VINCI paid a huge amount for that concession. There were bound to be some strings attached.

I don't think that Nis reaching 1 million passengers is so unattainable as they think. It would be enough for an LCC to open a base there and within 2-3 years they could reach that number.

Why didn't they just give Niš for concession to the French too and then both could be developed?

Zorana told Zoran he should keep quiet about the truth.

Seriously??! This is one of the most strangest and dumbest decisions of all times. In times where worldwide traffic is growing significantly every year, they decide to put a limit.
What's wrong with INI reaching 1 million and more?? This will only boost the region!! Check Charleroi or Katowice or Ohrid. LCC is the future, enough of useless protectionism!! This is madness!

Has anyone else ever made such a concession deal where they limit other airports in their country?!?

Because the country needs to run at least one functioning commercial airport.

600000 will be achievable by 2021 for sure and 1 million by 2025. People are just scared of INI's growth, especially and ironically BEG and not SKP as initially thought.

Plus I think Nis is also used by the military.

I think people are seriously overestimating Nis. Wizz Air will drop another route from there - Dortmund in winter. That's the second in 6 months.

I know Albania did but it was even more extreme. They didn't allow any traffic at any other airport besides Tirana. In the end the concessionaire left TIA and the government got a new investor and renegotiated the terms.

So under these terms airports within 150km of BEG can develop. Time to make Batajnica a low cost hub :D

I am not sure, but the possible limitation was widely discussed on this forum, so people were aware that a possibility like this exists.

I am personally not shocked by the news.

Love how the government has been lying through their teeth for weeks. And there were people who actually believed them.

I have never heard of something like this before. For me, it's simply protecting BEG and wanting the 💰 💰 just for them. Greedy centralist government!

Zagreb is also used by the military but it didn't turn out to be an issue with their concession.

It's too early to judge. Many airports still don't have their winter timetable ready e.g. KTW, TSR, SOF/VAR, ATH.
If DTM is stopped it might be replaced with BVA, ATH, MLA or TLV.

Ryanair probably had better loads to Weeze. But it should be said Wizz is launching Vienna and if they do cut Dortmund in the end maybe they will replace it with something else.

Does it really matter? Not a single other airport will reach 1 million passengers any time soon. People are reacting as if Nis is handling 2 million per year and this will somehow affect them.

Well Nišlije voted for them in record numbers. Maybe they should have given it some thought beforehand.

More than 1/3 of a million achieved in less than 3 years and you're saying that INI is unable to handle 1 million within the next 5-7 years??

Growth is easy when you have 0 passengers. It is much more difficult later on.

Germania also ended Zurich.

What a neo-despotism we have in Serbia - we lack words words to explain.

Crazy

By 2025 it is possible for BEG to have 12 million, it needs to grow by about 11 percent a year

Yes, but LX increases ZRH and is sending A320. W6 will send A321 in winter. Problem?

The point being that Vinci does not want to lose pax to INI. Makes sense from their point of view, but is unfair to INI. In this scenario the government is favoring BEG to INI.

But you agree it is not fair?

They had a choice to either agree to this and get 1.2 billion or subsidize Wizz Air and Ryansir with 3 euro taxes...

Zadar too

Svasta ej

Ovo definitivno ide predaleko. Uskracuje se prekoproporcionalno pravo jednom akteru zbog dodavanja prava drugome. Vreme je da se ukljuci ustavni sud

seriously if gasto route didnt work you expect them to launch ATH in winter?!? hah

BEG cannot reach 12 million soon. I mean these figures are made by BUD, which is a much, more advanced airport and took them more than a decade. This can be achieved if Serbia joins the EU, then that will be another story.

I think INI should be more worried about the 3euro taxes then the 1mio pax.

it cannot go forever with 3€ taxes, just saying

I think Nis actually has a natural cap on its own growth and its probably around 1 million pax.

"the Serbian government has now admitted that figures will be confined to one million passengers for each airport in the country within a 230 kilometre radius of Belgrad"

For each airport, or combined?

SKP too (if you can call that bunch of helicopters military :D)

It says in the sentence you quoted - "for each airport".

