Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is soon expected handle its record five-millionth passenger as it readies for 2018 which will be a defining year for its future development. General Manager Saša Vlaisavljević noted that the airport will welcome over 5.3 million passengers by year's end, which is below the initially targeted 5.5 million but well above 2016s record 4.9 million travellers. The airport has recorded fifteen consecutive months of growth ending October. "We are extremely proud of this achievement to which we have to add our outstanding financial results. During the first ten months of the year, net profit grew 12% to over 25.1 million euros. Revenue was up 9% and the airport operator is one of the country's most successful companies with over 2.000 employees", Mr Vlaisavljević told the "Blic" daily.
With less than a week left for the four consortiums and one stand alone company to make their final bids for the 25-year concession of the airport, Mr Vlaisavljević noted, "We expect for the strategic partner to extend the boundaries of development, which we have laid the foundations for. The process to select the concessionaire is ongoing and according to plan. All the bidders already have extensive experience in managing airports with tens of millions of passengers. Current business trends entail globalisation on all levels and it is this kind of strategy that could even better position the airport on the global stage". The airport has previously said it expects for the future concessionaire to take over on August 1, 2018.
Despite the ongoing concession process, the airport has continued to invest in its infrastructure. This year it upgraded its Terminal 1 building which included the addition of 33 check-in desks, eleven retail desks, commercial areas, oversized baggage check-in, a new baggage sorting facility and an extra 475 square metres of space. This has resulted in an increase in capacity from the previous 5.5 million passengers per year to seven million. Furthermore, it recently began tender procedures for the upgrade and overhaul of its Terminal 2 ground floor / check-in area. The work will be carried out upon the request of Air Serbia which will install self-check-in kiosks in the middle of the terminal's ground floor. In addition, the airport has begun trialling whole-body imaging machines, which will replace all of its walk-through metal detectors at the start of 2018. The new scanners aim to cut waiting times at security checkpoints, which are located at the gate at Belgrade Airport. They have the ability to find non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which are considered a major threat. Some seventy staff have already been trained to work with the Rohde & Schwarz manufactured technology.
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| New security technology being installed at Belgrade Airport |
Meanwhile, Serbia's second international airport in Niš has broken records of its own. On Tuesday it welcomed its 300.000th passengers of the year on a Ryanair flight from Stockholm Skavsta. As a result, the airport handled just over 25.700 passengers in November. It anticipates handling between 330.000 and 335.000 travellers by year's end, with growth averaging 235% in 2017. During the whole of last year, the south-east Serbian airport registered 124.917 passengers.
Congratulations to both Belgrade and Nis
ReplyDeleteGood work. Any new airlines coming to BEG next year?
ReplyDeletePlenty
Delete^You might be sarcastic or just nasty but this year it added 3 new scheduled airlines. Not sure which other ex-Yu capital did.
DeleteAnon 9:16 AM, TGD will have 5 new routes next year.
DeleteI'm talking about this year and I'm talking about the number of airlines since the original anon asked about airlines. Good for Podgorica.
DeleteDiscussion at the aiport suggests that 1 airline from the Far East and 1 from the Persian Gulf will start flights next year
DeleteRoyal Air Maroc will start flights next year. Concessionaire comes in August, who knows what their plans could be for the future.
DeleteWith such great results and being one of the few well run public companies in Serbia, it makes no sense why the Govt is putting the airport up for concession
ReplyDeleteBecause it's not government's job to run companies and employ the ruling party members and their families.
DeleteWhy is it than Government job to run airports in western Europe?
Delete"One of the country's most successful companies with over 2.000 employees".
ReplyDeleteIt's actually amazing to be successful with so many employees (stranke/familija/veze), so, good job BEG!
Good job BEG & INI. For BEG, we need to see new routes being launched, 3 are almost lost: GVA, FDH and NUE. Hoping to see the return of a legacy carrier such as AF, BT or BA for example. Meanwhile, SOF celebrated its 6th million passenger on 30/11.
ReplyDeleteAs for INI, 1 airline will be lost and 1 route, but will see a new additional frequency. Still, it needs to open more routes to reach 650000 by next year and 1 million by 2020.
