Belgrade Airport concession tender launched


The Serbian government has commenced tender procedures for the granting of a 25-year concession for the financing, development, maintenance and management of infrastructure at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The concession terms include both the construction of new and the reconstruction of existing facilities. The process will take part in two phases. Firstly, interested applicants will have sixty calendar days (until April 11) to submit non-binding bids. Their proposals will then be reviewed and evaluated based on the criteria listed in the image below (click to enlarge) for which they will be given a score out of ten. Afterwards, those that meet the requirements, and are scored the highest, will be invited to take part in phase two where they will have to submit binding bids within 75 calendar days. The Serbian government, as Belgrade Airport's majority shareholder, anticipates to complete the entire process by mid-summer.

Score sheet - phase one

Under the terms of the concession, the individual bidder, or if the bidder is a consortium, may not hold more than 20% of the share capital or the voting rights of the owner or concessionaire of an airport with more than one million passengers over a twelve month rolling period from January 1, 2016, which is located within a 450 kilometre radius from Belgrade Airport. As a result, this immediately disqualifies France's Aéroports de Paris, the Marguerite Fund and Bouygues Bâtiment International, as well as Turkey's TAV Airports and Limak. Between them, the five manage or have shares of over 20% in consortiums running Zagreb, Skopje, Ohrid and Pristina airports.

The Belgrade Airport concession is expected to bring a one-off payment of up to 400 million euros, plus an annual fee of eleven million euros to the state. Germany's Fraport, France's Vinci, as well as two companies from the United Arab Emirates and three from China have expressed interest in participating in the concession. The airport's new operator will likely be required to build a new terminal, runway and supporting infrastructure such as a hotel, cargo centre and car park. Furthermore, local authorities are considering extending the railway network to link the city with the airport. The Serbian government holds an 83.2% stake in Belgrade Airport's operator which counts 1.806 employees. The airport handled a record 4.9 million passengers last year and is expected to post a net profit of over 25 million euros.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    I doubt they will give it to a UAE company because of the EU but Arabtec's proposal from 2 years ago for BEG was amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      It's going to be the Arabs 100%.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Honestly would be surprised if it didnt go to thr Arabs

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      Wasn't it rumored that Vinci is the favorite.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee09:30

      That was just a rumor, Vinci had no plans on investing back then in Belgrade.
      My money is on the Chinese. They got the most infrastructure projects in the country.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:31

      Well they did sign a cooperation agreement with BEG.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee09:34

      Vinci? Well, they could have signed all they wanted because back then their board had no intention on spending money in Serbia.
      The whole Vinci story was a spin by the government and media.

      Delete
    7. I hope it is the Chinese as well.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    My guess is a lot of companies will be interested. BEG has quite a few things going for it - strong local carrier which will get 10 new aircraft next year, transatlantic flights, hub to a low cost airline and with smart management and financial planning they could attract a lot of new airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      transatlantic flight, not flights.
      And many question how long they will be continuing..

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Repeating every day in the comments of an aviation site that it will be suspended soon because it is your dream does not make it reality.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:47

      With under 40% LF for 50% of the year any normal airline would kill the route, they killed IST.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:03

      I don't think anon 9.08 is dreaming. You just need to reflect on recent changes at JUs prized JFK route; launched at 5 flights a week, dropped to 3 and poor loads. Add UAs pending daily flights to ZAG and the ability to maintain a mix fleet depending on demands plus their partnership with OU I suspect something big is brewing.
      It's evident that ZAG will become the main hub for aviation in the former YU

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:11

      You know that they will retire the current fleet after they receive the NEOs, yes?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:22

      Regardless. It's an investment in their future.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:34

      You obviously did not read yesterdays blog. UA will not be launching ZAG flights. ZAG is, and will remain a minor airport, compared to BEG. A seasonally strong one, at best. lol

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:36

      Actually yesterday's article makes some strong indications that UA will launch ZAG.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:46

      Why would they launch ZAG before VIE?

      Delete
    10. ZAG - if you look at it separately, yes it is a minor airport. However, ZAG's strategy was never meant to cater for a huge number of P&P business/leisure travellers. It's advantage is in the fact that it is the capital of a small country that caters for 16 million turists (14 foreign) annually. And the potential hasn't even been properly tapped yet.
      pros:
      1. catchment area: fairly decent with decent GDP
      2. capital of EU country
      3. capital of regional tourist super power

      cons
      1. competition from VIE, VCE and BUD...and from BEG (regional travelers, not foreigners so much)
      2. many airports in Croatia, fragmentation

      United:
      Well, given the tourism potential, several frequencies could be spilled over to ZAG, why not ? Why before VIE ? Well, in VIE there is already OS and VIE is becoming saturated... VIE is already a regional hub which has thank its development from "stealing" natural pax that would otherwise fly to ZAG and even BEG for that matter.

      Remember that BEG had more pax than VIE in 1979, and ZAG was not lagging that much behind. VIE and BUD are what they are today, because of the collapse of Ex Yugoslav aviation market. Now, it's time to bring some of those pax back...

