Sarajevo and Belgrade see record year
The airports in Sarajevo and Belgrade have both seen significant passenger growth over the past month. Sarajevo Airport welcomed 44.446 passengers through its doors, an increase of 15.1% compared to the same period last year. Despite B&H Airlines cancelling its flights for several days in November, since one of its aircraft was on maintenance, the airport managed to see an increase in the number of flight operations. A total of 422 flights were recorded to and from the Bosnian capital, an increase of 6% compared to the same month last year.
Overall, Sarajevo Airport has already broken its all time passenger record by handling 628.878 travellers in the elapsed eleven months of the year. The figure represents growth of 15.4% on the same period last year since Sarajevo welcomed 580.058 passengers during all of 2012. This November, Istanbul maintained its position as the most frequent destination from the Bosnian capital with 25 weekly departures. It was followed by Vienna with twelve flights and Zagreb with eleven weekly flights.
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport also saw a jump in passenger numbers. The airport handled 251.047 passengers in November, an increase of 13.6% compared to the same month last year. The growth came as a result of Air Serbia boosting its passenger figures but also foreign carriers performing better than last year. The number of flight operations also increased from 3.255 last year to 3.629 in November 2013, or an increase of 11.5%. With 36 departures, Vienna was the most frequent route in November, followed by Podgorica with 29 and Munich (including Memmingen) with 24 weekly departures. Overall, Belgrade Airport has welcomed 3.275.897 passengers through its doors so far this year, an increase of 4.4% compared to the same period last year. As a result, Belgrade is on course to see its busiest year on record in 2013, despite a slow start to the year. In December the airport will see the launch of new destinations including Banja Luka, Prague, Bucharest, Ljubljana (Air Serbia), Sarajevo (B&H Airlines) and Geneva (Swiss International Air Lines).
Great news for Sarajevo and Belgrade! I wonder how ZAG and PRN did in November, and how PRN will do in December considering that Belle is now gone.
ReplyDeleteI think it's worth mentioning that the arrival of the fourth and fifth A319 will help further boost the airport's numbers. It seems that for the time being Air Serbia is keeping the Boeing aircraft and that they are not being directly replaced by the Airbuses.
ReplyDeleteStill, good results overall. Let's hope we manage to pass 3.500.000 this year.
I dont really get it. To boost numbers by putting A319 instead of B737 ?
DeleteAirSebia now has more than enough aircraft for the winter schedule, but not enough pilots for the airbus. So, it is normal to wait a bit before using A319 on the full capacity. I guess by the end of the year there would be enough AS pilots for those six A319...
It's JU, not AS. AS is Alaska, a U.S. based carrier.
DeleteWhat I meant is that older Boeing aircraft are not being retired as new Airbuses are introduced. In stead the airline is adding frequencies and expanding its network. They are growing in size which is good and it makes them more competitive. That's how they will be able to increase several destinations as of January 2014.
Besides pax numbers, BEG saw a huge increase in cargo, about 36% in October and around 20% in November. That should be mentionned as well (@ex-Yu). Thanks.
DeleteBEG goes over 3.5M for sure. They better start introducing some new features (restaurants, shops, showers, hotel) if they want to attract more transit passengers. This Dufry mumbo jumbo is a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they open that Serbian House thing some time ago? But I do agree with you.
DeleteFor all those who remember, I think Belgrade airport had more shops back in 2002-2006 when there were several shops in the C gate area. I think they should add at least one coffee shop as the two which are there now seem to be always full.
They are opening lots of branded stores like Victoria's Secret on Dec. 27
Deletelol seriously? Where will they be located? I guess they need more shops now when the airport will see more than 200.000 transit passengers per year.
Deletehttps://irs3.4sqi.net/img/general/width960/13226621_Aui2GaiY8GT5fGrQtQJ8p2mcRSar3We87Z49EB0sYSY.jpg
DeleteThanks for the picture. Is it close to the A4 gate?
DeleteNice about Victoria's Secret but yet another shot in the dark. Belgrade is not a 5* airport where people will use layover time for expensive shopping. In a small regional hub passengers want to refresh and perhaps buy something useful (accessory, souvenir, small gift). Having a decent fast food court and a coffee place like Starbucks/Costa is more important than fancy shops. Showers would be a huge plus, at least until a small airport hotel is built. They could also consider free WiFi as they will need to COMPETE for transit pax just as JU will - these people will not just fall into their terminals, they need to be ATTRACTED to do so. I love seeing BEG growing but their facility concept is totally wrong and repulsive to any passenger who ever saw how a hub looks like.
DeleteJU will probably fix T1 as they adjust it to their standards. Transit pax will mostly go through T1 anyway.
DeleteI might be wrong but Terminal 1 only includes the check-in areas, not the gates. Unless the last few airbridges are classified as terminal 1.
DeleteAnonymousDecember 3, 2013 at 12:31 PM
DeleteYou are totally right regarding free WiFI but many airports in Europe don't have it either. I am flying almost every month and i know flaws for many European airports, both in Turkey are awful, especially Ataturk, LHR are chaotic,ATH is dirty,in BEG functionality is main goal and they do that excellent! But for transit passengers BEG should to do much more.
Hmm I can't agree with your statement that Athens airport is dirty. I passed through the airport at least 30 times now and I never noticed it.
DeleteRegarding free internet, I know Frankfurt and Munich give you 30 minutes free. Larnaca, Budapest, Dubai and Warsaw are free and I think Vienna is too. I can't recall any others at this point.
In Athens you have 45 minute for free but then you just reconnect without the code.
As i said , ATH is dirty, i found shit flowing in restrooms...admin, please don't delete this
DeleteBEG is nice, clean, and very sophisticated airport regarding security checks and passport controls, people who work there are very professional... baggage comes quickly, only flaw is BEG doesn't have free WiFi
DeleteWell, that doesn't mean that the airport itself is dirty. It's not like they clean it every five minutes. Other parts of the airport are very clean, at least I found them to be.
DeleteI found Bucharest and Sheremetyevo airports rather dirty.
T1 is disaster, ruined, 1960's, part of roof missing. Corridor between T1 and T2 is like flee market.
DeleteParking and pathways to airport are in very bad condition. To walk there in hills is adventure.
And for sure BEG airport is far far away from clean!!!!!
BEG should follow the facility concept of AUH for obvious reasons... and AUH provides free, limitless WiFi :)
DeleteI do agree it is very functional and friendly for passengers who are not in transit but now it's time to start thinking how to handle potential 1M transit pax. And no, this does not mean more Dufry or owned-by-Dufry shops. This means some serious hub facility for transfer pax. Otherwise bitter reviews will start flooding the Internet very soon.
AnonymousDecember 3, 2013 at 2:55 PM
DeleteYou was not born when i parked my B727 at T1, it was the most beautiful airport terminal in the Europe, with murals and mosaics, fountain in the middle.do't bark, wait for improvements of T1, it is not first , fast sex after the party with the first drunk beer...this building is the monument of architectural art and one of the monuments of Belgrade, like Avala tower....
Nikola Tesla's future is undecided anyway. It is an easy privatization target. We'll see.
DeleteNikola Tesla is never mentioned as a possible company to be privatized because it's profitable. The government wants to get rid of the unprofitable companies.
DeleteBEG dirty? Seriously?
DeleteI absolutely can't agree with this. What we can say is that till two months ago, their "engineers" were terrible, you could see dirty hand marks on the wall, etc. But that it totally different story and it is not about airport being clean.
In last two months I can say that we can see clear change in "engineering" department as well.
Super expensive self service coffee is the disgrace of BEG! And Victoria's Secret is a welcome addition to very limited shopping options, especially given that they don't have a shop in the city yet. Starbucks can wait, we need a proper sit-down restaurant anywhere in the airport (ideally with the tarmac view)...
DeleteRegarding security, the simple fact that I need to pass X-ray twice makes it a bad design, no matter how nice people are - normally, I can catch a connecting flight with only 1 X-ray check (at origin)...
Incredible how many people comment here some thing that they are not really "up to date" with....
DeleteBEG airport has single X-ray for last three months at least...
Now scanning is only in front of the gate....
No it is not ideal, but getting better... lets hope that they will be able to get one scanning in front or just after passport control.
I was in BEG 10 days ago and it is disgrace how much trash is around terminal. It is much cleaner than rest of Belgrade that trash looks more like province bus station in Bulgaria than airport.
DeleteAnd, please, do paint that Caravelle, it is more than disgrace!
Yeah, would be good to share some picture as well ... let's see that trash... :)
DeleteBEG has a lot to do, sanity is not one of them... terminal, WC, are very clean...
Give me e-mail because there is no possibility to put pictures here, because I have lot of them... When you drive from highway to airport just look left and right and tell me what you see?
DeleteIt's such a shame the post office has been removed.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have the numbers for B&H Airlines and Air Serbia?
ReplyDeleteIn January 2014, Air Serbia will increase its Belgrade-Istanbul flights from current 4 to 6.
ReplyDeleteThat will bring the total weekly number of frequencies to 27, from the current 25.
17 - Turkish Airlines.
6 - Air Serbia
4 - Pegasus
In the same period Air Serbia will also increase Thessaloniki to daily and Athens to ten weekly.
From February 2014 it goes daily.
DeleteDirect Beijing Belgrade soon?
ReplyDeletewww.rts.rs/page/stories/ci/story/5/Економија/1460302/Ускоро+директна+авионска+линија+Београд+-+Пекинг%3F.html
It wont be AirSerbia, but still it would be awesome.
DeleteI think the best part of it all is that they will be adding gates for flights parked at remote stands. I guess that Wizz Air, easyJet and others will be parking either at B gates or the two new remote stands. I think that's really smart as the way they were boarding them until now was plan stupid.
DeleteIf this line does open then I am sure it will be either Hainan or China Southern with the B787. Anything else would be too much.
DeleteOr the A330 (any type) with the right feed from Air Serbia's network across Europe (in the case Hainan launches flights and enters a KE/OK type cooperation with Air Serbia) whose European presence is very limited since they stopped flights to BUD where they had a similar agreement with MA.
DeleteI don't think that JU will have interest for this as they fly China over AUH. Maybe some kind of code share would work, but I can't imagine which one.
DeleteEurope Airpost, B737-700, just took off from Belgrade. Did it bring the French handball team?
ReplyDeleteFifth Air Serbia A319 will enter regular service tomorrow (05.12).
ReplyDelete07.10 Berlin - A319
07.15 Copenhagen - A319
07.20 Podgorica - Atr 72
07.20 Zurich - B737-300
07.25 Paris - A319
07.25 Amsterdam - A319
07.35 Rome - A319
07.40 Stuttgart - B737-300
07.50 Vienna - Atr 72
Or more probably Etihad's A319, which would stay at BEG for more than 6 hours
DeleteNope, that's the Air Serbia A319 that was delivered last week. :)
DeleteIt's the fourth YU-APE, 1st YU-APC, 2nd A6-SAB, 3rd A6-SAA
DeleteI hope they are not adding Etihad aircraft because they had to retire one Boeing. :/
DeleteDoes anyone know what are the four Jat Boeing birds still flying?
YU-ANI // YU-ANJ // YU-ANV and I have no clue what's the fourth one.
YU-ANK.
DeleteBut at least 5 of them are flying! Officially 6, but according to the schedule 5 is minimum.
DeleteAnyone know what the 747 parked at Zagreb is their for?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing cargo. Seems like there is a large cargo aircraft at Zagreb at least once a month.
^ What airline?
ReplyDeleteNot sure, you could just make it out on the webcam. Looked like a 747-400F
Delete