Pristina Airport continues to grow
The former Yugoslavia’s third busiest airport, Pristina, has continued to see impressive passenger numbers this year. Following outstanding growth in the first quarter, amounting to 19%, Pristina has continued to post solid figures in the second quarter as well. The airport handled 141.000 passengers in June alone, an increase of 7% compared to the same month last year. The number of aircraft operations increased by 3%. In the first half of 2013, Pristina Airport welcomed 756.045 passengers through its doors, an overall increase of 13.5%. Growth in the second quarter amounted to 11.6%. Last year the airport handled a total of 1.527.134 passengers.
Construction work on the new terminal
Belle Air Europe remains the busiest airline operating out of Pristina. During the month of June, SAS Scandinavian Airlines launched seasonal flights from Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm to Pristina. In addition, Germania began operating its service from London Gatwick as well. Furthermore, Alitalia is considering launching flights to the city this winter season.
Construction of Priština Airport’s brand new terminal is continuing to progress. The outer structures of the passenger terminal and the new control tower have now been completed with work continuing inside the new buildings. While the exact date of completion is unknown, the terminal is set to be opened by the end of this year. The new terminal stretches over 45.000 square metres with the building featuring three air bridges. Furthermore, a new apron and car park with the ability to serve 1.750 vehicles are also under construction.
Really ALL of the comments deleted? Why? nothing offensive there.
ReplyDeleteA flame war about Croatian airports, Jat, Airbuses, Embraers and Banja Luka have absolutely nothing to do with Pristina. Offtopics are allowed when they are constructive, this was just spamming.
DeleteWhat are you talking about? it's standard on this blog that every story somehow gets back to Jat & OU...happens every day, you don't wipe those comments...show some consistency.
ReplyDeleteIf there is actually a normal discussion about Jat or Croatia Airlines it's fine. This was a discussion based on a level of a three year old flavored with a bit of nationalism. If you cannot keep to the few comment guidelines then there is no need to comment.
DeleteThe one about Croatia Airlines and Dubrovnik had nothing nationalistic in it. It was a normal and civilized discussion.
DeleteThe only truly stupid one was about Banja Luka.
agreed, but the Banja Luka one was a bit funny too.
Deleteso what was the Banja Luka one ? lol
DeleteHello Anonymous at 1:39 PM,
Deletethe only truly stupid, impudent and saucy comment was your since you didn't understand the post.
Should I ask you a question about where are you from?
Good to see good old Adem Jashari doing well.
ReplyDeleteNow with Croatia in EU it gets for Kosovars even more difficult to reach by car or bus.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the double border controls at Neum are a pain in the ass.
No wonder they will take the plane more oftenly.
Happy that our Kosovar brothers get soon a nice new terminal. They deserve it since longtime.
ReplyDeleteEvery new terminal in our region is more than welcome
Our Kosovar "brothers"?! Who are you talking about?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy comment here was intended for the bottom of the page where it is now :).
DeleteGreat news!!!
ReplyDeleteThe most people travel to/from Kosovo via Pristina! Also many people from the South Serbia or even Macedonia choose Pristina to fly (my friends from Skopje too).
No, I look forward to Sarajevo and Zagreb opening new terminals.
As far as I heard it last week, Sarajevo will resume talks with EBRD for a new credit (amount: 32.000.000 €) to construct a new terminal at Sarajevo-International.
SIA expects some 1.000.000 passengers till 2016 and already in winter 2013/2014 there will be problems with the capacity at the airport in the morning hours (departures to Zurich (B&H Airlines), Copenhagen (B&H Airlines), Istanbul-SAW (Pegasus), Belgrade (Jat), Zagreb (Croatia), Vienna (Austrian) + Wizz Air (new information in few weeks)).
Due to this, all free slots for morning departures are "sold out" and SIA will refuse all other requests.
Are they going to add on present terminal, from what I understand they'll knock old terminal built for 1987 Olympics and expand current terminal with 2 additional passenger boarding bridges and double the size of present terminal from current 7000sqm (~10 000 2nd floor included) to around 15000sqm (20 000sqm 2 levels) increasing the capacity to 2.5-3 million. Would be nice if Sarajevo expanded airport terminal hit's 1,8 million pax by 2020.
DeleteMy prediction for ex-yu passenger traffic by 2020,
Belgrade - 6.5 million
Zagreb - 5.75 million
Dubrovnik - 3.2 million
Split - 3.0 million
Pristina - 2.8 million
Ljubljana - 2.5 million
Skopje - 2.3 million
Sarajevo - 1.8 million
Podgorica - 1.4 million
Pula - 1.2 million
Zadar - 1.0 million
Tivat - 900 000
Mostar - 400 000
Rijeka - 320 000
Ohrid - 220 000
Osijek - 120 000
Tuzla - 70 000
Nis - 65 000
Maribor - 55 000
Sarajevo, where do you get these informations about Wizz Air? What destinations should be launched from SJJ, and when should Wizz start flying? Thanks.
