Early years

The first airfield serving the city of Niš was established in 1910, near the village of Donje Međurovo. In the 1930s, then-national airline company Aeroput used the airport for civil service. In 1935, Aeroput included a stop in Niš in its, back then, domestic route linking Belgrade with Skopje.^[4]

Following World War II, the airport was used as a military base. Among other units, it was a base for the 63rd Paratroop Brigade and 119th Aviation Brigade. A portion of the airport is still used by the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence. In 1952, at the site of today's airport, the first concrete runway, measuring 1,500 m (4,921 ft), was built and used for military flights. In order to maintain the pace with the development of military as well as civil aircraft, in 1972 the length of the runway was extended to 2,200 m (7,218 ft) to accommodate larger contemporary commercial aircraft.^[5]

In the 1970s, the airport was used for occasional service to the Adriatic coast. By the 1980s, this occasional service led the local authorities to recognize the needs of the people living in Niš as well as Southern and Eastern Serbia and took into account the economic development of the city. The association of economic and political entities prepared detailed terms and in 1986 made a decision on establishing the entity "Airport Niš".^[5]

The terminal building as well as the ancillary support facilities were built and opened to service in 1986. This project also included the asphalt coated runway and built-in system of lights that provided visual descent guidance during runway approaches at night. The development of air traffic in Niš was not initiated just by JAT Yugoslav Airlines, but also by Slovenian company Inex-Adria Airways (Adria Airways nowadays), although both were domestic airlines back then.^[6]

Breakup of Yugoslavia

The Breakup of Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s brought a sharp decrease in travelling to the Adriatic Sea, Ljubljana and Zagreb, once the busiest routes from Niš. This was followed by United Nations sanctions imposed on Serbia and Montenegro which included a ban on international air travel. In these circumstances the volume of traffic reached its lowest point with the only route being to Tivat Airport during the summer period. In 1998, the traffic volume increased owing to the heavy air traffic from Pristina International Airport which was out of use because of numerous foggy days during which the traffic was successfully carried out from Niš. The airport was heavily damaged during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

The airport was reopened in 2003 with the financial assistance from the government of Norway. Damage sustained during the bombing was repaired, including the building of a new control tower and renewal of the terminal building.^[6]

In 2004, Jat Airways and Montenegro Airlines resumed flights from Niš to Zürich, Paris, and Tivat. In 2010, Wind Jet connected the airport with Forlì, Italy while Montenegro Airlines linked it with Podgorica on a daily basis. The route to Podgorica was discontinued in 2013 because of low passenger numbers. For more than two years (2014-2015) there were only charter flights to and from Niš.^[6]

Since 2015

The expansion in traffic began in 2015 when low-cost airline Wizz Air launched flights to Basel and Malmö. Shortly after, Ryanair followed the suit by announcing flights to Berlin. In 2016, both Wizzair and Ryanair announced more flights from Niš, respectively Wizzair to Dortmund, Eindhoven, Memmingen and Ryanair to Weeze, Bergamo and Bratislava. Shortly after the launch of these flights Niš experienced triple-digit growth in passenger traffic, exceeding the previous record figure. In October 2016, Turkish Cargo, the airline for the transport of cargo which is a part of Turkish Airlines commenced scheduled cargo service between Niš and Istanbul.^[7] In November 2016, Swiss International Air Lines announced flights to Zürich, operated by the Airbus 320. In December 2016, Swiss got direct competition when Germania Flug announced flights to Zürich, starting June 2017 operated by the Airbus 319. However, since 2020 no airlines operates services to Zürich.^[8]

As of 2019, plans existed for Niš Constantine the Great Airport to be linked to twelve more European cities, after Government of Serbia publish document about lines of public interests (PSO). Companies with the best offers will be granted 5 million euros. Twelve destinations of public interest are Frankfurt, Rome, Hannover, Ljubljana, Bologna, Budapest, Göteborg, Friedrichshafen, Karlsruhe, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Tivat.^[9] Currently, the airport serves the total of fourteen regular non stop destinations in eight countries during the whole year, plus four seasonal and three seasonal charter flights during peak summer months.^[10]

Public Transport

There are two bus lines operated by city public bus company (PE Directorate for Public Urban Transport Niš) that connects airport to the city center and most of the Niš suburbs - line 34A (Airport-Central Bus Station-Central Railway station-Airport) and 34B (Airport-Central Railway station-Central Bus Station-Airport).^[19] One single ticket costs around 80 dinars (0,68 euro) and can be purchased directly in the bus. Buses are running every 20 to 30 minutes.^[20] On the following website you can check all the public transport lines operated by PE Directorate for Public Urban Transport Niš: https://www.jgpnis.rs/red-voznje/

Taxi Service

Approximately 50 meters on the left side when exit passenger terminal is a parking lot and a taxi stand.^[21]

Rent a Car

There are nine rent a car agencies available at the airport.^[22]

Parking at the Airport

Niš Constantin the Great Airport has parking in front of the terminal building that works 24 hours every day. First 15 minutes are free of charge, and after you have to pay. It is possible to pay with cash or bank cards.^[23]