Ponikve Airport (Serbian: Аеродром Поникве, romanized: Aerodrom Ponikve) (IATA: UZC, ICAO: LYUZ) is an airport in the western part of Serbia, located on the Ponikve plateau: 12 km (7.5 mi) northwest from the city of Užice. The airport boasts one of the longest runways in the Balkans, and the second longest in Serbia.
Ponikve Airport Аеродром Поникве Aerodrom Ponikve | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Serbia | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Airports of Serbia | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Užice, Čajetina, Zlatibor | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Užice, Serbia | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 2,943−2,999 ft / 897−914 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 43°53′55.99″N 19°41′51.66″E / 43.8988861°N 19.6976833°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | aerodromponikve | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  UZC Location of the airport in Serbia | |||||||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Native name | Аеродроми Србије |
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Romanized name | Aerodromi Srbije |
| Company type | Limited liability company |
| Industry | Aviation |
| Founded | 2 February 2016 |
| Founder | Government of Serbia |
| Headquarters | Vazduhoplovaca 24, Niš , Serbia |
Key people | Mihajlo Zdravković (Director) |
| Services | Airport management |
| Revenue | €4.21 million (2020)[1]  |
| €1.16 million (2020)[1] | |
| Total assets | €96.30 million (2020)[2] |
| Total equity | €91.62 million (2020)[2] |
| Owner | Government of Serbia (100%) |
Number of employees | 200 (2020) |
| Subsidiaries | Aerodrom Trebinje d.o.o. (Bosnia and Herzegovina) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references Business ID: 07343914 Tax ID: 101531405 [3] | |
In the vicinity of the airport are some of the popular tourist attractions and ski resorts such as: Zlatibor, Tara and Mokra Gora.
History
editPonikve Airport was built in the period from 1979 to 1983, but until 1992, it wasn't used. In 1996 and 1997, Jat Airways, then known as JAT Yugoslav Airlines, served the airport twice a week for a domestic round line Užice–Belgrade–Tivat–Užice, with an ATR 72 turboprop aircraft. Operations ceased in 1998 as the number of passengers reduced greatly.
Ponikve airport had been heavily bombarded by NATO forces during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. This led to complete destruction of the runway and facilities for any civilian or military use.
On 21 October 2013, the Ponikve Airport greeted its first international civil flight, with a Cessna Citation CJ3 that contained two crew members and five-member delegation of businessmen from Brussels landing at the airport.[4][5][6] In the afternoon of the same day, a business jet departed from the airport to Thessaloniki.
Recent developments
editSince 2006, the process of reconstruction of the Ponikve Airport has begun. The runway reconstruction has been completed and as of 2016, it has 3,200 metres (10,499 ft) in length (around 2,300 metres (7,546 ft) reconstructed). Also, the new terminal building was built in 2016.[7][8]
The airport, which boasts a new terminal building, was taken over by the state in 2018. In 2019, a 3,735 metre perimeter fence was erected, however, a further 5,195 metres are required. In addition, the final 800 metres of the 3,200 metres long runway must be resurfaced, and a lighting system installed. Some five million euros are necessary in order for the airport to be put into commercial use.[9]
Airports of Serbia submitted a request to the Ministry of Transportation to decide on the need to prepare a study on environmental impact assessment of the project of phased reconstruction of Ponikve airport. As stated in the preliminary design, the reconstruction will be done in 5 phases, for critical aircraft Airbus A320neo and Boeing 757. The first and second phases include the rehabilitation of the runway, drainage system, cable ducts of the light marking system and horizontal and vertical signaling of part of the runway, for the critical Airbus A320 neo aircraft. The third phase includes the expansion of the turntable on the threshold of the 28 runway in order to create opportunities for turning the critical Boeing 757 aircraft. The subject of the project of phase 4 is the construction of a new taxiway 23 m wide and the construction of a platform, and in the fifth phase the reconstruction of the protective belt at the end of the runway will be done for the critical Boeing 757 aircraft.[10]
Airlines and destinations
editAs of 10 January 2023, there are no regular commercial passenger flights to/from Ponikve Airport.
Statistics
editThe passenger numbers are from general aviation operations, both domestically and international.
| Year | Passengers | Change | Aircraft movements | Change | Cargo (t) | Change |
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| 2016 | 92[11] | 
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N/A |
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| 2017 | 37[11] |  59.8%
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148[12] |
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N/A |
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| 2018 | 20[13] | 45.1%
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349[12] | 135.9%
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N/A |
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| 2019 | 34[14] | 70.0%
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394[12] | 12.9%
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N/A |
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| 2022 | 49[15] |
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196[15] |
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N/A |
|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Bilans uspeha (2020)". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Bilans stanja (2020)". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "Основни подаци о привредном друштву". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Serbian Business Registers Agency. Retrieved 24 February 2018. [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Prvim međunarodnim letom na Ponikvama stigli privrednici iz Brisela". Blic.rs. 27 November 2015.
- ^ "Vesti". РТС.
- ^ "I međunarodni letovi na Ponikvama". NOVOSTI.
- ^ Pejović, B. (3 May 2016). "Nova aerodromska zgrada od kaponira na Ponikvama". politika.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "Direktor Aerodroma Ponikve: Nastavljamo sa ograđivanjem prostora oko piste; U planu i uspostavljanje redovnog avio-saobraćaja". politika.rs (in Serbian). 19 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- ^ "Nedostaje pet miliona evra: Otvaranje aerodroma Ponikve tokom 2020?". b92.net (in Serbian). 14 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- ^ "About the airport | Aerodrom Ponikve".
- ^ a b "извештај о пословању јп „аеродром поникве" за 2017" [Report on the operations of jp "Aerodrom Ponikve" for the year 2017] (PDF) (in Serbian).
- ^ a b c "програм пословања за 2020" [business program for 2020] (PDF) (in Serbian).
- ^ "извештај о пословању јп „аеродром поникве" ужице за 2018" [Report on the operations of jp "Ponikve Airport" in Uzice for 2018] (PDF) (in Serbian).
- ^ "ОДЛУКУ - Усваја се Извештај о пословању Јавног предузећа „Аеродром Поникве" Ужице за 2019. годину, бр. 03-55/1-2020 од 03.08.2020" [DECISION - The Report on the operations of the Public Enterprise "Aerodrom Ponikve" in Užice for the year 2019, No. 03-55/1-2020 of 08/03/2020 is approved] (PDF) (in Serbian).
- ^ a b "програм пословања „аеродроми србије" д.о.о. ниш за 2023" [Business program of "Airports of Serbia" d.o.o. Niš for 2023] (PDF) (in Serbian).
External links
edit
Media related to Ponikve Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- AERODROM PONIKVE - PROŠLOST I SADAŠNJOST (in Serbian)
