The busiest foreign carriers operating flights to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport have recorded mixed results during the first three quarters of the year as they face increased competition. Wizz Air, which boasts a base in Belgrade, continued to recover after its numbers fell sharply in 2014 following the suspension of several routes and a public spat with the airport over fees. The low cost airline handled 319.824 passengers bound to and from Belgrade during the first three quarters, an increase of 3.2% compared to the same period in 2015. Wizz's passenger share at the airport grew to 8.4%, which is still below its record 12.5% share registered during Q1- Q3 in 2013. Over the first three quarters of this year, it increased frequencies on several routes and introduced flights to Baden-Baden, marking its first new destination from the Serbian capital in two years. It comes ahead of major expansion next May, which will see the carrier base a second aircraft in the city and launch four new routes. As a result, Wizz will offer 642.000 seats from the Serbian capital in 2017. “This is the right stepping stone forward in this market which is unpenetrated. We are reacting to the increased level of demand”, Wizz Air CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said recently.
Star Alliance members Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines saw their numbers dip during the first three quarters, with the latter registering a sharp fall in figures. The German national carrier welcomed 218.786 travellers on board its aircraft to and from the Serbian capital, a decrease of 3.1% on last year. Furthermore, Swiss handled over 11.000 fewer passengers, recording a 7.4% decline in numbers. Unlike in 2015, the carrier did not run flights between Geneva and Belgrade as it retreated from the former Yugoslav market. However, this winter season, it has added an additional weekly flight between Zurich and the Serbian capital. The route remains extremely competitive, with Zurich being Air Serbia's busiest destination so far this year. Despite this, the Swiss carrier still enjoys an advantage, handling almost 6.000 passengers more than its Serbian counterpart. Montenegro Airlines saw its passenger numbers improve slightly during the first three quarters of the year, handling 209.958 passengers, up 1.1%. The figure was achieved despite an overall fall in the number of operated flights.
Busiest foreign carriers at Belgrade Airport Q1-Q3
| Airline | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Wizz Air | 319.824 | ▲ 3.2 |
| Lufthansa | 218.786 | ▼ 3.1 |
| Montenegro Airlines | 209.958 | ▲ 1.1 |
| Swiss Int. Air Lines | 142.418 | ▼ 7.4 |
Lufthansa remains Belgrade Airport's second busiest foreign carrier behind Wizz Air with a passenger share of 5.7%, followed by Montenegro Airlines at 5.5% and Swiss with a share of 3.7% of all passengers. Overall, foreign carriers handled 1.696.177 travellers on flights to and from the Serbian capital during the January - October period, up 0.3% compared to 2015. They now account for 44.5% of all passengers passing through the airport, an increase of 1%, having been surpassed by Air Serbia which now handles 55.5% of all travellers using the airport. During the first nine months of the year, Montenegro Airlines operated the most flights to and from the city out of all the foreign carriers, followed by Lufthansa, Wizz Air, Austrian, Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot. A notable increase in frequencies was recorded by LOT Polish Airlines, TAROM, Flydubai and Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Most frequent foreign carriers at Belgrade Airport Q1-Q3
| Airline | Flight ops. | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Montenegro Airlines | 2.429 | ▼ 3.4 |
| Lufthansa | 2.023 | ▼ 4.4 |
| Wizz Air | 2.018 | ▲ 1.8 |
| Austrian Airlines | 1.400 | ▼ 0.4 |
| Turkish Airlines | 1.205 | ▼ 9.5 |
| Aeroflot | 1.098 | ▲ 0.9 |
| Swiss Int. Air Lines | 970 | ▼ 13.8 |
| Alitalia | 522 | ▼ 11.5 |
| easyJet | 222 | ▼ 27.5 |

Comments
I still hope for a third weekly to LCA, they are extremely popular with Romanians from Timisoara. There are always so many of them.
Air Serbia should have launched NUE, now it's too late. They could have received a healthy amount of locals plus a lot of transfer passengers to the ex-YU and Turkey.
That said, maybe a seasonal flight from June to September could work with someone like Vueling... but only when they get their act together.
I doubt their entry to the market would lower fares, they would just create a duopoly with JU.
Not good for passengers.
