Tivat Airport

Tivat Airport Aerodrom Tivat Аеродром Тиват
IATA: TIV ICAO: LYTV
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airports of Montenegro
Serves	Tivat
Location	Mrčevac, Montenegro
Elevation AMSL	20 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	42°24′17″N 18°43′24″E / 42.40472°N 18.72333°E / 42.40472; 18.72333
Website	montenegroairports.com
Map
TIV Location of airport in Montenegro
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 8,202 2,500 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Number of passengers 652,652 2.78%
Source: Airports of Montenegro

The airport is situated 3 km (1.9 mi) south of the centre of Tivat, with the runway aligned with the Tivat Field (Montenegrin: Тиватско поље, romanized: Tivatsko polje).

It is the busier of two international airports in Montenegro^{[citation needed]}, the other being Podgorica Airport. Traffic at the airport follows the highly seasonal nature of the tourism industry in coastal Montenegro, with 80% of the total volume of passengers being handled during the peak season (May–September).

Tivat airport is located right next to the city of Tivat, 8 km (5 mi) from the center of Kotor, and 20 km (12 mi) north-west of Budva, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the eastern Adriatic coast. The sole runway of the airport ends just 88 m (289 ft) from the coastline of the Bay of Kotor.

Tivat Airport is assigned 4D classification by ICAO, airspace class D, and is noted for its challenging approach and landing procedures. Landing at Tivat is considered demanding due to the hilly terrain surrounding the valley in which the airport is situated, and strong prevailing crosswinds. Runway 32 approach requires a descent into the valley of Tivatsko polje, and a 20° turn for runway alignment just before landing. Runway 14 approach is even more challenging, because of the circle-to-land maneuver executed in the dramatic scenery surrounding the Bay of Kotor. It is known among pilots as the European Kai Tak because of its tricky approach and landing procedures, and also can be compared to Madeira Airport.^{[citation needed]} Passengers landing at Tivat have views of the bay, the surrounding mountains and a low flyby over Porto Montenegro luxury yacht marina.^{[citation needed]} The airport is commonly visited by plane spotters, as the end of the runway is easily accessible and offers unobstructed views of takeoffs and landings, with a mountain backdrop.

Year-round services from the airport include Belgrade and Moscow; however, more than 80% of the traffic is concentrated in the summer period,^{[citation needed]} with the introduction of seasonal and charter flights. With the opening of Porto Montenegro and the introduction of other high-end tourist services, the airport increasingly caters to business jets.

 

Adriatic Highway (E65/E80) passes right by the passenger terminal, making the airport easily accessible from the entire northern part of the Montenegrin coast.

The airport in Tivat was opened on 30 May 1957, as a small airport with a single grass runway (1200 m × 80 m) a small apron (30 m × 30 m) and a terminal building complete with control tower. From 1957 to 1968, activity at the airport consisted mostly of domestic passenger traffic to Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje, with JAT Douglas DC-3 and Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft.

From 1968 to 1971, the airport underwent expansion and modernization. It was reopened on 25 September 1971 with an asphalt runway (2500 m × 45 m), larger apron (450 m × 70 m), extended taxiways, and a completely new passenger terminal and control tower. After the 1979 earthquake, the airport was once again refurbished. Notably, the apron was expanded (460 m × 91.5 m) and taxiways widened, so the airport could handle wide-body aircraft.

On 23 April 2003, the ownership of the airport was transferred from Jat Airways to "Airports of Montenegro" public company, owned by the government of Montenegro. Since then, the airport was once again modernized and refurbished, with a reconstructed passenger terminal opening on 3 June 2006. In October 2007, South Korea made a government donation valued at $1 million for a new airport equipment ranging from cargo loaders to a flight information display system. Further reforms came in 2008 when several old types of passenger aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-86 were permanently banned from flying to Tivat and subsequently redirected to Podgorica Airport due to noise abatement.

However, as passenger traffic in the mid-2010s approached the one-million mark, and strong growth continues, the passenger terminal was a bottleneck in peak summer months. Thus, a new passenger terminal was planned at Tivat Airport, along with a further expansion of airport facilities.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2018, PM Duško Marković opened the newly built Terminal 2 at Tivat Airport – the first investment since 2006, when the existing airport building was built. Marković used this opportunity to point out that he sees the cooperation between the Government and the Management of Airports as an example to be followed by others in Montenegro.^{[citation needed]}

Below is a list of scheduled services throughout all seasons from Tivat Airport according to the Montenegrin Airports Authority:

Traffic figures at Tivat Airport

Year	Passengers	Change	Aircraft movements	Change
2005	377,013		2,522
2006	451,289	20%	3,261	29%
2007	573,914	27%	4,079	25%
2008	570,636	1%	4,630	14%
2009	532,080	7%	4,226	9%
2010	541,870	2%	4,017	4%
2011	647,184	19%	4,531	12%
2012	725,412	12%	4,605	2%
2013	868,343	20%	5,198	14%
2014	910,264	5%	5,281	1%
2015	895,050	2%	5,422	2%
2016	979,432	10%	5,985	10%
2017	1,129,720	15%	6,324	7%
2018	1,245,999	10%	6,816	8%
2019	1,367,282	9,7%	7,049	3,4%
2020	189,815	86,2%	1,286	81,7%
2021	671,333	253.67%
2022	652,711	2.78%
2023	848,188	29.95%

Busiest routes

Busiest routes from Tivat Airport (2019)

Rank	Airport	Passengers 2019
1	Russia, Moscow–Domodedovo	334.880
2	Serbia, Belgrade	236.378
3	Russia, Moscow–Vnukovo	182.016
4	Russia, Moscow–Sheremetyevo	114.665
5	Russia, St Petersburg-Pulkovo	62.147
6	Ukraine, Kyiv-Boryspil	39.415
7	Israel, Tel Aviv	36.147
8	United Kingdom, London-Gatwick	35.883
9	Belarus, Minsk Airport	34.697
Source: ec.europa.eu

• Aeronautical Information Publication