Southeast Europe Aviation Summit - day 2

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As it happened

15.40: "As we head towards handling two million passengers, interest from carriers will become even stronger. We balance between legacy and low cost airlines, and we have our own incentives which are available for all airlines", Mr Krstevnski said. The Macedonian government believes that another airport should be built in the country since Skopje Airport cannot increase the categorisation of its runway due to nearby hills and mountains. However, this project is still not financially viable, according to Mr Krstevski.

15.35: New flights from Zurich to Niš by Swiss International Air Lines and Germana Flug, which will launch next year, will strongly target passengers from Kosovo, Mr Djurdjanović says.

15.10: The low three euro tax imposed on airlines is sufficient for Niš Airport to be sustainable with some help from the city, the airport's head Vladica Djurdjanović said. He added that Niš Airport has other sources of revenues. It currently operates all car parks in the city, with 55% of its revenues coming from outside of the air transport sector. "We expect to handle over 500.000 passengers in 2018", Mr Djurdjanović said.

15.05: The Macedonian government offers five million euros worth of subsidies on a three-year basis to Wizz Air, the General Manager of TAV Macedonia said. Another round of subsidies is expected in the coming period. "Pristina can object and should take care of their own development, since we will overtake them this year", Mr Krstevski said. He notes that the subsidies used by Wizz Air are not affecting legacy carriers at the airport. "Alitalia left Skopje this year due to internal problems, not poor loads. It handled 45.000 passengers on its Rome route this year and a 73% load factor", he said.

14.55: Ryanair called Zadar Airport the moment the carrier heard easyJet would launch flights to the city. easyJet yesterday announced plans to introduce services from Milan to Zadar in 2017. "Of course we don't want to depend on a single airline", Ms Ćosić said.

14.50: Banja Luka Airport wants to work with Air Serbia for it to increase frequencies on its service from Belgrade. Air Serbia currently maintains three weekly flights to the city, down from daily operations several years ago.

14.45: Skopje Airport estimates handling 1.7 million passengers by year's end. "In the future we expect to continue growing. We see strong competition from Sofia, Thessaloniki, Podgorica, Tirana and Niš, but European integration gives us all the opportunity to continue growing", Zoran Krstevski, the General Manager of TAV Macedonia, said.

14.40: Pula Airport hopes to solve major bottlenecks at the gate area in 2018. The airport will close next month for runway repairs. More details can be found here.

14.30: Zadar Airport hopes to establish flights to Belgrade. "We have been trying to do so for the past two years but we have had no success so far", the General Manager of Zadar Airport, Irena Ćosić , said, adding that she hopes flights will be launched in the near future. She adds that Zadar hopes to lure some airlines away from Split, especially when work on its new terminal begins next year.

11.15: In its pitch to Air Serbia, Bombardier said the Dash 8 Q400 can cover the turboprop side of Air Serbia's fleet. They add that the C-series would be a perfect exchange for the airline's Airbus fleet. "If you look at seasonality, you might have some over-capacity on some routes, like for example from Belgrade to Amsterdam, and the C-series would make a good competitor on the route", Mark Gilbert from Bombardier said.

10.40: According to aircraft manufacturer Embraer, Belgrade is ideally positioned to become a European hub served by E-jets. "Our aircraft can fly directly between Belgrade and Abu Dhabi, which is interesting concerning the Air Serbia and Etihad partnership", Arjan Meijer, the Vice President for Europe, Middle East, Russia & Central Asia at Embraer, says.

10.25: Belgrade Airport has moved from a typical fifty-seat regional jet market to a seventy-seat market in the past five years. If current trends continue, it will be moving towards a ninety-seat capacity aircraft.

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The second and final day of the Southeast Europe Aviation Summit (SEAS) is taking place in Belgrade today, with the focus being put on aircraft manufacturers and local airports. EX-YU Aviation News will be following today's Summit live and will bring you the latest as it happens. First up today at 10.00 CET is a discussion on how Southeast European airlines can be more effective on short haul routes at a time when both Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia are looking at expanding their regional fleet. Speakers include officials from Embraer, Bombardier and Mitsubishi. The discussion will then shift to the future of air traffic management before officials from Zadar, Pula, Niš, Užice and Mostar airports, as well as those from airport operators TAV Macedonia, Airports of Montenegro and Airports of Republika Srpska discuss the development of regional airports in South East Europe.

A full agenda can be found here. This news will updated throughout the day.