Tivat Airport was opened on 30 May 1957, featuring a 1,200 meters (3,900 ft) long grass runway, small apron, passenger terminal building and control tower. Initially, the airport served mainly domestic passenger traffic, with flights to Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje being operated by JAT, using Douglas DC-3 and Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft. From 1968 to 1971, the airport underwent major expansion and modernization. It was reopened on 25 September 1971, sporting a 2,500 m × 45 m (8,202 ft × 148 ft) asphalt runway, extended apron and new passenger terminal. Another expansion of airport facilities ensued after it was damaged by the 1979 earthquake. On 23 April 2003, the ownership of the airport was transferred from Jat Airways to Airports of Montenegro, a public company owned by the government of Montenegro. The airport underwent passenger terminal reconstruction in 2006. As noise pollution increasingly became an issue in the mid-2000s, older airliners were permanently banned from using the airport, with loud widebodies such as Ilyushin Il-86 being redirected to Podgorica Airport. Expansion of the passenger terminal building was completed in December 2018. However, airport facilities struggle to service growing passenger volume during the peak summer season, which results in frequent overcrowding.