Strong July for Belgrade

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, terminal 2
Belgrade Nikola Tesla has managed to break previous records and handle over 300.000 passengers in July, an increase not only compared to last year but also to the most successful year so far – 2008. Belgrade handled 352.992 passengers last month compared to 308.710 in 2009 and 343.204 in 2008, the “Blic” newspaper reports. So far this year, the airport welcomed 1.464.580 passengers. The high numbers are in part due to a big increase in the number of airlines serving the airport. Spanair, which operates flights to Madrid and Barcelona, is reporting extremely high passenger figures on the Belgrade route while the low cost Wizz Air is the most successful debutant at the airport this year. Alitalia and Jat Airways are reporting big passenger increases on services to Italy and strong numbers are also being registered on flights to Oslo, Stockholm and Riga.

In December last year, the European Union abolished visa requirements for Serbian citizens entering the 27 member state union, which has contributed to the passenger rise. Furthermore, from June, citizens of the European Union only need their identification cards to enter Serbia, rather than passports.

Comments

  1. JATBEGMEL09:07

    nice. shame that JAT hasnt been able to cash in and expand taking advantage of the visa liberation. love to see what changes in the winter schedule and whether the flights to Spain will stay all year :) maybe increased schedule? i wonder if MA will remain in BEG, they dont seem to be doing too good going from B738's to EMB 120's on the route.

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  2. Anonymous10:20

    I am really surprised about AirBaltic, I fear that we might see the same scenario as with Malév. In the beggining they were doing well while they had cheap fares, once they abolished them people went back to the traditional airlines... Oh well, time will tell.
    It would be interesting to see the numbers for BT, do you think you could find out more about it, also some other airlines like Tarom. These two airlines represent something so exotic at our lovely airport lol

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  3. Anonymous10:31

    This is good to hear! Once FR aaaaaaaaaaaand EZY are at BEG, figures will go over 2 milion easy per year

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  4. That's why the Rimini route was closed after only two weeks because of pour load factor (may I remind you guys it was Dornier 328 with capacity of 32 pax)...it's a shame, but I hope BEG will attract dozens of new airlines in a few years, given the expansion of the airport and all...

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  5. JATBEGMEL12:52

    @ anonymous

    the figuers have been over 2 million for a few years now...this year we will probably see 3 million.

    I dont see BT and MA lasting long, MA apprently were going to increase flights this summer but havent, where RO i think have added 1 more flight p/w. what interests me is the amount of traffic between AER and BEG, as Gazprom have been flying the route for some years now 1 p/w. Would be nice seeing KLM and/or SN in BEG...and something seems to be going on with trade to Belarus, maybe a direct flight to Minsk could work, whether JAT or Belavia?

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  6. Anonymous13:03

    @JATBEGMEL:

    No chance of seeing 3M this year. At most 2.6-2.7M. Just look at the numbers.

    From what I've heard, airBaltic is quite happy about their flights to Belgrade, and have no plans on cutting down.

    Malev also uses the EMB120 on their Zagreb flights, so no reason to discontinue the BEG flights.

    I wonder how is Aerosvit doing. Going from 1weekly to 4weekly flights to Kiev. I noticed lots of Aerosvit ads in Belgrade.

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  7. This is a great news. I am so happy that flights to Spain and Italy are so popular. I hope that they keep them year around. BEG is definitely rising once again. Let's hope that soon we see transatlantic flights as well. At the end we used to have them and now with even more diaspora and increasing turist numbers, I think it's just a matter of time to see DL or new CO/UA starting the JFK/EWR - BEG flights.

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  8. JATBEGMEL15:51

    @ anonymous

    yes i have noticed them as well, around Vukov Spomenik and i think in Novi Beograd...Im also too curious as to their loads in BEG...they have also stopped flying their B737 a/c to BEG and use even their new Antonov's :)

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  9. Anonymous08:24

    Yesterday i flew with airBaltic from Riga to Belgrade. They usually send one of their partner airlines to do the route, but the aircraft (Fokker 100) has been fairly full, and i've seen how many people have been waiting for the flight back to Riga.. I have no worries about them.
    And i really think they should advertise more, especially their flights to Moscow (many passengers in the plane have been russian, but only couple of serbs).

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  10. Anonymous11:53

    Last anonymous:
    They are actually not partner airline but they are wet leases if I am not mistaken from Carpatair and this Croatian airline.
    I am so happy that they are doing well on the route. For me it's great as I can comfortably take them from Vaasa when visiting Serbia!
    After all it's nice to see airBaltic doing well on the route afterall it is a nice upgread from a Dash-8 to a Fokker 100.
    I like their offers for spas in Riga and excursions in the Baltics! Really good for them!

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  11. Anonymous17:13

    when will we se zagreb/belgrade route.... Philswe

    ReplyDelete

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