Mere profitability doesn't cut it. It has to be better than any other option out there.
Malo li je?
More capacity? Which one exactly? I can not find that as pattern, more like unusual exception.
In same time LOT came back, and new carriers are ČSA, Air Transat, Brussels, KLM, Air Serbia, Air Malta... (most of them starts this year).
Do you have the information about total number of airlines serving ZAG and BEG during winter 2016/2017 respectively?
Thank you.
16 carriers to 34 destinations
http://www.zagreb-airport.hr/putnicke-informacije/destinacije-izravna-povezanost
Beg:
22 carriers to 56 destinations
http://www.beg.aero/vest/14111/Од-недеље-важи-зимски-ред-летења
1. Croatia Airlines 62,1%
2. Lufthansa 10,5%
3. Germanwings 4,5%
4. Austrian Airlines 5,4%
5. British Airways 3,5%
6. Turkish Airlines 3,1%
7. Air France 3,0%
8. Qatar Airways 2.1%
Jest, bogami, Zagreb je i inače provincija spram Beograda. Po svim kriterijima. Zato i ima daleko manje turista, posebno iz zapadnih i dalekoazijskih zemalja, spram Beograda.
E božji narode...
Da li hoces reci da su Beograd I Zagreb aetodromi iste kategorije?
Then Purger said "not true" but he then elaborated completely different issue.
What is true about shares of domestic carriers?
If JU has the lowest share compared to other ex-YU carriers and if JU share is "definitely not good" is then the shares of other ex-Yu carriers definitely worse than JU? Is then, for example, OU share "definitely worse" compared to JU?
I am perplexed.
I hope to get a straight answer, not a change of subject or a innovative excuse.
Turizam ne cini neki grad metropolom. Ima toliko provincijskih gradova koji su turisticke metropole, pa ostaju provincija. Na primer Salcburg.
Nemojte ljudi iz ekstrema u ekstrem! Po vama ili BEG nista ne valja, pa kada vam se kaze da niste objektivni, onda okrenete kako BEG nije vodeca svetska metropola. Pa naravno da nije, niti je iko tvrdio da jeste. Postoji toliki prostor izmedju. Nema potrebe ni za megalomanijom, niti za nipodastavanjem.
Takvim nivoom komunikacije svodite raspravu na to "ciji je veci", a znamo koliko su ljudi objektivni i razumni kada o tome raspravljaju :)
BEG 22 prijevoznika
ZAG 14 legacy carriera
BEG 15 legacy carriera
ZAG 13 velikih legacy carriera
BEG 13 velikih legacy carriera prema hubovima
ZAG sva tri najveća prijevoznika EU (BA, AF, LH)
BEG samo jedan najveći prijevoznik EU (LH)
ZAG 2 LCC
BEG 7 LCC
ZAG 26 destinacija
BEG 58 destinacija
ZAG 7 destinacija u exYU
BEG 7 destinacija u exYU
BEG samo jedan najveći prijevoznik EU (LH)"
Jedina prednost ZAG. Al' 'ajde malo i ja da spinam, kada je vec Purger krenuo u velikom stilu :)
Upitno je koliko je ta prednost znacajna ako se zna da JU ima code-share sa AF i KL i pristup njihovim mrezama iz CDG i AMS. Meni se cini da JU monopol na ove destinacije nudi putnicima otprilike slicno iskustvo po slicnim cenama koje bi imali sa AF i KL. Monopol nije tako losa stvar za JU poslovno.
Kada bude dosla Transavia u BEG, putnici ce imati vise nego sto dobijaju u ZAG. Pristup mrezi KL, plus jeftinog i pouzdanog prevoznika za svetski hub. Koji je takodje deo ff programa AF-KL, kada se to vec pominje.
- globalni hubovi u Europi imaju 55-75 milijuna putnika (LHR, FRA, IST, CDG, AMS)
- veliki europski hubovi imaju 20-40 milijuna putnika (MAD, MUC, FCO, LGW, BCN, SVO, DME, ZRH, DUB, OSL, BRU, ARN, MAN, VIE, DUS, TXL. LIS...)