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:26

      All good points Petar.
      "VIE and BUD are what they are today, because of the collapse of Ex Yugoslav aviation market.
      "+1

      Delete
    12. Just a few more words on the extent to which Ex Yugoslav market collapse affected ZAG/BEG and their regional competition.

      It took ZAG exactly 28 years to overtake its pre-war record high (1979, 1.91 mil) vs. 1,99 mil in 2007.

      ZAG was "ready" to expand its outdated terminal (yes in 1989 it was already outdated), but the war brought the pax numbers down...to 200.000 pax in 1992. Only in 2000. it reached 1 million.

      It took BEG full 25 years (2012) to reach its 3,3 mil pax record from 1987.

      During all this time, VIE and BUD expanded their airports several times and worked their markets (Austrian and Malev). BUD nowdays has found a solid replacement for Malev, which is Wizzair.

      1979:

      VIE: 2,5 mil pax
      ZAG: 1,9 mil pax
      BEG: 2,8 mil pax
      BUD: 1,5 mil pax

      80s were a time of stron crisis in Yugoslavia, hence both ZAG and BEG have not grown all that much...perhaps for a brief period 1985-87 they did...and then the war.

      Enough said.

      Delete
    13. This whole region was literally considered a "black hole" and was avoided like plague 1991-2005...and even afterwards we weren't able to step up...hence more lagging behind.
      it is only now with ZAG's new infrastructure, croatian booming tourism, and Serbia's gradual political recovery and strong ASL national carrier that those 2 have a chance now to "approach" to wider markets...

      how fast we'll catch up - it will depend. I am hopeful. People will always want to fly direct - that 's why I think that the most important factor is that a country has a strong tourism product, or business strategy...

      Croatia is small, and if the infrastructure in ZAG is good, distant flights are a possiblity. Foreign grups won't mind riding a bus for 2 hours to get to Opatija or Istria.

      Off course, this will take time to change habits...and off course this is not to say ZAG can have 10 x long haul destinations daily. But it can have 4 to 5 key long haul destinations, covering from 3 to 5pw during April-October period by 2020...for sure.

      Delete
    14. Panta12:13

      I agree that ZAG can somewhat profit from Croatia's tourist boom but to what extent?

      Zagreb-Split is 410 km by road which isn't that close, not to mention Dubrovnik which is even more to the south. Why would an airline that's interested in Croatia's tourism fly to Zagreb in stead of SPU or DBV?

      If any airlines launches JFK flights then it will be for the local market, not the coast. Croatia's tourism demand from North American will be served via one of the coastal airports.

      Delete
    15. @Panta - well croatian airports infrastructure is such that Split won't be able to accept as many wide bodies. Split will specialize in O&D leisure LCC traffic. This does not mean Split qont have some occassional long haul flights. Who's to say that those long haul pax that will use ZAG will have to go to southern Dalmatia? There are many other appealing attractions that are nearer such as Istria, Kvarner, Plitvice Lakes (1,5 million visitors annually) etc...

      Delete
    16. Anonymous13:21

      imho Split has no infrastructure for transcontinental flights (taxiways, appron, approach..) and won't have in some years, too.
      So, it's logically ZAG and DBV for the northern rsp. southern Adria.
      Split is in summer time well connected to ZAG by air. Many also use RAC at the moment and drive just from Italia (e.g. VCE) to Dalmacia..

      Delete
    17. Panta14:22

      What about Zadar, Pula or Rijeka? I know Swiss uses Pula for training purposes so it obviously can handle a widebody.

      Delete
    18. JATBEGMEL15:04

      @ anonymous 10,03am

      JU has now for the second winter dropped many frequencies to save on cost, such as AMS, ATH, SKG, SKP, ZAG, LJU, ARN etc. BEG is still very seasonal just like most if not all other airports in the ex-YU, and will not change anytime soon. JFK goes back to 5p/w from June, when all other frequencies should be up and by when most if not all seasonal routes begin.

      As for UA, no where was it mentioned they will start ZAG, let alone daily flights. Yes, ZAG is home to Star Alliance carrier, however VIE is also and OS offers regional routes and frequencies OU can only dream of.

      While on the subject, and as I have said before, OU has more of a demand for wide bodies than JU, however is OU blinded by poor management. OU could of done a lot better on the reorganization than seen in JU, however their plans seem to change on a monthly basis with nothing concrete following. All already seen with Jat a few years back (B762 lease, CRJ's, ERJ's, A319's, Air Asia acquisition etc.).

