Podgorica has become the fastest growing capital city airport in the former Yugoslavia, edging past the previous title holder Skopje. It comes following a record third quarter for the Montenegrin airport which saw significant passenger growth that can be largely attributed to low cost carriers. Over the past two months, Wizz Air launched operations to Podgorica, while Ryanair introduced new flights to the city. As a result, the Montenegrin capital overtook its traditionally busier counterpart in Sarajevo last month and has now widened its lead from 3.906 passengers in August to 17.569 in September. During the first three quarters of 2016, Podgorica Airport handled 693.642 travellers, up 15.8%, and recorded 4.672 aircraft movements, an improvement of 9.2% on the same period last year.
EX-YU airport results, JAN - SEP 2016
| Airport | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | 3.810.517 | ▲ 1.1 |
| Zagreb | 2.127.658 | ▲ 6.7 |
| Split | 2.058.833 | ▲ 16.8 |
| Dubrovnik | 1.743.972 | ▲ 15.8 |
| Pristina | 1.349.880 | ▲ 10.9 |
| Skopje | 1.258.967 | ▲ 15.3 |
| Ljubljana | 1.078.333 | ▼ 5.0 |
| Tivat | 899.287 | ▲ 9.8 |
| Podgorica | 693.642 | ▲ 15.8 |
| Sarajevo | 676.073 | ▲ 8.7 |
Apart from Podgorica, a further thirteen airports in the former Yugoslavia recorded their busiest three quarters on record, including Belgrade, Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pristina, Skopje, Tivat, Sarajevo, Zadar, Tuzla, Ohrid, Niš and Brač. Belgrade Airport continues to maintain its position as the busiest in the former Yugoslavia. With its four-millionth passenger handled during October, the airport's General Manager, Saša Vlaisavljević, reiterated yesterday that the fifth-millionth traveller will be welcomed this year. Croatia's three busiest airports continued to post record numbers, with Split handling over two million passengers for the first time since opening its doors.
| Airport | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Zadar | 470.185 | ▲ 9.2 |
| Pula | 412.510 | ▲ 21.8 |
| Tuzla | 231.972 | ▲ 19.9 |
| Rijeka | 134.411 | ▲ 3.2 |
| Ohrid | 123.326 | ▲ 34.6 |
| Niš | 65.216 | ▲ 262.3 |
| Mostar | 47.910 | ▼ 27.6 |
| Osijek | 25.711 | ▲ 3.6 |
| Banja Luka | 17.247 | ▼ 5.1 |
| Brač | 11.814 | ▲ 37.3 |
| Maribor | 7.761 | ▼ 66.0 |
| Mali Lošinj | 6.067 | ▼ 50.2 |
Among smaller airports in the former Yugoslavia, Tuzla continued to see its passenger numbers grow over the nine month period, despite a drop in figures during the third quarter. The airport estimates handling between 305.000 and 308.000 passengers this year. Wizz Air will add flights from Tuzla to London Luton and Billund at the end of the week before basing a second aircraft and opening a handful of new routes from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest city in March 2017. Meanwhile, Niš continues to reap the benefits of being served by both Wizz Air and Ryanair. The airport has announced that a third carrier will commence operations, with details to be revealed soon, while Ryanair will hold a media briefing in the city this Thursday, although it is unclear whether this may involve the announcement of new routes.
2016 annual estimates made by airports
| Airport | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Belgrade | 5.000.000 |
| Split | 2.500.000 |
| Pristina | 1.800.000 |
| Tivat | 1.000.000 |
| Zadar | 500.000 |
| Tuzla | 305.000 |
| Rijeka | 140.000 |
| Niš | 100.000 |
As I expected, the difference between Podgorica and Sarajevo is getting bigger. It will keep getting bigger. Turkish will cut frequencies to SJJ this winter, Air Arabia will suspend flights, Swiss will end flights and Qatar has moved its flights till next year.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget Maribor, the record holder for doing absolutely nothing in the last (how many?) years. All the best to all hard working across ex yu airports.
DeleteThe funny thing is Sarajevo also has record numbers. It's just a very competitive year. Unless there is some massive fog again growth in December at Sarajevo should be huge because last year the airport was closed for a very long time.
DeleteMaribor vs Banja Luka, dead heat.
DeleteWell BNX is ahead as at least they have JU.
DeleteIn Maribor it is "nula koma Jozef".
Delete"Ryanair will hold a media briefing in the city this Thursday, although it is unclear whether this may involve the announcement of new routes."
