Tivat Airport has come under scrutiny with passengers reporting exceptionally long queues extending outside the terminal building, severe overcrowding at check-in, security and passport control and lengthy delays. Photos and videos widely shared on social media over the past week have highlighted the scale of the congestion, with many travellers describing the airport as operating well beyond its intended capacity. Social media users, including individuals claiming to work at the airport, have argued that the terminal is simply too small to cope with the volume of passengers during the height of the tourist season, even though staff are making efforts to prioritise passengers on imminent departures.
Over the weekend, a number of flights were either diverted or delayed by several hours due to apron congestion, as aircraft were unable to vacate parking stands quickly enough, creating a domino effect across the airport's operations. Tivat Airport faces significant infrastructure constraints, operating with a single runway, no parallel taxiway and an apron with just seven commercial aircraft parking stands. In addition, the airport and surrounding terrain lacks appropriate lighting, limiting operations to daylight hours between sunrise and sunset. On Saturday, Lufthansa's flight from Munich diverted to Tirana, Iberia's service from Madrid was rerouted to Bari, while an incoming Air Montenegro flight from Istanbul was forced to divert to Podgorica. An Austrian Airlines service from Vienna spent more than thirty minutes holding over the Adriatic Sea before receiving clearance to land in Tivat. Conditions improved somewhat on Sunday, although a number of flights still experienced lengthy delays. This morning Arkia and Sun d'Or flights from Tel Aviv were diverted to Tirana, while Air Serbia's services from Belgrade returned back to base.
Last week, numerous flights were diverted after an unprecedented concentration of birds on the runway led to multiple bird strikes involving aircraft on Friday morning. The disruptions occurred despite Tivat Airport's active wildlife and bird hazard management program. Over the past year, the airport has registered a record number of bird strikes and bird encounter incidents.
The President of the Montenegrin Tourism Association, Žarko Radulović, has said the situation at Tivat Airport is “alarming” and urged the relevant authorities to act immediately. Mr Radulović noted of dangerous conditions for people standing in the almost kilometre long line in front of the terminal in the summer heat. “I contacted the airport and was told that their responsibility begins only from the pavement directly in front of the terminal building. Everything beyond that falls under the jurisdiction of Morsko Dobro and the Municipality of Tivat. A similar problem exists in Podgorica, but it has been partly addressed by installing sunshades. In Tivat, however, the airport has been told it must seek approval from Morsko Dobro and the municipality because temporary structures such as sunshades require special permits”, Mr Radulović said. He added, "I consider this to be an act of terrorism against Montenegro's tourism. Every passenger and tourist who arrived by air and is now returning home is leaving with a negative impression of Montenegro. When people are forced to stand in the sun for an hour and a half or even two hours without water, you have humiliated and exhausted them".
If Montenegro was smart (and they aren't) they would limit the operations to 70% of intended capacity and divert others to Podgorica.
ReplyDeleteThe airport is ruining the image of Montenegro and destroying people's paid for vacation, so a diversion is a 100 times better than this
That would be an option if Podgorica was underutilized or built with slack capacity, but that is not the case. Although better than Tivat, Podgorica is not far way when it comes to lack of infrastructure.
DeleteVery soon, the EU taxpayers will be funding the reconstruction and expansion of this airport.
DeleteWhy would do they divert to Podgorica? All the hotel resorts are within 20-30min ride from Tivat airport? You expect tourist to travel 2-3 hours from Podgorica to hotels?
DeleteThey can build more parking spaces but there is zero intensions as Podgorica is the one to decide
'You expect tourist to travel 2-3 hours from Podgorica to hotels?' It is rarely 2-3hours to drive from Podgorica anywhere along the coast and into the Bay. Nobody says close Tivat, rather manage its capacity well and expand Podgorica to be a functioning gateway for the country.
DeleteEntrance to Budva in July and August is from 30min up to one hour (Direction from Podgorica). Even from Tivat airport to Porto Montenegro is at least half an hour in the summer
DeleteThat is not option for Boka bay hotels, also for Lustica hotels. That could be the case in 2019 when the majority of flights were from Russian market and hotels in Becici.