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    I would be happy if the end of result was similar to Zagreb's concession - a new terminal building and professional management.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      The thing is - Zagreb really needed a new terminal, the old one was underwhelming to say the least..Belgrade not so much

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      yeah. BEG need thorough refurbishment though.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:24

      While the end product of the ZAG terminal is great there were and are many issues with the ZAG concession: the tender was controversial, the initial project was scaled down and is much smaller then the original plan and there are many questions how favorable the deal is towards the French and unfavorable for the government.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:25

      BEG is not geting s new terminal any time soon... Terminal 2 was overhauled few years ago and terminal 1 is under overhaul at the moment. On top of that, BEG didn't reached maximum capacity. So there is really no need for a new terminal.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:27

      @9:06 AM - Thing is that Zagreb got totally screwed under their concession, refer to annex #1 and 2.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:31

      9:27 AM - well, not totaly screwed because number of pax is growing, there is new terminal and new airlines are arriving. So not totaly screwed, but just screwed let's just say :)

      Delete
    7. Nemjee09:33

      Belgrade might not need a new terminal but it needs to expand its current capacities. There should be more space for shops and restaurants/cafes and during the morning and noon rush hours there is a clear lack of gate space. Adding a few more bus gates could solve the problem for about a year or two.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:35

      Totally screwed in the way of what they were supposed to get and what they got in the end.

      Delete
    9. Zagreb didn't get screwed by the concession but Zagreb or the Croatian government screwed themselves. No one really knows what happened but if you all remember, Croatia went from 10 yes 10 interested parties including some from the United States to just 1 (the concession winners) nearly overnight. Someone stuffed up big time in my opinion and it left Zagreb/Croatia with their pants fully down. They had no choice but to accept the concession as it was proposed.

      Delete
    10. JATBEGMEL15:19

      @ anonymous 9,25am

      BEG needed to be overhauled years ago. I remember before the refurbishment that water would leak through the roof when it rained, with buckets placed through the terminal to catch the water. Even with this overhaul, BEG still needs a lot more work to be done to bring it to a decent standard.

      Even today the transit zone is packed in the peak times, and there isn't much to do than to browse the over priced shops. Cafes in peak time don't have much more to offer than coffee and not all the stores are open for all departure waves (mid night wave has next to nothing open). Arrivals is a zoo at best.

      A new terminal under a concession would be much bigger than the current one, better suited for transit pax, gate space appropriate for wide bodies, more offering for pax...SKP has Burger King for the past couple of years while BEG recently opened Hleb i kifle (which of course was closed for the mid night wave when I travelled)!

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:18

      Burger King je jedan lanac bezveznih industrijskih burgera koji nemaju veze sa pravim dobrim burgerima u Americi. Ne znam da li si svestan koliko lupetas kad ti pominjes decent standard? Ti se verovatno hranis po fud kortovima po trznim centrima.

      Delete
    12. JATBEGMEL19:32

      @ anonymous 6,18 pm

      If you don't have anything constructive to say don't say it at all.

      Regardless to your (or my) like or dislike to the chain, they have something and we have nothing. Period. Made a transit stop in BEG last year, had to clear passport control to smoke and do something, there is only so many walks between A10 and C7 one can make before it gets boring.

      Are you trying to say BEG is great the way it is? If you are, you certainly don't use it...or travel out much.

      Delete
    13. Nemjee20:23

      Why are you bringing BEG into this? He never made any reference to it. Also, BEG doesn't have a smoking area because of the ministry of health.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous20:27

      They installed smoking cabins across gate A6. They started working around 2 weeks ago.
      https://www.kurir.rs/vesti/drustvo/novina-na-beogradskom-aerodromu-otvorena-izolovana-pusacka-zona-clanak-2655507

      Delete
    15. Anonymous23:31

      Imamo tri kategorije posetilaca Brger konzumatore koji slete jednom godisnje, dinkiceve uposlenike sa aerodroma i nas malo koji volimo avijaciju. Vidis koliko ne znaju.

      Delete
    16. Nemjee07:59

      Anon 08.27

      Thanks for the link. Nice to see that the ministry has finally changed the legislation.

      Delete
  4. It will also disqualify AviAlliance who own Budapest also, plus potentially whoever wins the current concession process in Sofia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Hasn't the concession in Sofia been delayed?

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    2. Anonymous09:37

      Why couldn't they make it simply 500km?

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    3. Anonymous09:38

      Because you would exclude a lot of potential operators.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      Who except Fraport? I wouldn't mind them being excluded after what they did in Bulgaria and Delhi.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:00

      The concession in Sofija was delayed for late May. The idea is the new government to sign it. Currently they don't have an elected government.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:30

      What did Fraport in Bulgaria and India?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:35

      I'm also interested to learn about the theory of Fraport wrongdoings in Bulgaria.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:33

      In Bulgaria they have built-up 2 brand new terminals in VAR and BOJ

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    Licitiranje sta treba da napravi novi zakupac cini ovaj konkurs smesnim. Mokri snovi...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    It's possible that the tender won't be successful and they don't accept any bid because they are not happy about the price. They did the same with Telekom.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      It's possible that the tender will be successful and they do accept a bid because they are happy about the price.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      They will be happy if someone affiliated will Etihad wins

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      Absolutely and that's the outcome I'm hoping for. Just listing the other possibility :)

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    I'm surprised they have already launched it. I would have thought they are going to drag it out.

