EX-YU airports handle 14.9 million passengers


Airports across the former Yugoslavia welcomed 14.931.223 passengers during the first seven months of the year, with almost all registering growth when compared to the same period in 2017. Skopje saw the greatest percentile increase among the region's larger airports, while Belgrade added the most new passengers overall.

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport maintained its position as the busiest in the former Yugoslavia, adding 192.106 travellers on last year, ahead of Split which grew by 186.634 passengers and Zagreb by 163.468. Belgrade Airport anticipates welcoming between 5.8 and six million travellers in 2018. On the other hand, Niš Airport, in the country's south-east, registered growth of 12%, despite witnessing its first monthly decline in figures in years this July, although this has been put down to adverse weather conditions and a strike at Ryanair, which affected several flights at the airport.

EX-YU airport results, JAN - JUL 2018

AirportPAXChange (%)
Belgrade3.134.106▲ 6.5
Zagreb1.850.821 9.7
Split1.716.134 12.2
Dubrovnik1.377.143 9.8
Skopje1.215.167 20.8
Pristina1.198.094 13.4
Ljubljana1.030.106 9.1
Tivat656.857 8.4
Podgorica643.143 14.0
Sarajevo589.522 12.5

All of Croatia's commercial airports saw their numbers grow so far this year. The country's three busiest handled over 4.9 million travellers during the January - July period. Split Airport expects to welcome its record third-millionth passenger by the end of the year. It will edge ahead of its counterpart in Zagreb in August to become the country's busiest and is likely to maintain the top spot until the fourth quarter. However, General Manager, Lukša Novak, has said that Split has no ambition to surpass Zagreb Airport's traffic. "We want to be an effective regional airport. We need to work to stimulate traffic in the winter months", Mr Novak noted. Meanwhile, Rijeka Airport saw its numbers soar by 36%. "The fantastic figures are the result of numerous activities, efforts and financial resources made by Rijeka Airport to introduce new routes. Of course, this fantastic result was made possible by the introduction of Eurowings' year-round service from Cologne", Rijeka Airport said in a statement.

AirportPAXChange (%)
Pula383.935 23.1
Tuzla342.807 18.1
Zadar327.810 2.4
Niš205.985 12.0
Ohrid100.039 19.7
Rijeka92.951 36.2
Osijek37.936 97.9
Brač15.463 53.3
Mostar13.234 39.6
Banja Luka11.944 1.5
Mali Lošinj3.768 5.1

Skopje Airport handled a record 1.215.167 passengers during the January - July period, up 20.8% on 2017. In July alone, its figures grew 17.8%. Istanbul remains the most popular destination from the airport with a passenger share of 10.9%, followed by Zurich at 8.2% and then Basel, Vienna and Malmo which accounted for 5% of all travellers during the seven month period. Wizz Air handled over 60% of all passengers travelling to and from the country. Skopje continues to maintain a slim lead over its traditional near-by competitor Pristina, which has also seen strong growth and record figures this year.

The only two commercial airports in the former Yugoslavia to see their figures decline so far this year were Mostar and Banja Luka. Mostar Airport has been hit by the loss of its busiest customer Mistral Air, which used to operate a number of scheduled charter flights from Italy, carrying Christian pilgrims visiting the Medjugorje sight. The flights, which were subsidised by the European Union, were terminated once the funding ended. In a statement, Mostar Airport said it "must find its path" adding that with Pope Francis recently naming a Polish archbishop as his apostolic visitor to Medjugorje for an indefinite period, the Polish market should open up. "The Italian market has also changed and we hope to see a return of those visitors", General Manager, Marin Raspudić, said. On the other hand, Banja Luka Airport is set to see overall growth by the end of the year and ended its eight month passenger slide in June.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Congratulations to BEG, they are a truly great airport with a diverse offer. They have legacy, charter and lowcost flights depending on what passengers need. I am sure there will be more surprises this winter season like those flights to Morocco.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. And regarding Morocco visa regime needs to be abolished first.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:27