DeleteInteresting predictions. I think they re pretty real
DeleteThey're all real besides the Zagreb one. No way Zagreb reaches that number and comes so close to BEG having in mind the latest developments with OU/LH on one hand and JU/EY on the other.
Delete@AnonymousJuly 21, 2013 at 11:42 PM
DeleteU're putting too much faith in to JU/EY agreement thinking is a major thing, whole deal is highly political and not really beneficial to either party.
U forgot few facts.
Montenegro has its own national airline as does Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, the later two are in the EU thus are open to EU competition and any EU airline can set up their shop/base/hub in Cro/Slo.
Only benefit JU might get from JU/EY agreement is acess to middle east market and I don't see crowds all jumping for joy waiting to fly to ME, lets just say it won't happen beyond what you've already got.
Also Croatian market is very attractive market and will entice many major airlines to start operating from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, as evident with score of new airlines looking to add Zagreb to their destination.
Croatian Airlines on the other hand is EU orientated airline, so it'll concentrate on that segment and try to blend in.
In coming years as new Zagreb terminal takes shape Aerportes des Paris will try to bring major French airlines to Zagreb as they do with all their airports, KLM/Air France are bound to play major role at Zagreb over next 3 decades.
Current financial wows that Croatian Airlines faces aren't serious enough for Airline ceases to function or provide flights, infact OU has set new records this year and is likely to repeat the success of the last year. OU has manged to postpone purchase of 4 new Airbus Aircraft for 2017, enough time for OU to sort its house and return to profit.
I'm sure OU will be here for a long time to come and will play its part in Zagreb's regional position in future, its not that bad. And yes LH might buy OU at one point but I don't see any problem in that, LH already owns Austrian, Swiss and German Wings, Croatia Airlines would be a natural progression of things and they'd at least bring some resemblance of normality in OU when they do.
Zagreb will do ok even without OU, plenty of other airlines to come and take their share of Croatian air travel market which is only set to grow dramatically over next decade.
R U FOR REAL???
Deleteu make prognosis for the next 3 decades - do u have a crystal ball???
furthermore... putting OU in line with LH, Austrian, Swiss and even German Wings???
Sure JU/EY agreement will not be beneficial to either partiy and will not incur any transit pax to BEG... I guess that's also why Ethiopian among other airlines who opened Ex-Yu offices have choosen Belgrade over any other city in the region... You text sounds like day dreaming, as if AF will bring the 777 to Zagreb just cause the French are (maybe) gonna build the airport (read latest developments). As with OU's fleet downsizing, i can't see how can they dominate any sort of market.
DeleteU're talking nonsense now, Ethiopian WTF!!! I mean you for real???
DeleteBelgrade is capitol of Serbia, that is it, it won't get any other business than what you've got in Serbia.
Croats won't be flying to Serbia to fly to New York or Dubai, nor will Bosnians, Montenegrins, Macedonians or Slovenians, they all have their own airlines or are served well with network of good airlines and destinations.
Just cause Ethiad has shown interest in Jat (political decision no doubt in my mind) it won't do much for JAt or Serbia. Things won't change from what they're now and you might as well give on Jat ever making any profits.
As to Zagreb airport, yes airport received go ahead and construction will start in early September, its a done deal, deal with it!
What was wrong with my post expressing my opinion that of all airports in the Balkan region Banjaluka Airport needs a new terminal the most? Admin didn't understand my post in the least.
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of your comment is that you are trying to be funny, yet you are miserably failing at it. Admin, please delete this comment so as to prevent future comments on this silly topic of discussion.
DeleteYou are entirely wrong. There was no any my intention to make fun. Have you ever seen any pictures of that terminal building? Below are some useful links under which you can see that shed.
Deletehttp://www.atvbl.com/pregled-dana/99034/
http://www.avaz.ba/vijesti/iz-minute-u-minutu/aerodrom-banja-luka-nema-ni-letova-ni-novca/
http://www.capital.ba/tag/aerodrom-banjaluka/
It's all about a dilapidated prefabricated building, isn't it?
Also, there's no place to swing a cat there.
Any other terminal at any other international airport that is less suitable than this one?
Do you still think the other airports’ needs are more urgent than this one regarding building a new terminals? If so I can’t get you.
