Cargo centre for Morava Airport

Cargo centre to accompany new terminal

The United States has agreed to partially finance the construction of a cargo centre at Serbia’s newest airport in Kraljevo. The agreement between the United States and nearby towns, which are all set to benefit from the new project, should be signed in December. Morava Airport lies between three larger cities - Kraljevo, Kragujevac and Čačak, all of which are industrial towns and would profit from a nearby cargo centre. Furthermore, it is believed that a cargo centre will make the entire airport project more viable.

Although a promotional flight between Belgrade and Kraljevo was carried out in October, construction work is ongoing on the airport’s passenger terminal which stretches over 5.000 square metres. The new control tower has been completed while the runway lengthening is scheduled to begin in January in order to accommodate larger jets. A total of 34 million Euros has been invested into the project. Since all of the construction work is meeting its projected deadlines, the airport is set to open in time for the 2012 summer season, at the end of March. A total of 150 people will be employed while all necessary equipment will be provided by Belgrade Airport.

The local authorities have said that the new airport will be able to attract airlines from both Turkey and Germany next summer. Kraljevo is located in central Serbia, 125 kilometres from Belgrade and Priština, 185 kilometres from Sarajevo and 200 kilometres from Skopje. According to the Serbian government the airport has a catchment of 2 million people and with the new cargo centre in the works is also likely to attract cargo traffic.