Easter record for Belgrade

Holidays boost passenger numbers

In the run-up to the Easter holidays last week, Belgrade Nikola Tesla recorded record passenger numbers. On Good Friday the airport handled almost 10.000 passengers while on Wednesday and Thursday Serbia’s main hub welcomed a total of 19.000 passengers within 48 hours. The impressive results coincide not only with diaspora passengers arriving to Serbia but also the start of the summer charter season with many combining the Easter and May Day public holidays in order to travel.

Velimir Radosavljević, the airport’s CEO, said that during last week nearly all flights arriving and departing Belgrade were full to the last seat. He added that Jat Airways’ new service to Girona in Spain, inaugurated over the weekend, was also popular. This summer, Belgrade will see charter or seasonal summer flights operated by the likes of Astra Airlines, Aviogenex, Atlasjet, Croatia Airlines, Jat Airways, Spanair, Swift Air, Tunisair and many more to destinations such as Thessaloniki, Dubrovnik, Antalya, Enfidha and Chicago, to name a few.

This year’s April results will be significantly greater than those of last year due to Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud which forced the closure of most European airports. However, when compared to the record breaking April of 2008, Belgrade Airport is so far reporting a 25% passenger increase for the month. Nikola Tesla Airport is on track to handle over 3 million passengers in 2011.