Belgrade, Zagreb and Pristina numbers grow

Belgrade, Zagreb and Pristina airports see busiest February on record

The main airports in Serbia, Croatia and Kosovo have seen their passenger numbers improve during one of the slowest months in the aviation industry, with all three registering their busiest February on record.

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled 266.660 passengers last month, a small increase of 0.5% on 2015, thus putting an end to three consecutive months of declining figures. The airport recorded a total of 3.898 aircraft movements, down 0.7%. Its slow run over the past few months has been largely attributed to Air Serbia, which has made notable cuts to its 2015/16 winter network. On the other hand, foreign carriers have seen their numbers improve to and from the Serbian capital. The airport processed a record 1.246.689 kilograms of commercial cargo, an increase of 56.8% compared to the same month last year. So far in 2016, Belgrade Airport has welcomed 556.840 travellers through its doors, which is still down 2.9% on the same period last year. This month, the airport will see Wizz Air launch flights to Baden-Baden, marking its first expansion from the Serbian capital in two years. Meanwhile, six companies have filed bids to provide consultancy services in order to advise the government on whether the airport should be put up for concession or sold. By mid-March, a commission will decide whether any of the six bidders meet the state's requirements.

MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN290.580 5.8
FEB266.660 0.5

Zagreb Airport saw its passenger numbers improve a notable 7.9% in February, handling 153.077 travellers. The figure was accompanied by an increase in the number of operated flights, which totalled 2.814, up 1.7%. Over the past two months, Croatia's busiest airport welcomed 310.024 passengers, registering a 6% increase on 2015. During February, the Croatian government approved a proposal to name Zagreb Airport's new terminal building, which is currently under construction, after former President Franjo Tudjman. The terminal will open during the first quarter of 2017. Zagreb is likely to see strong growth in March as well, with an earlier start to the Easter holidays expected to generate additional traffic.

MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN156.947 4.2
FEB153.077 7.9

Pristina Airport continued to see passenger growth into February. It welcomed 105.368 travellers through its doors, a jump of 21.6% compared to the same month last year. Since the start of 2016, the airport handled 225.899 passengers, an increase of 17.2%. During February, Pristina Airport announced the launch of a new incentive scheme in a bid to attract new carriers and encourage exiting operators to boost flights. The incentives, which come into effect on March 27, will run until 2018. The scheme encourages airlines to launch flights to Pristina, base aircraft there, operate during off-peak hours and offers a 30% discount for handling and landing. easyJet and Adria Airways have announced new services to Pristina this summer. Low cost easyJet plans to launch three weekly flights from Berlin, while Adria Airways will introduce two weekly services to London Luton Airport.

MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN120.531 12.8
FEB105.368 21.6

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:12

    Very good numbers for Pristina. I think this is the first time they managed triple digits in February.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:38

      Triple digits?

      Delete
    2. No, PRN hit 6 figure pax figure for February back in 2013 too: 102,217 (Year 2013). This is the second time it has done so, beating it's previous record figure by 3%. However, 2016 is a year year, hence during February 2016 PRN had 17 per day less than during February 2013.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:20

      Sorry I meant six digits not three.

      Thanks for the info Visit Kosovo :)

      Delete
    4. Apologies for the typos. Meant to write ", 2016 is a *leap year," and "during February 2016 PRN had 17 less passenger per day than during February 2013."

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:12

    Thank God that February had 29 days this year and BEG managed to show positive no. of passengers, even by 0.5%

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      Numbers should be up on a regular basis now. We will probably see the biggest growth in July.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:22

      Oh yeah and I forgot to add that June will be big for Zagreb with all those new OU flights and Air Transat.

      As for Pristina nice to see them growing. Still waiting to see these incentives bring in a major player in form of setting up a base there.

      Delete
    3. ZAG will see the highest growth rate in 07, 08 and 09, because in these months it will see the effects by all of the following: LOT, Brusseles, Air Transat, CSA, OU, QR, AF/KLM...

