Limak eyes Montenegro airports

Limak expresses interest for Podgorica, Tivat and Berane

The Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding is interested in taking over both of Montenegro’s airports according to the “Novosti” newspaper. The Montenegrin Government is in talks of selling its airports to the Turks, which already have a presence in the region as part owners of Priština Airport. The company is also interested in developing Berane Airport, located in the country’s East.

However, the CEO of the government owned Montenegro Airports, which runs both Tivat and Podgorica, Milovan Djuričković, is less than thrilled with the idea, saying that there is no need to privatise the company. “There can only be three reasons for privatising a company. One is if the management is bad, which in this case it isn’t, the second is if the company is unable to finance further development, which isn’t the case and lastly if the government is strapped for cash”, Djuričković says. He goes on by explaining that airports form an integral part of a country’s infrastructure system and that it would be surprising if a country decided to sell it.

In 2010 Montenegro’s two airports had a record year, beating the 2008 record by 8%. The two airports handled a combined total of 1.193.478 passengers, an increase of 21% compared to 2009.