Podgorica Airport ( cnr, Аеродром Подгорица, Aerodrom Podgorica, ) is an international airport serving the Montenegrin capital of

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...

and the surrounding region. It is one of two international airports in Montenegro, the other being

Tivat Airport Tivat Airport ( cnr, Аеродром Тиват, Aerodrom Tivat) is an international airport serving the Montenegrin coastal town of Tivat and the surrounding region. The airport is situated south of the centre of Tivat, with the runway alig ...

. Both are operated by the state-owned company Airports of Montenegro (Аеродроми Црне Горе / ''Aerodromi Crne Gore''). The airport is situated south of central Podgorica, in the

Zeta Plain The Zeta Plain ( cnr, Зетска равница, Zetska ravnica, ) is a fertile lowland in Montenegro. It stretches from Podgorica in the north to the Skadar Lake in the south. It is the biggest plains area in Montenegro, with an average elevati ...

, one of the few flat areas of Montenegro suitable for a large airport. The airport is locally known as Golubovci Airport ( cnr, Аеродром Голубовци, Aerodrom Golubovci) as it is located within the administrative boundaries of the town of

Golubovci Golubovci ( cnr, Голубовци, ) is a small town in the Podgorica Municipality of Montenegro. It has 3,110 residents according to 2011 census, while the ''Golubovci City Municipality'' accounts for some 16,093 residents. Transport Sometim ...

. The IATA code of the airport is still TGD because Podgorica was named Titograd (after Josip Broz Tito) from 1946 to 1992, during the time in which the airport opened. It is the main hub for Di Air and was the main hub for

Montenegro Airlines Montenegro Airlines a.d. ( cg, Montenegro erlajns) was the flag carrier of Montenegro, headquartered in Podgorica. It operated scheduled and charter services throughout Europe from its hub at Podgorica Airport with a second base maintained at Ti ...

History

The history of civil aviation in Podgorica began on 26 May 1928, when an

Aeroput Aeroput () was an airline and flag carrier of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia from 1927 until 1948. Society for Air traffic List of legal entity types by country#Serbia, AD Aeroput was the first Serbian company for civil air traffic, which was ...

Potez 29/2 landed on a grass runway at a small airfield located near the city's current train station. The plane was on an experimental Belgrade-

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

Mostar , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Mostar (collage image).jpg , image_caption = From top, left to right: A panoramic view of the heritage town site and the Neretva river from Lučki Bridge, Koski Mehmed Pasha ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

- Belgrade line, organized to determine the viability of linking Belgrade with southern

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

by air. On 5 May 1930, scheduled passenger service began on a Belgrade-Sarajevo-Podgorica line. Aeroput used

Farman F.300 The Farman F.300 and F.310 were airliners built in France in the early 1930s. They were high-wing strut braced monoplanes with fixed tailskid undercarriage with a trimotor layout popular with several manufacturers of the time. The cockpit and ...

aircraft on this line.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

brought an end to passenger traffic at the airfield. In 1943 and 1944, the airfield was used by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

in then

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-occupied Montenegro. It was a frequent target in the now infamous bombing of Podgorica, which resulted in significant German losses. After the war, passenger service resumed on 8 April 1947, with newly formed

JAT The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

flights to Belgrade on a

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

converted for passenger use. A cargo line to Belgrade was later established in 1957. The airport was moved to its present location south of the city in 1961. It featured a asphalt runway and was modernized and refurbished in 1977. The majority of traffic in this period consisted of scheduled flights to Belgrade, mostly with

McDonnell Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. Afte ...

aircraft. Špiro Mugoša Airport now occupies the former site. On 23 April 2003, the ownership of the airport was transferred from JAT Airways to Airports of Montenegro, a public company owned by the

Government of Montenegro The Government of Montenegro ( cnr, Vlada Crne Gore, Влада Црне Горе) is the executive branch of state authority in Montenegro. It is headed by the prime minister. It consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers as we ...

. Along with the formation and growth of

, this contributed to an increase in services from the airport. The decades-long practice of the airport being largely a feeder airport for Belgrade was dropped in favor of a more diverse network of scheduled passenger flights. A major renovation and expansion took place in 2006, with refurbishment and extension of the apron and improvements to the taxiways system, airfield lighting system, and power supply. An entirely new passenger terminal was opened on 14 May 2006, while the old passenger terminal underwent reconstruction and refurbishment in 2009. The improved taxiway system allowed for

wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabi ...

to be serviced at the airport. Thus, the airport began servicing

Il-86 The Ilyushin Il-86 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-86; NATO reporting name: Camber) is a short- to medium- range wide-body jet airliner that served as the USSR's first wide-bodied aircraft. Designed and tested by the Ilyushin design bureau in ...

s and the first Boeing 747 freighter arrived at the airport in April 2008. In December 2020,

went into liquidation, leaving the airport without a home carrier. Air Montenegro started operations on 8 February 2021.ch-aviation.com - Montenegro Airlines suspends operations from December 26
25 December 2020

