Niš Constantine the Great Airport could add up to five new routes in 2017, following on from a record year. According to the mayor of Niš, Darko Bulatović, flights to Paris, Barcelona, Malta, Podgorica and Tivat are all being considered, as well as possible summer charters to Turkey. Mr Bulatović ruled out the possibility of additional new services being added by the end of the year, with exception to those already announced by Ryanair (Weeze, Bratislava and Bergamo), which will commence at the end of October. "By the end of this year a total of nine routes will be on offer from Niš Airport. We will see about next year. We are planning Paris, Barcelona and Malta, and we will try adding some flights to Montenegro. We are also in talks with our Turkish friends for assistance".
It was previously reported that local authorities had entered talks with Ryanair over a possible service to Malta. Earlier this month, Wizz Air announced plans to launch flights from Belgrade to the island nation in 2017, joining Air Serbia on the route. Authorities have also been in talks with the likes of easyJet, Eurowings, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Pegasus Airlines over the past few months. Meanwhile, the General Manager of Niš Airport, Vladica Djurdjanović, has once again ruled out the possibility of the national carrier, Air Serbia, introducing services from the south-east Serbian city. "Since Air Serbia is building a hub in Belgrade, I do not think it is commercially viable for them to fly to Niš. We have never insisted on it, because we would have to subsidise the losses. Air Serbia would never achieve profitability on this route", Mr Djurdjanović said.
Niš is trying to attract low cost carriers with its three euro charge for handling, landing and passenger services, a policy which has proven successful in drawing both Wizz Air and Ryanair to the once sleepy airport. Due to increased traffic and the planned arrival of new carriers, Niš Airport has recently begun tender procedures aimed at developing project documentation for the expansion of its passenger terminal. The airport is looking at expanding both check-in and security areas. Over the past eight months, Niš Airport handled a record 50.554 passengers compared to the 36.258 travellers handled during the whole of 2015.
What's the freaking obsession with Malta? You would think half of Serbia lives there the way they are going on about it...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNis has the potential with a terminal update to increase up to 1.5 milion and this will be the maximum
DeleteWhat planet are you from dude? No chance of that ever happening. INI will max out at about 250,000. There is no potential for legacy carriers, and only some 5-10 more potential routes for LLCs.
DeleteParis seems a logical choice. I'm surprised they haven't launched it before. Quite a lot pf people from east/south serbia lives around that area.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
DeleteWow well done INI. It is safe to say they will have over 100k this year.
ReplyDeleteSo nothing came from that interest by airlines other than Ryan and Wizz?
ReplyDeleteBravo Niš, excellent news!
ReplyDeleteWho do they expect to fly to Montenegro? Montenegro Airlines would have to be heavily subsidised just like Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteI live for the day a LCC is given a permit to fly between Serbia and Montenegro and end the 20 year YM/JU monopoly. Both would be crushed.
DeleteLCC can fly between ZAG and DBV or SPU today but are not interested. Same will happen with TGD and BEG one day.
DeleteWhy is that? I always wondered. Would have thought dbv-zag would have been of interest to someone.
DeleteToo short route for LCC
DeleteDosta Potencijala ima u ORY .
ReplyDeleteAli takodje bi veliki potencijal imao DS da leti ZRH-INI.
BCN mislim da bi jedino funkcionisala sa FR Sezonski.
A TGD i TIV da ce te letove obavljati YM a nebi bilo dobro za LCC da lete.
INN-NS
These look like FR routes to me.
ReplyDeleteEven though I was "pro Malta" all the way, I do not think it has enough pax for one more route to Serbia.
ReplyDeleteParis would work right away (most of the Serbs from France that I know are from the south).
Pegasus would work as well since it could attract people from N. Pazar region and gives you flexibility to travel to European cities (for example people from Belgrade use it to fly to AMS via Pegasus if it is significantly cheaper).
I would put Tivat as a seasonal only. The same for Podgorica.
Paris would also work not only as a gasterbeiter route, but also for Serbian tourists from the south-east. A lot of people would go on a weekend break to Paris if tickets were 50-100 EUR return.
