BEG-Spot1
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July 5, 2020Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on July 18, 2024
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG/LYBE) is located 18km west of the Serbian capital’s centre and is also the country’s biggest airport. It is the Air Serbia’s hub, but you’ll also find several LCC using BEG as gateway in order to connect big Europe and Serbia.
After the former airfield became too small, the first parts of today’s Nikola Tesla airport were built, which was originally opened in April 1962. The airport was quite developed, but had to reduce traffic to minimal passenger traffic during the Yugoslav wars due to sanctions made by the UN. Back then, the airport’s overall situation was quite poor and a lot had to be repaired. In 2001 regular air traffic usage restarted finally again after the political situation changed. Lately the airport was heavily modernized, upgraded and suddenly named after Nikola Tesla – an inventor with Serbian origin – in 2006.
Nowadays the airport hosts quite a nice variety of scheduled or regular charter airliners in summer. There are also scheduled and frequent cargo airliners.
Anyway, here is a useful link for stuff like online schedules or other interesting spotter websites: https://beg.aero/cir/letovi#arrivals
Written by Severin Hackenberger with Information and pictures provided by Dejan Milinkovic (local spotter). Last change: July 2024 (new spot 3 added).
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety |  |
| Photo Locations | |
| Weather | |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 12/30 | 3400m |
| Terminals | |
| Two terminals | Working as one functional unit together. |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Needed at most spot as they are along the fence in the field. |
| Car/Public Transport | Public transport around the airport is quite poor, so you would mostlikely need a car.
Bus system is quite okay at some parts though: |
| Drinks/Food | In the airport facilities or in the very few shops/bars/gas stations nearby. |
| Hotels | There are no hotels directly at the airport and for spotting. Next to spot 3 is a good hotel. |
| Season | Definitely the time from April till October when the weather is best. |
| Security | Please be aware as the police is not friendly towards the spotters. Some people were taken for questioning and had issues when they were moving around the fence, especially in the close proximity of the airport building (such as spots 4 and 5). Spotting places can be considered as quite safe when there are no VIPs, although occasional police interventions are possible. |
| Runway Usage | |
| General Information | Runway 30 is more used in summer and runway 12 more in winter. |
Highway 266 - 12 arrivals
| WHERE | This spot is located right by the roadside of highway 266. As the driveway is divided by a middlesection, you can only stop on your side in the direction of travel. Actually shots are possible from both sides, but you avoid the risk of cars passing thru your shooting range when using the roadside of the street leading away from the airport. Once stopped by the roadside you can walk some meters onto the field if you want to or till the runway head for front shots. |
| WHAT | Runway 12 arrivals and runway 30 departures from the front or runway 12 arrivals from the back if you walk to the head. |
| TIME | From later morning till sunset for the side arrivals. Runway head in late evenings or early mornings mostlikely in summer only (if you want it with light) when sun is directly infront/behind you. |
| MISC. | Nothing around here. Take care of furious drivers. Don‘t park too long here, but therefore safely regarding the busy street. Take care of furious drivers! Parking/stopping your car is a bit hard here. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm 70mm = 767 |
Runway head
De-icing platform
| WHERE | Once driving on highway 266 shortly before being joined by 226 driveway from airport you‘ll pass some stopping possibilities on your right, which offer a nice view onto the apron infront. Get rid of your car here and take your shots. |
| WHAT | De-icing platform, parked airplanes and taxiing. |
| TIME | In the afternoon and evening only. |
| MISC. | No ladder needed. Nothing around. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 100-400mm Tu204 close-up = 400mm |
Surčinska Road - 30 approach
| WHERE | In the morning stay next to a hotel named “Hotel Mar Garni” in a suburb of the city at Surčinska Road. From the entrance of the hotel or the nearby bus stop you can photograph the approach nicely. When the sun has turned to the other side, move down the road until you finde a café. Just stay somewhere near. |
| WHAT | Runway 30 arrivals only. |
| TIME | Early mornings in summer only and from afternoon until sunset. |
| MISC. | There is a supermarket and some restaurants along the main road. If you wanna stay at BEG, we can highly recommend this hotel. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Spot 3A: 737=260mm Spot 3B: 738=150mm; ATR72 = 200mm |
Spot 3A Hotel
Spot 3B Café
Apron South
| WHERE | Spot can be found right by the roadside in the entrance of an aprongate. Parking is not really well possible here, but stopping in the entrance for a few minutes should work… |
| WHAT | Apron A and B infront. |
| TIME | From late morning-midday till sunset. |
| MISC. | High risk spot if there are VIP or Military operations. Keep a very low profile! Small lenses may fit thru the fence, otherwise a ladder is needed. Approaching this spot with a car can be problematic as it is hard to get rid of it. Heat haze and small aircraft/other foreground clutter may disturb spotting here. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-400mm C130 = 200mm |
Field West - All runway movements
| WHERE | This spot is located right on the field and can be accessed by car easily. You have to park this by the roadside of highway 266 a bit farer away in the southwest and then make your way up here onto the field by foot via some of the paths. Hard to describe as it’s neither an exact position, rather the area around here.