Good luck Serbia and also all the best with Kraljevo! Can't wait.
loving all these nasty comments today. You said it all with your last sentence. But at least you are creative. Jealousy brings the best out in people.
DeleteWhat did you expect? When some see a positive development for Serbia it creates a commotion in their brain.
DeleteTalking about Sofia, it's concession process was abandoned because there was no interest and in 2016 it recorded a 7 million EURO net loss because it has become a low cost airport. Pumping passenger numbers is not the airport's only responsibility. I'm sure you would be the first to point that out if BEG had done it.
DeleteBravo Sofia!
Deletewell, SOF hat a net loss due to a one-off write-off of assets due to a bank colapse. In fact, it doubled its operational profit to appx. 5 mn EUR compared to 2015 (which was an year without Ryanair).
DeleteSince we have so many LLC, the city is full of tourists, even now in the low season, and local small businesses are flourishing. So, I think it is a very positive thing, even if the airport is not as profitable as other regional players.
Still, the airport (SOF) is a huge mess and needs a new management. Compared to VAR bar BOJ, the management at SOF is just terrible.
Greeting from Sofia and good luck to BEG and all other Balkan airports in 2018
Comparing VAR/BOJ management to SOF is like comparing apples with pears. Fraport did an excellent job over there. I hope LJU will enjoy the same success and pity that it won't race for the BEG concession.
DeleteWho owes the most money to SOF airport? Not FR, not W6, but the praised-by-all national carrier Bulgaria Air, in the amount of over 30 mio EUR.
DeleteOf course, Sofia Airport being owned/run by the government and FB owned/run by one of the largest de-facto mafia groups in the country, you can see nothing will be done it that matter until the concession process is finished. And that provided that the same group that owns FB doesn't win...
FB is a joke of an airline and slowly being killed by W6 and FR. It's unbelievable how they managed to buy those 4 new Embraers and how they are allowed to operate owning the airport so much money.
DeleteAnon 10.29
DeleteWho exactly is praising FB on here? We all agree they are a joke.
Anon 9:16 AM.
DeletePridruzujem se Vasim zeljama. Narocito za dugo zakljucane Moravu i Ponikve.
Grupa komercijalnih aerodroma jeste platforma efikasnog, brzo dostupnog trzista zemlje Srbije. To je osnov, sustina i buducnost svake drzave. Sigurno i Srbije. Nova 2018 godina, jeste godina pocetka transformacije od dosadasnjih reformi.
Radovan, Kraljevo🇷🇸🇦🇺Sydney
Interesting that security at BEG is done at the gate. The walk through scanner will definitely cut waiting time. Good investment.
ReplyDeleteIt used to be before passport control but then they moved it to each individual gate maybe 2 or 3 years ago.
Delete... in order to have to employ more people - party loyalists of course
DeleteWhy would you write such nonsense? The second security control was added due to the West demanding it right after the war.
Delete.... while all major airports in the "West" have one central screening point.
DeleteC'mon - don't write such tripe. Moving the security checks to each and every gate obviously brought with it the benefit of having to employ many additional people.
You argument further doesn't hold any water, because one of the first things that the new concessionaire will put in place at BEG once they take over, is centralised security screening BEFORE passport control
I see that you are not a Serb or that you haven't flown through BEG.
DeleteIf you have then you would have known that in the past there used to be TWO security controls while now there is one.
Furthermore, the concessionaire can't have a centralized control simply because incoming and departing passengers are mixed in the terminal. The airport doesn't have a mechanism to separate them. There is a plan to do it in the future only once the second floor is built.
And like I said, the west asked for it right after the war due to some issue with weapon smuggling. That's why it was removed a few years ago.
So in conclusion BEG actually reduced the staff working on the security check. It didn't increase them.
Nice try though.
good work and nice to see that the airport has completed some expansion projects this year even if there is a concession.
ReplyDeleteSo next year we could expect around 5.6 million?
ReplyDeleteDepends how winter months perform. If they keep on growing at a 10% rate then we could even hope for 5.7.
