First 'low-cost' flights from Nis in November

(Photo: nis-airport.com)

First low cost air company's plane could set off from Nis airport, 'Konstantin Veliki' as early as in November, according to the Mayor, Zoran Perisic.

After negotiations which were started a few months ago, and first negative responses to the possibility of having Nis as low-cost company's base, a twist to the situation was brought in after the talks between the low-cost air companies and Minister of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic.

The Minister had visited Nis based airport and got convinced of all the facts being the center of negotiations, after which they reached agreement that Belgrade airport shouldn't be the center of low-cost companies but it should be 'Konstantin Veliki'.

- Nis airport is in the center of a triangle Sofia - Skopje - Belgrade and we want it to have a good relation to Kosovo and western Serbia. Being a center of South-Eastern Serbia, at first, it should become a center for low-cost companies' flights, and in the future as a cargo companies center. This could be implemented during the next year, said the Mayor to Tanjug news agency.

During the visit to Nis airport, Minister Mihajlovic announced that in 2015 the airport might get around 40.000 passengers, which could be increased by 2016 to a 100.000 at annual level.

Nis Mayor announced the first flight would be in three-months time already, but he didn't give out names of the companies it was negotiated with.

-Good business rules oblige us to keep that name in secret until the final agreement is reached. Our possible partners are asking for discretion, as any other investors who ever came to the city, said Perisic.

But, nevertheless, he stated that this information would come out very soon.

The Mayor also confirmed that Nis airport demands investment of around 1,5 million EUR for technical equipping, and that amount might get to the total of 3-5 million EUR during the year.

-It hasn't been defined yet what is necessary to be done by September, but so far we know that we need one vehicle and that we need to adjust landing protocols, while our systems for improving visibility will be installed during the next year, said Perisic.