KUT and CLJ will have flights to ATH in winter, so why not INI? I definitely think flights to ATH can be soon launched.

Because those airports are in different countries with different purchasing power.

100% agreed but very very 😠 😠

I love when I hear "experts" here that they will not be able to reach a million passangers by 2021. Those are the same "experts" that told us few years ago, there is no need for airport in Nis and that the only airport needed in Serbia is the one located in Belgrade. What I am really concerned here is, will the same conditions apply for the airlines once the airport is "stolen" by state? Will those airlines stop flying from INI as Nis Airport broke contract and can sue them with multimillion-euros penalties? And why SRB government can help BNX even is not in the same country, but they have to expropriate INI to invest in it! This is real madness!

Georgia is poorer than Serbia but has more airports. Serbia can have the same with INI and soon Kraljevo!
As of INI-ATH, a 2 weekly flight is easily doable. What makes you think it won't work?

Yeah, I realize what it says, but I heard that it was one million pax combined, not one million per airport.

The fact that Dortmund and Eindhoven didn't work out.

I don't think the current airlines will be affected BUT, if the central government decides to increase the 3€ tax, then be sure that FR will immediately threaten to leave and we have many examples of regional European airports that were threatened like that.

DTM is still up and running. EIN didn't work because FR had very cheap prices to neighbouring NRN. Why is INI bookable for the winter 2018 on FR then? Why haven't they stopped if it "won't work"?

11% is a high percentage. 2018 will be a good year, but let's see 2019 if they maintain the same as 2018 and obviously increase it to even more.

It doesn't matter if INI can reach 1 million passengers by any given year. This kind of limitation simply shouldn't exist. As a responsible government you don't just favour the rich parts of the country at the expense of the poor. If anything, you should do the opposite.

FR has cheap price for Weeze. lets wait and see whats happening with DTM

True dat.

NIslije idu samo do Paralija i nazad. Tacka.

Yes, in 2017 INI had a 165% growth. If they keep that growth rate, in 5 years they'll exceed 40 million a year, and in just 7 years overtake ATL as world's busiest airport!

Good they are protecting Air Serbia and the concessionare. INI is not the capital and should be limited.

Why?

BEG-LCA is also not bookable in winter 2018, maybe they are going to reshuffle the routes. Let's give them a chance until they officially announce end of DTM.

Yes, keep focusing on the capital and your lovely "legacy airline" and give us LCC, here in the South. I prefer to fly a brand new A320 or B738 and pay at least 70% less.

I can only see agony and jealousy in your words full of envy. We shall continue to grow towards the 1 millionth mark.

1 mill each.

Not sure.

Don't feed the trol.

The thing is Nis will HAVE to increase fees to at least 5eur per passenger, tickets will go up and passenger growth will slow down. There is not way INI is reaching 1 million by 2025 ...

Troll because it doesn't go with your opinion and enjoy paying taxes got the Heathrow and Kennedy slots.

Hahaha, seriously?

-1000

How would it be if Croatia did the same with their airports?

You can't compare because Croatia is highly decentralized due to tourism and the shape of the country. It was always like that.

It doesn't f*****g matter! You don't limit one airport in order to grow another.

Yes seriously. The price of the concession is extremely large for just 25 years and for BEG.

Maybe they made a calculation? Maybe the calculation showed that by limiting INI to 1 million would get them 100 millions more from VINCI, while Nis can not make that profit in ... 50 years? And then they invest 10 millions out of those 100 in Nis? It is not all in passenger numbers, you know, there is something about profit. I would rather have 800k passengers with 5 million profit a year than 2 million passengers with 1 million profit annually. Please look at the wider picture.

Well how yould it be? No need for that question because they are not doing it whereas Serbia does it which is a highly political decision. Let the airports compete against each other.

If they made that calculation why don't they openly come out with it? It sounds perfectly legit. But I think you're giving them too much credit.

Guys, let's get BEG to 12 million then.