Delete"We expect for the strategic partner to extend the boundaries of development"
ReplyDeleteI expect the strategic partner to first and foremost replace you as CEO.
Far East and Persian Gulf? Any ideas about which two airlines?
ReplyDeleteJin Air and Air Arabia?
DeleteJin Air said it would launch flights to BEG in 2020 ;)
DeleteOk so we know the far east airline, what about the other?
DeleteIran Air
DeleteI wish but...
DeleteUkraine International would be a nice add. They have the right aircraft for it.
I think launching Tbilisi,Astana or maybe Almaty would take more transfer passengers at BEG,90% of them flies to other destinations via SVO or IST(or SAW),why wouldn thru BEG if the prices are a little bit cheaper.
DeleteG9 had BEG on their map in 2012 but decided not to operate they had meetings with AP in BEG / LJU + major TOs + Directorate and received rights and 5th freedom BEG-LJU but they started PRN isntead which was fiasko. I think best option for BEG would be Ethiopian ( they have right aircraft for BEG-ADD-BEG 737-8 ) and to connect it with BUD ( 5th freedom will not be a problem ) and 9W ( Indians dont need visas and it is HUGE market ) where they can use JU regional network
DeleteNext year will be a good one for Belgrade. Realistically speaking, if any new European airline launches flights then I guess it would be either airBaltic or TAP... or both.
ReplyDeleteFrom what we could see, many airlines are starting to consolidate their position at the airport by increasing their frequencies. By the time summer comes I am sure others like Lot will do the same.
Given the success of the JFK and PEK flights, I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto or Chicago come next.
Will be interesting to see how November performed. My guess is around 350.000 to 360.000 passengers.
It's too early to evaluate the flights to Beijing. We will see the trend by next summer. JFK flights basically were lowered ever since they were launched but can be considered as a success. I think flights to Canada and India should have more success. Not to mention Japan. BEG-NRT is quite realistic.
DeleteWell, Hainan carries around 100 passengers from Belgrade to Prague and from what I heard most of them are Chinese going to Beijing. They have to block a certain number of seats for those boarding in CZ.
DeleteHainan has not yet finalized its summer timetable so I am still hoping that we will get at least one weekly flight without the Prague stop.
As for JFK, wasn't it increased this winter compared to last one?
Serbia and Kazakhstan have great economic relations and most passengers fly either through SVO or IST. There were talks of direct flights so who knows, maybe Air Astana surprises us. They could easily operate the flight with the A320.
TAP doesn't even fly to IST or ATH but they will start flights to BEG?
DeleteIt doesn't seem very likely to me.
Their fellow Star Alliance partners fly from both ATH and IST and both of these airlines are difficult to compete with so why should they bother?
DeleteLet me remind you that TAP flies to both OTP and BUD so I don't see why BEG would be such a shocker.
Ne lete na cuvenu zracnu luku.
DeletePegasus will revise its SAW-BEG-SAW flights.
ReplyDeleteWed 09.35-10.25 // 11.05-13.50
Mon-Fri 15.10-15.55 // 16.35-19.20
Sun 18.30-19.20 // 20.10-23.00
Morning and evening will be almost the same as TK.
Beograd je pun turista iz Turske, ali bukvalno pun. Ne samo leti, nego evo i sad zimi. Od pre par godina je postao hit destinacija u Turskoj za city-break odmor.
DeleteTako je. Juce dva A321, KK danas opet.
DeleteTomorrow there are again two A321 and one B738.
DeleteHaving that said, I wonder if TK would send their A330 regularly to BEG. There has always been huge demand between both BEG and IST.
DeleteThey can now when there JU doesn't have flights to Turkey. Maybe they will do it in summer but I would still prefer if they introduced 3rd daily.
Delete+1 Anon 4:16, and if we have 3 airlines flying to IST,there should be demand for TK to send A330 for example two times in a week on their morning flight.
DeleteIt's funny you mention the morning flight when the A321 usually flies on their evening flight. :D
DeleteHmmm,ok,evening flight* :D
DeleteSo, Belgrade will add some 400,000 pax this year, compared to 250,000 last year. Nice!
