Bosnia’s Trebinje Airport targets 2022 opening

Trebinje Airport, in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, is expected to open for commercial traffic in March 2022 after the Serbian government announced earlier this week it would fund its construction. Labelling the project of “utmost importance”, the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, said, “The Republic of Serbia wants to become the owner and operator of Trebinje Airport. Without doubt, the first aircraft to take off from Trebinje Airport will be in March 2022, although we will do our best to make it happen before the end of 2021. We are drafting interesting plans for Trebinje Airport and we are certain we will have the support from [the entity of] Republika Srpska”. He added, “This is not a small investment on our part, but I believe the project will be profitable and of long-term strategic importance for Serbia, Herzegovina, part of Montenegro and the Sarajevo - Romanija region”.

The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, said that out of three possible locations studied for the new airport, one has been recognised as having the greatest potential and should be formally selected within the next two to three weeks. According to Ms Mihajlović, construction would begin next year. “Studies show this project could be very profitable and we estimate the airport could handle some 50.000 passengers in its first year of operation. The most important thing is that a decision has been made and the airport will be built. Now we want to make sure that it is geographically and economically a sound investment”, the Minister noted.

Trebinje

Due to its natural beauty, it is believed Trebinje could attract a considerable number of tourists. However, the town is just over thirty kilometres northeast of Dubrovnik and ninety kilometres northwest of Tivat, making the viability of a future airport in the area questionable. Bosnia and Herzegovina currently boasts four commercial airports, which handled 1.918.896 passengers in 2019. A new commercial airport is also planned for Bihać, in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, where a portion of the future runway has been built. Plans to develop a commercial airport in Trebinje date back to the former Yugoslavia and were renewed in 2009 when local authorities spent 820.000 euros for project documentation for a 2.6 kilometre runway and a terminal capable of handling 260.000 passengers per year, only to give up on the idea two years later after naming the airport's General Manager and contracting an Austrian consultant to identify potential routes.

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