Imagine preparing from Lustica for return morning flights from Podgorica?? The problem is that you want everything for Podgorica :/
Yet another argument to finish the airport in Trebinje. Only an hour to Herceg Novi.
Delete@17:22 LoL
Delete^ Anon 17:22 No physical work on 'Trebinje international' has actually taken place yet. Given the debate surrounding its viability and issues of land i would not hold my breath for being before the mid to late 2030s.
DeleteTo divert more people toPodgorica? Thank you but no, thank you. Regards from Podgorica
DeleteWhat happened to the second terminal building built a few years ago. It's it in use?
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteThe terminal is in use mostly for the flights to TLV. But the problem is the limited number of parking positions
DeleteCrazy that flights are being diverted!
ReplyDeleteThis weekend was truly a horror show
ReplyDeleteSo, what do they do with people diverted to Bari???
ReplyDeleteThey sit on the plane in Bari for a few hours before it continues to Tivat.
DeleteMust have been fun.
DeleteNot fun for the people from the airline when they land in TIV and then the crew is out of hours and the flight has to be rescheduled for the next day...
DeleteThe airport has been overloaded for years.
ReplyDeleteSeven parking stands, no taxiway and no runway lighting in 2026. It is amazing that Tivat has managed to handle as much traffic as it has.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of runway lighting is unbelievable in this day and age.
DeleteWell geography does play a part too.
DeleteIt's not about runway, it has its lights. But it's unusable, because you can not light the mountains
DeleteBecause it was built in a daft location during an era of extremely low mobility.
DeleteWell there have been decades to do something about it.
Delete'Doing something' is easier said than done. But yes, Podgorica airport needs massive expansion and Tivat drastically reduced in operational capacity.
DeleteRather uniquely of all the airports in the region, Podgorica Airport has the most useable space to construct a large and modern terminal right next to the current operation. Money and vision to do such a thing is, however, lacking.
Delete'It's not about runway, it has its lights. But it's unusable, because you can not light the mountains'
DeleteTivat airport doesnt have approach lights neither rwy edge lights. Just Papi lights in 2026
Management could not care less.
ReplyDeleteThe airport management has been warning about capacity issues for years. Where have the politicians been?
DeleteSo politicians should put shades and give passengers water in 35C heat in the sun?
DeleteThe bird strike issue is concerning enough on its own.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to expand the airport at all considering the terrain?
ReplyDeleteI've been using Tivat for twenty years. Every summer people say it has never been this bad yet somehow the next year is even worse.
ReplyDeleteUntil a new terminal, larger apron and better airfield infrastructure are built, these disruptions will probably become the new normal every peak summer season.
ReplyDeleteThe videos on social media this weekend have been absolutely crazy.
ReplyDeleteThese images are terrible advertising for Montenegro.
DeleteThe photos/videos circulating online are worth more than any negative travel review. They speak for themselves.
DeleteMontenegro has been getting a lot of negative reviews by western bloggers lately (the service on their national airline, Tivat airport). In truth, it is well deserved. I'm surprised that it didn't come sooner. Still waiting for reviews on customer service.
DeleteThat might be true, and the country is full to the brim. But that being said it remains a wonderful place to visit for lovers of landscape. Personally I always found Budva and the like no my cup of tea and I wouldn't even think about having a beach holiday there. But inland and off the beaten path it remains a fine destination.
DeleteDabogda živeo ACDM - airport collaborative decesion making.
ReplyDeleteWhy do airlines continue adding flights if the airport clearly cannot accommodate them?
ReplyDeleteBecause the management lets them.
DeleteThis is exactly why Dubrovnik and Split continue attracting premium tourists. Their airports have invested heavily.
ReplyDeleteTivat is built in a very challenging location with mountains and the sea limiting expansion.
DeletePeople will write literally any nonsense here. Maybe 1% of tourists even bother to look up what kind of airport facilities they can expect on arrival. It certainly weighs nothing in the overall success of Dalmatia as a destination.
Delete+1
DeleteWe all remember very long passenger queues outside of the Split airport terminal before expansion.
DeleteThe reason there was no parking space is because 2 easyjet planes had a bird strike on landing and could not leave the airport!
