Tivat Airport

Tivat Airport (Cyrillic: Аеродром Тиват) (IATA: TIV, ICAO: LYTV) is an international airport serving the Montenegrin coastal town of Tivat and the surrounding region.

Tivat Airport Aerodrom Tivat Аеродром Тиват Aeroporti i Tivatit
IATA: TIV ICAO: LYTV
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airports of Montenegro
Serves	Tivat
Location	Mrčevac, Montenegro
Hub for	Air Montenegro
Elevation AMSL	20 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	42°24′17″N 18°43′24″E
Website	montenegroairports.com
Map
TIV Location of airport in Montenegro
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 8,202 2,500 Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Number of passengers 1,124,203 32%
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 (Тиватско поље / Tivatsko polje).

It is one of two international airports in Montenegro, 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).

History

Tivat Airport was opened on 30 May 1957, featuring a 1,200 meters (3,900 ft) long grass runway, small apron, passenger terminal building and control tower. Initially, the airport served mainly domestic passenger traffic, with flights to Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje being operated by JAT, using Douglas DC-3 and Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft.^[1]

From 1968 to 1971, the airport underwent major expansion and modernization. It was reopened on 25 September 1971, sporting a 2,500 m × 45 m (8,202 ft × 148 ft) asphalt runway, extended apron and new passenger terminal. Another expansion of airport facilities ensued after it was damaged by the 1979 earthquake.^[2]

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 airport underwent passenger terminal reconstruction in 2006.

As noise pollution increasingly became an issue in the mid-2000s, older airliners were permanently banned from using the airport, with loud widebodies such as Ilyushin Il-86 being redirected to Podgorica Airport.^[3]

Expansion of the passenger terminal building was completed in December 2018. However, airport facilities struggle to service growing passenger volume during the peak summer season, which results in frequent overcrowding.

Overview

Tivat Airport is located in the Mrčevac settlement, on the southern outskirts of Tivat urban area, 7 km (4 mi) from the Kotor city center, and 20 km (12 mi) north-west of Budva. The passenger terminal is served by Adriatic Highway (E65/E80).

The airport is situated within Tivatsko polje (Tivat field), a valley surrounded by mountainous terrain, stretching in southeasterly direction from the city of Tivat. The airport's runway is aligned with the valley's orientation, with runway 14's threshold being just 100 m (328 ft) from the Bay of Kotor coastline.

Runway 32 approach requires a descent into Tivatsko polje, and a 20° turn for runway alignment just before landing. Due to this demanding approach procedure, Tivat Airport is known among pilots as the "Kai Tak of Europe". As of 2024, the runway 14 approach is no longer included in charts, as it included an even more challenging circle-to-land maneuver.

The airport is frequented by plane spotters, due to its easy access and unobstructed views of the runway, as well as the dramatic mountain backdrop.

Tivat Airport has a highly seasonal traffic pattern, with more than 80% of passenger traffic concentrated in the May-September period.

Tivat Airport terminal - check-in area

Airlines and destinations

Below is a list of scheduled services throughout all seasons from Tivat Airport according to the Montenegrin Airports Authority:^[4]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Montenegro	Belgrade, Istanbul[5] Seasonal: Baku,[6] Brno,[7] İzmir,[8] Ljubljana,[9] Prague[10]
Air Serbia	Belgrade[11] Seasonal: Kraljevo,[12] Niš[13]
AirBaltic	Seasonal: Riga[14]
Arkia	Seasonal: Tel Aviv[15]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna[16]
Avion Express	Seasonal charter: Vilnius[17]
Azerbaijan Airlines	Seasonal: Baku[18]
EasyJet	Seasonal: Berlin,[19] Bristol,[20] Geneva,[19] London–Gatwick,[21] London–Luton,[22] Manchester[19]
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zurich[23]
Enter Air	Seasonal charter: Katowice (begins 5 June 2025)[24]
Eurowings	Seasonal: Berlin,[25] Düsseldorf,[26] Stuttgart[27]
Flydubai	Seasonal: Dubai–International[citation needed]
FlyOne	Seasonal: Chișinău (begins 8 June 2025)[28]
FlyOne Armenia	Seasonal: Yerevan (begins 2 May 2025)[29]
Heston Airlines	Seasonal charter: Riga (begins 18 May 2025), Tallinn, Vilnius
Israir	Seasonal: Tel Aviv[30]
Jazeera Airways	Seasonal: Kuwait City[31]
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Birmingham,[32] London–Stansted,[33] Manchester[34]
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Frankfurt,[35][36] Munich[36]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg[37]
Norwegian Air Shuttle[38]	Seasonal: Copenhagen,[39] Helsinki, Oslo,[40] Riga[39]
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen,[41] Oslo,[42] Stockholm–Arlanda
SkyUp[43]	Seasonal charter: Chișinău (begins 8 June 2025),[44] Rzeszów [citation needed]
Smartwings	Seasonal charter: Salzburg, Warsaw–Chopin (begins 29 May 2025)[45]
Sundor	Seasonal: Tel Aviv[46][47]
Transavia	Seasonal: Paris–Orly[48]
TUI fly Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels[49]
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul[50]
Uzbekistan Airways	Seasonal charter: Tashkent[citation needed]
Vueling	Seasonal: Barcelona (begins 1 July 2025)[51]

Statistics

Traffic figures at Tivat Airport

Year	Passengers	Change
2005	377,013
2006	451,289	20%
2007	573,914	27%
2008	570,636	1%
2009	532,080	7%
2010	541,870	2%
2011	647,184	19%
2012	725,412	12%
2013	868,343	20%
2014	910,264	5%
2015	895,050	2%
2016	979,432	10%
2017	1,129,720	15%
2018	1,245,999	10%
2019	1,367,282	10%
2020	189,815	86%
2021	671,333	254%
2022	652,711	3%
2023	848,188	30%
2024	1,124,203	32%

Busiest routes

Busiest routes from Tivat Airport (2023)

Rank	Airport	Passengers 2023
1	Serbia, Belgrade	306,390
2	Turkey, Istanbul Airport	99,154
3	Israel, Tel Aviv Airport	60,105
4	United Kingdom, London Gatwick Airport	34,783
5	Lithuania, Vilnius Airport	31,252
Source: ec.europa.eu

See also

• Aeronautical Information Publication