Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has registered its busiest October on record with 438.980 passengers handled during the month. The figure represents growth of 9.3% on 2015. The number of aircraft movements also improved from last year's 4.870 to 5.098 this October, up 4.7%. During the month, the airport welcomed its four-millionth passenger of the year. Furthermore, the volume of processed cargo grew 19%. The management expects for the five million passenger mark to be reached for the first time in history by year's end. Overall, the airport handled 4.249.497 passengers over the past ten months, an increase of 1.9% on the same period last year.
The airport anticipates for numbers to continue growing into November with a stronger winter season expected. The number of flights will increase 5% during the 2016/17 winter season which began on Sunday. A total of 22 airlines will maintain operations to 55 destinations. Apart from Air Serbia, which has boosted its flight offering compared to last winter, LOT Polish Airlines will operate an additional three weekly flights, while Swiss International Air Lines, Alitalia, Flydubai and TAROM will run an extra weekly service to the Serbian capital compared to last year. In addition, Wizz Air will run another weekly flight to London Luton Airport during the first half of the winter season and will continue to maintain services to Baden Baden which were launched this summer. Etihad Airways will boost capacity on its flights to Belgrade with all services to be maintained with the Airbus A320 aircraft (instead of the A319). Arkia Israeli Airlines and Isair will operate seasonal flights between Tel Aviv and the Serbian capital this winter.
On the financial front, Belgrade Airport has also seen its figures improve. During the first three quarters, it registered a net profit of nineteen million euros, an increase of 13% compared to the same period last year. Revenues stood at 54.4 million euros. The solid financial results come as the airport continues its privatisation process. It is expected to be either sold or put up for concession by mid-2017 with the latter being the more liklier option. Fraport, Vinci, Bouygues Bâtiment International, China's Friedmann Pacific and two companies from the United Arab Emirates are believed to have shown interest in the possible concession.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 290.580 | ▼ 5.8 |
| FEB | 266.660 | ▲ 0.5 |
| MAR | 313.174 | ▼ 0.7 |
| APR | 365.335 | ▼ 4.2 |
| MAY | 416.332 | ▲ 2.5 |
| JUN | 460.020 | ▼ 0.3 |
| JUL | 589.159 | ▲ 4.3 |
| AUG | 590.292 | ▲ 2.7 |
| SEP | 519.376 | ▲ 5.6 |
| OCT | 438.980 | ▲ 9.3 |
They need another 750503 passengers to make it 5 million. I think it will be quite difficult. November might be 320000, December 330000.
ReplyDeleteYou might be right for your estimate of November figures. But completely wrong for December.
DeleteHmm they need an additional 160.000 passengers in order to reach five million. Don't know if it's doable given that both November and December are relatively slow months.
ReplyDeleteI hope that W17 might see JU have a stronger winter timetable, this one is rather weak.
Next year the airport will easily handle 5.5 million passengers thanks to Wizz Air's additional aircraft.
and I hope there will be some nice surprises along the way next year too :)
DeleteBEG should work to get some European legacy carriers. British Airways and Air France used to fly to BEG a couple of years ago, as did SAS. They should try and attract one of those.
ReplyDeleteSAS was ludicrously expensive out of BEG. I am not surprised they failed.
DeleteAre you referring to SK being expensive or their failed LCC Snowflake airline that flew to BEG some 10, 12 years ago?
DeleteNo need for SAS. BA ok, if not from LHR, and AF, if not from CDG. A Spanish or Portuguese airline would be nice, however.
DeleteIt would be nice if Air France would connect Belgrade with Lion or Nice. The connections to Ireland, England other than London are also missing.
DeleteSK from CPH would make sense as they could offer connections, not just to Scandinavia but to North America as well.
DeleteA daily CRJ-900 could perform well, especially now with cheap petrol.
Nemjee do you have any more information about Norweigan and their plans for BEG? I remember a few months ago you said they had some bigger plans for this region.
DeleteLYS should really be an option but doubt it interest AF to fly to BEG
DeleteAnon 12.38
DeleteNo idea, that's what they had in their presentation a few months ago. My guess is that they were considering BEG for their transatlantic flights but then decided against it because of JU's JFK ops.
Who knows... they seem to be expanding really fast so we might see BEG linked with some other bases they operate from.
They would need approximately 25% growth in order to reach 5 million mark.
ReplyDeleteThey need in the last two months about 750.000 pax. Last year, in November and December BEG handled 606.000 pax.
They'll miss it by 40-50.000 pax... Too bad
Next year it has to happen unless something goes terribly wrong
23.8% to be exact
DeleteWizz Air, Transavia and that potential Chinese airline will help numbers next year.
ReplyDeleteAs for 5 million, I think they will just miss it, like the person said above.
Air Serbia screwed them over early on in the year.