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  8. Anonymous09:15

    Awesome news for a Monday. The final step to cement BEG as the ex-YU regional hub.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:15

    Apart from a new terminal or T2 extension I don't think BEG needs too many upgrades... especially not a second runway.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:21

    So Fraport is welcome as LJU-BEG distance is apx 480 km?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      They could be watching Sofia.
      Fraport already has Burgas and Varna

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      BTW, Sofia saw 492.412 PAX in JAN, more than 50% growth.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:05

      Fraport won't get SOF. They will be having all airports in Bulgaria if they get SOF and I don't think they would be let to do so.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:10

      SOF near 500 K PAX in JAN?!! :o

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:31

      Yes, FR and W6 are battling for domination over the market. We will see who will win in the end... for the time being it's the travelling public that's making the most of it.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:58

      FR offered many new routes, so it is not only a matter of battle with W6..

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:07

      They will hit 6 mln. PAX in the end of the year.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:07

      Many new routes where the vast majority are there to inflict damage on W6 and to take as much market share as possible. They want Wizz out.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:25

      They wanted them our of OTP as well, but so far they are not succeeding.

      Delete
    10. Citta13:51

      W6 is holding a press conference tomorrow. They are launching FRA-SOF in Summer, most probably.
      http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/ungarischer-billigflieger-wizz-air-kommt-wohl-nach-frankfurt-14875631.html

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:20

      The battle is still ongoing, OTP will last longer as the market is much bigger than SOF.

      If they do end up launching SOF-FRA then it will be interesting how they compete against Lufthansa which offers more frequencies and a much better product. They have two daily departures out of SOF, at 06.30 and 14.10. Bulgaria Air offers five weekly flights.

      I don't see what new thing will Wizz Air bring to the market. What is their competitive advantage.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:32

      wow

      Delete
    13. Anonymous14:34

      don't forget that OTP have Blue Air as well.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous14:35

      SOF is indeed one of the main "war zones" between FR and W6. FR is invading with low prices (from 5EUR onwards) and also entering other airports (Plovdiv, Varna). Strong rumours FR is adding another 2-3 aircraft this year, bringing capacity almost in line with W6.

      Only time will show who will win.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:40

      I think that FB very soon will be out of business lol

      Delete
    16. Anonymous14:54

      2 weeks ago I was in Sofija and the city was full with tourists from Italy, Greece and Spain.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous16:18

      RIP FB :)

      Delete
    18. Anonymous17:23

      Nah, don't think so. FB had a complete different strategy. They rely on Skyteam codeshares, summer charters, transfers and routes with strong demand and no competition: PMI, AGP, BEY, PRG, LIS. They still need double rotations to CDG, AMS.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:27

    Well , refurbish and expand T1 would be more than Great!



    ReplyDelete
  12. In the scoresheet, the Employment policy is listed at the very end! Pretty bad...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:41

    Od koncesionara se nece zahtevati izgradnja nove piste vec mozda pomocne umetnute izmedju sadasnje piste i glavnog taxiwaya. Zatim u sledecih desetak godina nece biti novog terminala nego se tek tada moze ocekivati dogradnja T2. Koncesionar se nece baviti hotelijerstvom pa nece ni graditi hotel. Bice glavno da prema drzavi ispunjava finansijske obaveze kako bi punio budzet, sto je osnovni smisao davanja aerodroma na koncesiju. Zato se i javno ponavlja kakva se finansijska ponuda ocekuje od koncesionara, a investicioni planovi se malo pominju i ne podvlaci se nista konkretno sto ce biti obaveza ponudjaca, a pogotovu se ne pominju nikakvi rokovi. Plan je dosta razlicit od onoga sto je uradjeno u Hrvatskoj i Makedoniji, zato sto su i potrebe razlicite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      slažem sa svim rečenim, jedino što nisam siguran za hotel, po meni je jedan već odavno potreban.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:59

      And Serbia hasn't had enough money to build a hotel?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:05

      why in the world should building and running a hotel be an air serbia job?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous08:24

      Who mentioned Air Serbia?

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:42

    How could this affect JU?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they will one step closer to becoming to big (important) too fail.

      it is likely that in the final version of concession agreement there will be an article referring to minimum traffic, same as in case of ZAG. if JU fails, ANT will lose ~1,5mil pax (traffic that wouldn't be replaced by other carriers) and Serbia will likely have to pay penalties and receive less money through that revenue sharing mechanism that will need to be proposed by future concessionaire.

      so it would even make sense for government to further subsidies JU once the concession contract is in place

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      Air Serbia will never fail, just like Jat never did. No government will allow it as it would mean the loss of next elections. Don't forget that Serbia is not in the EU so we can do as we please.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:38

      i am not 100% sure on that. there is a reason why JU need to prove to european commission that they are not under control of EY. i don't know how that applies to subsidies. anyhow, they might get "unfair subsidies" treatment on much more serious scale thatn MEB3

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:06

      Serbia still retains sovereignty over its system. The EU has no power to force us to change anything like it can in Sweden, Croatia or Greece.

