ukoliko se uvedu +2 leta sto je veoma izvesno mocice da premasi 100.000 sto je odlicna cifra, a aerodrom vec posluje u plusu, tako da postedi nas izjava "sem beograda. ."!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous03:18

      Posluje sa tolikim plusom da ne moze od tog plusa ni za 10 godina da plati za CAT III i druge stvari koje normalan aerodrom mora da ima.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous16:07

    I'd say that Austrian should be incentivised to operate several flights per week with Dash in a code share with Turkish.

    VIE-KVO-IST-KVO-VIE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:09

      like said above, you can't get slots at IST and SAW for turboprop aircraft.
      Emb 90 is the smallest aircraft as commercial operating routes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:30

      I wouldn't be so sure, anything is possible. There are always exceptions.
      Unless you are Mr. Erdogan.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:45

      I think Turkey is just waiting to give slots for turboprop aircraft on one of the most busiest airports in the world (and SAW is just as equally busy), especially when Serbia is so friendly to Turkish charter operators.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:12

      What shit are you talking about ? Turkish carriers have 17 out of 24 weekly scheduled flights between Serbia and Turkey - that's just over 70% - and then you wonder why the Serbian authorities try to balance it out with charter flights - which mind you, operate for only 2-3 mths of the year - while scheduled flights operate 365 days per year.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous23:28

      OK, let's look at the idea again.
      Flights to IST/ SAW are mainly for Bosniaks from Sanjak. I presume that Turkey would be interested in such flights, at the very least, as a favour to Bosniaks. Folks Sanjak are phone call away from powerbrokers in Turkey who can make the slots happen. This would be Turkish Airlines code share regular flight,merely 2-3 times per week, probably during off-peak times.
      LYKV can get in a crossfire between the two CAAs, but then someone would have to explain why LYKV is held hostage by Serbian CAA.

      I would love for AirSerbia to operate flight from LYKV, after all it is as much an airline of people outside of Belgrade. Odds are long on this one, but I wouldn't dismiss it.

      In the end, you may not get it , indeed, but it wouldn't for the lack of effort.

      Let me guess, next thing you'll say is that Austrian can't spare Dash 2-3 times per week for this route.


      Have a good night and think positively !

      Delete
    6. Anonymous23:04

      or perhaps

      FlyNiki/Airberlin flights VIE-LYKV with Q400, thus giving Serbia Oneworld foothold.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous19:59

    I think what you meant to say is, if you are Mr. Erdogan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:56

      No, i meant it that way,

      unless the naysayer ExYu blogger is Mr. Erdogan himself.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous02:04

      Well then you got it wrong Jack.

      "I wouldn't be so sure, anything is possible. There are always exceptions. Unless you are Mr. Erdogan."

      Because what you just wrote implies that there are always exceptions, 'except' for Erdogan.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:48

      You are correct, it wasn't clear.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:20

      A-ight brotha, peace out.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous23:46

    It isn't mines that they're clearing but rather unexploded bombs. It might be a good idea to revise your news post. Good otherwise!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous08:46

    In other words, Kraljevo will indeed be dead. Why didn't they spend the money on finalising it instead of opening a new airport? Also INI airport has barely 4 flights per week so not sure how it's gonna work out with a much smaller airport.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.