      LOT has left ZAG on June 30/2015 and ČSA will also be at its highest flight number frequency after June...

      Hoping that CDG gets increased by OU, as well as LHR by BA. LH is set up to increase the size of the aircraft on one of its 2 x daily flights to FRA.

      There are rumors that OU will be running Athens and Barcelona year-round.

      SAS and Alitalia - hopefully they'll come in sometime by the end of the year as well.

      ZAG could easily reach 2,8 mil, while the super positive scenario points to the possibility of reaching even 3,0 mil (in that case all of the noted has to materialize + charter/seasonal flights have to increase as well...). Load factors will probably be very good as well...

      Delete
    4. Purger11:13

      ZAG:
      + 7 weekly LH to FRA
      + 4 weekly OK to PRG
      + 5 weekly LO to WAW (stop last year in June)
      + 6 weekly SN to BRU (start in September last year)
      + 1 weekly Air Transat to YYZ
      + 4 weekly OU to PRG
      + 3 weekly OU to LIS
      + 3 weekly OU to MXP
      + 2 weekly OU to LED
      + more frequencies to other OU destinations
      + bigger OU plane (F100 instead of Q400) to CPH, BRU, SPU...
      + more frequencies to OSI by Trade air
      + 3 more QR weekly frequencies to DOH
      + bigger AF plane to CDG (A318 instead of HOP!)
      + bigger KL plane to AMS (737-700 instead of Cityhooper)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:39

      Things are looking good for Zagreb this year.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:58

      Could BEG handle 5 million this year?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:15

      The year for BEG didn't start well.
      It needs to have big increases for the rest of the year to come close to 5 million passengers.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:25

    Guys how is Pristina airport connected with the city center and bus station by the public transport? Are there some buses?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:29

    "Meanwhile, six companies have filed bids to provide consultancy services in order to advise the government on whether the airport should be put up for concession or sold. By mid-March, a commission will decide whether any of the six bidders meet the state's requirements."

    So we can conclude that they won't choose a concessionaire or future owner until 2017 which kind of makes sense since JU airport discounts end then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:36

      This is a fallacy. Future owner selection and airport expansion planning is not dependent on JU subsidies in any way.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:45

      Anonymous March 9, 2016 at 12:36 PM

      It is completely dependent on future JU subsidies.
      The future owner needs to know if the airline who has 50% of BEG traffic will continue not pay fees and just use airport resources for free.
      And they would like to know if they modernize and expand the terminal that the bigger airline to use it will pay for its share.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:13

      Anonymous at 2:45 PM

      This information is completely incorrect.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:37

      Anonymous March 9, 2016 at 3:13 PM

      What exactly is incorrect?
      That the foreign buyer of BEG will be happy to have JU, the airline responsible for almost half of BEG's passengers pay nothing for the airport services and facilities it uses?
      Or that the buyer will invest the money necessary for modernizing and expanding the terminal, the runway and the other airport facilities and not expect to at least cover the costs of that investment from the airlines?
      I am awaiting eagerly for your response.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:07

      Interesting how the haze of misinformation continues. JU's airport waiver's ended in Oct last year and they have been paying ALL their airport bills from Nov 2015.

      Don't believe me, check with BEG airport who will confirm it.

      So this is a dead and non-existent issue ....

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:50

      We will see more of this hate nonsense as June 23 approaches.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:28

    OT: on todays ITB QR press conference QR CEO will apparently announce 12 new routes. Let's see if SJJ and SKP will finally be formally announced.
    Non ey YU wise, it is expected for QR to also announce AKL non stop service.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, both have been announced.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:36

      Wow, QR is really pushing ex YU!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:47

      I believe the reason Qatar is pushing ex yu is because Qatar will start flying to Sydney. Connection times from Zagreb(which were shown on another sight) are arond 2 hours each way in Doha. Would have to investigate more. As they say the competition is starting to heat up.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:39

    good to see positive results for all of them, although there was one additional day.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:40