ReplyDeleteI really hope they do but it might be too early for new routes. Which cities are left to launch?
Maybe Barcelona. They might be holding a press conference because of the start of Bratislava and Milan or there might be something more :)
DeleteThey always announced something new when they held conferences in Nis. Maybe BVA? CRL? Scandinavia?
DeleteWaiting for someone to say Malta :D
Deleteit's perfect timing for next summer time table. there are a few, like Paris, Stockholm, a few more in Germany (like FKB, HAM), seasonal flights to Greek islands, Italy and Spain
DeleteFingers crossed
DeleteMaybe they will also announce an increase in frequencies to some destinations like BTS or SXF? Maybe they will announce the opening of a base next summer. <3
DeleteWe need them also in BEG, JU is clueless and W6 has become extremely expensive.
I really hope we hear more new routes from INI on Thursday :)
DeleteHaha @ Malta... I don't understand the fascination with Malta and Spain... i think some people are wishing for something to be ablebto take that 'once in a lifetime' chance to go there... while there may be a diaspora there, it's not big enough to justify regular services IMHO.
DeleteBEG has a seasonal flight to BCN and Spanair was quite successful when they used to fly it before visas were abolished. The market seems to be there but neither Air Serbia or Vueling can serve it properly.
DeleteCongrats Podgorica. Who would have thought their growth would be bigger than Skopje this year :)
ReplyDeleteHopefully BEG can make it to 5 million. It will be a tight race but if they had 4.2 million at the end of October it is very possible.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible but they need stronger growth in November and December. November is the slowest month for the airport with exception to February. Last year they had just 299.000.
Deletei don't think it's possible. they must have at least 20-25% growth for the remaining three months in order to achieve 5 mil
DeleteNot to mention that JFK is being reduced and WAW suspended. Very few other destinations will see increases. Ok, 4.7 or 4.8 isn't bad.
DeleteNot true actually. JFK being reduced has no impact on last winter as there were no flights to JFK last winter whatsoever. So on top of new JFK flights, Hamburg and Larnaca were not served last winter which are served this winter. Also this winter there are additional frequencies to Milan, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Tirana.
DeleteAs for Warsaw, last winter LOT was not operating to Belgrade while this year it is.
Also, last winter there were no Isair and Arkia flights.
JFK reduction was mentioned as reduced forecast for growth.
DeleteAlso the additional flights to TLV were suspended so it's teh same as last year.
Also LO will operate the E70 while JU operated its A319
The additional flight to TLV is still in the system...
DeleteThe one Fridays will not happen, inside info. The issue is that almost all a/c will be going for a c check.
DeleteSomeone mentioned Air Serbia would make announcement with one or two surprises close to the end of the month, around third birthday. When is that announcement going to happen?
DeleteIt was speculation by someone here because tomorrow is Air Serbia's third anniversary but no announcements are planned.
DeleteThere won't be even a party or anything... no one feels like partying anyway, most employees are demoralized from all the mobing.
DeleteIf you are unhappy with your job you leave. There are thousands of others willing to take it.
DeleteNot really, there aren't that many anymore since pretty much anyone knows what working for JU is like. Why do you think Dutina left?
DeleteWhere did she go?
DeleteOtišla je tamo gde su otišli i svi ostali, na neko bolje mesto. Samo se zapitajmo zašto nemamo u firmi komercijalnog direktora već preko dve godine.
DeleteBtw, BEG will see double digit growth this month.
DeleteJAN-SEP 2017
ReplyDelete1. BEG
2. SPU
3. ZAG
:)
Very possible
DeleteAt the end of the year diferance will be 0,5 million passengers.
DeleteEven if SPU will have next year 16% more pax and ZAG 6% it will still be to far away. It should go like that for 3 years to make SPU better than ZAG.
with Tivat we will have another ex-Yu airport with 1mil+ passangers.
ReplyDeleteYes looks like we will have 8 airports over 1 million passengers by the end of the year which is a first I think.
DeleteIn total they handled 16,3 million passengers. That's almost one million more than last year!
ReplyDeleteAnd of that 6.9 million by Croatian airports.
DeleteSerbia with its 5.225.613 isn't too far behind, especially as winter months approach.
DeleteGood result for both countries.
DeleteSerbia? How 5.225.613 passengers? Please forget Priština. Adding Priština Airport doesn't make sense anymore.
DeleteUnknown, it sure does and until we see Kosovo in the UN the number 5.225.613 makes absolute sense.
