05.10.2011.

First civilian flight at the airport ‘’Morava’’

First civilian airplane landed today at the airport ‘’Morava’’ near Kraljevo which has been solely used as a military airport up to now and is planned to become a joint military-civilian airport following the realization of planned investment works.
Among the passengers of the 30-minute flight, there were the President of the Rupublic of Serbia Boris Tadic, Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac, Minister of the Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric and Turkish Ambassador in Belgrade Ali Riza Colak.

Landing of the airplane at the airport “Morava’’ was attended by the Minister for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self Governement Milan Markovic, the SAF CHOD General Miloje Miletic, President of the Executive Board of Serbia & Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency Nikola Stankov, General Manager of the airport ‘’Nikola Tesla” Velimir Radosavljevic and Acting Director General of Jat Airways Vladimir Ognjenovic.
After the visit of the newly-built control tower , the delegation paid a visit to the airport building which is in the final stage of construction.

Speaking about the importance of the airport “Morava’’, President Tadic pointed out that the landing of state delegation confirmed the airport’s capability for the reception of smaller ATP aircrafts and added that the airport will be completely reconstructed for civilian transport next year.

-The whole region, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Krusevac, including even Uzice and Novi Pazar got a new airport which will be at the service of the citizens in the future and enable new investments – President Tadic stressed, adding that the construction of airport ‘’Morava’’ is of crucial importance for the economy.

President expressed the hope that one additional airport for civilian transport, located in Vojvodina, would be reconstructed for operation, thus contributing to better living conditions of our citizens.

-It is necessary to raise the chances for investment. Only in this manner can we expect an increase of the number of working places in these unfavourable conditions of the international economy – President Tadic pointed out.

Assistant Minister of Defense for Material Resources Ilija Pilipovic notified the delegation members on the progress of works, stating that thermo-energetic block and power transformer station have been finished until now, including additional works such as deforestation and fence repairment which have been carried out by the SAF engineer units.

According to the Assistant Minister Of Defense, the airport building with the 5,600 m² surface is due to be finished by the end of November, depending on the weather conditions until the end of the year. He emphasized that expansion and extention of the existing runway have been planned provided Serbia gets a donation from Turkey. As pointed out by Pilipovic, following these works the airport will be able to receive airplanes with 300 passengers capacity.

During August, 2010, Serbian Government reached the conclusion on the adoption of investment programme for the conversion of Ladjevci airport, which is now called airport ‘’Morava’’, from the military into a joint one.

Minister Sutanovac has earlier announced that the civilian airport “Morava’’ will be ready for regular operation starting from the spring, next year, adding that according to the plan, the airport would be used for landing of smaller airplanes, with capacity up to 60 passengers.

Total value of the investment is 32 million euros, while the investment partner is Turkey which donates 10 million euros. The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia has invested 12 million euros into the reconstruction of the airport, Serbia & Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency 3,5 million, whereas other ministries and Airport Belgrade 2 million euros each.

Answering journalists’s questions, President Tadic spoke about the future investments into the infrastructure throughout Serbia, stating that law regulations create an ever improving environment for economic investments.

He also spoke about the scopes of the 5th October changes, noting that Serbia has drastically moved forward since then. President Tadic stressed that, at the time, in 2000, democracy and democratic institutions were established adding that this democracy is no longer called into question anywhere in the world and reminding that the organization ‘’Freedom House’’ has qualified Serbia as a free country in its report.

In the previous period, President Tadic pointed out, our country has, among other things, finished its cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and achieved significant improvements in the field of infrastructure by completion of big infrastructural projects.