Berane Airport overhaul

Planned new look for Berane Airport

Turkey will head the reconstruction project of the rundown Berane Airport, located in North-Eastern Montenegro. The Minister without a portfolio in the Montenegrin Government, Rafet Husović, said that Turkish investors will head the reconstruction of Berane Airport which will commence before long. An official agreement regarding the airport’s overhaul will be inked soon. The investor hasn’t been named although various government ministers have recently hinted that the Turkish airport operator Limak Holding (which runs Priština Airport among others) might be entering the Montenegrin market with Turkish Airlines rumoured to be eyeing a takeover of the struggling national carrier Montenegro Airlines. The goal of the investment is for Berane Airport to be used by commercial airlines for civilian flights.

Berane is one of Montenegro’s poorest municipalities and the prospect of an airport could kick start the economy. Berane has both a paved runway and a derelict terminal building which have seen better days. The runway is closed but is often used for motor racing by the locals. In the 1960s and 1970s JAT Yugoslav Airlines operated flights from Belgrade to Berane, then known as Ivangrad. Plans to develop Berane into an international airport were devised several years ago with a visualisation of the future terminal made.

Berane Airport in the 1960s

Turkey’s influence over the aviation industry in the EX-YU region is ever growing with investments in Bosnia, Macedonia and Priština and interest in both Serbia’s Jat Airways and control over Montenegro’s airports and national airline.