BELGRADE (Serbia), December 27 (SeeNews) – Flag carrier Air Serbia aims to build a strong partnership with France's Vinci Airports, the new operator of Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla international airport, the airline’s CEO Duncan Naysmith has said.
“Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is our home and an important air transport hub. In this regard, our strong, constructive and dedicated partnership can only benefit all of the involved stakeholders,” Naysmith said in a statement last week.
Vinci Airports officially assumed the management of Nikola Tesla airport on Friday under a 25-year concession agreement signed with Serbia’s government earlier this year. The French company will pay 417 million euro to the Serbian government and 84 million euro to the retail shareholders of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla for the concession plus an annual fee of between 4.4 million euro and 15.1 million euro.
"The arrival of Vinci Airports as the new airport concessionaire provides a strong impetus for the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport's further development, modernisation and advancement of business operations,” the executive director of Air Serbia, Branislav Malovic, said in the statement.
Air Serbia generates almost half of Belgrade airport’s traffic and is looking forward to working with Vinci to continue strengthening the established relations and cooperation, Malovic said. “I am certain that further interconnections and collaboration of all relevant parties would yield improved results in the realms of Serbian economy and tourism.”
The airport serviced record-high 5.268 million passengers in the eleven months through November, up 6% year-on-year, according to data from the airport operator so far, Aerodrom Nikola Tesla [BEL:AERO].
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