Oh, you might’ve visited the below page and got a wrong impression
http://lqbk.notams.com/
Some interesting statistics from CAPA:
ReplyDeleteTen most popular destinations in 2012 from BEG to Asia/Australia:
1. Shanghai 15.369 pax
2. Beijing 8.570 pax
3. Tokyo 5.468 pax
4.Sydney 4.302 pax
5. Singapore 3.623 pax
6. Hong Kong 3.414 pax
7. Karachi 3.386 pax
8. Melbourne 2.916 pax
9. Bangkok 2.915 pax
10.Kabul 2.863 pax
Total 90.860 pax
All destinations are final destinastions (no transfers).
Which means that there are roughly 250 passengers departing every day from BEG to these destinations. Not bad.
DeleteDo you have the data for the Americas?
DeleteHere is another interesting article:
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/jat-airways-etihad-deal-secures-jat-and-serbias-future-making-etihads-6th-equity-alliance-member-119155
That doesnt make sense, even though I believe its reliable data. Who in the world travels from Serbia to Karachi and Kabul?
DeleteKabul could be for construction workers who are working on the reconstruction of the country plus people who work in the security/military business.
DeleteAs for Karachi, well, it could be business ties. Still quite a lot of ties from the period of the non-aligned.
At least now we know why Jat's code to Karachi went before India.
Thanks! This is super useful. Numbers for Australia seem low given the myth of large diaspora being able to sustain (almost) direct flights to Sydney or Melbourne. At best, we could ever hope are seasonal summer/Christmas charters.
DeleteTen most popular destinations in 2012 from BEG to North America:
ReplyDelete1. Toronto 25.606 pax
2. Vancouver 7.623 pax
3. New York 7.398 pax
4. Montreal 4.628 pax
5.Washington 4.561 pax
6.LosAngeles 4.240 pax
7. Chicago 3.873 pax
8. Newark 3.207 pax
9. Calgary 2.598 pax
10.Miami 1.997 pax
Total 93.907 pax
All destinations are final destinations (no transfers).
Than the time is here for a regular longhaul to one of the east coast cities. Thats roughly 257 pax every single day and a new direct flt wld attract even more pax.
DeleteNo wonder star alliance has such a strong presence in BEG
Dear OFF TOPIC, do you have the data for South America and Middle-East? Thank you.
DeleteUnfortunately i dont have more data.
DeleteOFF TOPIC
Thank you for answering. All the best.
DeleteGreat job Prishtina. So glad the new terminal is getting build. Does anyone know the completion date of the project? I will be there in less then a month and can't wait to see the progress from up close.
ReplyDeleteThree air bridges seems low? Does anyone know how many gates will it have? I imagine they will want to add more air bridges to other gates in the next phase of expansion.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers here for Belgrade are very interesting. It someone has same figures for Zagreb that would be great to compare!
ReplyDeleteA few years back it was suggested that approximately 200,000 passengers travel to North America from Zagreb each year, maybe Purger has the figures???
number of Americans visiting Zagreb each year is quite high, and number of Americans visiting Croatia is also quite high, 170-200 000 per year.
DeleteIt is bound that many use Zagreb airport as main entry in to the country.
How many Croats travel to US/Canada, quite few I'd say, at least 50 000 each year. enough for direct link between Zagreb and New York I should say.
Direct link is not that simple as you have to take into consideration what percentage of this is low versus high yield passengers.
DeleteThe other problem here is how many of these passengers will use NY as per you example for their final destination. If they are just transiting through NY than there is no difference to transfering via Frankfurt or Heathrow.
Not to mention frequent flyer programs and other conveniences you will have to compete against.
In saying that, I think we will see the odd charter from the US to Croatia in the next few years.
I agree, perhaps Croatian Airlines should reconsider selling some of its Heathrow slots, I can understand selling Gatwick slots but Heathrow is far more important as a transit airport.
DeleteFrankfurt, Paris and Munich are also important but I think Heathrow is really most convenient for Americas, and has best connection of any airport in Europe.
I think perhaps once worldwide recession is over, there might be a possibility for direct link between Zagreb and NYC, at least twice a week, with Delta perhaps?
Well done PRN!
ReplyDeleteyou can be sure that by 2020 PRN will be doing 3 million + passengers per year, lets not forget its doing now over 1.5 million and there is no visa liberation agreement in place, if you compare other regional airports the visa liberation regime has added at least 20-40% more passengers. On top of that population is growing ;) and with the new terminal and new parking slots + possible hangars it can easily do more then that.
ReplyDeleteCan admins please remove comments that have nothing to do with the topic in place? This is a story about PRN airport and the majority of comments have nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteIf someone has nothing to say about PRN or it's impressive growth than by all means post somewhere else. For all of you posting non-PRN comments in this topic: if this is a way of trying to prove to someone how "ignorance" looks like, than congratulations, mission accomplished.
I really hope there are rules in this blog and that the admins are up to the task to make sure those rules are followed.
The current situation is beyond ridiculous.