Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport

First airfields

The first airfield in Belgrade was inaugurated in 1910 in the neighbourhood of Banjica and was initially used by aviation pioneers such as Simon, Maslenikov, Vidmar and Čermak. Two years later a wooden hangar was built for the Serbian Air Force, which was at the time engaged in the First Balkan War against Turkey. In 1914, the Banjica airfield was the base for the Serbian Air Force squadron and the Balloon Company. After the end of the First World War, the Banjica airfield was used for airmail traffic and included the routes Novi Sad–Belgrade–Niš–Skopje and Belgrade–Sarajevo–Mostar.

In 1911 another airfield was inaugurated in Belgrade, in the lower city of the Kalemegdan Fortress at the location of today's Belgrade Planetarium.

Airport in Pančevo

An airport on the outskirts of Pančevo, a town located northeast of Belgrade, began its operations in 1923 when CFRNA inaugurated the international route Paris–Istanbul, which was flown via Belgrade. In the same year, on that route, the first ever world night flight occurred. The same year airmail service began operating from the airport. The Pančevo airport was also used by the Royal Yugoslav Air Force academy. After World War II, the airport was used by the Yugoslav Air Force before it became the airfield of the Utva Aviation Industry after its relocation from Zemun to Pančevo.

Airport in Dojno Polje (New Belgrade)

Because of the distance from Pančevo to downtown Belgrade, which at that time required crossing the Danube, a decision was made to build a new airport that would be closer. The airport was planned to be built just across the river Sava, in a neighborhood today known as Novi Beograd. It was opened on 25 March 1927 under the official name of Belgrade International Airport (also known as Dojno Polje Airport). From February 1928, the aircraft owned by the first local airline Aeroput started taking off from the new airport. The airport had four 1,100–2,900 metres (3,610–9,510 ft) long grass runways. The design for a reinforced concrete hangar that was built at the airfield was made by the Serbian scientist Milutin Milanković, better known for his theory of climate change. A modern terminal building was built in 1931, while the landing equipment for conditions of poor visibility was installed in 1936.

Before World War II, Belgrade was also used as a stopover for some major air races, such as The Schlesinger African Air Race.

Besides Aeroput, Air France, Deutsche Luft Hansa, KLM, Imperial Airways, LOT Polish Airlines and airlines from Italy, Austria, Hungary and Romania also used the airport until the outbreak of the Second World War. Belgrade gained further prominence when Imperial Airways introduced inter-continental routes through Belgrade, when London was linked with India through the airport. Belgrade was linked with Paris and Breslau because CIDNA and Deutsche Luft Hansa, respectively, included Belgrade on its routes to Istanbul. By 1931, Belgrade became a major air hub being linked with regular flights with international destinations such as London, Madrid, Venice, Brussels, Berlin, Cologne, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Varna, Thessaloniki, Athens, Istanbul, and also intercontinental links with Cairo, Karachi and India.

Starting from April 1941, German occupation forces used the airport. During 1944 it was bombed by the Allies, and in October of the same year the German army destroyed the remaining facilities while withdrawing from the country.

The airport was rebuilt by October 1944, and until the end of the war was used by the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia as part of the Allied war effort.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights as of August 2026:

Cargo

The following cargo airlines served the airport on a regular basis:

Services

Security

Before the 2020/2021–2023 remodelling, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport was built with only one airside hallway for both departing and arriving passengers. As such, security checks used to be located at gate entrances rather than on a central location. An additional security check used to exist on the hallway entrance, but it was removed in 2013 as it inconvenienced passengers and was not essential for security. Since 2021, however, there has been a central security hall directly above the ticketing area, before passport control, where all passengers must be screened.

Passport control for departing passengers is located on the first floor in Terminal 2, just before the security screening, while the passport control for arriving passengers is located on the ground level. All passengers must pass the passport control, except those traveling domestically. An additional passport control booth exists in Terminal 1; however, it is no longer available for passengers, only for flight crews. In mid-December 2024 eGates for passport controls were introduced, with 10 eGates in the departures area and 10 eGates in the arrivals area, totalling in 20 eGates.

Accidents and incidents

On 18 February 2024, Air Serbia Flight 324, an Embraer E-195 wet-leased from Marathon Airlines with 106 passengers and crew on board, sustained serious damage to its fuselage and tail after hitting the airport runway's instrument landing system array during takeoff on its way to Düsseldorf. The aircraft turned back after failing to gain altitude and was safely evacuated upon landing.