DeleteAnd Nis is not serbia?
DeleteSo after your opinion also with Taiwan, not member of UN, which is got its own civil aviation, must be added to P.R. China civil aviation figures?
DeleteWell their biggest airline is called China Airlines so..
DeleteCroatia will have 8,5 million pax at the end of the year.
DeleteAre there still airports in ex-yu which have not surpassed their pre breakup numbers?
ReplyDeleteThere are still a few. I think Pula still hasn't overtaken its pre-1990 record.
DeleteHow many passengers did Sarajevo handle during the 84 Olympics?
DeleteSarajevo 1984
Delete284.000
Thanks. Wow I would have thought there would have been much more. But it depends what was the standard number of passengers at SJJ at the time in 1983 for example.
DeleteAs someone who was around for bot Sarajevo Olympics in 1984 and Vancouver recently I can say that from the standpoint of visitors those are two totally different things. World has changed big time in last 30 years.
DeleteCroatia doing a great job, the airports, I mean, not the carrier ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm just hoping that the carrier's problems won't affect the airports. OU's DBV-FCO suspension this winter will definitely impact on DBV.
DeleteI doubt it because DBV-FRA is being introduced in place of FCO.
DeleteMaribor I-IX = 7.761 (-66%)
ReplyDeletePortoroz I-IX = 20.536 (+2%)
Source: vecer.si / skyscrapercity.com
Where is the traffic coming from at Portoroz? I know they had a few flights between Belgrade and Zurich this summer but it can't have contributed that much. Does Portoroz have summer charters?
DeleteLots of GA movements.
DeleteThanks. Were there ever schedule passenger flights at Portoroz?
DeleteNope, just charters and general aviation. :)
DeleteDidn't JAT operate BEG-POW on a sceduled basis with their ATR72? With load restrictions?
DeleteHaplek
They did and the loads were abysmal. Around 10 passengers per flight.
DeleteBosnian airports year end 2016:
ReplyDeleteSARAJEVO
October: 72.000
November: 50.000
December: 45.000
TOTAL 2016: 843.079 +9,07%
--------------------------------------------------
TUZLA
October: 26.000
November: 23.000
December: 25.000
TOTAL 2016: 305.972 +18,10%
-------------------------------------------------
MOSTQR
October: 5.000
November: 500
December: 1.200
TOTAL 2016: 54.610 -27,20%
-------------------------------------------------
BANJA LUKA
October: 1.700
November: 1.100
December: 1.200
TOTAL 2016: 21.242 -6,83%
-------------------------------------------------
Why has there been such a decline in Mostar? Fewer charters this year?
DeleteTypo MOSTAR
DeleteYes, fewer charters to Italy, BH Airlines had good amount of charter flights from/to Mostar as it did fro Banja Luka (regular flights to ZRH and charters to TIV).Mostar needs Ryanair ASAP, flights could be sold for Dalmatian coast since Split airport is mess during summer months, but again, in Bosnia everything is politics and local politicians are blocking any development of regular flights from Mostar in favor of airports in Croatia. Very, very sad reality of this country!
DeleteMostar is perfect for Ryanair (considering Wizz is in Tuzla it would make a good balance). But I get what you are saying about politics. Hopefully something changes.
Delete"local politicians are blocking any development of regular flights from Mostar in favor of airports in Croatia". U svakoj normalnoj drzavi lokalni politicari bi sve cinili da razvijaju svoju drzavu i da je dobro izgrade sto se tice infrastrukture. Tu su ceste, avioindustrija, pruge, more i tako dalje. Zamisli eto, ja budem u Svedskoj vec 23 godina, kad bi svedski lokalni i drzavni politicari blokirali svaki napredak Svedske sto se tice infrastrukture u pocast Danske ili Norveske. Kad bi politicari u Malmö ili u Karlstad (blizo Norveske) blokirali razvoj regija zbog Danske i Norveske.
DeleteOvdje bi politicari odma platili glavom i rekli bi im gradani par stvari, a dole narod je kao paraliziran i samo proguta sve sto politicari urade i kazu.
A ponasanje bosanski politicara, u ovom slucaju hrvatski, pa to je bolest mentalna.
Jedina mentalna bolest je religija koja još bosnu drži pod okupacijom a 24% bošnjakistan može svoje zračne luke razvijati kako se njima prohtije, kao da je ikoga i briga
DeleteZračna luka Mostar - sav promet ide preko Splita i Dubrovnika
DeleteMeđugorje - manje prijavljenih noćenja od Gornje Maoče
A bezbroj sportaša iz Hercegovine koji dižu medalje a za BIH ne žele ni čuti...
