Tivat Airport

Overview

Tivat airport is located right next to the city of Tivat, 8 km (5 mi) from the center of Kotor, and 20 km (12 mi) north-west of Budva, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the eastern Adriatic coast. The sole runway of the airport ends just 88 m (289 ft) from the coastline of the Bay of Kotor.

Tivat Airport is assigned 4D classification by ICAO, airspace class D, and is noted for its challenging approach and landing procedures. Landing at Tivat is considered demanding due to hilly terrain surrounding the valley in which the airport is situated, and strong prevailing crosswinds. Runway 32 approach implies descent into the valley of Tivatsko polje, and a 20° turn for runway alignment just before landing. Runway 14 approach is even more challenging, because of the circle to land maneuver executed in the dramatic scenery surrounding the Bay of Kotor. It is known among pilots as the European Kai Tak because of its tricky approach and landing procedures. Passengers are awarded spectacular views of the bay, the surrounding mountains and a low flyby over Porto Montenegro luxury yacht marina. The airport is also popular among plane spotters, as end of the runway is easily accessible and offers unobstructed views of takeoffs and landings, with a scenic mountain backdrop.

Year-round services from the airport include Belgrade and Moscow, however, more than 80% of the traffic is concentrated in the summer period, with the introduction of seasonal and charter flights. With the opening of Porto Montenegro and introduction of other high end tourist services, the airport increasingly caters to business jets.

Adriatic Highway (E65/E80) passes right by the passenger terminal, making the airport easily accessible from the entire northern part of Montenegrin coast.

History

The airport in Tivat was opened on May 30, 1957, as a small airport with a single grass runway (1200 m × 80 m) a small apron (30 m × 30 m) and a terminal building complete with control tower. From 1957 to 1968, activity at the airport consisted mostly of domestic passenger traffic to Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje, with JAT Douglas DC-3 and Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft.

From 1968 to 1971, the airport underwent expansion and modernization. It was reopened on September 25, 1971 with an asphalt runway (2500 m × 45 m), larger apron (450 m × 70 m), extended taxiways, and completely new passenger terminal and control tower. After the 1979 earthquake, the airport was once again refurbished. Notably, the apron was expanded (460 m × 91.5 m) and taxiways widened, so the airport could handle wide body aircraft.

On April 23, 2003, the ownership of the airport was transferred from Jat Airways to Airports of Montenegro Public Company, owned by Government of Montenegro. Since then, the airport was once again modernized and refurbished, with reconstructed passenger terminal opening on June 3, 2006. In October 2007, South Korea made a government donation valued at $1 million for a new airport equipment ranging from cargo-loaders to flight information display system. Further reforms came in 2008 when several old types of passenger aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-86 were permanently banned from flying to Tivat and subsequently redirected to Podgorica Airport due to noise abatement.

However, as passenger traffic in the mid-2010s approaches the one-million mark, and strong growth continues, the passenger terminal is a bottleneck in peak summer months. Thus, a new passenger terminal is planned at Tivat Airport in the near future, along with further expansion of airport facilities.

Airlines and destinations

Below is a list of scheduled services throughout all seasons from Tivat Airport according to the Montenegrin Airports Authority: