Pristina Airport’s decline continues

Pristina Airport’s passenger numbers suffer strong decline

Pristina Airport has seen its passenger numbers plummet as it continues to feel the effects of Belle Air Europe’s demise. Once its busiest customer, Belle Air Europe suspended operations in late November last year and has since declared bankruptcy. Pristina Airport is yet to recover despite introducing a range of subsidies and benefits to airlines operating flights to the Kosovan airport. During the first five months of the year, Pristina welcomed 500.782 passengers through its doors, a decrease of 18.6% compared to the same period last year. The airport shed some 114.163 passengers when compared to the first five months of 2013 and did not manage to surpass 100.000 passengers per month during the first three months of the year. In contrast, the airport did not dip below the 100.000 mark during any month last year.

On March 27, Pristina Airport introduced its new route development incentive to spur interest among airlines to launch destinations which have not been served from the city for at least twelve months. Those airlines willing to operate flights to new routes are now exempt from landing fees for the first year and will enjoy a 50% discount in their second year of operations. The additional frequency incentive hopes to encourage airlines to add additional frequencies to their existing schedules. Airlines operating at least one additional frequency have been freed of landing fees for one year. Carriers which have handled over 50.000 passengers from Pristina last year are now eligible for financial support. Pristina Airport will provide 25.000 euros to airlines which handled between 50.001 - 100.000 passengers last year (Austrian and Pegasus Airlines) and 200.000 euros to airlines carrying between 100.001 - 200.000 travellers (Germanwings, Adria Airways, Turkish Airlines, Darwin Airline, Germania, easyJet and Endelweiss). Airlines that handle over 200.000 passengers will be provided with financial assistance ranging from 300.000 euros onwards. Finally, airlines which have an average load factor of less than 50% on their flights to and from Pristina are now cleared of landing fees for a year. In addition, Pristina Airport will provide support for marketing and promotion. However, airlines have not been so eager to launch flights to Pristina this summer, despite the market void left by Belle Air Europe.

Pristina Airport has held the title of third busiest in the former Yugoslavia for several years and has been a star performer in the region. Last October, the airport, run by a Franco-Turkish consortium, opened a brand new multi million euro terminal. However, the airport will have to pick up its game this summer otherwise it risks being overtaken by Split Airport which anticipates growth of 4%-5% by the end of the year. Furthermore, Ljubljana Airport is also catching up. During the first five months of 2014, Slovenia’s busiest airport handled 443.303 passengers. Pristina Airport welcomed 1.628.678 travellers in 2013, 275.814 of which were carried by Belle Air Europe until its demise on November 27.


MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN90.553 24.4
FEB83.154 18.7
MAR97.293 22.9
APR114.757 14.6
MAY115.025 13.3

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:46

    Those are bad numbers. They should get their act together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:12

    a usual day at AirSerbia:
    JU 826
    BEIRUT 23:40 (21.07.) 01:35 C3 Airbus A320 Одлетео у 01:35
    JU 656
    MOSCOW 23:40 (21.07.) 01:05 C1 Airbus A319 Одлетео у 01:23
    JU 800
    ABU DHABI 23:55 (21.07.) 00:40 C2 Airbus A319 Одлетео у 00:50
    JU 506
    LARNACA 00:00 00:20 C4 Airbus A319 Одлетео у 00:33
    JU 166
    SKOPJE 00:25 01:10 A4A ATR 72 Одлетео у 01:19
    JU 526
    THESSALONIKI 00:35 02:35 A4B ATR 72 Одлетео у 02:41
    JU 516
    ATHENS 00:45 01:30 A3 Airbus A319 Одлетео у 01:42

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35

      a usual day could happen anywhere in small airlines. Stop trolling.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:39

      The same situation right now is in Aurora Airlines in Russia. They have catastrophiс delays, cause one or two Airbuses broke down.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:40

      Stvarno su bre smorili sa kasnjenjima!Dokle vise!?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:11

      Nemaju pametnija posla u zivotu... :)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:33