      +1

      Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia all need visas for Morocco and Moroccans need visas for all those countries + all EU countries. I doubt otherwise they will be able to get a decent LF. I agree, visas are easy to get but for most people it can be a hastle as they have to travel in order to get visas:

      Montenegrins, Serbians and Macedonians to Belgrade
      Bosnians to Zagreb

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    I'm sorry to say but if Mostar is betting on boosting its numbers because of a Polish archbishop then there won't be growth there anytime soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:07

    Nice to see all Croatian airports have grown.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Not only Croatian airports but all of ex-YU.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    PRN will overtake SKP in August.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      But he growth in SKP is still very impressive. And they have been growing by te same margin for years.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:16

      SKP will most likely reduce growth this winter after serveral service reductions while PRN quite the opposite. This will also allow margin for INI after VIE is introduced.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:49

      Hm, ok ^^

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:58

      Let's not forget that PRN get's three new Wizz routes this winter, Skopje looses 2.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:18

      Also QR is decreasing services to SKP from 4 to 3 weekly.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:34

      FZ as well.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:56

      The big trio: SKP/PRN/INI:

      SKP future reductions so far:

      SKP-BCN
      SKP-DOH
      SKP-DXB
      SKP-VXO

      PRN increases:

      PRN-LTN
      PRN-BUD
      PRN-FMM
      PRN-DTM
      PRN-BSL

      INI increases:

      INI-VIE A321 aircraft

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:22

      the INI troll is on fire

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:29

      So the SKP growth at the expenses of PRN and INI (attracting travellers from neighboring countries) over?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:48

      INI will benefit from the SKP reductions this winter because demand is starting to decrease. Usually the SKP is like "milking the project" so no more juice left.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    So this year we should have ten airports with at least 1 million pax in ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:15

    Finally the passenger decline will stop at Banja Luka

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:16

    BEG is doing well. Not sure that target of 6 million will be reached. More likely 5.7 or 5.8.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      This winter will be partilcularly strong and we can expect growth of around 10%. easyJet alone will have extra 8 weekly flights! Mind you, almost all of their first Berlin flights were sold out!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      And hopefully this winter we see some new announcements for next summer.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:16

    Based on the data so far, I'm guessing SKP will end up with max 2 mil pax this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Without doubt. August will probably see small growth because last year there was the football game and there were a lot of passengers and traffic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:48

      Dude, SKP needs 8% growth to reach 2mil. 2.1mil is more realistic

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:16

      fun fact: if SKP has 0% growth for the rest of the year it will stil reach 2mil

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    Croatia rocks this year, next year will be even better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      I expected Mali Losinj would have bit bigger growth since SIlver Air started flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:24

      Those flights have one passenger. Look at yesterday's trip report.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:25

      Split is most impressive. Last year and this year.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:38

      Split will eventually overtake Zagreb on year round basis mostly thanks to extremely strong summers.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      It will be difficult but the difference between SPU and ZAG will never be smaller. It's really impressive. That new terminal can't come soon enough.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:59

      Why is everyone so irritated by SPU overtaking ZAG? It will happen, most likely nex year already. SPU will in the middel term have around 6 million PAX. ZAG serves a different market and it is nice both are growing.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:00

      I don't think anyone's irritated.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:20

      Before SPU overtakes ZAG, it should first deal with the massive DBV expansion.
      The first airport in the western Balkans to be connected to the world's largest carrier and the only airport in the entire ex-Yu to be connected to PHL.
      SPU has massive, cheap tourism while DBV has higher class tourists.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:06

      We are talking about PAX NUMBERS here! SPU will always been busier and will stay this way. You may argue mass tourism etc or higher class etc. but that is not the point of the article. So Guernsey Airport ist better because it is high class in comparison with say Palma de Mallorca?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:41

      SPU growth will definitely slow to lower levels because they have milked the project and the trend will be that DBV will become airport number 1 in Croatia and airport # 2 in ex-YU by 2026.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:09

      Well, Budapest is already connected to PHI.

