Kraljevo Airport
The Serbian Government, local authorities and USAID are committing millions of Euros in the development of the military airport Ladejvci, near the town of Kraljevo, located in Central Serbia. The airport, built in 1965 and mostly destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing, is expected to be open for commercial flights by the summer of 2011 under the name Morava Airport. The Serbian Army, the owner of Ladjevci, has given its approval for the airport to be used jointly for both commercial and military flights. The army’s approval was the last piece of the puzzle needed in order for development to begin.Unprecedented interest has been shown for the development of Kraljevo Airport. Initially, the cities of Kraljevo, Čačak and Kragujevac showed interest for the airport’s development but since then another eight have shown their support - Novi Pazar, Raška, Ivanjica, Lučani, Gornji Milanovac, Knić, Vrnjačka Banja and Trstenik. All of these cities and town will be co-financing the airport’s development which will cost 22.5 million Euros. On June 17, the Serbian Government approved the project and drafted a planned timeline of the airport’s development.
The construction of a new control tower, replacing the one bombed, will begin in the next two months. Soon after, the runway will be extended by 250 metres, bringing the runway’s total length to 2.500 metres. The airport is expected to open in August 2011. It is believed that the Government has moved swiftly to approve the airport’s development due to requests made by the Fiat automaker which owns the Zastava car manufacturer in nearby Kragujevac.
The airport in Kraljevo will be named Morava after the nearby river, while the military part of the airport will continue to be called Ladjevci.
Well if this does happen I think we can see Ryanair starting flights to the airport
ReplyDeleteI doubt Ryan air will be interested. Belgrade is a more likely option, as it is better connected to Hungary, romania, croatia, Bosnia and the rest of Serbia. Also, I don't think that the planes would be full, because Kraljevo isn't really a touristy kind of place. Belgrade on the other hand can attract foreign tourists.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Money for the new airport - and NO airline to serve it. When will this putting the cart before the horse end?
ReplyDelete@ ex-yu aviation:
ReplyDeleteCan you dig out what is going on with Konstantin Veliki Nis(INI)? Are there any new airline around? Does Jat plans to get back there after ceasing current 2-3 summer season routes and lease new air crafts?
Can you find out anything about that (except data from yesterday`s press conference at INI)?
Thank you in advance!
Since INI, OMO, OHD or BNX cannot do any better for the time being, I do not expect anything from this story, as well.
ReplyDeleteTalking about INI, I think that they gonna beat only Osijek, Portoroz and Banja Luka airports, among all ex-yu airports with scheduled flights. I don`t know if Tuzla is having any.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting if ex-yu aviation can find data and make list for those "small chips" airports in the region up to 100k pax/y including their cargo data.
Build it and they will come.
ReplyDeleteNo infrastructure = no foreign investment = no jobs = no prosperity.
This project, much like most infrastructure projects, may not be viable on stand alone basis or pay-off within commercially reasonable time, but are necessary.
What a waste of money! They are better off taking the money and investing it in BEG.
ReplyDeleteInvesting in BEG is OK, as long as you build freeways so that millions of people living outside Belgrade can reach it in a reasonable manner.Two-three hours to the nearest airport, this is unheard of in modern world.
ReplyDeleteAnother infrastructure project
it appears that this airport has no purpose other to attract cargo carriers. I don't think that serbia will allow belgrade to lose the very fine position it has right now. kraljevo is attracting big companies to invest in factories and such. With the only airports at nis and belgrade, investors see costs too great for any good investment. with constructions such as this, investors see a modern airport near the city as a reliable and cost-effecient way of transporting materials and goods to the city. so as for passengers, they will still most likely have to go to belgrade. but i agree with what you said above...there needs to be better road structure that allows people to access belgrade airport much better and quicker. but i'm sure that they are having this in mind, just it's not the priority right now.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jat should create a city/regional airline that would fly to Kraljevo and Nis at least twice daily. Bucharest,Sofiya,Thesaloniki,Budapest,Zagreb,Sarajevo,Podgorica etc,etc should also be flown by small regionaljets up to 70 pax by Jat.People living around these two airports counts up to 2 milion people together so i dont think it would be difficult to fill 2 flight per day with 50-70 pax.Just look at Hel-Tll route 100km distance and Finnair is flying up to 10 flights daily with an atr 42 plane and its almost full everytime.
ReplyDeletePeople from this region would not fly anywhere which is less than 8-10 hours drive. I'd say the following destinations for regular flights: Istanbul (so called Bosniaks from Sandzak + connecting pax to Middle East, Africa, Asia). Munich (diaspora + connecting pax to the rest of Europe/North and South America ), Zurich/Basel (diaspora), Vienna (diaspora), Milan (all the truck drivers and tiefs :-) ). And many charter flights in the summer (Greece, Turkey, Tunisia,etc)
ReplyDeleteAnonymus: so called Bosniaks? Fuck you.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how YM is doing on TGD-INI route??? Thanks
ReplyDeleteI also agree this is a good move. I am sure it will attract revenue with cargo flights.
ReplyDelete