ReplyDeleteBtw...I was at a conference in Novi Sad this from Thursday until yesterday. Beautiful little city with Mittleeuropa character. My first time there. If it weren't so close to Belgrade, it could have a successful airport of its own.
Novi Sad is nice but for me it's not the nicest in the country. You should go to Subotica.
DeleteUnfortunately Novi Sad's economy is not doing as well anymore. They have a small airport but it has a grass runway and there were some plans to develop it but they only start talking about it when we have elections.
The trickiest part of Novo Sad is its proximity to BEG and BUD giving it low chances to transform itself into a serious player. Besides the government is giving priority to INI and KVO as those regions are in need of more airports.
DeleteNovi Sad is connected to Belgrade by highway and now there is part of the ring that allows you to not even enter the city. It means you can get to the airport in 40 minutes. Less than than if you are coming from Karaburma or Rakovica. lol
DeleteThanks for the info. 40min is basically nothing. No wonder then how BEG has a bigger catchment area. If ever opened one day, it can be a low-cost alternative just like Brussels. It can be promoted as Beograd-Sever International Airport and be much cheaper.
DeleteYes, we flew in to Tesla and it took us under an hour of drive to Novi Sad on a full profile expressway.
DeleteWhat airline did you fly on to BEG?
DeleteAnon 10.43
I think if we ever get a BEG 2.0 it will be Batajnica.
KLM & JU via Schiphol. There were no direct flights on Thursday. Air Serbia was an Airbus A320 and in my estimate it was over 2/3 full.
DeleteDali ima neko informaciju zasto als podize cenu karata za bec? Auatrian nudi naprimer za jedan datum 150 eur a asl 250!!! Uopste pumpaju cene na toj relaciji! Realna cena je 120 do 160!!
ReplyDeleteMislim air serbia (asl)
DeleteASL je stalno puna na linija za Bec je nude bolja vremena.
DeleteSutra letim iz SOF za FRA sa W6, povratna karta za 38€. Sram vas bilo BEG i ASL ko pa leti sa onakvim cenama.
ReplyDeletegde zivis?
DeleteJugoistok Srbije naravno. Cene iz BEG za FRA sa ASL i DLH + partneri su blago rečeno jezive. Vredi cimati se do Sofije.
DeleteLako je da W6 nudi takve cene kada ih drzi investicioni fond. ;)
Delete...and u still need to drive more than 100km to actually get to Frankfurt - if u have to pay for transfer then you can add another 30 euros for a return fare so, its not exactly 38 euros what you'll be paying
DeleteNonsens, iz Sofije lete za glavni aerodrom ne za Han. 5€ voz i u centru ste :-)
DeleteW6 flies to Frankfurt's main airport and not Hahn
DeleteFrom sofija
DeleteI don't think there is an investment fund anywhere that wants to lose money instead of making.
DeleteMaybe Abu Dhabi's fund but that's about it!
They are losing money short-term to make them in the long-term.
DeleteNot W6, they are massively profitable.
DeleteSo are OU and JU.
DeleteSOF-FRA will become most likely the second or third busiest route after London next summer so I am not surprised with this ticket price. He bought the ticket dirty cheap because Wizz deploys their 230 seater A321 on the route to compete with LH something that needs to happen in BEG too.
DeleteAnon at 1:21
DeleteJU profitability? Seriously ?
That was the point. W6 is profitable the same way as them. But I do like how you singled out JU from his comment, I presume you do believe OU is profitable.
DeleteI noticed that as well. Some people are way too transparent on here.
DeleteInteresting how W6 flies to FRA - one of THE most expensive airports in Europe, yet won't fly to ZAG because of its high fees...
DeleteI can't imagine ZAG to be more expensive than FRA
FRA's catchment area makes it worth it.
DeleteI think they get fat discounts from Fraport...
DeleteFat discounts are W6's modus operandi.
DeleteThey intentionally opened this route because of FR's massive expansion and they were fearing they would include BUD and SOF to the list, but they were faster. Additionally, they know LH is being an almost monopoly in the route so they wanted to take their slice of the cake but doubt LH will let them easily.
