Batajnica Airbase
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| Batajnica Airbase (Aerodrom Batajnica) |
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| IATA: BJY - ICAO: LYBT | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | Military of Serbia, Serbian Air Force | ||
| Serves | Batajnica | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 265 ft (81 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 12/30 | 3,232 | 985 | Grass/Paved |
| 12R/30L (Closed) | 7,999 | 2,438 | Asphalt |
| 12L/30R | 8,181 | 2,494 | Asphalt |
Batajnica Airbase (IATA: BJY, ICAO: LYBT) (Serbian Latin: Aerodrom Batajnica, Cyrillic: Аеродром Бaтajницa) is an airport in Serbia. The airport is located between the town of Batajnica and Nova Pazova, some 20 kilometres North West of Belgrade and is a military airport base for the Military of Serbia.
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[edit] History
Construction of the military airport started in 1947 and was completed in 1951, when the airport was officially opened. The purpose of the airport is to protect the city of Belgrade in case of any air attack. 1 grass and 2 asphalted runways are used.
In 1999, during the NATO bombing on Yugoslavia the airport was bombed nearly every day. It was bombed 25 times and has been badly damaged by it.
In June 2006, two U.S. F-16 jets, part of the U.S. force stationed in Europe, have visited Batajnica Airbase. It was the first time after more than 20 years that U.S. fighter planes have landed at a Serbian military airport, which is seen as a "rebirth" of military cooperation between two countries.
The airport is frequently used for aviation shows and exhibitions. It also contains 22 operational MiG-21 fighter jets from the Serbian Air Force, along with several other variants of different aircraft.
[edit] Airport Future
The airport will stay as a military one for the time being and is expected to be reconstructed soon.
In September 2006 the government will decide will it become the airport for low cost airlines flying into Belgrade. If so it will start accepting such traffic in 2007. Air Berlin, EasyJet, Jet2 and Thomsonfly have all expressed their interest to fly to the airport. Germanwings, that confirmed their service to Belgrade starting September 2006, expressed their interest to serve Batajnica Airport in the future, instead of Nikola Tesla International Airport.
The team of the "Civil Aviation Directorate" have visited Batajnica Airport and made a plan of reconstruction needed for handling civil air traffic (low cost carriers).
[edit] Service
The airport is used by the Military of Serbia. It is also used by an aviation school RV-PVO.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- (Serbian) "Stižu niskobudžetne avio-kompanije"
- (Serbian) "Od jeseni jeftin avio-prevoz"
[edit] External links
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Military Airports in Serbia |  |
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| Batajnica Airbase | Đakovica Airfield | Kovin Airport | Kraljevo-Lađevci Airport | Sjenica Airport | Sombor Airport | Užice-Ponikve Airport | |||||||||
