At an official ceremony held today at Belgrade airport, Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia, Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports and François Berisot, CEO of Belgrade airport, presented the advanced stage of the airport’s extension and modernization plan and celebrated its first-ever Service Quality award, in presence of Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe Director General.
The works are progressing as planned, including the upgrade and extension of the existing terminal. With a total surface area of 12.000 m² and smart flow management system, the new Pier C terminal extension will be fully completed by the end of the year. Belgrade airport already opened a revamped boarding area, showcasing Serbian gastronomy and local brands, as well as a new remote car park and bus gate that ensure greater accessibility. A waste treatment plant has also been recently delivered with the objective to recover 100 % of the airport’s solid waste by the end of 2022. These milestones are part of the program delivered by VINCI Airports in synergy with VINCI Construction Grands Projets.
In this new momentum, Belgrade airport today received its first-ever Europe “Best airport” award for quality of service, from ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec. The airport also recently received its first Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate, acknowledging the new environmental ambition deployed by VINCI Airports that aims to reach Net Zero Carbon emission on all its airports by 2050.
Building on these achievements, VINCI Airports will complete the modernization works in the next three years. The objective is to create a new airport hub in South-East Europe thanks to a 40.000m² extension of the passenger terminal, new boarding bridges and gates, the construction of an inserted runway and the complete renovation of the existing runway. These works will allow reaching a total capacity of 15 million annual passenger by the end of the concession. The modernization will also improve the airport’s environmental performance, with the construction of a 1MWp self-consumption photovoltaic park, a wastewater treatment plant and a new natural gas power plant to replace heavy fuel-oil.
Belgrade Airport is experiencing a dynamic recovery in traffic for the summer season. The number of destinations is already comparable to that of 2019 at the same period (71 destinations served this summer compared to 72 in 2019).
“If we had not given the concession, we would not have been able to solve the emerging problems on our own, and that would have been a big blow for the state”, said the Prime Minister Ana brnabić.
She added that, thanks to the partnership with the mentioned French company, all planned projects were continued.
The Prime Minister stated that one of those projects is the execution of preparatory works for the inserted runway, which will be equipped with the most modern navigation devices and all systems, as well as the main runway, which will be the first new runway at our airport after 60 years.
According to her, the value of VINCI’s investment in the Belgrade airport amount to €16 million in 2019, more than €60 million in 2020, while investments of €125 million are planned for this year.
Thanks to a reliable partnership and during the greatest crisis, when everyone in this sector was grounded, we continued to work, Brnabić pointed out.
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the new terminal will be completed before 2024, which will expand the area of the terminal from the current 55,000 to more than 100,000 square metres.
Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports, declared: “Belgrade airport’s positive momentum enjoys growing recognition from the aviation and tourism industry in Europe and from the Serbian government. As Europe prepares for the recovery of tourism, creating a smart and sustainable new airport hub in Belgrade will support Serbia’s perspectives ahead”.
Source: Vinci, Vlada Srbije