UPDATE OCT 2022: There are ongoing construction works around this area so the situation can change daily. |
| WHAT | All runway activities as well as the taxiway ones infront if you go to the left location from the parking. Taxiway and all runway acitivities infront – especially aircraft turning off runway 12 here are very nice if you go to the middle location. Runway 12 departures and late vacators as well as runway 30 departures and arrivals as well as the taxiways infront if you go to the right location. |
| TIME | From late morning-midday till sunset. Heat haze comes up during noon and early afternoon even in winter! |
| MISC. | High risk spot if there are VIP or Military operations. Keep a very low profile! No ladder needed here as long as you stand away the fence as the field is elevated a bit and thereby you can shoot over the fence without ladder – fence is in the bottom of your pictures then though! Might be hard to access when it is wet as the spot area is very squishy then. If the field is used for crops again and they are well grown already the spot might be hard to reach as well – respect the farmer’s work! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-300mm A330 taxiway = 70mm / A321 runway = 175mm |
Left position from parking
Middle position from parking
Right position from parking
Periklova - 30 arrivals and line-up
| WHERE | This spot can be found in the city which is located at the southeastern end of the runway. Just make your way to „Periklova“ or surrounding streets and search your favourite position there. |
| WHAT | Arrivals runway 30 as well as runway 30 line-ups. |
| TIME | Arrivals: From midday till sunset — Line-Ups: From sunrise till (late) midday |
| MISC. | Nothing around here. Keep a low profile especially if you have huge technical equipment. No ladder needed as you can shoot over the fence from here thanks to the elevated area and some little dirt hills. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-300mm A321 arrival = 150mm |
Arrival lights - 30 arrivals
| WHERE | This spot is very easy to find as it is literally just beneath the final approach along the fence. It can be reached easily from Beračka street; just search your favourite position around here then. |
| WHAT | Aircraft in shortfinal for runway 30. |
| TIME | Best usage is in late evenings so mostly summer. |
| MISC. | Nothing around here. Keep a low profile here if you have a lot of expensive equipment. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm – depending on what picture you want |
Farm Road - 30 line-up, arrivals and 12 departures
| WHERE | This spot can be reached via several farming roads/path, but the access is very hard to the bumpy streets. Rather just drive in the unnamed farmer roads with a big car/SUV – otherwise best option is to leave your car in Radiofar or at spot #7 and then walk here. Take a look on the map to see how to reach this position at the eastern end of the runway well… |
| WHAT | Aircraft lining up runway 30 as well as landing here plus taxiway parts behind. Mostly best for runway 12 departures. |
| TIME | Runway/taxiway: early morning — Line-Up/threshold: late evening in summer |
| MISC. | Small lenses may fit thru the fence, otherwise a ladder is needed. Might be hard to access when it is wet as the spot area is very squishy then. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm A320 = 290mm |
Vasilija Ostroškog - all runway movements
| WHERE | This spot can be found in one of the most southern street of the city of Radiofar. The street we used for the example shots is supposed to be called Vasilija Ostroškog, but take care as there are two next to each other here. We meant the southern one now… You can drive in here (although it gets bumpy at some point) or leave your car in the east close to the main/paved roads and walk in here. |
| WHAT | All runway activities and the taxiway ones around here. |
| TIME | Early morning in summer only. |
| MISC. | Nearest facility for food/drinks is the cafe mentioned in spot #13. Might be hard to access when it is wet as the spot area is very squishy then. Ladder needed. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-300mm |
Pista 011 Airplane Spotting Cafe - All runway movements and apron view
| WHERE | This Spot is located on the cafe’s platform which is supposed to be called „Pista 011 Airplane Spotting Cafe“. Just make your way down to this cafe at the end of the northern Vasilija Ostroškog and enter itt |
| WHAT | All runway activities and the taxiway ones around here. In addition you have a gorgeous view onto the apron here as well as onto lighter Line-Ups onto runway 12 (e.g. ~A320). |
| TIME | In the morning only, but apron view offers a good night shot possibility. |
| MISC. | It is not always open. We highly recommend to stay in the cafe shed all the time and support it and not just come in for highlights. Be kind and supportive! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm B744 on runway = 60mm |
