NEWS FLASH
Niš Constantine the Great Airport has registered its busiest February on record by handling 27.347 passengers, representing an increase of 24.4% on last year. During the first two months of 2018, the airport welcomed 55.806 travellers through its doors, up 30.8%, while the number of aircraft movements stood at 204. It anticipates handling over 400.000 passengers this year and has projected strong growth over the coming period, with up to 650.000 travellers expected in 2021. The airport is now served by Wizz Air, Ryanair and Swiss International Air Lines on a year-round basis. Wizz has so far announced plans to launch new flights between Vienna and Niš this November, while Swiss will add an extra weekly service from Zurich for a total of three per week. The airport is seeking flights to several European cities including Paris, Oslo, Geneva, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Moscow.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 28.459 | ▲ 37.5 |
| FEB | 27.347 | ▲ 24.4 |
Comments
Greetings from Sofia!
Interestingly Wizz Air will use its A321 from VIE!
I still hope BVA might be next.
I think the biggest blow to SKP was LX in INI.
1. Wizz Air
2. Ryanair
3. Swiss
4. Turkish Airlines Cargo
Any news on INI raising taxes?
and yes, LX in INI was such a blow to SKP- both Germania which flies with A321 and Edelweis with A320 will cancel flights to/from SKP...
in summary: STOP trolling about INI!
Why are you so negative towards INI? Just because it's a true success story doesn't mean you have to compare it with the bigger boys. Even if it overtakes BEG, SOF or SKP, what's the deal? This is not a racing competition. Thank you.
now INI is only a serious blow to SKP, up until recently it was "that is will overtake SKP in 1 year, latest in 2 years"
p.s. the INI-VIE route which is allegedly hurting SKP can only start hurting SKP once it commences- which is in 8 months from now!
Btw. I'm not the same person that started moaning about your overconfidence bias in terms of INI!
I would not be surprised if it gets even 3 airbridges.
BEG-INI has not only transfer traffic connection but domestic one too!
Exactly, one could come for meetings/lunch/shopping and return in the evening.
Central Nis to Belgrade airport is definitely not 2h if you are driving safely and respecting the speed limit. Add possible traffic jam in Belgrade and it could easily go to 3.5h
Do you think there would be sufficient demand with tickets around 30-50 eur?
The challenge is scheduling flight rightly for people to be able to fly from Belgrade in the morning to do business in the South and return in the afternoon/evening.
If someone from Beograd wants to do business in Niš only for a day, for now they will have to spend the night in Niš.
You are asking way too much if you want three flights a day to Niš.
Those transferring in Belgrade would need more frequencies during the day for a route to make sense. I suppose turnaround BEG -INI -BEG would be around 2h. Therefore the schedule would have to be something like 5AM INI-BEG to enable connections in the morning wave.
7AM BEG-INI-BEG for those travelling to the South to do business and INI connections to Abu Dhabi, Sarajevo, Podgorica...etc.
Again around 17.30 BEG-INI-BEG taking transfers to INI (some with longer wait) and returning those doing business back to BEG.
Finally, late 0.30 AM departure BEG-INI with plane spending few hours there before early morning departure.
Costly, but hay - that is how you provide connectivity to citizens.
Constructive/non INI hating amendments/suggestions anticipated.
transfers meaning those transferring in BEG and returning to INI. Maybe I wrote it in a bit confusing manner. :)
@anon 6:51
It would actually be three flights daily each way. That is needed if you want to have people transferring. Plus with cheap tickets you could have a completely new BEG-INI market for O&D.
They must start these flights before OU, JP or OS does.
Most bigger countries have domestic flights, time for Serbia to do it too.
Note that worrysome Vinci BEG concession agreement clause to limiting Serbias regional airports can be relativized with PSO flights.
What do you mean by "relativized with PSO flights"?
Is there domestic travel in Hungary, which is bigger & richer than Serbia?
DEB recently added VKO to its network and has LH - true legacy.
TZL - yes, this is a good comparison but still remains a base and INI not.
The only true airport INI can be compared to is CRA or KSC.
I think we might agree. The "best for Serbia" would actually be to have a national carrier flying from its base to all airports in the country (two at the moment) and possibly have 4 flights a day.
I was talking about BEG-BUD for 60 eur return. If I remember correctly is was regularly 150+ and of course it failed. Nobody mentioned 6/3 eur, it is not flixbus. But lets discuss our dear INI :)
If you have four people in the auto the price per person is substantially reduced. Plus you have use of the auto in the city.
Flights between INI and BEG can only work as transfers for people from Niš flying elsewhere.
But not all people drive, and hiring car with the driver to go for a meeting/presentation/whatever to Nis/Leskovac/Vranje is quite expensive. Many business trips are just one person. But yes, mostly transfers INI-BGD.
For me personally, BEG-INI will turn out a true success.
Also, Debrecen has been 'operational' for much longer. Wizz Air was forced to fly from there after Malev went bust.
So, let's not fool ourselves. Business travel by plane between Nis and Belgrade may be reasonable in 2050.
But in the meantime, as emigration from Southern Serbia rises exponentially, there is definitely a market for companies like JU, JP, OS (not so sure about OUs frequencies) to send small aircraft to INI and collect pax to fly them to places like Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Paris, with more frequencies and choices than the currently operating LCCs do.
Also, anon @8:31 mentioned role of business travelers.
Also, anon @7:39 mentioned role of OU, JP or OS.
Just playing with you buddy!
Are you sure you are anon at 10:11? xD
INI is an airport with potential and needs more attention. It has been neglected during the last couple of years especially during the YM years when they used to fly to TGD.
Anyway, looking forward to the 600 thousand mark by 2020.
You sound a little confused and slightly frustrated.
INI: 331.582 passengers
DEB: 318 184 passengers
Debrecen will most likely handle around 350.000 passengers this year while INI is aiming for 400.000.
So in a way, INI is doing a fantastic job given that it's not anyone's base. I can only imagine how the airport's numbers would boom if someone did it.
And by the way, I think comparing DEB and INI makes absolute sense as both Serbia and Hungary are extremely similar.
Just hope. Or?