Bolest mentalna :)
Nije mjesto ovdje za politiku, a to sto ne vole BiH, to je zbog politicara koji su njih a i njihove roditelje punili sa svojom robom i nazalost nova generacija se uci od roditelja ono sto su roditelji naucili takoder. Ali nemoj da kvarimo diskusiju.
DeleteDa, ma pusti 24% ovo ili ono, jedna je drzava Bosna i Hercegovina. Ali da, bosnjaci su svoje aerodrome (Sarajevo i Tuzla) izgradili i zajedno cine absolutni broj putnika u BiH. Mostar nema redovni letova, samo carter letova dok bude Medugorje nesto sto zanima turiste a Banja Luka koja pokriva cijelu Bosansku Krajinu, mnoge protjerane bosnjake i hrvate i cak sve do Zagreba ima samo let za Beograd tri puta sedmicno.
Znaci drugi grad u BiH nije sposoban nesto izgraditi sto se tice kompanija i letova. Bas nista nisu pocinili da dovedu barem Ryanair ili WizzAir, kad su imali ponudu od madara rekli su "oni zele samo uzeti a malo dadnu nama" dok Air Serbia moze dobiti koliko god para hoce samo da leti pola praznog propelera.
Recice neko, da je Beograd Frankfurt (tri puta sedmicno JFK), ali bolje da su kontaktirali BMI Regional koji ima saradnju sa Lufthansa i da su oni uveli 1 ili 2 leta dnevno za Frankfurt sa mogucnost za dobre transfer veze. Ali dok vidis direktora "Aerodromi Republike Srpske" (centar korupcije) vidis da nema svi konja u stali.
Kroz 23% BiH ("Bosnjakistan") proslo je 2015 godine 1 031 978 putnika. Nije lose, rekao bi da je bolje nego u manjem entitetu koji je eto 49% drzave BiH.
DeleteDzaba ti ako je 98% prostor, ako nisi sposoban privuci i dovesti neku ili nekoliko kompanija.
Tuzla ce imati oko 14 destinacija uskoro i Sarajevo jednu desetak ima a eto Mostar samo carter i da ponovim Banja Luka jedino Beograd. Ipak bi mozda susjedi unutar drzave trebali malo nauciti od komsija. :-)
24% Bosnjakistan izdominirao separatistanski ostatak BiH. Mene bi sramota bilo da sam iz ostalih 56% :)
DeletePodgorica is the quiet achiever this year. Not a lot of fuss but really good growth.
ReplyDeleteHypothetically, how many passengers do you think Yugoslavia would be handling today had it stayed in one piece? (P.S this is not intended to be political, just interested in your projections)
ReplyDeleteToo big differences SFRY just could not stay alive!
DeleteA fair question, anon. 12.23. Anon. 15.31: EU is even more different, but they stick together.
DeleteProbably at least 50% more passengers, maybe two or three times the number. The standard would be much better in all former republics, business travel probably several times higher, tourism much higher, especially in Croatia.
EU is not a country nor a communist federation. Its a union without borders. Its still very very different.
DeleteOf course it is. But EU also has many critics and skeptics. Luckily, nobody is prepared to go to war there. I guess the assumption of the question was what would happen with airline traffic if there was a peaceful transition from socialism and if Yugoslavia survived or peacefully dissolved and former republics remained in friendly relations.
DeleteIt would have entered EU in 2004 the latest, if not before.
Croatia reached, for example, only few years ago the tourist numbers from the late 1980s. That are 20-25 lost years, with huge traffic permanently lost. Now imagine additional growth if it joined EU 2004 or before. It had to build the national airline from the scratch. And Croatia fared much better than most other republics. The permanent loss of potential traffic in Serbia, Macedonia, and especially Bosnia is huge.
If Yugoslavia was still one country and there was no war nor sanctions, Yugoslavia would most likely be the most developed East European country after transitioning the economy. More developed than the Czech Republic or Poland or the Baltics.
DeleteConsidering how competitive BEG was against airports such as VIE, ATH, IST during the 1980s, plus the aspirations that JAT had during the late 80s, I think BEG could hypothetically easily carry around 15-20 million annually today. ZAG around 5-6 million and the remaining republic capitals would all have 2-3 million. DBV and SPU would be major tourist destinations and I think each would be approaching 8-9 million.