ReplyDeleteHow much longer can Tivat continue operating like this before airlines start cutting capacity?
ReplyDeleteThe airport reached its capacity years ago. Everything since then has just been hoping nothing goes wrong.
DeleteConsidering that the concession process has been abandond, there is no hope for this airport
ReplyDeletePeak summer demand was entirely predictable. None of this should have come as a surprise.
ReplyDeleteActually this was a bit exceptional because only five parking spots were in use this weekend and that is really very little
DeleteOne of the reasons for Trebinje airport
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteNo LOL at all.
DeleteDefiantly LoL. If you believe that pit of money-laundering, political megalomania and bad economics will turn into anything to help Tivat's air capacity you must be either naive or willfully ignorant. You do realise that very soon the border between BiH and CG will become an EU border meaning checks will have to be as rigorous as towards Dubrovnik (where there is already a large functioning airport).
DeleteWell, that border will not stand there in such capacity forever. And, you know, recently I crossed another EU-tourist heavy border (Macedonia to Greece) and the checks were as rigorous and thorough as when entering a cinema...
DeleteIt would be of great help, if it was there now, the airport in Trebinje.
@11:42. The Montenegrin - Bosnian border will be there for a great while longer my friend (although i wish all borders were reduced on our little continent). The road between the Trebinje region and the Bay of Kotor is defiantly more of the scenic variety than it is of the 'international transit' kind.
DeleteThe idea for an airport at Trebinje is absolutely terrible and the project of loony politicians. It would be of remarkably little help because do you think airlines would divert there when Dubrovnik or Tirana or god forbid Podgorica will have significantly better infrastructure? Or rather people would use it as a gateway tor reaching Montenegro? I can assure you that the levels of tourists renting cars in Croatia and Albania and driving into Montenegro is vast nowadays.
I feel deeply sorry for the tax payers of Bosnia/Serbia who have to put up with such mad ideas as an airport in Trebinje and I'm very confident it will never be built. But then again idiocy has no limits.
Strong words as "idiocy" should be avoided. My close relative, then chief of Yugoslav civil aviation, was instrumental in bulding new Belgrade airport in Surčin. Ha had almost no support, politicians were claiming he was nuts, because aviation was tiny, and sharing airfild with the Air force at Batajnica - an arrangement that was being established in Zagreb - was seen as a solution. Luckily, my relative, sort of a grandfather, was stubborn enough - basically ordering construction works before secuding funding - and somehow the airport was completed. Then, with the advent of the Caravelle, the international traffic itself suddenly quadrupled. And so on: the aviation peaked up in the eighties. The man was no idiot.
DeleteIt is evident that, under present circumstances, had Trebinje airport already been built, it would be of great help. Sure, pople would use it to get to Montenegro given the situation at TIV - among other things, they would use it for late returns, as no night time curfew is planned there. What happens in 30 years, that we do not know - apart from the fact that we know the space for expansion at Tivat will remain limited, making the existence of an alternative a no brainer actually.
Great ancedote regarding the relative. So many good people involved in aviation.
DeleteThe plan for Trebinje airport is however, not one that springs from aviation economics nor those involved in the industry. It is a purely political project and therefore arguable a product born of electioneering and idiocy.
There is neither the economic case, nor the environmental case for an airport. It is purely a political mirage to disguise from the hideousness of politics. 'It is evident that, under present circumstances, had Trebinje airport already been built, it would be of great help' - you assume airlines would use it, which is not an assumption i would bank upon.
It will be interesting to see if more money and political lies will be poured into this when what Hercegovina and Montenegro need is a proper road between the two.
@13:33 Dubrovnik is nearby and will become increasingly easy to access following Montenegro's EU accession.
Delete@Anons 14:15
DeleteAir Serbia for sure would use it. GA for sure would use it heavily, as Tivat is congested, and should be expensive for that. For the very beginning, that would be more than enough.
Air Serbia would not use it for diversions. Air Serbia has a crystal clear policy of returns to Belgrade for any landing issues for all regional airports. It's the same policy that Lufthansa has, Eurowings has, Iberia has, TAP has, even Ryanair returns passengers to the base.