DeleteRyanair did manage to defeat Wizz Air on some routes out of Sofia.
Deleteanon at 1:58
DeleteI don't care about OU to comment on them nor to look deeper into financials. BTW, I'm from Serbia, btw.
Wizz is a listed company on London Stock Exchange, much scrutinised by investors and stock is performing brilliantly. I guess I'm not the only one thinking that they are actually really profitable. There are over 20 institutional investors who own the stock.
are you actually comparing JU and Wizz ?
Wizz is partially listed only for show. Main Investor wants to be in control.
DeleteRight. And tens of mutual funds and institutional investors are part of the show, in on the scam ?
DeleteI take that they know few things more about investing compared to either you or me.
I never said was a scam, but now that you brought it up...
DeleteNeither OU nor JU can be compared to W6, guys. W6 is making lots and lots of profit and what's cool is that bring an Eastern European LCC they know the soil they are serving. They know RO, OK, FB are failing, they know Slovakia has no national carrier and that Poland has a bunch of airports hungry for traffic.
DeleteAt anon 10:54
DeleteSo, in the end what is it that you would like to say ?
You dug yourself a bit deep with comparing JU to Wizz and kept going deeper.
I'll give you a credit for the effort, but please...
P.S. Don't forget to warn all the professional money managers who bought into Wizz about the profitability and accounting practices.
You mean all those who work on stock exchanges that crashed the global economy a few years ago? Yes, please warn them.
DeleteSorry, you must be the smart one here, comparing JU's profitability with that of Wizz.
Delete"W6 is profitable the same way as them."
DeleteInstant classic
If BEG is slowly attracting long haul carriers, why don't they try with Scoot? They have launched ATH and will launch Berlin, so why not BEG if there is a big interest from Asians to Serbia. LCC BEG to SIN with the B787 will be super nice!
ReplyDeleteDream on. Never going to happen. First get Emirates and only then talk of Scoot.
DeleteWhy would BEG need EK if it has FZ? It's much easier and safer to fill the smaller B738 compared to B772. The concept is the same - transfer flights and then fly EK wherever you wish.
DeleteBesides there might be Chinese using Scoot as an airline too. I am sure 2 flights per week will be a success.
Why would anyone fly all the way south to SIN only to fly north to Belgrade? o,O
DeleteI love it how the croatian fanboys always use EK as ammunition to spread hate around, as if it were the 8th wonder of the world :D
Delete+1000 Anon 3:20 PM.
DeleteThe route is less than 6 months old and will be reduced in winter but lets see if it could sustain. I realised EK are sending B773 to BUD and B772 to ZAG. It has 266 seats compared to 354 seats.
Now, if EK sends daily A380 to ZAG, it will definitely hold the crown of ex-Yu!
Yeah they are just about to send the a380 any minute now daily. Lol.
DeleteHmm yet ZAG is the only airport in the region to have EK. ;)
DeleteHmm yet BEG has daily flighs to Dubai.
DeleteZAG is also the only EU capital linked to 1 London airport.
DeleteNot sure what is the big deal with EK flying to ZAG... EK flies to heaps of countries and chose to do so before eventually flying to ZAG.
DeleteBEG has been connected to DXB for many years now and well before ZAG. There are also flights from BEG to 2 cities in the UAE, not just one.
Moreover, BEG has year long intercontinental flights to both Nth America and Asia, while ZAG only has seasonal flights to Nth America and Asia.
ZAG has still a long way to run to be on the top. They need to learn from BUD, WAW, RIX, etc. It needs more connections to the coast and 2nd runway to increase capacity.
DeleteIn addition to this, it needs to allow LCC's to fly in to broaden the offering. If an airport like FRA and other major European airports can live with LCC's, not sure what problem ZAG has - unless it is to protect OU's position
DeleteEK ZAG flight is with 777-300ER
DeleteLove it how some don't see what is the big deal that EK is flying to ZAG. If it would be flying to BEG, damn - it surely would be a big deal.
DeleteYes, it is a big deal that Emirates flies to Zagreb. For profit reasons, but also for prestige, which is potential profit. It means a lot. It is a large part of the reason why ZAG has doubled its growth this year compared to 2016.
