The CEO of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Velimir Radosavljević, says that 2011 will see record results for the airport. The CEO made the announcement after the airport posted a 21.5 million Euro profit for 2010 and recorded a 6% surge in share value this week. “In 2007 our profit stood at 4.5 million and today its 21.5. The airport is not acting as a monopoly, rather we are cooperating with various internationally acclaimed companies and are actively working on bringing new scheduled and charter airlines to Belgrade”, Radosavljević told the B92 network. He states that a total of 15 new airlines are operating out of Belgrade.Serbia’s main hub is posting good results in 2011 with a significant passenger increase recorded. Radosavljević explains that Jat Airways has had a lot to do with the passenger increase but believes that the airport will see its biggest boom this upcoming summer season, which begins in just over a month. “This summer Jat will fly daily to Dusseldorf and Athens while low cost airlines will operate 7 daily flights out of Belgrade”, Radosavljević explains. Furthermore, Jat will reveal its 2011 summer timetable this weekend at the Belgrade Tourism Fair.
Due to encouraging operational results, the airport is expected to expand its facilities, in particular Terminal 2. The project design for the expanded Terminal 2 has been completed. This summer airBaltic, Croatia Airlines, Ryan International Airlines, Eagles Airlines, Dubrovnik Airline and Albanian Airlines are set to commence flights to the city while Wizz Air will open its base.
Great news :-)
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what was the busiest year for Belgrade airport and the number?
AlexLondon
7 daily LC flights out of BEG makes 49 a week. Wizz has announced total od 23 flights per week to all destinations. Germanwings has 7 flights (4 to CGN and 3 to Stuttgart), Norwegian will have 4 flights (2 for Oslo and another 2 for Stockholm). Even if we take Air Baltic as a LC (even though they are regular carrier who operates on certain LC principles) and its 4 flights per week that makes total of 38 flights. Which LC is missing here with 11 additional flights per week?
ReplyDeletecimber sterling 3 p/w! niki 6 p/w! spanair 3p/3!
ReplyDelete^
ReplyDeleteCimber Sterling is not that expensive, not low cost though. They probably count niki(6 weekly flights?) and maybe Spanair(3 weekly). Perhaps these new Eagles Airlines as well..
spanair is no low cost
ReplyDeletelast anonymous,
ReplyDeleteExcuse me? Spanair is sooo ghetto and lowcost!!
That is one of the most disgusting carriers I ever had to fly on!!
Vueling is ten times better, even if the legroom is quite horrible
Spanair, Air Baltic, Cimber, Niki are not LC carriers or otherwise can anyone name reasons why any of them should be treated as LC?
ReplyDeleteOn that basis Alitalia could be treated as LC more than Spanair, as their tickets from Beg to any destination in Spain are at least 30% cheaper than JK at any time of the year
again, span air is not a low cost carrier, LC has nothing to do with the quality
ReplyDeleteSpan Air is a Lufthansa partner, btw
There is no point in explaining what is low cost and what is not, we all know that very well. But this is an announcement for the public who knows nothing about what is low cost and what not. They are just trying to use those words and numbers and try to present above mentioned carriers as low cost. They will get away with it and 0.01% of us will know what he is talking about.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are including Ryan International in the lowcost bunch? :PP
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, maybe the poor thing got confused and mentioned the number for this summer? Maybe some new lowcost will arrive or another one add flights?
I remember, Belgrade Airport referred to Aegean as a lowcost so I wouldn't be surprised if they thought that airlines like Montenegro Airlines or Augsburg are low cost as well ;)
By the way, maybe they included Dubrovnik as well?
Spanair has 5 weekly out of Belgrade! BCN 3 times and MAD 2 times per week, but no, it is not a lcc ;)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, does anyone know when will Spanair reestablish MAD-BEG flights? There's been no information about it whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteHi Alex London,
ReplyDeletePlease leave here e-mail address that I can send BEG airport traffic figures to and I will do this later today.
If I remember well the best years were 1987. and 1988. with several hudreds of thousands of passengers over 3 milions (these were only two years with over 3 mil. pax.).
Cheers from Belgrade,
Dejan Milinkovic
i think it was more than 3 mil. in 87. ig i remember, JAT only had 5 mil. back in those days, with majority of flights from/to BEG
ReplyDeleteGreat news for BEG. It's good to see the airport is becoming a transit hub for many in the Balkans. Albanians, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and Macedonians. I spoke to a friend who works in the US Aviation Industry and he said that even though Ryan is a small charter airline, it has a good chance of attracting pax from Bulgaria and Romania if the price is right.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that more airlines begin to use BEG as well. I think we all remember the Emirates Airlines rumor of transforming BEG into another hub for that airline, and that never came to fruition. I am not sure anything like that will ever happen, but WizzAir is making a base their, so who knows.
I have heard that the Japanese are also interested in beginning charter flights to BEG in the summer. I am not sure if this is going to happen, but some people I know were telling me that this is one of the reasons Tadic is going to visit Japan soon. China is also being mentioned as wanting to start flights to BEG from Shanghai and Beijing due to growing interest of Chinese to live and work in Serbia. This I must say is unlikely as of now, but still very possible. I would not be so surprised if a Chinese company started flights between BEG and China in the next 3 years.
Anyway, great news for BEG and I hope they can keep it up.
@Dejan Milinkovic
ReplyDeletethanks for the message and my e mail is malesevic_a@yahoo.com
Pozdrav iz Londona
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ReplyDeleteChinese to work/live in Serbia pwah man that wouldn't be moving up in life at all. All jokes aside no Chinese carrier besides Hainan would expand into Serbia. Simple.
ReplyDeleteBudapest, Athens, Istanbul are all close by and all have flights to China.
I do not think Budapest is relevant when it comes to the Chinese in Serbia. It's too much trouble to get to Budapest, unless you buy your ticket on Malév and then switch.
ReplyDeleteThe most common way of reaching China from Serbia is via Moscow and Istanbul.
I do not think any Chinese carrier will be interested in starting Serbia when there are so many more interesting destinations unserved in Europe.
Not to mention that the overall experience of flying Turkish Airlines is ten times better than flying on any Chinese carrier. I would not like to be stuck of Air China for ten hours that is for sure!
@AirKoryo and anonymous
ReplyDeleteThe Serbian census is going to be collected this year. Every year there are more and more Chinese in Serbia living and working in factories, private shops, and farms. The Chinese ambassador has already stated that he is interested to see where this increase in Chinese immigration will take both Serbia and China. The Chinese that have been living here already for 5 years at least, go home every summer to visit their other family. This trend is also increasing and like someone said, the best way to get to China is through Turkey or Moscow. So in a way, there MIGHT be a need for such flights in the future...certainly not now...but I wouldn't mind.
@Jeebusman
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese minority in Serbia could not number more than 10,000 persons. I don't think a carrier could sustain such services based soley on 10,000< persons per year if they all traveled back to China annually.
Through Moscow they fly with SU obviously and from Istanbul through TK, although since CA is resuming ATH I guess that may see a number flying through there. I also guess flights from LH group will also serve this market.