- utjecajni regionalni hubovi su od 10 do 20 milijuna putnika (MXP, ATH, HEL, HAM, PRG, WAW, STR, BUD)
- sve između 2 i 10 milijuna su srednje veliki aerodromi (najveći među njima su Bucharest, Lyon, Venice, Glasgow, Marseille, Porto, Toulouse), pa isti imaju čak 4 milijuna putnika više od BEG (što je daleko više nego je razlika između Zagreba i Beograda) ili 6 od ZAG. BEG je u rangu sa Sofijom, Reykjavikom, Palermom, Pisom, Maltom, Rhodesom, Newcastlom...
- od 0,3 do 2 milijuna su mali aerdoromi
- a ispod 0,3 milijuna su minijaturni aerodromi (koji nisu samoodrživi)
U Europskim okvirima ni Zagreb ni Beograd ne predstavljaju ništa bitno, kako u zrakoplovstvu, tako i u gospodarstvu općenito.
Iako je zagrebački BDP per capita daleko veći (24.000 USD )spram Beograda (10.086 USD), Beograd ima bitno više stanovnika pa razlika u nominalnom BDP i nije toliko u korist Zagreba
Zagreb BDP (2014) 20 milijardi USD
Beograd BDP (2014)16,9 milijardi USD
pitanje je bilo o zimskom redu letenja kada se iz BEG ne leti za SPU, DBV, PUY i OHD. I iz ZAG se tijekom ljeta leti za BWK, RJK, PRN, a što ne leti zimi.
Anonymous 2:54
"Not true" se odnosio na komentar koji je admin u međuvremenu obrisao, a rekao je krivu tezu "da je prošle godine iz ZAG otišlo 3 kompanije TAP, Swiss i flyDubai. Objašnjenje zašto to nije točno piše u mom komentaru.
I am not so sure that LH really has a big strategy against LCC. They cannot bring their own house in order.
It is certain that they are losing much more with all the strikes then they would if they have invested a little bit more in their pilots.
INN-NS
SOF to reduce fees to 5.5 per passenger from January 2017
Now, I went to SXF with Ryanair from TSR in November (I live in Novi Sad, 150 km to this airport) and at passport control a Romanian girl asked me why are there so many Serbs coming to fly from TSR. I almost cried.
Having in mind that FR is now expanding to larger airports; they are present at FCO, MXP, CPH, AMS and getting ready to fly from FRA next summer, I don't see why wouldn't they come to BEG. Ah, I almost forgot.
P.S. Purger, I enjoyed your blog post about BEG!
Maybe FR asked for that but since they couldn't just give it to them they extended it to everyone.
You want to tell me that pilots (and others) did not make their share in this huge profit, and because of that did not deserve part of that money?
They have all the right in the World to be unsatisfied about that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Airport_Service_Quality_Award_winners#5-15_million
- FR fleet is 3 times younger than JU's
- FR fleet is 10 times bigger than JU's
-FR flies to 5 times more places than JU
- FR passangers pay much less than JU's
- FR makes huge profits, JU makes losses
All of the above listed facts, make Air Serbia lousy, compared to Ryanair, not opposite, as much as you would like it to be your way. Good night!
So what? You feel like crap in a brand new FR 737. JU service makes you feel great in older JU A320.
- FR fleet is 10 times bigger than JU's
Does not matter how big is the fleet, you only fly one plane at a time.
-FR flies to 5 times more places than JU
Not from BEG, it does not. FR does not fly single route JU does, it does not fly to JFK from anywhere. FR does not offer streaming movies, does not offer connecting flights across the network, does not have real business class, lounge, does not have included baggage and food, the list goes on.
- FR passangers pay much less than JU's
Prove it. JU guests pay 350 eur to JFK and back, that's much less per kilometer than average price on many FR routes.
- FR makes huge profits, JU makes losses
Second one is is lie. No one ever was able to prove it.
FR pax numbers are only a small percentage of overall pax numbers in Europe. Most pax in Europe choose NOT to fly FR.
Just a bunch of W6/FR idiots and JU haters abusing this site as their cyberspace soapbox.
They are one of the biggest so their product is good, much more people use it, unlike Air Serbia.
I don't understand this comparison of lccs and legacies. It is like comparing hostels and hotels.