Easy peasy japanesey...don't simply focus on the 3€ airport tax only. By bringing a tourist to INI, they pay the 3€ airport tax, the taxi which taxist will pay tax to the state, the hotel, the food, they will leave money. So if Serbia invested 1 million in INI's refurbishment, then the money from the 1 million tourists will be collected from the taxist, hotelier, restaurantier, etc, etc. Which means jobs, money circulation, rise in the standard.
Air traffic figures are really important, trust me. The more you have the more people will spend and leave money in INI.
INI traffic is pure O&D which generates much more revenue compared to BEG's transfer traffic. BEG relies a lot on JU as it generates nearly 60% of its traffic. Voilà !

Well, now we know why the French decided to pay that much. They were aware of Serbia's other airports and avoided this scenario in case a new concession was given to INI or Kraljevo and therefore competition for them. Just imagine in 2019, Serbia decides to put INI for concession and Fraport wins, then how will Vinci prosper then?

Great job, GoS...

Speaking of government limitations and focusing mainly on BEG, now I am also convinced more than ever that this is also the main reason why W6 never expanded its BEG base or we saw FR intentions. I think the the central government are putting some kind of limit for them too. There is no other explanation.

It's called airport taxes, which are not cheap at BEG.

You do realize that 90% of passengers in INI are either people working in Western Europe or Serbian tourists going to Western Europe? Direct tourists who come to Nis as tourists via INI are less than 10% ... but this is just my theory ...

That is BS. Wizz was limited by high taxes, not by the Government directly. But I guess now that VINCI is here, no one will blame the Government for anything regarding BEG.

It’s for all other airports combined. But this is something the government won’t admit yet. Just like they denied any limitation for secodary airports in the beginning. The same way that the government won’t admit that the concession was drafted continuously with the supervision of Vinci.

God forbid somebody writes REALISTIC estimates about INI- its nothing but agony and jealousy then.

its not only your theory its a fact for 95% of Wizz flights to ex-yu

OMG I just made a comparision of the airport taxes. Now I understand how it is a reallllly expensive airport compared to OTP and SOF:

BEG:

http://www.beg.aero/admin_images/meni_doc/2017-11-15-price_list_of_airport_services_865ddf19a18e0fd.pdf

OTP (Only 7€!!) :

http://www.bucharestairports.ro/en/about/airport-charges

SOF (5.50€) even cheaper!

https://www.sofia-airport.bg/sites/default/files/sofia_airport_charges_en_1.pdf

I hope Vinci change this!!!!

Well,those type of statistics must be offered by the Tourism Board and their obligation to do it and make statistics.

Well it is. I am really tired of the joke comments about INI's growth calling it a hub, INI-LAX and comparing it to ATL, AMS or LHR.
Just because we are all happy with the developments doesnt mean others have to laugh about it. Yes, 165% will not be maintained yearly but the percentages will ALWAYS be positive for a quite long time.

come on a Wizz flight and you will see gastoheaven

W6 has 13 destinations out of BEG, 8 of which are to Germany and Sweden (most likely gasto) but I wouldn't consider the rest as gasto.
MLA and LCA are leisure
EIN maybe students
BVA turizam
BSL mix - study, turizam and gasto

You think they will lower fees after they signed a 1.2 billion contract for 25 years? :))

So, what is the total amount per passenger at BEG?

Rename the country to Belgrade and it will be all fine :)

PS INI forever

They dont count on LCC, they count on the transfers of AS...

I am sure they got a guarantee that the government will invest further millions in AS to keep it above water

sorry but MLA is gasto + some tourism

+1 million!

What wrong with you guys? It’s great to see INI functioning, they had less then 1M passangers in total, from the opening day. They are doing good now, which is great.

BEG’s concession is comparatively the best in the region, without the questions and it is normal to accept some kind of limitations, for that kind of price. 1M “low cost” passangers would generate peanuts in comparison to the amount of concession.

The concession money will go to the budget and will not be spent 100% on Belgrade, even it is gained on Belgrade’s airport. Let’s be fair and realistic!