      That's why the EU wants a new constitution in Serbia to be able to do it. Until that happens the EU can only ask for clarifications and make recommendations.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:37

      but if they don't respect the rules of the game they could be forbidden to use open skies or something?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:28

      The rules are not the same for EU and non-EU countries. JU has less rights then EU carriers in EU. They also have less obligations.

      Delete
    7. Serbia is in the process of applying for EU membership so you would assume that they would have/want to apply EU standards even from now to demonstrate that they are serious about joining.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:08

      The EU-Serbia relationship is extremely complicated, don't forget that. With each passing month less and less people are supporting an EU membership. Serbia will never become and EU member and it's becoming increasingly obvious.

      Because of all this Serbia will not change its constitution and will not follow laws which it doesn't have to, especially if it means the collapse of an important company such as Air Serbia.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:10

      Just to add, the EU will not ban JU because it gets subsidies from the government. If it was that strict or principled then they would have sanctioned airlines such as Belavia or Turkish Airlines a long time ago.

      Also, by doing this to Serbia it would only push it closer to Russia and China, something it doesn't want to do.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:38

      Judging by Montenegro EU negotiations, which should have been finished by now, EU enlargement is on a very, very long stick.
      And Montenegro has no open issues (like Serbia, Macedonia or Turkey), no blocking country (like Croatia had).
      Very sad and strategically extremely stupid from EU part.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:03

    OT:
    Jel je to danas Air Serbia poslala A319 za Zagreb?
    Pogledao sam baš na stranici ZLZ pod "web kamera uživo" kako polijeće Air Serbia za Beograd i sve mi se čini da je to A319.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:32

      Mislim da je to iz operativnih razloga jer je dosta Atrova otislo na servisiranje.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:05

    The numbers seem a bit fanciful, 400m up front, and another 275m over 25 years is 675m over the concession period.

    This is without the new terminal, runway, hotels and the rest, the total bill would come to 1 billion or so.

    I just cannot see them getting that sort of return...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      as somebody put it before... wet dreams. there is no need for new terminal or runway.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:45

      There is something you have to understand. This government has been in power for 5 years and their popularity has been slipping these last months. They are going to lose the elections in Belgrade next year while the presidential ones this year are uncertain.

      The fact that they are concentrating on money more than on infrastructure is a good indicator that they just want to take a lot of money before a new government steps in the next year or two.

      Unfortunately that's how things work in Serbia.

      Delete
    3. 10:45 AM - DJB wet dreams :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:18

      Why would it be DJB wet dreams? If SNS was so certain they would win then we wouldn't be still waiting for a candidate. They are already starting to lose members of small, regional parliaments, like they did in Varvarin last week.

      That's why this is just another way to get some money before going out. Like every government until now.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:22

      I agree about DjB, but I think that this plan of making themselves rich is a real possibility. Speaking as a former Zemun inhabitant from the 1990s.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:23

      Good investment plan could be better than advance cash payment.
      A poor country such as Serbia will spend any money, 675 or 1500 millions, quite quickly. Then, in 2042, Serbia will receive back an airport that will have a third of fourth of its necessary capacity.
      Isn't it better to receive 20 millions yearly, but to request a major expansion of BEG?
      They should also base their plans on strategical partnership with JU.
      BEG is hugely profitable. If it makes 20 millions of profit yearly with this traffic, and with party management, just imagine how much they can earn if they were run by professionals and if they increased the traffic to maximum capacity.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:43

      Which professionals? Dana Kondic or Mladjan Dinkic or plain stupid managers from big international company? No magical professional managers for you.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:04

      Neither Dane nor Mladjan were professionals in any way. Both of them proved to be highly incompetent.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:52

      I disagree. Quite the contrary. The airplane business is changed profoundly in Serbia thanks the arrival of Etihad. It was a good idea to invite them.
      The policy of subsidizing foreign investors was also controversial, but thanks to it at the end of 2016 Serbia covers almost 80% of imports with exports. It was 40%, like in Croatia, before these policies were introduced. With a major difference that Croatia has booming tourism and could afford that.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:40

      the import/export is more balanced due to lower crude oil & gas prices, not because of something GoS miracle

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:50

      Utter nonsense. It has to do with exports, not imports. When Mladjan Dinkic became responsible for economy in 2003, Serbian exports were less than 3 billions, covering about 35% of imports. When he was forced out of government in 2014, the exports grew to almost 15 billions. They are stagnating since. So much about "incompetence".
      But don't let facts influence your partisan view.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:03

      exports? like the exports of FIAT which also imports the car parts for almost the same value? lol

      Delete
    13. Anonymous15:07

      OMG Dinkic was a thief and he destroyed Serbia's economy and all of the local banks.
      Also, what kind of exports are we talking about? Foreign companies which came to Serbia to get €5.000 for each job they created? What about Dinkic's genius idea to charge the VAT in advance? His nonsensical idea on how our tax system should look like?