DeleteI am afraid the purchasing power of the south is too low fir that..
DeleteThat's the point of LLCs, it's inexpensive to fly.
DeleteStockholm, LGW and Barcelona could all work for Norwegian from Niš.
ReplyDeleteForget about Barcelona already.
DeleteLGW and BCN would be much better for Norwegian from Belgrade. No direct competition (except seasonal at BCN) and potential for long haul connectivity at both airports.
DeleteOT: Teheran here we come... :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/svet.php?yyyy=2016&mm=09&dd=11&nav_id=1175369
Sounds great!
DeletePlus two unnamed destinations :) awesome :)
Delete"Teheran nudi i đački turizam" svasta procitas
DeleteAll the routes aerologic predicted are slowly unraveling...
DeleteMali said: "Ako budemo uspeli da uvedemo liniju do Pekinga, to će ojačati našu poziciju i onda bi linija do Teherana imala puni smisao"
DeleteBeijing-Belgrade route will be a boost for BEG-IKA? How? I can't imagine anyone flying PEK-BEG-IKA, those two routes are not related at all.
IKA would be good choice for transfer passengers
DeleteOvo su odlicne vesti i naravno dobro je sto ce konacno da se otvori linija IKA-BEG.
DeleteINN-NS
How did Mali and Kondic fly to THR?
Deletethe city govt delegation went with Turkish via Istanbul
DeleteYou mean they didn't even fly AS to IST??? Shame on the Serbian delegation!
DeleteOne of the unnamed destinations is MUC. Confirmed.
DeleteLots of Kosovar Albanians would use INI as well, especially if that new motorway is built. PRN is like BEG regarding fares, they are flaying passengers and airlines with their costs.
ReplyDeleteHow long does it take to drive from Prishtina to Niš now?
Delete3 euro per pax is very competitive. The nearest major airport in the region - SOF offers 4.5 euro per pax from their terminal 1
ReplyDeleteHow much is the fee at SKP?
DeleteLooks to me like the Serbian government is forcing Nis onto LCC in order for them to avoid BEG
ReplyDeleteCorrect.
DeleteThis is not good though for the city of Belgrade.
Not good for people from Vojvodina, as welll.
DeleteCompetition is the best way to advance. Unfortunately we're making protectionism which will kill in the end JU
DeleteNonsense, low cost airlines always choose cheaper option, in this case it's INI, way more cheaper than BEG, and airport choose fees, not government.
DeleteAnonymous at 1:30 PM
DeleteSure it does.
Just like JAT was ruled by its management...
Wizz is expanding at Belgrade.
Delete^^^
DeleteSerbia has an open skies agreement signed with the EU, meaning they cannot deny any carrier from flying to the EU. Nothing is stopping any airline from the EU is opening flights to Serbia.
The discounted taxes has finally attracted interest for which nobody until now without sudsidies didnt want to touch.
2017 looks good for Srbija. BEG will receive 2nd Wizz a/c and INI will see more LCC destinations. It was high time the country has 2 options instead of one. The southerners can now enjoy and fly directly from INI.
ReplyDeleteThe only "boring" thing is German destinations but I guess it´s because there are approx. 500 000 Serbs in Germany which is quite a lot!
Good luck to INI!!!
500000 serbs in Germany??? No way
Delete304,741 German nationals of Serbian ancestry (2014)
Delete197,984 Serbian nationals in Germany (2011)
Are they going to expand their facilities because INI is growing and at this rate they need a better terminal
ReplyDeleteHold your horses dude. The current terminal could use some upgrades, but there is still no need for a new one. Wait until INI reaches 200,000 (which I don't think will happen) then there could be talk of expanding the existing terminal.
DeleteRemember things can change fast at INI both in a positive & negative way.
Well the terminal looks outdated from the inside I looked on google images.
DeleteOT
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed in this months Air Serbia Elevate magazine that it is written than JU flies daily to MUC?
Although there is quite a few typing errors in this edition, it could be a hint of a new destination soon to come.
Could this be sign of things to come?
Delete