Pictures of the location
Milana Konjovica - 12 arrivals, line-up and 30 departures
| WHERE | This spot is located at the end of Milana Konjovica street in the western area of the town of Radiofar. Just drive the street to its end, where you can park by the roadside easily and search your favourite position there. You can also leave your car at the end of the paved streetarea and then just walk in here the last part. |
| WHAT | Runway 12 arrivals and runway 30 departures and also Line-ups. |
| TIME | Early mornings in summer only. |
| MISC. | Small lenses may fit thru the fence, otherwise a ladder is needed. Nearest facility for drinks/food would be the cafe of spot #10. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200-400mm Fokker 70/100 = 330mm |
Highway edge - 12 arrivals, line-up and 30 departures
| WHERE | This spot is located at the side of freeway A3/E70 and can be reached hardly as it is located south of the freeway outside of the barrier thus it is almost impossible to park on the side of the spot here. The only possibility is to park north of the freeway, so we recommend to leave your car by the roadside of “Put Za Institut” street and then you have to cross the freeway via the recently constructed bridge (way marked on the map). Of course, you can also spot from the bridge, but be careful not to attract too much attention by this. Stow your camera… |
| WHAT | Runway 12 arrivals and Line-Ups. But also runway 30 departures as well as the de-icing platform. |
| TIME | Runway 12 arrivals: early morning in summers only — Runway 30 Departures, Runway 12 Line-Ups and de-icing platform: late afternoons and evenings mostlikely in summers as well |
| MISC. | Nothing around here not even parking possibilities. Hard to reach this spot and even very dangerous. Take care of furious drivers and winds caused by big cars/trucks. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200-500mm Line-Ups both = ~450mm |
Is there a local photog at Belgrade who does mind helping those from overseas?
Ask away
Hello, I was just wondering if there was any reported cases of trouble with security on spot 11 cause it seems like a pretty spot to me
I wouldn’t recommend going that close to the fence
No closer then 80-100m!
Please note, that at Spot 5 there seems to appear heat haze during noon and early afternoon even in winter
Good to now, thanks for the feedback!
-Julian
Please be aware as the police is not friendly towards the spotters. Some people were taken for questioning and had issues when they were moving around the fence, especially in the close proximity of the airport building (such as spots 4 and 5)
There is a lot of construction work going on around the airport and there is a new parking lot, check google satellite images.
So far IMHO, the best spots are around Radiofar, however this cafe Pista 011 is not always open, and the owner is now asking for money. He tends to be very noisy about who you are and why do you come there.
I have updated the security description. At the Cafe you should of course buy something and support it. Of course the owner is getting mad if people use his facilities without ordering something.
-Julian
I was one of the people who was taken by the police station for questioning. Spot 4 first then spot 5. The easiest way to avoid is to just keep very LOW profile. Security usually won’t bother you. But if there are some VIP taking off the would look around. On spot 4 i was taking a picture of 747 from silkway who appeared to carry some secret cargo. And on spot 5 when i was there. There were some people on the new runway so probably they called… Cafe 011 in my opinion is now useless, as new runway is in use…
The best thing is to just don’t come near the fence, and absolutely no ladders!! You will attract attention
Police doesn’t understand spotters…
What about the other locations, north of the runway (8-10). I think they are useless too?! Can you give some advice please.
Thanks, Julian
I wouldn’t say they are useless.
New runway was built between taxiway A and old 12L/30R. But the old runway is expected to be back to operation in a month or less.
For spot 8, i dont know anything, but i dont think its very good.
For 9 and 10
I was usually using The spot just between the spots. In the fields.
They are elevated above the fence and you can see the terminal well. So i quite liked it for Old runway, its not too bad for the new runway.
For recording videos, spots 9, 10, and 5 would be the best
For photography
I’d say 6 and 1
And i would suggest adding a spot just south of “h prolaz”
And the extension of 5 to H prolaz to be removed as you can quite go there…
There’s a little road that goes from the town to near the fence just south of the h prolaz, great for 12 Departures
The Spotting point number 3 is no longer available since the terminal building was expanded to that side and blocked the view to the ramp, taxiways and runway…
Thanks for the hint, too bad that this spot is gone.
-Julian