Delete@16:13 i think they meant fly to it. Considering the vast cost and unlike great demand from other airlines the project is a dead-letter and clear case of politicians using infrastructure for political grandstanding.
DeleteI would fly to Trebinje if staying in Herceg Novi. Way more convenient than Tivat.
DeleteIts hardly 'way' more. The drive is potentially faster, but if you are tourist you would have to take a cross-border rental car which costs. The idea of an airport there is so incredibly laughable that chapters in books will be written about it.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/09/trebinje-airport-site-selected-first.html
DeleteGosh its fun seeing where tax money goes...
The fact that people have to stand outside in extreme heat without shade or water should be a national embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteIf this happened at a major Western European airport, there would be an official investigation.
ReplyDeleteOr the CEO would resign, like what happened in Amsterdam when there were massive queues and delays.
DeleteYou really expect anyone from Airports of Montenegro will resign because of this. Not a chance hahaha. They will blame everything and anything before taking responsibility.
DeletePassengers are paying airport taxes for what exactly? Standing outside on the pavement?
ReplyDeleteIt is frustrating for airlines too. Causes hours of delays.
ReplyDeleteInfrastructure has simply failed to keep pace with tourism growth.
ReplyDeleteNo serious tourism destination should have passengers queueing outside the terminal like this.
ReplyDeleteI think the worst airport in ex-Yu. Rude staff, staff smoking inside the terminal....
ReplyDeleteTrue unfortunately
DeleteWhat is the development plan? Last year I've noticed that Jadranska magistrala is moved closer to the mountains to give the airport more space. Will they try to add at least a parallel taxiway to increase capacity?
ReplyDeleteThe plan was to wait for a concessionaire to do something. But now nothing has come of that either.
DeleteLots of flights delayed today too.
ReplyDeleteI’m wandering if also cleaning in front of the terminal is in jurisdiction of Morsko Dobro and leaving the place like a trash dump an act of terrorism.
ReplyDeleteMultiple diversions today already, and lots of delays. Tivat is doing very badly.
ReplyDeleteThe footage is all over social media everywhere, even pilots are complaining.
What flights are diverted today?
DeleteIt says in the text
Delete"This morning Arkia and Sun d'Or flights from Tel Aviv were diverted to Tirana, while Air Serbia's services from Belgrade returned back to base."
And big delays too
DeleteOvercrowded, dirty and long check in times. Horrible airport. Not to mention the state of the WC.
ReplyDeleteCrazy line in front of the terminal yesterday
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/NenadBaletic/status/2081291007111369055?s=20
The queues are one thing but flights being actively diverted for days is absolutely nuts. What sort of costs are airlines incurring in the height of summer to fly to a place like Tivat?
ReplyDeleteWell the airport has never been busier and demand to Montenegro seems to be very strong, so I guess they figure it pays overall.
DeleteA lovely holiday overall. You get diverted on arrival, stand in a kilometre long line on departure and you are likely to have the unavoidable stomach virus from contaminated sea water.
DeleteIs there any option or is it realistic to build some large airport for the entire country between Podgorica and Tivat?
ReplyDeleteNot really
Delete@11:47 have you looked at a map? Podgorica actually does serve the whole country. With improved roads (which are also not what they should be) Tivat Airport should be something of a curio with fewer airlines paying top-dollar to fly there whilst Podgorica handles most traffic for the country.
DeleteTerrible
ReplyDeleteWhat were the diversions for today? Insufficient parking spaces or birds?
ReplyDeleteWeather
DeleteThere was an Iberia plane stuck in Tivat this weekend. It was supposed to depart on Saturday afternoon but only departed on Sunday. They got diverted on Saturday because of lack of parking positions so I assume the crew's duty times were exceeded.
ReplyDeleteIf you look on google maps - the airport and the runway is tucching borders with the motorway Jadranska Magistrala. This place has no space to expand - Unles they do it Madera way and move the Motorway under the apron or the runway. So my question is where is the potential of expansion for tivat beyond 7 parking posittions?
