Niš Airport anticipates five new routes in 2017


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.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    What's the freaking obsession with Malta? You would think half of Serbia lives there the way they are going on about it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:32

      Nis has the potential with a terminal update to increase up to 1.5 milion and this will be the maximum

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:05

      What 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.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Paris 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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:09

    Wow well done INI. It is safe to say they will have over 100k this year.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:35

    So nothing came from that interest by airlines other than Ryan and Wizz?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:41

    Bravo Niš, excellent news!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:47

    Who do they expect to fly to Montenegro? Montenegro Airlines would have to be heavily subsidised just like Air Serbia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      I 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.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:56

      LCC can fly between ZAG and DBV or SPU today but are not interested. Same will happen with TGD and BEG one day.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:58

      Why is that? I always wondered. Would have thought dbv-zag would have been of interest to someone.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:28

      Too short route for LCC

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:47

    Dosta Potencijala ima u ORY .
    Ali 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

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:06

    These look like FR routes to me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10:28

    Even though I was "pro Malta" all the way, I do not think it has enough pax for one more route to Serbia.

    Paris 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:44

      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.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:30

      I am afraid the purchasing power of the south is too low fir that..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:53

      That's the point of LLCs, it's inexpensive to fly.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:19

    Stockholm, LGW and Barcelona could all work for Norwegian from Niš.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:59

      Forget about Barcelona already.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous01:47

      LGW 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.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:20

    OT: Teheran here we come... :)
    http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/svet.php?yyyy=2016&mm=09&dd=11&nav_id=1175369

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:27

      Sounds great!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:18

      Plus two unnamed destinations :) awesome :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:22

      "Teheran nudi i đački turizam" svasta procitas

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:34

      All the routes aerologic predicted are slowly unraveling...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:08

      Mali said: "Ako budemo uspeli da uvedemo liniju do Pekinga, to će ojačati našu poziciju i onda bi linija do Teherana imala puni smisao"

      Beijing-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.

      Delete
    6. IKA would be good choice for transfer passengers

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:36

      Ovo su odlicne vesti i naravno dobro je sto ce konacno da se otvori linija IKA-BEG.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:52

      How did Mali and Kondic fly to THR?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:49

      the city govt delegation went with Turkish via Istanbul

      Delete
    10. Anonymous23:41

      You mean they didn't even fly AS to IST??? Shame on the Serbian delegation!

      Delete
    11. Anonymous23:49

      One of the unnamed destinations is MUC. Confirmed.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:24

    Lots 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:43

      How long does it take to drive from Prishtina to Niš now?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:26

    3 euro per pax is very competitive. The nearest major airport in the region - SOF offers 4.5 euro per pax from their terminal 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:44

      How much is the fee at SKP?

      Delete
  14. Anonymous12:07

    Looks to me like the Serbian government is forcing Nis onto LCC in order for them to avoid BEG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:43

      Correct.
      This is not good though for the city of Belgrade.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:51

      Not good for people from Vojvodina, as welll.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:05

      Competition is the best way to advance. Unfortunately we're making protectionism which will kill in the end JU

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:30

      Nonsense, low cost airlines always choose cheaper option, in this case it's INI, way more cheaper than BEG, and airport choose fees, not government.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:15

      Anonymous at 1:30 PM
      Sure it does.
      Just like JAT was ruled by its management...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:58

      Wizz is expanding at Belgrade.

      Delete
    7. JATBEGMEL20:26

      ^^^

      Serbia 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.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous12:51

    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.
    The 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!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:03

      500000 serbs in Germany??? No way

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:28

      304,741 German nationals of Serbian ancestry (2014)
      197,984 Serbian nationals in Germany (2011)

      Delete
  16. Anonymous18:22

    Are they going to expand their facilities because INI is growing and at this rate they need a better terminal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:34

      Hold 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.
      Remember things can change fast at INI both in a positive & negative way.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous02:32

      Well the terminal looks outdated from the inside I looked on google images.

      Delete
  17. JATBEGMEL20:31

    OT

    Has 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:26

      Could this be sign of things to come?

      Delete

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