      Delete
    14. Anonymous15:18

      Arrange numbers however you want, but the bottom line is that Serbian export was five times bigger in 2014 than it was in 2003. Export covered only 35% of imports. Now it covers almost 80%.
      I know it contradicts "conventional truths" in Serbian tabloid press, but you can check official statistics, CIA World Factbook, IMF, World Bank.

      Also, without Etihad in the game, first brought by Dinkic, JAT would be in a difficult place today. Just imagine, four B373, a couple of atrs...

      Delete
    15. Anonymous15:24

      Oh, give them a break please. Anon. 15.03 and 15.07 were probably not born and could not remember the times of "prosperity" in the 1990s, for example the year 1993, before the Serbian economy was "destroyed", when JAT was grounded but still had to pay for the maintenance of its fleet.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous15:40

      Just imagine how much our exports would be if he didn't destroy our local economy.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous15:46

      Sorry, I don't read and I don't trust Serbian tabloids. According to World Bank, by 1999 Serbian economy returned to the early 1950s levels. I also lived in the nineties in Serbia and I saw the real economic destruction. I don't have to imagine.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:05

    The ship for BEG has already been sailed. They had to use the opportunity in 2016, before Etihad's plan to draw back from European market. Now all the potential investors' traffic forecasts will include Etihad's removal from Air Serbia, and possible consequences.

    In addition, the tender will be quite unattractive for investors without a construction. Construction is the part where investors make most of the money, the rest is no different than putting your money to government bonds.

    Regarding Fraport, I guess they had their lesson from LJU example, and won't participate in the tender despite Serbian government's charming wink (considering that 450 km. restriction excludes LJU)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:38

      Don't spread misinformation. Etihad has no plans to withdraw from the European market, only rotten investments such as Air Berlin and Alitalia. Not only will they remain in Air Serbia, but use it as their saving grace - as proof that successful turnarounds are possible when the government is cooperative.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:05

      They will not withdraw from Air Berlin and Alitalia.

      Delete
  18. Davanje koncesije za aerodrom Nikola Tesla jeste siguran put za puni razvoj i potpunu transformaciju ove vazdusne luke. Sa ovom koncesijom Beogradski aerodrom ce uspeti da u iducih deset, dvanaest godina renovira, dogradi i izgradi celu infrastrukturu, izuzev zeleznickog prikljucka. Za planove koji postoje za razvoj centralne vazdusne luke Beograda i Srbije. Sa ostvarenjem ove koncesije, ovaj aerodrom ce imati uslove da ima vise od deset miliona putnika u iducih petnaest godina. Ukljucujuci mnogostruko broj letova, kargo saobracaja... Kada bi buduci razvoj zavisio od samo finansiranja aerodromskim novcem. Proslo bi duze od tri decenije da bi se aerodrom podigao na projektovan nivo. Nepotrebno je reci da nijedna kompanija ni institucija kao ni sama drzava nema novca ni mogucnosti da privlaci putnike, visestruko povecava profitabilnost kao sto je koncesionar u toj mogucnosti. Jednostavno da svaka investicija koja se parcijalno ulaze, odlaze, umanjuje svoj razvoj. Jednostavno, istina je da vreme zavlacenja ruku u prazne dzepove poreskih obaveznika naroda u Srbiji, da bi bilo drzavno. Ili kako se to ovde kaze drustveno... Svako uzimanje koncesije, zakupa na odredjeno vreme, ne i prodaju, podrazumeva rasterecenja od kredita, nameta i poreza privredi i narodu... Na kraju, posle koncesija, drzavi se vraca ulozena i izgradjena imovina po ugovoru koji je dogovoren i podpisan. Na ovom u osnovi lezi buducnost. Nije valjda Srbija izuzetak. Ako neko ne racuna model Severne Koreje? Raznih ideja ima, ali koncesija aerodroma Nikola Tesla je otkrovenje decenije. Bar sto se aerodroma tice. Posle ofe najavljene koncesije bice potpuno izvestan razvoj Niskog. Kraljevackog i Uzickog aerodroma... U to nemam sumlje. Makar me neistomisljenici nagrdili zbog mojeg "svetogrdja" u samoupravu i...
    Iskreno radujuci se koncesiji i cistim racunima,
    Svako dobro iz predprolecnog Kraljeva.
    Radovan & Sydneysiders Team.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:53

      Kakvih 10 miliona u zemlji koja se smanjuje kao i susedna Hrvatska. Nemacka ima 115 miliona putnika na 80 miliona stanovnika a ti predvidjas da ce Srbija imati vise od Nemacke. Hrvati imaju turiste, a njih u Srbiji NEMA niti AS ima toliko transfera. Kompanija koja uzima koncesiju ima svoje ekonomiste koji se malo bolje od tebe razumeju u cifre.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:01

      Sve to se radi samo da se uzme procenat.