ReplyDeleteI think there is a 'plan' but i wouldn't hold your breath. Even the road works outside a being handled poorly. That being said the road network and general quality of roads elsewhere in the country is significantly improved.
DeleteIt's pretty simple actually, in a country where a tender for a concession has taken 8 years and will most likely have to be redone, nothing can ever be done by locals. Tivat Airport had its airfield lighting system shutdown by regulators 7 years ago. Despite this they launched a tender for "night-flights" 5 years ago. Of course nothing changed as they don't have a lightning system! Tivat airport then launched a tender to buy a new cable for a new PAPI setup (!) 4 years ago. They bought the cable, but no PAPI, but at least they have the cable. Having people stand for hours trying to checkin etc has only ONE results = NO MORE MONTENEGRO. If all this is due to incompetent airport management, including APM, or incompetent politicians is up to others to judge, but I know that every people has the leader it deserves. How somebody can be so xhatxxx intelligent to allow the roadworks between Budva and Tivat to go on forever, uninterrupted is beyond me. And to believe that EU will drop baskets of money when apparently the management of the country is on a level of incompetence nobody has seen, is living in a nice fluffy dreamworld.
ReplyDelete'Having people stand for hours trying to checkin etc has only ONE results = NO MORE MONTENEGRO.'
DeleteI mean..sure..
the 12:28 comment = must read
DeleteMost people I know tried Montenegro coast once (either by car or from Podgorica) and will never return. Traffic jams, litter and smoking. It's not very convincing even without Tivat airport.
ReplyDeleteWell personal experience does not equate to a trend or reality.
DeleteThey saying of where do you hide money in Montenegro? A shovel. Best describes the airport is still stuck in the time it was built
ReplyDeleteMore than a decade ago, solution was proposed for Podgorica airport to be expanded, Tivat airport closed, highway from Podgorica straight to Budva area drilled under the mountains with the addition of bridge spanning the Bay of Kotor. Some people didn't think it was a good idea.
ReplyDeleteDoesnt matter, 28th by 28 and EU will pay for it. We just have to wait a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI want that functionality that Reddit has that reminds me in 2030 to check how this comment holds up
DeleteI suspect fairly well. At least in regional terms.
DeleteYou have to be severely delusional to believe that Montenegro will join the EU in 2028 at this point.
DeletePerhaps. But it will be first of the pack.
Delete"act of terrorism" seems a little dramatic. There's a systemic failure here that no good airport employee can fix.
ReplyDeleteI assume airport management had to ask Morsko Dobro and Tivat municipality to hand out bottles of water to people standing in the sun and heat waiting to enter the terminal? A person fainted yesterday at the airport from the heat. What a bunch of lazy loosers, and I'm referring to the managment.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even more interesting is that no one from the managment has offered as much as an apology. Too busy playing solitaire in the office.
DeleteYou actually assume they are in the office. Almost the entire managment is politicaly appointed and have no qualifications.
DeleteAt best they're probably out back with a fag and cup of coffee. Or on the beach.
DeleteAnd the absolute peak of summer is yet to come. Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteWe have just cancelled our return tickets from Belgrade and will be going to our vacation in Boka by car. After month of daily reports of huge collapse of Tivat airport handling and seeing it is only getting worse, that was the only sane thing to do. Arriving to that mess of an airport is somehow doable (đene-đene), but waiting for hours in 30+ degrees outside, in the sun - that's a definite NO.
DeleteOh fully refundable tickets?
DeleteYes, luckily fully refundable tickets, we usually book business to TIV so we can be flexible (change dates, refund if necessary like now etc) and bring extra luggage (Air Serbia allows 2 large suitcases and two carry-ons and it's often cheaper to pay for business class to TIV than add extra luggage).Priority check-in and passport/customs control is a welcome perk too in BEG when crowded, in TIV it is non-existent, of course (sometimes the staff does pull the C class pax around the line but it's not a rule).
DeleteFor the average flyer that's a total waste of money. But have a good drive down!
DeleteYay, this year I travel to BEG (never been to the city), take a train to TGD (10h, can finally be bought online), and only then I travel to the sea shore. The experience is lengthy but not that humiliating or miserable
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful time. Its one of Europe's great train journeys!
Delete