Facilities

Terminals

As air traffic in Montenegro saw a rapid increase in the 2000s, the old passenger terminal, a small cobblestone building, was retired after the new terminal was built, except for servicing small-volume charter flights. The new passenger terminal, comprising , opened on 14 May 2006. It has eight departure and two arrival gates, and is able to handle up to 1 million passengers annually. The terminal does not feature

jetways A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

, as the number of passengers at the airport is not high enough to necessitate them. The main (new) terminal building is a modern aluminium and glass structure, featuring contemporary architectural solutions such as indirect lighting throughout the building. Since its opening, it has featured a

Costa Coffee Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. I ...

outlet, two newspaper stalls, a

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

, rent-a-car posts, and a bank outlet. Although the airport is considered low-risk, security screening has been visibly increased since the construction of the new terminal. Security measures and monitoring that are standard for European airports are applied in the terminal. The old terminal building was completely renovated and reopened on 15 September 2009 and is now intended for

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

use and

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

Runway

Standard runway 36 approach includes a spectacular 200° low-level steep turn over

Lake Skadar Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern ...

to align with the runway, only above the water surface. The airport has ICAO classification 4E ILS Cat I, though ILS landing is only possible on runway 36; the northern approach to runway 18 is visual only, possible under perfect VMC. This is due to the proximity of the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herz ...

in the north.

Military use

Podgorica Airport is a public international airport, but shares the main runway with Podgorica's military airbase. Military facilities include an airbase area adjacent to the main runway, as well as the ''Šipčanik'' complex. The ''Šipčanik'' complex consisted of an underground aircraft shelter tunneled into the eponymous hill, and an adjacent narrow 08/26 runway, which could be used to scramble jets stored in the shelter. This runway is connected to the main airport complex via a taxiway cut through surrounding vineyards. On 9 December 1999, the airport was briefly seized by the Army of Yugoslavia in a standoff between the central government and the Montenegrin authorities after Montenegro tried to control the airport independently from Belgrade.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines serve scheduled and seasonal services to and from Podgorica Airport:

Statistics

Passengers

Busiest routes

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Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport ( sr, / ) or Belgrade Airport ( sr, / ) is an international airport serving Belgrade, Serbia. It is the largest and the busiest airport in Serbia, situated west of downtown Belgrade near the suburb of Sur ...

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Atatürk Airport Atatürk Airport (former IATA code: IST) ( tr, Atatürk Havalimanı) is a general aviation airport in Istanbul. It used to be an intercontinental passenger and cargo hub and closed to commercial passenger flights on 6 April 2019 when all fli ...

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Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport ( sl, Letališče Jožeta Pučnika Ljubljana) , also known by its previous name ''Brnik Airport'' ( sl, Letališče Brnik), is the international airport serving Ljubljana and the largest airport in Slovenia. It is ...

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ec.europa.eu

Ground transportation

{{Unreferenced section, date=March 2018 Podgorica Airport is accessible by the Podgorica - Bar, Montenegro, Bar road (European route E65, E65/European route E80, E80), via a short detour. A stretch of this road, from Podgorica to the airport, has been upgraded to Limited-access road, expressway standard. A drive from the city center to the airport usually takes less than 15 minutes. Public transportation to and from airport is covered by L-20 bus line to city center, charter bus lines to other Montenegrin cities, and taxi service. The ''Airport'' train station on the Belgrade–Bar railway is located {{convert, 1.2, km, , sp=us away from the passenger terminal but is seldom used as a link to the city due to the inconvenient location and inconsistent train schedule. By using the Sozina tunnel, the airport is some {{Convert, 40, km, , sp=us away from Bar, Montenegro's main port,Structurae: Sozina Tunnel
/ref> and so the airport increasingly caters to the needs of cities along the southern Montenegrin coast.

Accidents and incidents

*On 11 September 1973, Podgorica Airport was the destination of JAT Airways Flight 769, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 6-N, which flew into the Babin Zub peak on Maganik mountain north of Podgorica. All 41 on board perished.{{Citation needed, date=March 2018 *On 25 January 2005, the nosegear of a

Fokker 100 (YU-AOM) collapsed after a runway excursion during a night landing in snowy conditions. The airplane skidded for about {{Convert, 700, m, , sp=us before coming to rest, {{Convert, 1180, m, , sp=us after touchdown. Two passengers, the pilot and copilot received minor injuries.{{citation needed, date=March 2017 The airline was sued by passengers, as it was the only airline to operate flights to Podgorica that evening (other airlines canceled flights due to insufficient ice clearance technology at the airport).{{Citation needed, date=March 2017 *On 7 January 2008, at about 9:30pm, a

Fokker 100 (4O-AOK) was shot at while landing at Podgorica International Airport, Podgorica Airport. A routine inspection of the aircraft led to the discovery of a bullet hole in the aircraft's tail. The aircraft was carrying 20 passengers, none of which were injured. The reason for the incident is unknown; however, reports indicate that it may have been an inadvertent result of guns being fired during celebrations for Orthodox Christmas.{{Citation needed, date=March 2017

References

{{reflist

External links

{{commons category-inline, Podgorica Airport * {{Official website, http://www.montenegroairports.com *{{GCM, LYPG, source=DAFIF *{{NWS-current, LYPG *{{ASN, TGD
Ground Transportation at AirportJump.com
{{Portal bar, Aviation {{Airports in Montenegro {{Podgorica {{authority control Airports in Montenegro Airports established in 1961 Transport in Podgorica 1961 establishments in Yugoslavia