      Delete
    12. Bez rulnica, SPU je na svom maximumu.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous17:13

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 11:20

      ffs man, seriously, you're like a propaganda minister for Dubrovnik airport, you sound sillier with each post.

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 09:38
      Should have overtaken Zagreb this year, it didn't happen, now it won't happen. Why, well I can see growth and demand for Split in coming years going down a bit, growth rates of 15-25% are not likely anymore. Yes summer months are really strong, but winter is non-existent almost.

      Projections in 000 for this year:

      Zagreb: 3380
      Split: 3140
      Dubrovnik: 2550
      Pula: 720
      Zadar: 640
      Rijeka: 175

      Projections for 2019:

      Zagreb: 3750
      Split: 3450
      Dubrovnik: 2850
      Pula: 750
      Zadar: 670
      Rijeka: 200


      Projections for 2020:

      Zagreb: 4100
      Split: 3800
      Dubrovnik: 3100
      Pula: 800
      Zadar: 700
      Rijeka: 225



      This year however was the closest Split has come to taking over 2nd position.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous17:48

      @Kresimir Skoric27 August 2018 at 13:37

      Yeah, they'll need to build taxiway soon, i know there are plans for it, but they should be pushing for new taxiway by 2020, if they want to maintain some growth beyond 2020.

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 12:41
      You're like that guy that screams Bravo Hrvatska or BNX and INI guy, really boring, could be the very same guy, i bet. Trolling to piss few people here? You're presenting your imaginary data as facts, based on no your own suppositions.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous18:45

      you might be right: its the same english

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:21

    The positive effects of extending the runway at Brac are visible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      I really hope Eurowings will launch flights to Brac next year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      They were supposed to launch flights this year but they changed their plans and started focusing on west europe flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:44

      did EW start any of their announced ey-yu flights? lol

      Delete
    4. Yes:
      Mostar-Stuttgart,
      Mostar-Dusseldorf,
      Zagreb-Dusseldorf,
      Priština-Munich,
      Osijek-Cologne,
      Tivat-Stuttgart

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:27

    So Tuzla has finally overtaken Zadat. The question is can they keep the lead until the end of the year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:30

      **Zadar sorry

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      While Osijek overtook Mostar

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:51

      If TZL continues this way they will not only overtake Pula but they will also overtake Sarajevo.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:10

      ZADAR jut got new flights announced for summer 2019. Condor will start Hanover, while germania will begin services to Bremen. More to follow with increases from LH expected.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:58

      And Skyworks have launched a schedule to ZAD that looks like it will be a W in 2019 with another route, possibly BSL?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:27

    For the first time ever, Podgorica and Tivat might actually get equal number of passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      TIV will pull ahead in August/September. But Podgorica has been really impressive. Well done. What's important both will have over 1 million passengers again.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      Montenegro is very impressive overall for such a small country.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:33

    By now Sarajevo should have been handling similar numbers to LJU. Pity. I think all that is required is for Wizz or someone similar to open a few routes and they would be there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      I think Sarajevo has much more potential because it is heavily underserved. They need to do everything they can to get Wizz to open a base there.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:51

      If they made a deal with Wizz Air when they were offered flights it would have been a different story...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:37

    All the best to all the hard working airports across ex yu.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:39

    Wow great news. Well done to all of them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:48

    Podgorica is the quiet achiever this year. Not a lot of fuss but really good growth.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:48

    So Croatia will soon have 3 airports with over 3 million Pax :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:49

    Out of those 14.9 Million Pax 5.8 come from Croatia alone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      Yeah, so? It is the country with highest number of airports.
      Don't get your point.
      Also BEG counts for almost SPU+DBV combined.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      The point is that 5,8 million out of 14,9m of a long dead common state came from Croatia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:19

      Yugoslavia spiritually still exists in our hearts. This is why this forum unites us forever.
      ¡Viva YU!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:59

      YU <3

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:57

      Had the country stayed together these numbers probably would have been achieved decades ago.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:16

      Sure, the excellent economic situation in Yugoslavia in late 80's was really positive.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:18

      Well during that economic crisis ex-Yu airports were handling record numbers, some of which were overtaken just a year or two ago. So yes, I believe this number would have been achieved a long time ago (not for every individual airport but overall)

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:48

      The glorious days of JAT in the 80s:

      BEG-CHI via CLE
      BEG-YYZ
      BEG-MEL
      BEG-SYD

      YUL, LAX, HKG, ALG.