Yes, both have clean sheets and provide you with place to sleep, and hostels are much much cheaper, but I hope hostel lovers do realize that that's not everyone's cup of tea.
Can we please stop these futile comparisons?
Pilots are asking for 3,7% increase, the management offers 2,5%.
Pilots sound quite reasonable. Management is spreading misinformation.
I'm just saying that, although many would disagree, I hate the protectionism given to Air Serbia. If the airline is that good, why wouldn't you ease off for LCC and let them fly from BEG as well? Just take a look at the airports I mentioned. People who want to get ripped off by JU would still go to JU, and people who want to save money would come to FR. Who would make profit? BEG airport, as it would see at least another million per year!
Anon at 7:43 said that I feel like crap in a brand new FR 737. Calling me an idiot, did you fly the new 737 with the new Sky interior? The anorexic slim seats are as comfortable as the previous ones, but give a lot more leg room. Being 187cm tall and a little bit wider than a normal person, I still had enough room and felt nice.
For 1h 20min flight I don't need "beds and blowjobs", as Michael O'Leary said. You spend more in a city bus, why would you complain then? Flying with LCC just lets you keep extra money, and oh God, the FR 737 was enjoyable!
I really wonder should LH rather close down - transfer whole flight ops to EW, paint EW/4U planes in LH livery, call it LH World Airlines or similar. Every pilot would only receive half of salary - which still is enough to earn most in whole company - apart from higher management. Problem for LH would be solved and they could open a few hundred routes more which currently are not feasible under nowaday's cost structure. That would create thousands of new and more jobs!
It is not a zero sum game, where you have to demolish legacies to bring LCCs.
If Ryan wants to come to BEG, they are welcome.
Also, anon. 9.59 has a point. Some people think everyone has same values and priorities they do. Not everyone is ready to go to great lengths to save a couple of bucks. In fact, quite a lot people. LCCs main competition are not legacies, but bus transport.
Of all employees pilots deserve the highest salaries for a reason.
High management is grossly overvalued in and scandalously overpaid in present economy. Only thing they are good at is slicing out enormous bonuses for themselves. They are the biggest parasites of present stagnant economy and completely shameless.
German worker does not accept to be treated as expendable s**t, while being told fairly-tales about "job-creation". Paying pilots, cabin and ground staff more is much, much better for economy than paying overvalued managerial weasels, so that they could spend 150,000 euros for a new fancy Swiss watch.
LCC as a competition to buses? Yes but there are loads of people who go to diaspora by bus not because of fear of flying but because of lack of capacity, mostly on holidays.
To sum it up - I am a 19 year old student. I don't have sufficient money to afford me a flight on JU airplane. I am not a patriotic Serb who will fly only on JU. In my desperate need of travel and flying I choose to fly from Romania on FR because even W6 is mostly too expensive out of BEG. This is where Serbia, JU and BEG badly fail.
- two people travelling together, which is not always the case, if you were traveling alone you'd pay double than that
- are you traveling without luggage? Not everybody is and certainly they'll pay a fare much closer to JU's
- not everybody has a car to drive to obscure airports without bus traffic
- how much costs the fuel for a 150km round-trip?
- do you seriously think that 10 Eur. is a sustainable fare for any carrier, be it LCC or legacies?
Thing is, LCC transfer onto you and local governments things that legacies pay themselves. They aren't forbidden to expand in BEG yet they choose INI. Stop believing your illusions and as we say "sto ne platis na mostu platices na Ćupriji".
-Just a backpack for a 3 day city break, although wherever I go I pack a suitcase which is nearly the size of cabin bag luggage.
-Bus traffic is key here, but taxi lobbies are too strong that they won't let buses run to airports in Serbia. (I'm a bus expert btw)
-Fuel I wrote up there, there is no highway so fuel consumption is less. We have filled the tank full up, but I assume around 35€ would be fine.
-I don't care if it's sustainable. I'm a passenger, not an economy expert.
-Nisam platio na mostu, neću ni na ćupriji. Troškovi putovanja NS-TSR-SXF i nazad za dve osobe su izašli ukupno 150€. Čak i da sam ubacio jedan veći kofer uz karte, opet bi me ispalo jeftinije.