ReplyDeleteIt's also the reason they recorded growth later on in the year ;)
DeleteJU was one of the reasons, foreign carriers recorded good results. Wizz also introduced Baden
DeleteAir Serbia has to care about itself, not about the airport numbers.
DeleteWhich is why the airport must work hard on bringing as many new carriers as it can as it needs to take care 'about itself, not about JU numbers.'
DeleteAnd to get more PAX...you can have as much carriers as you want...but first PAX must be attracted to use the airport.
DeleteFrom 01.01.2016 it has become much more attractive since JU's special treatment ended, we got another W6 A320, charters from Israel and Transavia. :)
DeleteBroj putnika će preći 5mil garantovano pošto po dati podataka za decembar koja renutno stoji, brojke pokazuju preko 500.000. Također se očekuje određeni broj čarter letova koji treba da se objave u narednih par sedmica i povećaju ti cifru na preko 5 mil.
DeleteYou do realize that in December 2015 the airport welcomed 307.079 passengers so if what you are saying is true then they will welcome an additional 200.000 passengers this December. I highly doubt that's true or even remotely possible without many, many new routes and seats being added LAST MINUTE.
DeleteNe lupaj, sa oko 65% LF preko zime nije to neki problem ako ima ko bi leteo.
DeleteTi ne lupaj, nemas pojma šta pises
Deleteiskulirajte
Delete55 destinations is not bad for an airport its size.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if in the coming years we might see a true battle for Germany between Eurowings and Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteW6 has built quite a network out of BEG and I am sure LH will not just let them take it all for themselves.
Of course, I don't see EW expanding in Serbia before they fully consolidate their operations. Once they do I could see them launch Berlin and Dusseldorf flights in addition to their current, random STR flights.
Even with great October numbers, the growth in 2016 has not reached 2% yet. It needs to be 5% by the end of the year to reach 5 million. That means at least 24% growth in both November and December. Either there is some big surprise, or the BEG director is utterly irresponsible or uninformed.
ReplyDeleteDon't see what kind of surprise there could be so I think he is just uninformed. I do think though they will have 10% growth both months.
DeleteI am not sure if 5,5 million will be achieved in 2017. Yes, Wizz will base a 2nd aircraft but the routes begin in mid 2017 and 1 aircraft cannot bring that much traffic. My personal predictions:
ReplyDelete2016: 4,85 million
2017: 5,2 million
BEG needs more new destinations: only 5 so far in 2017. New carriers: Mistral Air, Dniproavia, El Al, Iberia.
The good news is that VY will fly until end of Oct 2017 so maybe Barcelona FINALLY becomes year-round destination.
W6's second A320 will bring around 400.000 to 450.000 additional passengers in 2017.
DeleteW6 in their Best year with two aircrafts had 480.000
DeleteI don't see how a single plane can bring almost half a million. If that was the case, and each JU plane brought 400.000 then the BEG would have almost 10 million pax
Wizz Air brought BEG about 400.000 when they had one based aircraft in the very beginning, I think in 2010 or so.
DeleteWizz has a LF of over 90% on all their routes operated by high density A320s.
JU has an average LF of 72% on all of its flights mostly operated by the A319s and Atrs which have much less seats.
Atr has 66/70 in economy
A319 has 118 in economy
A320 has 139 in economy
Wizz Air A320 has 174 seats
Wizz's A320 has 180 seats. There are 230 on the A321.
DeleteThank you last anon!
DeleteEl Al? Iberia?
DeleteAre you serious?
El Al could work.
DeleteLY to BEG...where you received that info?
Deleteits his wishlist
DeleteZ6 can definitely work out. They started with both OTP & SOF with few flights per week and now they are almost doubled. Remember VV flying to BEG? There is always demand on BEG-KBP.
DeleteIB might work too and JU can code-share as they have a HUGE market to Latin America.
LY - yes, because Israelis visit the Balkans and can transfer via BEG.
Mistral are doing super good in TIA, BEG definitely needs more connections to Italy > Sicilia, Sardinia, Puglia >> BGY,PSA, CTA, BRI, TSF (might be tricky because of LJU) and so on.
&AnonymousNovember 2, 2016 at 10:08 AM
Delete"Air Serbia cabin seat configuration
Atr has 66/70 in economy
A319 has 118 in economy
A320 has 139 in economy"...
Correct figures are
A319 8J/120Y
A320 8J/147Y
B733 8J/126Y or 144Y.
In terms of renovations I would like to see the area outside of terminal two arrival updated. Once you exit the terminal, and after running the illegal taxi gauntlet, you have to push your cart up a incline of some 20-30 metres to reach the parking lot. This can be difficult if you have 2-3 or more pieces of luggage. The pavement is also uneven and when it rains you don't see the pot holes. Very bad first impression for visitors to Serbia. The least they could do is repave that pathway. Not a big investment, just better organization is needed.