      80 destinations on five continents (19 domestic, 45 medium haul and 16 long haul routes)

      NINETEEN domestic! This is why domestic routes are extremely important!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:52

      There were also scheduled flights to Beijing, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Calcutta and montly charter flight to Perth

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:02

      Wow! I didn't know about Calcutta! There is just no comparison of JAT to the current JU, OU, YM and JP...absolute no comparison. What a pity :(
      Yugoslavia was one of the most developed countries.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:05

      You all forgot Singapore. Favourite destination for JAT crew and JU had a very prominent presence there. :)

      Delete
    12. Anonymous13:21

      So, basically JAT was even bigger than LO? Do you remember if there were flights to South Amerika?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:24

      No flights to South America. Plan was to start Seoul and Caracas in 92. Cooperation agreement signed with Asiana, sales office opened in Caracas. Obviously did not happen. JAT was to be launch customer of the MD11 but those planes went to Swiss.

      Delete
    14. As the one who worked in JAT 1986-1991, let me list all of the long-haul flights operated at peak times of JAT with 5 DC-10 's plus one L1015 Tristar wetleased from Alia Royal Jordanian :

      3 weekly Beograd - Zagreb - New York
      1 weekly Beograd - Dubrovnik - New York
      1 weekly Beograd - Ljubljana - New York
      2 weekly Beograd - New York

      2 weekly Beograd - Zagreb - Chicago
      2 weekly Beograd - Chicago - Los Angeles

      1 weekly Beograd - Zagreb - Cleveland - Detroit
      1 weekly Beograd - Ljubljana - Cleveland - Detroit

      3 weekly Beograd - Zagreb - Montreal - Toronto

      1 weekly Beograd - Dubai - Calcutta - Beijing

      1 weekly Beograd - Dubai - Bangkok

      1 weekly Beograd - Dubai - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore
      2 weekly Beograd - Dubai - Singapore - Melbourne - Sydney

      2 weekly Beograd - Baghdad

      Before everything falled apart, 1 weekly Belgrade - Johannesburg operated for a short period of time

      6 MD-11 s were on order, services to Mumbai, Seoul and Caracas just about to start and further growth planned with introduction of Washington, Houston, San Francisco, Vancouver, Manila and Tokyo in the first phase and Lagos, Accra, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Miami planned for the second phase.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous13:31

      Very interesting, thank you for the facts man. Wow, so JAT was really really grand those days. I saw other old JAT liveries and really looked super nice. I guess those days will never come again, unless of course the current JU gears up a bit following its business mode and adds more widebodies.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous13:33

      Wow thanks for that Pozdrav iz Rijeke!

      Delete
    17. Anonymous13:35

      OMFG!!! Unbelievable stuff and data. Sorry, I was born in the mid 80s so had no clue of this info. Given that the system didn't fail, then BEG would really have became the Dubai of Europe connecting 6 continents....I am speechless.

      Delete
    18. Glede srce, mozda u tvom.
      U mom nikako.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous13:51

      WOW Rijeka thx for the infos

      Delete
    20. Anonymous13:56

      Thanks to Rijeka and Nemjee we have access to very interesting facts and figures.
      Nemjee, I know you are reading this. Come back and show us your numbers, please.
      You also have to know, that you cannot please 100% of the people, never gonna happen.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous23:10

      @pozdrav iz Rijeke
      Didn't they fly to Pittsburgh, too?