DeleteNevertheless, it's ridiculous when people use that as an argument that Zagreb's airport is somehow better than Belgrade's. Or that Belgrade isn't prestigious enough.
Same goes for the same type of comments on other side, behaving as though Belgrade was in a different league compared to Zagreb (a frequent argument here). It's not.
Just like Zagreb isn't in a different league compared to Ljubljana, or Skopje.
Also, I disagree with whoever said that ZAG needs another runway. What it needs is more gates and being properly staffed.
Both are delusional. Neither ZAG is "better" or more prestigious or BEG is in some completely different league than ZAG.
Delete@MichaelDecember 4, 2017 at 11:17 AM
DeleteZagreb needs a 2nd runway, really fast, but not for traffic reasons, Air Force needs it.
I'd like to see Air Force base moved 4-5km away from present location to south east, near Lekneno village and Strmec, build 2nd runway parallel to current runway and build air force base on the other side of the runway. This would free plenty of room for expansion in future and allow Air Force to operate their fighters at leisure, not impeding airport operations.
Croatian AF is getting 16 (12+4) brand new fighters, either JAS 39 C/F MS20 or F-16V Block 70/72. We'll know by the end of this month. Would be nice to have a separate operations for Civil Airport only.
One runway is enough for 30 million pax, or around 250 000 landings/ take offs per year.
Gatwick operates single runway with ~40 million pax, Heathrow operates two runways with 76 million pax.
Air Force has its runway, it has been built.
DeleteA zasto je danas kolaps saobracaja i reda letenja na aerodromu Beg, jel to malo pao sneg u Dec pa ih je opet iznenadio? Neke stvari se nikada nece promeniti u SRB!!!
ReplyDeleteBelgrade desperately needs Ryanair !!!
ReplyDeleteWhy when there is Wizz Air?
DeleteCompetition ! Lower prices. New destinations. Sofia s exaple :)... and finaly Barcelona and Madrid :)
DeleteBravo Belgrade Nikola Tesla! More good news! It is planned for airplane fans to get observation deck at the airport before the end of 2017:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/M5yb3ZBoojc?t=1m16s
Kako da završe platformu do kraja godine kad nisu ni počeli? Može im se, bez odgovornosti za obećano a neispunjeno. Možemo samo da gledamo ovu sliku gore u Vintage Photos i čeznemo kako je nekad bilo.
DeleteThese numbers are impressive especially if we look at it from a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteBEG in 2012: 3.363.919
BEG in 2007: 2.698.730
That means that in a decade BEG has doubled its passenger numbers.
It only goes to show the true potential of the Serbian market. It's not unrealistic to expect that next year BEG will come close to 5.7 million passengers.
Go BEG!!! realistically can expect 5.7 - 6 million in 2018 ams 10 million by 2020
ReplyDeleteI'll be really happy if BEG have 10 million by 2020 but that must be a hell of the growth if it manages to add 4 million in 2 years ��
DeleteNot gonna happen.
DeleteGood job Beg....
ReplyDeleteIstina je da je Aerodrom Nikola Tesla tokom ove godine obecao izgradnju terasu za posmatranje avijona. Objavljeno je da radovi pocinju u decembru. Decembar je vec poceo. A pocetak gradnje obecane platforme na gejtu C ? Sta je izgovorena rec?. Neostvareno delo. Zar ne. A onaj koje izgovorio obecanje bez ostvarenja, kako se on zove? Dali se moze lazov? Ako se ne ispuni obecano, moze. Za dvadesetak dana do dolaska i pocetka obecanog. Ako ne pocnu radovi?
ReplyDeleteOstace lazno obecanje. A covek koji je izgovorio obecanje? Obecavace i dalje ako bude u mogucnosti. Gledacemo i mi avione, posmatrati saobracaj na pisti. Kada obecanje postane istina. Decembar je. Cekamo istinu sa pocetkom radova. Naravno bez fraze "nazalost"...
Decembar je. Pocnite obecano, Aerodrome...
Radovan u Srbiji. 🇷🇸🇦🇺🌐😀🌍🌏🌎