ReplyDeleteFully agree with you! I am sure her majesty Mrs Mihajlovic will pave it properly as she does with all the highways in Serbia however don't be surprised if your cart gets stuck somewhere along the stretch of road (they had issues with paving the tunnels on the new highway#11 )))
DeleteI hear you brotha. This is a pet peeve of mine for many years. I don't think they have touched this area in 10-15 years.
DeleteBut at least they made some space immediately outside of the arrival doors. That was a zoo in the past.
They should give the airport through a concessions to someone who will actually pay attention to passenger comfort and services.
Deletemaybe a private public partnership.
DeleteTalking about first impressions, has anyone seen what the highway looks like when you cross the border from Croatia... the first 10kms or so are a Twilight zone scene...
DeleteWould be nice if there was a covered parking garage immediately adjacent to the terminal.
DeleteYou have a covered garage just down the road.
DeleteI know, that's mainly used for long term parking. I was talking about a covered parking garage immediately adjacent to the terminal.
DeleteAnyone have news from OT OCTOBER
ReplyDeleteSKOPJE ?
PRISTINA ?
Those usually come out a bit later.
Deletethanks :)
DeletePrishtina has also registered its busiest October with 147.665 passengers handled, an increase of 17.7% compared to October last year. So far this year 1.497.225 passengers have traveled through PRN.
DeleteSo, SKP has no chance to win the 2016 race then?
DeleteWonderful Pristina:))))
DeleteBye bye Skopje
Nice to see the good results in October. Now we have to see if November can record double digit growth.
ReplyDeleteWonder if this number would have been higher if Nis had no flights? Or to rephrase is Nis Airport taking away some passengers from Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteDrama at Air Serbia today! I hope everyone is safe!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/hitno-evakuisana-zgrada-er-srbije-zbog-dojave-o-bombi-policija-na-licu-mesta/4fskfvl
Would not be surprised if it were one of the people who comment here that made the call :D
DeleteI think it's someone who was naive enough to think Air Serbia Claims Department would do their job. :(
DeleteSo BEG managed to handle over 400,000 passengers in October. The trickiest month will definitely be November. Let's say they handle around 300,000 and another 400,000 in December. I feel they will just be short of 5 million.
ReplyDeleteHad they not stuffed up earlier in the year we would be talking about them handling over 5 million passengers.
DeleteIs anyone decreasing flights from BEG this winter compared to last year? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know foreigners will stay the same which is great news. Let hope for an even more exciting spring/summer 17. :)
DeleteIn November foreign airlines will carry out roughly 10% more flights compared to November 2015, ASL only 2,5% flights more, though.
DeleteDo you know who makes up these additional 10%?
DeleteWill this be the first winter QR operates directly to BEG?
ReplyDelete...also, did EY increase BEG to an A320 last winter?
DeleteYes it's the first winter QR is flying direct. EY did operated both A319 and A320 last winter. This winter it's all A320.
DeleteWould be nice to have EY A321 in BEG next summer.
DeleteOT: Zadar in October
ReplyDelete51.398 / 60.333
+8.935
+17,38%
nice
DeleteFocusing on EY Group, can we expect a third daily flight to AUH sometime in the near future? More flights to FCO by AZ? Etihad Regional GVA/LUG would be nice (initially 2 weekly flights).
ReplyDeleteAlso, now that INI is finally alive again, maybe they can borrow 1 a/c from AB and base a Dash 400 there to act as feeder and it can do daily rotations to BEG, VIE, FRA, OTP, ATH.
I doubt a third flight would happen that JU's flight isn't doing as well as EY's.
DeleteSeems that JU has a much harder time selling itself... strange that EY didn't train JU's marketing team better.
No brainer really... better service on EY, seat-back IFE and just a more mature product.
DeleteJU's wireless IFE cannot compete...
Yeah but JU can/should compete in terms of pricing or have EY takeover all flights between BEG and AUH.
DeleteOT Air Serbia – za putnike samo sa ručnim prtljagom
ReplyDeletepricelist: http://www.aviokarta.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JU_hf_1nov16.jpg
Wow... those fares are not competitive at all! Vienna €129? But you can find fares for €112 with luggage. What's up with this?
DeleteMaybe aviokarta have some fee extra over price..otherwise this dont make sense.
DeleteNadam se da ce BEG preci ove Godine 5 Mil Pax i zato imaju dobre sanse .
ReplyDeleteSledece godine ce mozda imati znatno vise putnika sa novim Destinacija i novim Aviokompanijama koje su najavile dolazak u BEG.
INN-NS
OT
ReplyDeleteZanimljive vesti su da ce FR da stacionira 2 Aviona u FRA od sledece godine i pokrece nove linije.
Zanimljivo je da ovako jos vise pokusavaju da napadnu EW i LH , ostale LCC i osale Legacy carrier-ove moze biti prevelik rizik za njih.
INN-NS
Bilo bi super kada bi leteli FRA-BEG!
Delete