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:56

    Zagreb will have an exceptionally strong winter - Korean Air, Aegean Airlines, Iberia, CSA...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:36

      Aegean will cut ZAG for most winter, same with CSA.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:01

      So not true. They will cut it for 2 months. Winter time table is 5 months.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:04

      2.5 months while OK is cut for like four.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:03

    I enjoy these articles where we can compare the numbers for all airports. Split stands out for me and more capacity is definitely needed. Good job.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:04

    Great results for all countries! Any info about how the neighbouring countries are doing? For example Romania, Austria, Bulgaria?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Tirana

      1,270,329 (01.01 - 30.06). Increase 13.4%

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:54

      Bucharest already has over 5 million passengers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:05

      That's impressive for OTP.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:06

      The 4 Bulgarian airports are expected to handle around 12,2 million pax this year with BOJ surpassing 3 million for the first time.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:28

      Bulgaria should teach other holiday destinations in ex-YU how to run airports!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:34

      Not really. Only the coastal airports are very well managed thanks to Fraport. SOF management is a disaster. By autumn, the concessionaire will be known.
      We should all learn from DBV if you ask me.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:03

      Yes, SOF should learn from DBV how to have 30.000 passengers in winter. HAHAHA

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:04

    So, INI is in 14th position, wow! Who ever thought that this would be achieved.
    14th busiest airport out of 21 is simply amazing! It's slowly climbing up and will soon become on the top 10 list. БРАВО INI!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:08

    Mostar and Banja Luka seem to have fewer and fewer passengers each year.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:11

    Good results overall. Nice work from Tuzla, Skopje and Osijek.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:41

    LJU is a bit of a disappointment. Ok, they've grown quite a bit now, but they should be ahead of SKP and PRN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:51

      why should they?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:19

      Well, with the new government and higher taxes in place, the diaspora should increase and we can expect more flights :)

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:42

    Bravo Bosna i Hercegovina!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:45

      Well so and so :D Two of them are doing well (although I think Sarajevo is still behind its potential) and two others - Banja Luka/Mostar are struggling. Although BNX will get Ryanair in a few months and things will improve significantly.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:44

    Good to see not just Skopje but Ohrid doing well too :)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous10:50

    SKP & PRN are going for DBV. watch out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:25

      LOL! SKP will soon end its dance this winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:46

      @last anon only in your dreams

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:53

      agree, SKP will run out of steroids very soon

      Delete
  29. Anonymous10:52

    Impressive numbers on Croatian airports

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:58

    To me Skopje even to overtake first Ljubljana and then Pristina is a big success. Who would have thought of this 5 years ago? Good work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:18

      Skopje ends this summer.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous11:02

    wow congrats to Croatia. Three airports in the top ten.It would be great if a LCC opened a base in ZAG. Also wondering how Ohrid will perform this year with several new airlines this summer plus new Wizz Air route from November.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:04

      Well as you can see, Ohrid almost +20%.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous12:06

    Any idea how Portoroz or Maribor might have done?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:20

      I heard Maribor is doing very well. Most of the times not enough parking space for all the widebodies from China.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:35

      LOL good one

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:45

      fun aside Maribor had some pax.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:54

      POW has most passengers in X YU in terms of not having any scheduled flights!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:59

      Are there really no numbers available at all at these two airports?

      We should all bear in mind that there are 23 relevant passenger airports in exyu.

      Delete
  33. Congratulations Belgrade!
    Despite it has the most passengers in ex-Yu, it is fascinanting to see Belgrade is also the first in the category of new passengers added (by number of passengers).
    It shows the gap between BEG and other ex-Yu airports get increased with every passing year.
    In 2019 Belgrade will have more than 6 miilion passengers alone. Not to mention arrival of new airliners once Vinci takes it over.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:18

      Yes, not bad results at all. But, more new ex-YU game changers will change the ranking.
      Bosnian airports and next year will be DBV's year.
      BEG will remain the busiest but other airports will catch up very quickly.