    ANA Slovenia and Croatia charter 2016.
    B777-300ER
    6 AUG NRT - LJU
    13 AUG NRT - LJU - DBV -NRT
    20AUG KIX - DBV - NRT
    27 AUG NRT - LJU - KIX
    03 SEP SDJ - DBV - KIX
    10 SEP NGO - LJU - SDJ
    17 SEP DBV - NGO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:56

      Bravo za DBV! Ove godine ce imati ogroman rast.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous11:40

    Pristina was the third busiest airport in ex - YU a few years ago. Is there a chance they can overtake Dubrovnik and Split again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:44

      I doubt it. They are too far ahead and will have huge growth this year as well. But I don't think SKP will overtake PRN soon and I'm sure sooner or later we will see some lcc base a plane in Pristina.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:57

      Split could easily hit 2 million passengers.

      Delete
    3. Split is definitely hitting 2 mil pax this year. As far as BEG is concerned, 5 mil is likely reachable, but then again it depends on how bad this March will be, and to what extent and if ASL's winter 2016/17 network will stagnate/reduce or expand...
      I'd say BEG will be somewhere in between 4,9 and 5,2 mil pax

      Delete
  9. Anonymous13:52

    Odlicni rezultati za Aerodrome.
    LYBE ce sigurno preci 5 mil pax ove godine sa 2-3 nove ASL destinacije.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:01

      Which new ASl destinations would that be? It is March, when are they going to announce them?
      Or you mean that 30-35.000 passengers to JFK and 1/3 of those to Kiev are enough to cover the bad start of the year?
      AND most importantly make a significant increase of over 370.000 passengers to reach 5 million?

      Delete
    2. Aэrologic15:23

      A330 will hardly be flying only to JFK. In summer we can expect it to have some rotations to CDG, SVO, LHR, TIV, ZRH...in winter it might be used to some yet unconfirmed destinations. In any case it'll hardly be sitting since ASL is in a desperate need of aircraft capacity and each needs to be utilized at max. New winter long-haul routes are not far-fetched, actually they're a must from a financial standpoint, therefore the airline mulled over a second aircraft that would enable those.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:02

      A330 ce prvo obaviti neko training letova kao LX 77W.
      I ja mislim da ce kad ne leti za JFK leteti na pojedine destinacije i mozda koji charter .Vazno je da nece ostati na 1 A330.
      INN-NS

      Delete
  10. Savrseni rezultati! Ocekujem da Beograd uvede jos destinacija u 2016. Nije mi jasno zasto aviokompanije poput KLM-a, Air France-a i British Airways-a ne uvedu letove opet. Sa jedne strane drago mi je zbog JU. A sa druge mi je ne jasno sto toliko velike i mocne kompanije ne lete za BEG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:14

      Maybe because the BEG market is not as large and powerful as we think.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:25

      Zato sto ne mogu da konkurisu JU, za Britaniju trebaju vize pasosi putuju u Varsavu po 15 dana i sl. Tamo leti samo ko mora i sa Virdznom preko Atlantika. KLM i AF su u gubicima. AF je digao ruke od Srbije jos za vreme JATa.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:23

      Upravo sam pogledao u ugovor između JU i AF-KL i jasno mi je zašto ne lete za Beograd. JU im prevozi putnike i za 7 evra po segmentu!!! Naravno da se može letei preko AMS ili CDG za svega 350 evra kada Er Serbija praktično prevozi putnike besplatno.

      Delete
    4. Mali Marko L.16:25

      Zašto ne mogu da konkurišu?

      Kapacitetima, enormnim konekcijama, imageom, proizvodom, ff programom... i te kako mogu da konkurišu, u stvari ovde JU ne može da konkuriše njima.