      Delete
    3. Statistics for air passengers in Germany more than 200.000.000 in 2016

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:16

      if you count domestic passengers twice..

      Delete
  19. Anonymous12:15

    Emirates BEG flights?
    Za danas, zahtev direktoratu?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:39

      Trolls will always get you, and it socks that too many are on here

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:43

      T-12 postao T+3

      Aerologic što bi sa tom današnjom najavom Emiratesa? Izblamira se čoveče!

      Delete
    3. Aerologic je napisao da ce biti objave ali ne zna kada. Neko drugi ko sad cuti je juce napisao da ce biti objava danas u 12.00h

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:44

      Lupetaju i jedan i drugi.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee16:05

      Emirates has informed its crew via internal e-mail that Belgrade flights are going to happen. I guess we have to wait and see what happens.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:11

      October was mentioned..then Flydubai is history?

      Delete
    7. Nemjee16:14

      What I know is that EK crew was informed about these flights. Logically, if EK comes then FZ is leaving. There is no need for both of them to be present on the market.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:24

      Nemje, I just checked and nobody received any email of that kind, unfortunately:(

      Delete
    9. Nemjee16:27

      My friend did.

      Delete
    10. Aэrologic16:32

      I never said they're announcing it today. This info came from QR and they have no idea when are they going to announce it.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous16:33

      Lets hope it will be like that. My friend, she's from exyu hasn't got anything. A bit strange. But if it's your personal friend instead of friend of a friend of a friend, then ok.

      Delete
    12. Nemjee16:37

      My friend is an f/a at EK (non ex-YU national) and when I told him that there might be flights to BEG he replied that he knows as he saw it on their e-mail. I guess it's no longer a secret at this point.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous16:39

      @4:33 - Well not all of them read their service e-mails, same as in Air Serbia.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous17:24

      Wait.... so it's happening?!

      Delete
    15. Anonymous17:56

      It is happening, waiting for the official announcement

      Delete
    16. Anonymous18:00

      When can we expect official announcement?

      Delete
    17. Aэrologic18:17

      There may be also a third city in the region.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous18:20

      OTP??

      Delete
    19. Aэrologic18:29

      It is not OTP.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous18:38

      Aerologic, since you already confirmed BEG, what's stopping you from telling us about the other city?

      Delete
    21. Anonymous18:40

      Maybe Sarajevo is the third city?

      Delete
    22. Aэrologic18:42

      I have to respect my sources. Stay tuned, the second city will be announced together with Belgrade and unlike ZAG it's not an odd choice.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous18:45

      Aerologic, could you stop spitting on ZAG, please? Don't talk of respect, since you have none!

      Delete
    24. Anonymous18:46

      Haha, aerologic, u are really obsessed with zag...but please note that croatia has the strongest demand from asia and Australia in ex yu, why do you think QR, EK are morons to fčy it? Relax with that zag obsession...

      Delete
    25. Anonymous18:48

      Unfortunately, he's not the only one, Serbian media has at least one daily news article regarding Croatia. Not to mention their prime minister...

      Delete
    26. Anonymous18:49

      Well, Purger said it also, so what's so criminal in that?

      Zagreb is the smallest city in their network, period.

      Delete
    27. Anonymous18:54

      Smallest city doesn't mean odd business wise. And aerologic can paxk it in any way he likes, but obviously has some other issues with zag. Or probably with croatia to be honest. Hello 2017, aerologic :)

      Delete
    28. Anonymous19:05

      Stil didn't get the answer to my question: who do you think will use EK to BEG?

      Delete
    29. Anonymous19:07

      Who is using double-daily AUH, soon to be daily QR, four weekly FZ full to capacity, three daily to IST, four daily to SVO...? I guess those same people.

      I'm a bit more worried about Zagreb on the other hand.

      Delete
    30. Anonymous19:08

      CHC is also odd choice? Christchurch, New Zealand...not really big, still gets EK and also 380.

      Delete
    31. Anonymous19:11

      Yes, CHC might be the smallest actually :)

      Delete
    32. Anonymous19:14

      Seychelles International Airport is the smallest airport served by Emirstes wit nearly 700,000 pax

      Delete
    33. Anonymous19:15

      CHC is at the other end of globe, in an island-nation where air-travel is pretty much the only way to get out of there and liking country with the world. Also, it happens to be in a country 5 times richer than Croatia.

      Delete
    34. Anonymous19:16

      Another odd choice I guess :)

      Delete
    35. Anonymous19:16

      Seychelles is yet another island-nation.

      Delete
    36. Anonymous19:16

      Purger made his homework. As per usual.

      Delete
    37. Anonymous19:19

      Traffic potential is not only related to country, but primarily to overall global demand to the country. So ot doesn't really matter if city is small and poor if there is demand....

      Delete
    38. Anonymous19:21

      Wow, many people here really have it in for zagreb, even EK is now making mistakes launching it, hahah..grow up, people, foreign airlines don't care about your petty nationalistic frustrations, they try to run business.