      Delete
    2. Catch up quickly? You mean third with second or forth with third?
      Let's be realistic - this year gap between first BEG and second ZAG will be increased for at least 50.000 passengers.
      SPU growth is expected to be lower and to remain under ZAG who is obviously losing its race against Belgrade.
      BEG has almost double more traffic than DBV in first 7 months of this year so "catching up" is literally impossible.
      Bosnian airports - good to see them growing, but let's be serious here. Each of them is very far behind main ex-Yu airports

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:44

      Yes, yes. But again, don't forget that BEG is Serbia's de facto sole airport. Serbia has the largest population too, so no surprise it sitting on the top.
      If we really have to compare countries vs population then the award goes to SKP. Population of 2 million - 2 million pax.
      The next one is Црна Гора with a population of 600,000 generating so much traffic.

      Delete
    4. As you know INI is waking up and that airport is already 14th in ex Yu being ahead of RJK for example.
      From the other side Serbia is not an island. Many people living in Vojvodina are using BUD or TSR, people from western Serbia use TLZ and people from south Serbia use SKP, beside INI. So, having the fact as you say that "BEG is Serbia's de facto sole airport" does not mean that all the people from Serbia use BEG to fly abroad.
      Having currently problems with W6 nobody can guanrantee in what direction SKP will go. I wish them anyhow all the best.
      Montenegro is coastal destination and it belongs to the different category.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:43

      BEG has a very nice cocktail of legacy, LCC, long-haul, medium-haul, huge regional coverage and charters. The only important geographical area missing is Spain UK & Ireland. Extremely low coverage.
      W6 is unlikely to expand further in SKP as it is now focusing on PRN.
      ZAG is growing too, not agressively but still not bad.
      DBV receives all the thumbs up.
      But yeah, I agree with you that a leisure airport cannot be compared to an urban one because of seasonality.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:21

      @Nebojsa: What categories are you talking about? We compare only PAX numbers here. If you start categorizing by saing "Coastal" etc. then you should compare BEG with BUD or TSR, as the flow of pax is obviously not just from BEG to those countries but vice verca as well.

      The best indicator is of course the number of PAX a country handles. Here Croatia is by far the biggest EX-YU aviation market with 12 million PAX - same as Hungary. The biggest airport is BEG.

      Delete
    7. Anon@15:21
      I am saying that you cannot put in the same box airports like BEG or ZAG with SPU or DBV.

      Airports on the coast attract passengers almost by default and airports in the continental part of the country have to work very hard to attract passengers.

      Airports on Adriatic coast sleep during the winter (SPU 30.000 pax in february), continental airports have lower traffic than in summer (BEG 300.000 pax in february) but still work hard. Winter traffic shows what significance would airports like SPU or ZAD have had if there had not been warm Adriatic sea during the summer.Do not forget that Adriatic coast is huge attraction for all the passengers (Croatia has more than 5.000 km coastal line, Serbia has 0) and therefore comparing the traffic in countries is not realistic.

      SPU could have been compared to BEG if it was located in the continental part of Croatia somewhere between OSI and ZAG.


      BEG should be compared to BUD and SOF (just not forgetting both countries are EU and Serbia is not and BEG had much bigger traffic than these two airports before war in ex Yu).

      But, at the end we have the situation that BEG handles passengers as DBV and SPU together not forgetting that Croatia is booming tourist destination. It shows the best why BEG is number 1 in ex-Yu

      Delete
    8. Gluposti.
      Moj je najsiri....

      Delete
    9. Anonymous17:09

      Well, I would consider RIX, MSQ and TBS to be BEG competition.
      Why? Because they are all regional leading hubs similar to BEG. They rely a lot on transfers. After all JU represents 60% of BEG's traffic.

      SOF has a strong O&D traffic, so not sure if BEG can be a competition.
      OTP has a mix of O&D, but much elevated domestic traffic.