      Dakle, gde je onda problem. Privilegije koje JU ima u BEG i subvencije Srbije. Tome ne može da se konkuriše. Pa zato strane kompanije dižu ruke od BEG. A JU već ove zime smanjila frekvencije do boli i povečala cene preko svake mere. To nam donosi monopolizam i protekcija.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:29

      Kako to mislis? Pa zar nam Dane nije lepo obrazlozio zasto je smanjen red letenja. ;)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:31

      Ne lupetaj zavidni majmune pukli su kao zvecka kada su hteli da srede JAT. Preskupi su. Mogu da drze RO, ali cim dobiju ozbiljnu konkurenciju koja je spremna neko vreme da leti po cenama LCC predaju se brzo. Imaju prevelike troskove stalno prave gubitke i pored niskih cena goriva. Da li si gledao sta im rade sindikati?

      Delete
    7. Mali Marko L.18:26

      Majmun je onaj ko te odgojio ovakvog nekulturnog i bezobraznog.

      A JU leti po LCC cenama zato što je strašno sposobna ili zato što to financira država i porezni obveznici. Pa da tako može i BA, AF, LH... onda bi popala JU iste sekunde. Ali ne sme. Jer pravila EU to ne dozvoljavaju. Pazi ti mudrosti da dampigiraš cene kada ti država plača desetine milijuna EUR.

      A onda kad ugrabe monopolistički položaj JU odma diže cene. Pogledaj Ljubljanu nakon što isteraše Adriju. Pogledaj ove zime što napraviše sa cenama. Tek treba da vidimo što će da bude kada još poteraju i preostale.

      Em im država plača puste pare, em imaju privilegiran položaj na aerodromu Beograd (gledaj samo što rade ostalima sa ovim seljenjem i prtiskom na T1)...

      I onda se čudimo što odlaze.

      JU je ozbiljna konkurencija jedino za minijaturne neozbiljne igrače poput OU, JP, JA, YM. U Europskim relacijama ona je toliko nebitna, kao što je nebitan i BEG. I zato se ne trude niti da nešto naprave. Da im je to bitno napravili bi nešto ko što je to LH napravila u BRU, AF u Touoluseu i Nici, BA i DUB. No, puca im prsluk za nas.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous19:16

      @Mali Marko L.

      U Srbiji se kaže "dampinguješ" i "finansira", a ne "dampingiraš" i "financira". Takođe nemamo problema sa razlikovanjem Č i Ć ("povečala").

      Komšija sa zapada, moraćete više da se potrudite ako mislite da bilo koga istrolujete.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:19

      @Anon 7:16 PM

      Takođe ne kažemo ni "milijuna", ni "privilegiran", ni "Europskim". Dvojka za trud.

      Delete
    10. Mali Marko L.00:58

      Već sam vam rekao da sam rođen u Nemačkoj i da sam iz mešanog braka. Srpsko-hrvatski govorim povremeno u porodici. Jel to neki problem ovde? Čini li me to manje vrednim ili mi brani da komentarišem?

      Delete
  11. Anonymous15:27

    Danas sam načuo da bi ASL zadržala liniju za DBV zimi.Znam da gradonačelnik pokušava uz pomoć hotela pojačati zimski red letenja gdje bi bili London,Frankfurt,Rim ,Zagreb ,Beograd ,Istambul i možda Paris.Letove bi zimi subvencionirali preko turističke zajednice ,a aerodrom bi kompanijama dao velike popuste.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous16:11

    W6 has launched their winter 2016/2017 timetable - BEG again with no new destinations and EIN is sole destination still not updated - are they stopping the service?
    SKP no initial changes, just general service reductions. LJU and INI still not updated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:24

      can you provide us with a link to the timetable? thanks in advance.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:30

      www.wizzair.com

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:36

      New destinations are unrelated to schedule loadings.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:55

      +1 anon 4:36

      Delete
  13. Anonymous21:45

    BEG's figures YTD can be almost compared to Vilnus! 556 840 vs 462 766 impressive growth! Don't forget that Ryanair's target is to overtake W6 by 2018...

    ReplyDelete

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