      Delete
    39. Anonymous19:31

      Oh come on people. ZAG was an "odd choice" in terms that it was a complete surprise, including almost everyone in ZAG itself. Especially after EK denied starting any ex-YU routes just couple of months ago. So, yes, an odd choice. It's not an insult - on the contrary.

      Delete
    40. Anonymous19:34

      I am very surprised it is not OTP, as it is the most viable for me.... but if not, then SKG or SOF
      still, hard to imagine how they will fill a wide-body jet...

      Delete
    41. Anonymous19:50

      Yes, I am really surprised OTP seems to be having lower priority vs ex yu and possibly SOF/SKG as prime other suspects for this (rumored) announcement.

      Delete
    42. JATBEGMEL19:55

      ^^^

      EK staff, at least the f/a's don't get early notification of new destinations. ZAG and EWR was announced to crew like it was to the public, like all other new destinations in the past.

      Other than BEG, rumour for a while has been AGP. QR is in HEL, and AY and DY serve DXB seasonally, and wouldn't be surprised to see that launch. TLS and RIX is something I wouldn't be surprised to see. Let's see. If something will happen this year, we will know in the next couple of months.

      Delete
    43. Anonymous20:04

      LOL, "if something happens this year, we will know it this year".

      Delete
    44. Nemjee20:20

      JATBEGMEL

      I highly doubt he would be making it up. He must have seen it somewhere.

      Delete
    45. Alen Šćuric Purger21:11

      Anonymous 7:16
      Please leave me out of this. My father died, and all day I was engaged in the organization of funeral.

      So please another few days leave me out of discussion. Thank you for your understanding.

      Delete
    46. Anonymous21:21

      My condolences.

      Delete
    47. Anonymous22:01

      Same thing when JU launched JFK, since then ZAG strongly want New York flights. Now, when EK will launch daily ZAG flights, BEG stongly want EK. However, daily EK flights to BEG would be unprofitable because BEG has double daily flights to AUH, 4pw flights to DXB, furthermore 4pw flights to DOH.

      Delete
    48. Anonymous22:10

      Yes, sure, don't forget to send email to EK and to tell them not to start BEG as it won't be profitable for them

      Delete
    49. Anonymous22:19

      Belgrade is also much bigger city..

      Delete
    50. Anonymous22:54

      admin do you have any info on these topic? It would be great if you could provide us with some info.

      Delete
    51. Anonymous00:12

      No such email or announcement made internally to EK crew, at least not yet.

      Talk of the town is EK going single aisle (320/737)... that's what keeps the rumor mill spinning lately...

      Delete
    52. Anonymous00:26

      That's not gonna happen.

      Delete
    53. Anonymous00:44

      Agree, EK won't be purchasing any single aisle aircraft

      Delete
  20. Anonymous12:36

    Meanwhile at BEG...

    http://rs.n1info.com/a227751/Biznis/Protest-na-Aerodromu-traze-od-Vlade-obecane-ugovore-za-stalno.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. I predict that the highest bid will be in 200-250M rang. Even if the concessionaire improves the results and let’s say doubles the profit, it would take 10-15 years to see any return on investment assuming they don’t have to invest anything in capital improvements and/or operations.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous17:27

    Give it to the Turks. Just look at PRN, SKP. Excellent figures, well organised management. Not anti LCC.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous17:31

    I wonder how many passengers would BEG be handling today hadn't Yugoslavia collapsed? BEG in its times was pretty much competitive with VIE, ATH, even IST. Maybe 15-20 million?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:30

      It wasn't pretty much competitive but had actually higher figures than VIE.

      Delete
    2. JATBEGMEL19:39

      Well JU was to receive more wide bodies, that is MD11's to replace its DC10's. For some reason when I think of this, I think of AY. HEL last year had just over 17 million pax, with AY carrying over 10 million pax.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous17:51

    OT; SPU predicts at least 2,7 mil in 2017

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:43

      So they're bound to overtake Zagreb sooner or later.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee20:28

      Yet when I said they will be Croatia's number 1 airport people mocked me.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. Has anyone done the maths based on the new routes launched to Split this year to see if this growth is achievable. Also many of these new pax would have to come from mid-week flights. Can the predicted growth be achieved from mid week operations?

      Delete
    6. Nemjee07:56

      Maybe it also has to do with some airlines increasing capacity? If I remember correctly BA is upgauging SPU to an A321.
      I am sure others will follow especially since there is less and less room for additional frequencies.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous21:35

    T -11 and counting...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:40

      Would you mind telling us what this is referring to exactly?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:08

      Maybe days to the announcement, given that yesterday was 12?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous05:24

      11 dana do sajma turizma. prosle godine su poceli prodaju karata za jfk na sajmu.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous23:12

    OT This afternoon on JU501 JFK-BEG there are hardly 70 passengers on board.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:21

      I am no JU fanboy, but it is funny how people report figures only during the middle of February. Till then nothing

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:34

      +1

      Delete

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