      LJU is also a BEG competitor in the sense of offering excellent connections to/from the Balkans and most importantly its compact terminal has a very good minimum connecting time. We saw this when JP launched SOF and OTP, their departure times compete directly with JU.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:21

      JU has 60% share at BEG? What are you talking about? It had a share of 50% in 2017 and it's share so far in 2018 is 40%.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous17:52

      Which just proves how strong the transit traffic is @ LYBE - Belgrade Nikola Tesla International Airport. Keeping up the regional spirit.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous18:23

      If Kresimir tells you that you write stupidities be sure that you are on the good way...

      Delete
    13. Anonymous18:44

      @Nebojsa Popovic27 August 2018 at 13:12

      First off, Belgrade had large terminal to accommodate new pax, Zagreb didn't, Zagreb before 2015, had stagnation or no growth since 2008, due to small size of the old terminal, management simply didn't work on enticing new carriers in.

      The fact that airport is growing at 300k+ per year is just the start for Zagreb, as more carriers pack in, in 2020, Zagreb will have 30-32 carriers serving the city, by 2025, that figure will be at least 40.

      Yes Zagreb has a lot of catching up to do, but I expect things should improve in coming years a fair bit. I expect by 2030, Zagreb will catch up with Belgrade a fair bit.

      Projections 2030 in 000 pax.

      Belgrade: 12 000
      Zagreb: 10 500
      Split: 8000
      Dubrovnik: 7000
      Pula: 2000
      Zadar: 1700
      Ljubljana: 4500
      Skopje: 4200
      Pristina: 4200
      Sarajevo: 2500-3000
      Podgorica: 2500 (saturation point)
      Tivat: 1800 (saturation point)



      If I were you, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on Vinci, they tend to pack LCCs to most its airports, from French, Portuguese operations, you could see how performance of Legacy carrioers have declines as soon as Vinci took over, and now mostly serve as LCC hubs. Ok, could be worse, but growth numbers overall aren't spectacular, from what I can see it'll be about the same trend Belgrade experienced in the past.

      One problem with Belgrade airport is Runway and taxiway which are too close to the terminal, they'll need to move, ideal new runway will need to be built, that won't be cheap, at least €200 million or more depending how much land needs to be cleared of existing housing. Expansion of current terminal is also planned and will nearly double the size of current terminal to 60 000sqm according to plans by Vinci, this should expand and improve flow of passengers, however don't expect likes of BA, Air France, Iberia... to come knocking on your doors any time soon.



      Delete
    14. Anonymous19:29

      No way that the gap between ZAG and BEG be that narrow. No way.
      Firstly, lets start with the good facts.
      ZAG manages to attract serious airlines and improving further more its regional reputation. A3 went from seasonal to year round, even though flights in winter will be biweekly with a turboprop, but still better than nothing.
      The arrival of KE - very good, success story, which route if successful is highly likely to be increased next summer.
      IB - very good to have year round. Adolfo Suarez is a super important hub.
      EK were apparently not very successful to be able to fill a super big jet during the winter, which is still not a big deal.
      But yet again, even if ZAG wants to catch up with BEG it MUST, I repeat, MUST work on more LCC travel because this is the future. Just like IT technologies, live with it.

      As for BEG, yes it might not see the resumption of AF and BA but will attract other bigger markets such as India & Canada. However, post JU reforms we might as well see some new routes launched by JU or the recovery of the former JAT ones. Calcutta, charters to Perth, etc. After the terminal is expanded, there will be indeed lots of activity.

      But you always keep forgetting about LJU and to remind you that by 2020 it will have its new bigger terminal too. We have seen that JP have no signs of giving up their regional plans and ambitions expanding through the whole region. Yes, they might be attacking with 50 seater aircraft but that doesn't mean they are not attracting passengers.
      We also saw how U2 is quietly expanding in the airport.

      I am not going to mention SKP because all this growth is mainly due to 1 airline, so it's not really fair including it as other airports have a mix of everything.