Oh, give me a break!! The concession just sounded too perfect and was too good to be true. The GoS was already aware of the winner and this was negotiated or even bribed. How come you prefer 1 billion euros and not allowing the growth of the rest of the airports in the country??????
BEG is not Serbia. No wonder why the autonomy was taken from INI.
Also, HOW will Kraljevo prosper?? Built and forgotten and millions and millions of €€€€ spent.
Things are just so weird sometimes in Serbia.....
If LCC is "peanuts" why are so many airports in the world being served more and more.
Just live your JU the national carrier and BEG the national airport of all Serbia. Do not complain after this that southerns will massively leave the country and head to Germany where there are 440,000 jobs available.......

It is not combined, it is 1 mil each.

"Nova činjenica, koja do sada iz nekog razloga nije iskomunicirana, je da će ovo ograničenje važiti pojedinačno za sve druge aerodrome u Srbiji ali samo do trenutka kada „Nikola Tesla“ dostigne cifru od 12 miliona putnika"

https://tangosix.rs/2018/14/04/drzava-srbija-zvanicno-potvrdila-aerodrom-kontantin-veliki-ogranicen-na-milion-putnika-sve-trenutka-kad-nikola-tesla-ne-bude-dosegao-12-milina-putnika/

MLA is not only leisure. It is more gasto than leisure.

I'll try not to go into commenting of politics and (lack of) transparency, but this deal makes sense keeping in mind the great terms of the concession(if they are like reported). I believe that Niš has better chances of reaching a million before Beograd reaches twelve, over the course of the next 25 years. If I were the person (like no single person should have the power to decide by himself)to solve this problem with the money from VINCI I would firstly invest in the infrastructure of Kraljevo airport (runway and apron), which can be done in less than 5 yrs. By that time Niš might approach 1 million and then government can make a deal of large upgrade of that airport if the offered seats are up to million per year and transfer future interested operators and lines to Kraljevo. The good thing about this deal is that no SINGLE airport should surpass a million pax per year. If needed this pattern can be used further, by the time BEG reaches 12 million. It's a win-win situation for everyone. The only thing that puzzles me is weather it's 150-230km in the deal or just up to 230km distance from Beograd?!

Ah, yes! And support for people of Niš who were right that government(s) can't be trusted.

neither EIN nor BSL are a mix of anything- its only gastos

LCC mogu da funkcionisu samo ako neko placa racune. 3 jura po putniku na aerodromu gde ne tankuju gorivo je premalo ma sta Purger lupetao. Znamo da mislis da tvoje svrckanje treba da plate ostali gradjani. Gradjani Juga ce ionako otici u Dojcland.

something like that probably

Nebitno i gastosi treba da putuju avionom, a ne da se guzvaju celu noc
u autobusima. Samo nemojte pricati bajke kako ce trositi po sto jura.

they are not crazy to change 3€/pax tax

they just want to control the airport and punish the guys who developed INI while remaining outside and despite zorana's ineer circle.

i think is the takeover is more about that than this passenger cap
guys in south would be smart enough not to shoot over 1 mil pax themselves

recently a friend from niš told me that "mrak", "kod rajka" and other restaurants are seeing a lot of tourists. young western guys enjoying cheap food, drinks and beautiful women

hahaha, good one

So these are the facts...

- GoS got great money by Vinci to run BEG in next 25 years. That money will be used for whole Serbia, not only for Belgrade (at least it should be so).

- Vinci wanted to be protected and not to lose passengers in BEG because of INI. KVA etc. They conditioned GoS and requested limitations to be put on other airports. From their point of view it is logical and understandable.

- Taking in consideration that no plane from W6 or FR has its base at INI at this moment (and it remains open question if any will be based at INI soon) GoS probably made a calculation that reaching 1 million passengers will not go so fast as first 330.000 passengers. The growth will surely be slower in incoming years and reaching 1 million at INI should match reaching 12 million in BEG in 8-9 years.It was some kind of gambling - will they get more money from Vinci for BEG if they agree to limit INI or they will get more money from INI by not limiting it and letting ULCC open their new destinations. As it remains uncertain how many new destinations would be open from INI GoS probably wanted to be on the safe side by getting for BEG promised money from Vinci rather than wait and see how profitable INI might become.