As I can see, most of the people here write in English, so I will comply. I'm not politically active, nor doing any propaganda here, I'm just arguing about šupačka politics of BEG and JU and Serbia.
By the way, from TSR you can fly with
FR: Milan, Frankfurt, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Bucharest, Berlin and London
W6: Barcelona, Rome, Brussels, London, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Venice etc.
All in all, there ARE good flights out of TSR, and more direct flights for a p2p passenger.
(There are no direct flights to MAD, BCN etc from BEG)
I agree. You can add FYROM (W6) and Slovakia (FR) as well.
Berlin SXF ima bolju vezu sa centrom grada nego TXL.
SXF: S-Bahn ili Bus+U-Bahn
TXL: Samo Bus (koji je redovno prepun) ili Bus+U-Bahn
Drkosi kao ti koji imaju automobile koji su im kupili roditelji imaju para za normalne
avionske karte ali mislite da sve treba da bude podredjeno vama. Boravak u Berlinu nije besplatan cak ni sa FR tarifama.
1. Oni kojima mama i tata kupuju auto ne idu nigde osim po splavovima da se muvaju sa fufama kako imaju auto.
2. Čak i da su mi mama i tata kupili auto i da smo prebogati, zašto bih ovde pisao da nemam para da letim sa JU već pišem da sam leteo iz odvratnog Temišvara sa FR?!
3. Vozim Opel Astru 1.4 2005. godište, i to samo kad mi javni prevoz izrazito ne odgovara. Na fakultet idem autobusom, u Beograd idem vozom.
5. Sat i po vožnje je zapravo dva sata nemačkim autobahnom autobusom za 14 evra uz prevoznika Flibco. Ali računaj i to da ni aerodrom FRA nije u centru grada.
Odluci se sta ti je argument. Prvo tvrdis jedno, onda ti se pokaze da je to glupost, onda serviras nedokazane optuzbe.
Ako imas neke dokaze i nesto konkretno protiv njega, molim u policiju pod hitno. Ako nemas, molim te prestani vise da nas sve ovde opterecujes svojim licnm frustracijama i mrznjama i dovodis ovaj sajt u opasnost da bude tuzen za klevetu, dok se krijes u zavetrini anonimnosti.
You are a time-flexible 19-year-old student, just a tiny part of a market. A person, who would, as it was pointed out above, chose hostel over hotel to save every buck. You would travel to Temisvar or to Osijek (which carrier you plan to catch there?) to save few bucks. Good for you! I see nothing wrong there. I would do the same if I were 19, if for nothing else, then just for the sake of adventure.
Here is where I think you are wrong. You are asking that the whole market changes so that it can cater to your present needs and your present preferences.
To me that sounds super self-centered and selfish and short-sighted. Hopefully you will finish your studies and find a great job. You will have different travel needs and much less flexibility then. Don't you think?
I think you are making a mistake about the fares. It would be different if I bragged about 20€ fare on JU, and noone else could find it. About LCC it's different. As for free mouthpiece, maybe you're right, but I still hate BEG and Serbia for not letting them in just because of JU. People, you mentioned that no one banned them. Yes, I'm aware, but there is no stimulative measure to let them in, which would create far more demand from Serbia.
BTW, did you check the JU fares for the same dates? I did.
It is FR not wanting to fly to BEG, not BEG forbidding them to do so. ATH has 3 times higher taxes than BEG yet Ryanair is there. If you wish you can write them a letter and stimulate them to come, while they're already developing in Nis. That's their business decision and you can only blame them for it.
- while <10% of you pay tickets at ridiculous prices, Ryanair needs the other 90% to pay overpriced last-minute tickets to put it simple, BEG and Serbia are a too low-purchase market for that unlike ATH
- JU is a relatively strong home carrier, flying daily to main O&D destinations, with that it's hard to compete with 2 weekly flights or the way LCC operate
- For those where JU isn't flying there is Wizz Air flying already, basing a second aircraft next year.
Enough reasons? After all, Serbian market isn't that big. JU is growing thanks to transfers. To put it simply - it won't be simple for them to make any money out-tere due to competition and structure of the market, that is why they're not coming, not because someone is not letting them do.