Interesting read:
ReplyDeleteNajnovije analize rađene na niškom aerodromu "Konstantin Veliki" pokazuju da od ukupnog broja putnika koji je do sada leteo skoro 80% čine putnici iz Srbije. Zanimljiv je podatak da je nekih 7% putnika iz Makedonije i Bugarske, a oko 15% čine strani turisti. Ove podatke prezentovao je direktor aerodroma Vladica Đurđanović na skupu posvećenom otvaranju aerodroma "Ponikve" kod Užica.
Najveći broj putnika iz Srbije čine stanovnici Niša i Južne Srbije 22,36%, zatim slede Istočna Srbija 16,1%, Kosovo i Metohija 14,9%, Centralna Srbija 12,9%, a zanimiljivo je reći da ,iako svega 5,9%, čine i stanovnici Zapadne Srbije, Beograda i Vojvodine.
Ovako jeftine letove iz Niša ne koriste samo građani Srbije, već deo njih u manjem broju dolazi iz Makedonije i Bugarske. Zanimljivo je reći da oko 15% putnike iz Niša čine stranci odnosno najveći broj njih dolazi ovde radi turizma(80,4%) pre svega, dok je svega 20% stranaca koristi postojeće letove iz Niša radi posla u ovom delu Srbije.
Kada je reč o strukturi srpskih putnika, skoro pa udedljivo najveći broj putnika sa Kosova i Metohije njih 14,9% od ukupnog broja putnika letove iz Niša koristi 89,7% radi povezivanja sa dijasporom, a oko 10,3% to čini radi poslovnih obaveza. Jake veze sa dijasporom povezujući se preko Niša ostvaruju i putnici iz Istočnog i Centralnog dela Srbije sa skoro 79,1% odnosno 70% udela, dok je svega po 11,5% to turizam i 9,4% posao odnosno 18,8% turizam 9,7% posao.
Aerodrom "Konstantin Veliki", stanovnici Niša i ovog dela Srbije koriste nešto više od 57,3% letove radi povezivanja sa dijasporom, a skoro 28,8% koristi radi obilaska neke destinacije odnosno 13,9 %poslovnih obaveza.
Iako svega 5,9% od ukupnog broja putnika koji koriste povoljne letove, putnici iz Beograda i Vojvodine koriste 37,7% letove kako bi se povezali sa dijasporom odnosno turističke posete odnosno 27,5% poslovne obaveze.Zapadna Srbija sa istim udelom u ukupnom broju putnika, letove iz Niša pre sve koristi radi povezivanja sa dijasporom 68,4%, turistički to je 5,2%, dok poslovno to iznosi 26,4%.
Veoma zanimljivi su podaci o putnicima iz Makedonije i Bugarske ,iako oni čine svega 7% od ukupnog broja putnika iz Niša. Putnici iz Makedonije više od 92,2% njih ostvaruju veze sa dijasporom, a skoro 7,8% putuju zbog posla. Za razliku od Makedonaca, Bugari iako ih ima u malom broju na letovima iz Niša, njih više od 73,7% putuje radi posla u inostranstvu, dok je 26,3% njih turistički posećuje Evropu.
https://flyfromnis.blogspot.rs/2016/10/cela-srbija-leti-iz-nisa-skoro-80-od-ukupnog-broja-putnika-cine-stanovnici-nase-zemlje.html
Interesting that Macedonians are using it. Iwonder which routes we are talking about.
DeleteHow long is a bus ride between Nis and Sofia, Skopje or Pristina?
DeleteNis - Sofia is only 2-3 hours by car (depending on the border), but almost 5 hours by bus because it stops in Pirot and Dimitrovgrad and spends more time at the border. To make things worse, there are only 2 buses per day.
Deleteit's quite surprising that Bulgarians use Niš.......considering the low prices in SOF and the multiple frequencies and LCC there
DeleteOT ASL-MGX code-share and large cooperation ? Tomorrow is W16-4 days.
ReplyDeleteNadam se da ce BEG preci naredne godine 5,2 Mil pax sa novim linijama i novim Aviokompanijama.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
Would Zadar hit the 500k this year?
ReplyDeleteIt has few days ago.
DeleteGreat results for ExYu A/D.Montenegro is very interesting:nearly 1.6M pax (both a/d-results from SEP16)..cca 3pax per capita(Only China & India have similar statistics)
ReplyDeletePalma de Majorca airport last year 24 million passengers more than all ex yu all together.
ReplyDeleteIt is only small island in Med.