- Even if it happens W6 or FR to base one plane at INI GoS probably made plan B to take over INI from city authorities in order INI can be directly controlled by GoS. If so, GoS can decide about the landing fees and by increasing them directly influence number of passengers from INI. It is actually the real reason behind controlling INI and not so called "investments" by GoS in INI.

- If ULCC's continue to fly to INI even with 6 EUR tax GoS will swallow the frog and pay penalties to Vinci for max 1 or 2 years, but nobody will say that no plane is allowed to land at INI if it goes over 1 million.

- It is not fair INI to be anyhow limited and I am surely not justifying this move of GoS, but I wish to believe they were looking at whole picture. Wish to believe.

Centralism at it finest

some thoughts

- INI has limited potential (as somebody noted). god know when 1mil could be reached. keep in mind that it is still below 400k and we have seen first route cancelations
- Current Niš traffic is supported by subsidies coming from goverment budget. Also it's operations are supported by some discounted equipment from BEG
- In order to develop Niš, investments are needed


----

so, in my mind, making a cap isn't that big of a deal

what is big deal is that state is trying to takeover INI having no good reason to do that at all

and the investments must be made in INI regardless of it's legal ownership status. government must not justify their actions with these lame argument

hopefully, zorana will get a kick in the butt one more time. let's remember how she was ousted from minister of energy position (which is her field) because almost the same display of vanity

No, let's allow EVERY airport to reach its maximum potential without the Goverment interfering in favour of the capital over and over again.

@Anon 9:30...
You are absolutely correct. For years everyone in Niš is under the impression that Belgrade is better off by default. Then the government wants to "help". Now this. No wonder they hate the Belgrade regime. Only a few years ago they ripped down a banner in Niš advertising Belgrade and "Beograd na vodi". Then you see this. No wonder there is that sour taste for everyone.

Lol, free market capitalism:)

Anon 9:13 you're 100% correct. It's always been the case. Belgrade first, then Novi Sad because of it's geographical position and then the Belgrade outskirts and then finally Niš and the southern regions get the crumbs that are left over. Now it's not just crumbs but rations. Really disappointing behaviour by this government.

They could have easily supported their national carrier and based an ATR here to grow that revenue. But obviously they are trying to satisfy the needs of etihad and Vinci as well. Too many holes to fill...

Speaking of Zorana not taking situation seriously, then see this official statement on the official INI website and you then tell me that INI is not a serious player:

http://www.ni.rs/2018/04/03/minister-mihajlovic-nis-is-strategically-important-airport-constantine-the-great-needs-faster-development-and-more-investments/?print=print

REMEMBER: .."if we continue to invest, we will have 650,000 passengers by 2021 and 750,000 passengers in 2027..."

But nooo, people will tell you BEG is more important!

Contracts made between Nis airport and airlines must be made public. Once they are published we could see if they will be void or not.
If contracts for Air Serbia/Etihad and Belgrade Airport/Vinci should be made public, so should contracts at Nis airport.

Kad vidim sta je uradjeno u Beogradu sa aerodromom i ErSrbijom,nemam razloga da ne verujem vladi. Pre cu verovati rezultatima nego raznim baba Vangama po forumima. Bez ljutnje molim ali prosto to je fakat.Pozdrav.

You also a lot and more Youtubers promoting INI as a new weekend destination. Yet again, they will tell you 95% of the plane are gastos!

Please show me a legacy, let alone LCC carrier which would see any long-term interest in INI, knowing, that there is a limit to the passenger number? Which LCC would even think of setting a base there? OK, it probably isn't simple to grow from 340.000 to 1 mio passengers, but... Serbia is proving that it is just a administrative province, just as all the rest of ex-yu republics...I read somewhere, and I think it is not far from truth - it would not come as surprise if the concession money (at least major part of it) will actually go as state support for the Air Serbia fairy tale...So money will be circulating, foreign owners will prospect, and people....people will pay for that fun ride. Just observe what happened in Zagreb and Ljubljana.

The irony here is that SKP will benefit more from this instead of BEG. Either way, a dumb decision. Let the free markets decide passenger growth.

LX is one of the first LEGACY carriers.
We can even see OS flying their Dash to INI.
Why not AF or QR in the future..also FZ.

