Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services (SMATSA) handled 4,090 flights in the airspace of the two countries on Saturday, marking the highest number of flights in a single day ever in the region.

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs stated in a press release that the record number of flights was seen over the past two weekends.

“The magical number of four thousand operations was surpassed for the first time in SMATSA’s history on 6 July, with 4,030 thousand flights in the skies between Serbia and Montenegro. The growth trend has been noticeable since the beginning of the year, with a nine percent increase in overflights in the first six months compared to last year,” stated the press release.

In the first six months of this year, there were a total of 210,770 IFR operations in Montenegro, 9.5 percent more compared to the previous year, and as much as 33 percent more than in 2019.

“Podgorica Airport saw a 30 percent increase in IFR operations in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, while Tivat Airport registered a 20.8 percent increase in the number of flights. The only negative indicator was a 5.6 percent decrease in operations at Tivat Airport when compared to 2019,” stated the press release, adding that the decline was caused by the suspension of flights from former Soviet Union countries, which had been in effect since 2022.