      PRN is a pleasant surprise, because it now interestingly is attracting the likes of W6 and I do not even exclude PRN as one of their future bases. No other airport in ex-YU will be served 5 times weekly year-round to LTN by W6 this winter as SKP goes down to 3 weekly. This is a success story and surely this line will turn daily next summer.
      So, I wouldn't push PRN down the list at all.

      By 2030, this will be the order of busiest airport based on traffic:

      1) BEG
      2) DBV (most likely more long-hauls or additional US carriers such as DL, UA will be launched)
      3) ZAG
      4) SPU
      5) LJU
      6) PRN
      7) SKP
      8) TGD
      9) TIV
      10) SKP

      Delete
    15. Anonymous20:13

      double the size of current terminal to 60 000sqm according to plans by Vinci

      What plans by Vinci? Shows us a link to those plans or I'll ask admin to delete your imaginary comment.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous20:38

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 20:13

      This blog has posted these plans, the rendering, if you took your head out of your own arse, you'd realize how stupid your comment is.

      here """

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pqx5VLH3C8

      Delete
    17. Anonymous20:45

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 19:29

      Oh BNX. INI, DBV, troll strikes again.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous20:46

      No, this blog posted that these plans are by the second placed bidder Zurich Airport consortium.

      This is what it says

      "The Franco - Swiss consortium, led by Zurich Airport, which also participated in the concession tender and is believed to have come second just behind VINCI, recently published plans it presented to the government during the bidding process (video below)".

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/06/vinci-to-invest-500-million-in-belgrade.html

      Delete
    19. Anonymous21:02

      Anonymous27 August 2018 at 18:44

      podgorica and tivat will have a saturation point, and the rest will not, your analysis is O MY GOD!!!

      Delete
    20. Anonymous22:08

      The upcoming winter season is best example of why the gap between BEG and ZAG won't get any narrower. Even now with all the new additions at ZAG, BEG managed to move ahead.

      ZAG catching up to BEG is wishful thinking that has no link with reality.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous22:17

      ZAG doesn't even have a nonstop flight to FCO for crying out loud.

      Delete
    22. Anonymous22:42

      Projections for 2030???
      are you serious????

      how about projections for 2500???

      Delete
    23. Anonymous22:45

      @Anonymous27 August 2018 at 22:17

      Daily flights to Rome, yes it is via Dubrovnik or via Split, still flights to Rome are daily and on the same plane.

      Delete
    24. Anonymous00:26

      See? This is another Zargeb issue. Being an Eu capital it needs to be connected to more Rome, London, Paris and Milan airports.
      Only Fco is not enough. Only Malpensa neither.
      Other Eu capitals have Malpènsa, Bergamo, Linate
      Fiumiciino and Ciampino
      CDG and Beauvais and Orly.
      lhr, Gatwick, Luton, _Stanstead, Southend and sometimes City Apt-

      Delete
    25. Anonymous06:24

      Isn't ZAG-MXP a summer seasonal route? As for FCO, isn't OU the only European airline not to have non-stop flights to Rome?

      Delete
    26. Like kiddies in the kindergarten.

      Delete
    27. Anonymous13:37

      I believe its this one INI troll that takes multiple forms and functions, but i also believe he posts between lunch time and nap time in the kindergarten

      Delete
    28. Anonymous19:00

      If he is trolling with his predictions and projections why is Admin not deleting his posts???

      Delete
    29. If coastal cities attract passengers by default due to the Adriatic, then Zagreb and Belgrade attract them by default due to being large, capital cities of their respective countries. Belgrade especially, considering it is virtually the only air traffic point of entry to Serbia all year round.
      Point is: all the airports have to work and do work with what they've got, but it's definitely not just the coastal airports that have intrinsic advantages.

      Delete
  34. Ne vidim na obzoru scenarij po kojem bi SPU ili DBV mogli prebaciti ZAG.
    Takav scenarij ne postoji bez tektonskih poremecaja na turistickom trzistu MENA i dalekog istoka.
    Cak i uz te poremecaje, postojeca infrastruktura to ne dopusta.

    ReplyDelete

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