      What's the big deal... go and check Turkish Airlines' departures between 12.00 and 13.00 and you will see that only two flights left on time, one was cancelled, two were heavily delayed and the other just delayed, around 20 minutes.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:00

      Zakasnjenja su sasvim normalna stvar koja se desava u letnjoj sezoni. Naravno da nije lako postici tacnost poletanja na svakoj liniji u nedostatku aviona sa obzirom da 2 A319 AirSerbia nisu jos u saobracaju. Odrzavanje jeste problem ali se on resava u hodu.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:11

      Problem je što Air Serbia kasni svaki dan i više od pola letova. Naravno da ima kašnjenja i drugdje ali nitko ne kasni sa pola letova svakodnevno. Nitko!

      Delete
    8. U pravu si potpuno ali imam drugaricu koja radi na Aerodromu BEG, cekaju se tranzitni putnici i avioni ne polecu dok god se ne sakupe svi iz tranzita, to je politika kompanije bazirana na tranzitnin putnicima. Na BEG se ubise od posla, haos je u tranzitu.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:06

      Не чекају се трансферни путници већ трансферни багаж пошто се аеродром распада.

      Delete
  3. They don't care and obviously someone esle will be paying for the damages. It's a shame how they treat their guests! Sorry but I am not going to use their services until this improves ... No place to compare the to be best airline in the Balkans with some Aurora (no name airline in Russia!). JU can't even dispatch the morning wave of flights on time so what to expect from flights scheduled in the second part of the day .... the recepe is pretty easy; get it fixed or fire someone!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:40

      Ok, Adria. The same shit. Common slavic practice.
      Those companies are so small, that if something go out of plan- the rest goes +2 hours in timetable.
      If you want to fix it, you need to have a fleet of 30 aircraft, not 15, and normal engeneering division, which is not fully established yet in AS.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:14

      Do not use it, and problem solved.
      But stop crying everyday here :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:20

      Vreme u Beogradu je jutros bilo gadno, kasnilo je sve i svasta a izmedju ostalog i ASL

      Delete
    4. D.R.14:28

      Ano. 12:14 ...do you think this will solve the problem and everyone will be happy and JU will be a success? Open your horizons and start looking at the big picture rather than trying to minimize this ongoing issue! If resolved then Ju can be a success othervise the future is not too bright

      Delete
  4. Anonymous11:36

    Today A320 flies to Split!!!
    How are the loads for Croatian coast?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:08

      No very good. 69% LF to SPU, 64% to DBV.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:09

      No=not

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:16

      No true LF is around 95% these days

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:35

      Juče 100 pax za SPU, 101 u povratku na 733, danas 74 pax u odlasku, 70 na povratnom letu, i to na a320.
      Večeras startuje APJ za SVO.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:52

      95% hahaha... I know exact data, I work there. In last 30 days it was 69%. Of course you can say whatever you want. But "ako leže koza ne leže rog". And you can delete even this comm like from that guy several days ago who put all Air Serbia routes will very low LF. And then you will have perfect company with 99% LF which will be profitable till end of this year. Virtually!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:40

      And why exactly this loadfactor makes you so happy? Do you get a salary bonus if JU's loadfactor is below 70%? Your words are amazingly triumphant, joy and happiness burst between them, yet I cannot really figure out how this small piece of data provides such a massive source of life energy to you. Would you tell?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:16

      95% kaze kristalna kugla i tarot

      Delete
    8. Anonymous23:14

      No, problem is that someone is trying to make results much better that they are. And they are more than modest.

      And to make “Perfect company” on lies is at least bisanstizm.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous01:54

      Bisantizm? Dear God, you should get worried about your state of mind definately!

      Delete
    10. Nikola08:21

      like i mentioned earlier, JU needs a plane between ATR and A319/320 (80-100 seats). you can clearly see that there are routes for which ATR is small and 319 large

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:26

      I was flying yesterday with A-320 to Split. The plane was half full.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous00:07

    JU announces suspension of their flights bound to TLV forthe next 24 hours. Suspension started just now at midnight.

    ReplyDelete

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