Podgorica Airport expansion announced – New passenger terminal planned

Montenegro Airports is planning to expand its capacity and build a new passenger terminal at the Golubovci Airport. This can be seen in the proposal for urban planning and technical conditions adopted by the Government at its last session. As stated in the document, the new passenger terminal building would be functionally connected to the existing one.

The proposal for urban planning and technical conditions states that the existing passenger terminal building at the Airport is designed for a capacity of approximately 600 passengers per hour. The facility is of a centralized type, with traffic flows at ground level, and the basic functional units include a check-in area, departure and arrival waiting rooms, and baggage claim areas.

– On a location that forms part of cadastral plot no. 541/16, KO Golubovci (approximate plot dimensions 23.7 × 24 m), envisage the construction of a passenger terminal building - a new facility that will be functionally connected to the existing passenger terminal building of the Airport – it is stated.

As it explains, Podgorica Airport is functionally very well positioned in space. Its microclimate (temperatures and wind directions) allows it to be open almost 365 days a year. Its connection with the inner city core, the Bar–Belgrade railway, main road routes and future highways should be simple and functional. In this sense, the following provides a concept for improving the existing road and rail connections with Podgorica, main roads and future highways.

– Adaptation and reconstruction of Podgorica Airport, for transit passenger and cargo air traffic, would be developmentally justified. Podgorica Airport must be further developed as a major international airport (class 4E), which will serve 60–70% of total air traffic and which must have the capacity to serve all types of air traffic, from scheduled, charter and business aviation to cargo transport. In this regard, a long-term development master plan has been prepared, which, in addition to the existing space, also plans the development of other facilities, applying all necessary standards and measures prescribed for all international airports – the document states.

The expansion is planned to be carried out by constructing a ground-floor facility on the northern side of the existing terminal building, with which it will be connected in terms of traffic and technology, for the sake of speed of construction and aesthetic, or artistic, harmonization with the existing building. The attached annex will be located between the terminal building, the sorting hall and the technical corridor, and its closer position and relationship to the existing structures will be precisely defined through technical documentation.

Let us remind that the Airports company recently announced that it was interested in purchasing the hangar of the bankrupt Vektra Aviation company.

As CEO Roko Tolic said in an interview with eKapija, the entire company was being sold in the tender, however, the Airports are only interested in the terminal and hangar located on the company’s land.

– We are growing strongly in traffic and we cannot build a new passenger terminal overnight, which is why these two facilities are important. We would find a way to transport passengers to that terminal, which we could quickly adapt and get two departure gates. So, that is the aviation context of our efforts – Tolic explained.

As he stated, they also received a signal from the state that they could apply for a new advertisement again.

– We hope that in some next iteration, the value of that space will be adequately assessed. If the company were to be bought by someone else, which we do not believe, we would ask the possible new owner to remove those buildings from our land where we would build a new one. However, that way we would lose time, which is now precious to us – said Tolic.

Aerodromi Crne Gore

Montenegro Airport

ACG Vektra Aviation

Podgorica Airport

construction of passenger terminal at Podgorica Airport