I bet the SKP fans are so happy about the GoS decision because if not, more passengers would've preferred INI because of the variety of legacy + LCC.

sure our pants were shaking because of INI

koji bre variety kad su iste destinacije u pitanju

svasta

get on a wizz air flight and you will see. its full of youtubers. LOL

Does LX fly to SKP? Do you have NRN? Does W6 fly you to at least one major airport?

if they dont have it...they will invent it :D

Have you ever tried flying out of INI? Did you see the amount if videos related to INI? I doubt it...!

I don't understand your phrase. You are also not answering the rest of the questions. What? No answer? Oh, so sorry.

ma Weeze nema. To je problem. LOL

MXP, CPH, BCN ,BUD....

brukate se bez potrebe

MXP, CPH, BCN ,BUD.........with 2 weekly flights you are not going so far with growth.....just the thoughts.

how old are you actually?

INI trolls are a made for Top lista nadrealista

It is up to the government to protect the public interest and this one is obviously not doing that.

Maybe INI is overrated and seem to have reached its peak but by no way it should be limited!

Belgrade is market for LCCs.
I suppose there are direct penalties envisaged if any airport closer than 150 km is developed, not just "consultations".

Exactly. Without serious LCC offer Beg is not likely to grow much more.

Nista dok ne vidimo ugovor, sto se verovatno nece desiti!

Exactly!

Welcome to "Market Economy" serbian style. I am interested HOW the government intends to prevent/restrict Nis when they reach 1 million passengers? Serbia has open sky with the EU, so will they raise the the airport taxes or HOW????

You bore me with SKP aka Wizzaland. When your traffic doesn't depend 60% on 1 airline flying to 13 destinations (almost half) to German and Swedish villages, you come speak to me....

Anon 7:53 haha exactly

LOL these INI trolls

they will never reach 1 mil. thats the joke

Trolls say the truth. Thank God НИШ doesn't depend heavily on 1 airline to generate its traffic unlike other airports in the region.

Says who?

lol youtubers LOL

ok its the same INI troll

What peak are you talking about? Just because an airline recently started flights and dropped them doesn't mean it's over.
I just remind you when BEG gained so many new carriers and then lost almost most of them but look at it, a top 100 Europe airport.
I think the next destination from INI will be Athens following the logic of Kutaisi which has similar traffic to INI.

Serbia the land of guided democracy, Inclusive & monopolistic policies.

When will my people be free!

guys, don't even try to argue with the center of univerce, cradle of modern civilization and last but not least Wizz ex-yu hedquater. Тhey anyway live in a parallel reality. Keep dreaming of those LX flights

When in hands of LCC monopolist, airports have no control of their destiny. INI can get bank loans to invest millions in needed infrastructure expansion to handle millions of passengers but there is nothing stopping W6/FR from moving to another airport where they can make more money. Who will then pay those loans back to the bank? Look at how BTS passenger numbers went up and down. Now that VIE is opening doors to LCCs BTS numbers will go down again. Frankfurt Hahn has carried losses of more than 100M for years. Their passenger numbers are down more than a million from decade ago. Now that FRA is growing LCC operation Hahn is screwed and same can happen at any other airport mainly dependent on LCCs like SKP TZL or INI.

Go Nis Go, loving the trolls. so cute

LCC share in SKP is 60% but SKP would survive without them, and legacy carriers would increase frequencies.

TZL and INI on the other hand only have LCCs and would be dead without them

yes, AF, QR and FZ are all waiting in line to start flights to INI- you forgot BA, AA and SQ.
There might be a problem with free slots at INI though.

... and then u get mad at me for calling you an INI Troll

LX is an LCC?

Guys, any idea on Cham Wings Airlines flights from Belgrade to Damascus starting in June? http://www.beg.aero/strana/7731/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%9A%D0%B0?kompanija=&odDan=20&odMesec=4&odGodina=2018&destinacija=Damascus%2C+International&doDan=28&doMesec=10&doGodina=2018&type=ID&flightSearch=true

Anon 01.08
Do you seriously think you are funny?