USD 1 billion landing in Surcin? - Intensive talks with potential Nikola Tesla Airport concessionaires

Serbian authorities have prepared a plan for the expansion of Belgrade-based Nikola Tesla Airport. The estimated value of this project is USD 1 billion, the daily Novosti reports.

According to this newspaper, the plan is to establish a public private partnership to build the third terminal exclusively for the needs of the national airline, to reconstruct Terminal 1, to build the second runway, the largest cargo center in the region, and a new hotel.

The Serbian government is in talks with prospective concessionaires, and the project has already attracted big attention, it is said.

Among those interested are two companies from the Emirates, one of which, Arabtec, is known to the public from Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic's announcement that it would take part in the construction of cheap apartments in Serbia.

Arabtec is currently building one of the world's largest and most modern terminals at the airport in Abu Dhabi, with a capacity of 30 million passengers a year.

Other potential concessionaires are companies from France, Austria and Russia.

The expansion of the Belgrade airport is necessary because of announced direct flights to the USA, the launch of services to many new destinations and, for a start, the doubled number of passengers.

The concession period will be agreed upon between the Serbian government and the future concessionaire, but it is expected to be about 20 years. This project will also seriously employ Serbia's construction companies.