A group of Montenegrin business owners has offered to take responsibility for modernising the country’s two international airports, opening a new front in the debate over whether Podgorica and Tivat airports should remain under domestic control.
Blagota Radović, owner and chairman of construction company Zetagradnja, said he and several other entrepreneurs were prepared to submit an investment proposal comparable with the offer made by South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corporation. The Korean company had been the leading foreign contender in the long-running airport concession process.
The domestic proposal comes as the government moves away from the concession model and considers retaining Aerodromi Crne Gore as a state-owned operator. Transport Minister Radoš Zečević has said that a new master plan will be prepared to define development priorities for at least the next decade.
The immediate focus is on removing passenger-processing bottlenecks before the 2027 tourism season. Podgorica and Tivat airports handled more than 3 million passengers in 2025, but terminal capacity, access roads and airside infrastructure have struggled to keep pace with traffic growth.
Aerodromi Crne Gore management believes the company could finance between €200 million and €300 million of investment without surrendering control to a concessionaire. That position strengthens the case for state-led development, although the financing structure, procurement process and implementation schedule remain unresolved.
Radović’s initiative introduces a third possibility between full state financing and a foreign concession: a domestically backed investment partnership. The credibility of that option will depend on whether the business group can provide binding financial commitments, a clear governance model and sufficient technical expertise to deliver airport infrastructure on the scale required.
