Pristina Airport is preparing for a busy year following a record 2018 during which it handled 2.161.874 passengers, an increase of 14.7%. As a result, the airport added a total of 276.688 travellers compared to 2017 and handled over two million passengers in a single year for the first time in its 53-year history. The new year is also off to a strong start, with the airport welcoming 12.500 passengers through its doors during the first few days of 2018, up some 20% on the same period last year. "During the first two days we handled 12.100 travellers on 81 flights. By the end of the week we expect to process 280 flights and 40.000 passengers", Pristina Airport's Scheduling Manager, Driton Hyseni, said.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 144.137 | ▲ 17.3 |
| FEB | 123.565 | ▲ 14.1 |
| MAR | 150.432 | ▲ 19.2 |
| APR | 177.732 | ▲ 3.1 |
| MAY | 168.519 | ▲ 12.8 |
| JUN | 178.052 | ▲ 23.3 |
| JUL | 256.029 | ▲ 9.3 |
| AUG | 274.755 | ▲ 13.7 |
| SEP | 190.385 | ▲ 12.3 |
| OCT | 170.101 | ▲ 13.1 |
| NOV | 151.697 | ▲ 29.8 |
| DEC | 177.198 | ▲ 17.8 |
Low cost carrier Wizz Air launched three new routes to the city over the past two months, contributing to the strong passenger growth in November and December. Despite serving Pristina from five points, the no frills airline said it currently has no plans to base an aircraft in the city, but has not ruled out the prospect in the future. "I think we are still trying to learn the [Kosovo] market. We have a limited presence in Pristina", Wizz Air's CEO, Joesf Varadi, told EX-YU Aviation News last month. He added, "At the moment, we do not have plans to base an aircraft there. Maybe at a later stage but at this point in time, no".
On the other hand, 2019 will see Pristina's busiest customer, Germania, station a 150-seat Airbus A319 jet in the city at the start of the summer season, on March 31. The carrier plans to recruit local crew and staff and launch new flights to Hannover and Hamburg. Furthermore, the airline will continue to operate its existing services to Munich, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Basel and Verona and will increase frequencies on some routes. "There is interest from various airlines to launch flights from different countries to Pristina. We intend on supporting these carriers in order for them to introduce new destinations and provide a greater choice to passengers", Mr Hyseni noted.
During the year, the airport will continue work on the 33.6 million euro extension and upgrade of its runway, which is scheduled for completion in 2020. According to the project outline, the runway is being lengthened from the current 2.560 metres to 3.000 metres, while its ILS (instrument landing system) will be upgraded and taxiways extended. Due to the airport’s location and foggy weather in winter, it often experiences visibility issues which results in the diversion of flights. “We need to invest in the ILS and replace some of the equipment with the newest technology. The total investment is estimated to be around thirty million euros, which includes the extension of the runway and taxiways, and the purchase of new equipment”, Pristina Airport's General Manager, Haldun Firat Kokturk, said recently. The finances for the project are being initially provided by airport operator Limak, however, the government will waive the concession fee for five years, between 2019 and 2023.
Congratulations. The question is, who came out on top - Pristina or Skopje?
ReplyDeletePristina
DeleteI think it's very very close.
Deletei think its not more then 15k difference for PRN
DeleteThe huge growth will continue for a while thanks to Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteAnd in summer growth will continue thanks to Germania.
Deleteat least one of the familia clan reisebüros will be going down. they cannot compete with Wizz
DeleteUnfortunately, SKP is in a possible stagnation with no new routes, frequency increases, etc. Market seems to be covered.
DeleteWizz Air is about to announce two new routes from SKP starting this March.
DeleteIts not covered at all. remember the first anulled tender. Wizz was ready to open 6 new routes from SKP. Wizz is under zero pressure in SKP. they can chil and relax and concentrate at other airports
DeleteWith a significant coverage in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland I don't see any new potential market.
DeleteOf course if there are pending German cities, then that's another story. The only destinations that could work are Kiev, Israel (TLV/VDA) and Lisbon. That's it.
Pristina needs Wizz to Vienna and Eindhoven.
DeleteWizz Air should open flights to/from Frankfurt Hahn possibly.
Deleteguys, as if PRN was not also only Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. relax
DeletePRN has a much diversified portfolio compared to SKP. After all, it's just Wizz and Turkish bringing all the numbers to the airport.
DeleteSure it does,and INI as well ;)
DeleteLOL here you have your diversity:
DeleteSKP: 42 destinations , 24 countries, 18 airlines
PRN: 28 destinations, 13 countries, 13 airlines
SKP traffic exists thanks to Germany and Sweden. From you diversity 60% is to 2 sole countries. Nice try, though.
DeleteHuh? What non-gasto routes does PRN really have? All attempts to diversify the offer have majestically failed. SKP on the other hand manages to keep its airlines, look at LO as an example. OU has also failed in PRN while they do extremely well in SKP.
DeletePRN has gasto destinations but the airports flown to are primary or important centres.
DeleteGood example is BRU, FRA, MUC, OSL (not TRF) and GVA.
SKP however, has a true legacy which is QR. This gives it serious scoring compared to PRN.
40% of PRN traffic is to switzerland (ZRH Geneva and Basel). funny how they make fun of others
DeleteAt least SKP has a direct flight to Paris. ;)
DeleteSKP also has Aegean which PRN won't have any time soon.
DeletePRN is going high forward faster than any airport in Balkan! SKP fail! Pristina is doing well just keep going forward.
DeletePRN expect new routes as soon as they get visa liberalization and you'll see PRN will pass even 3 million faster than any other airport.
The only 'issue' is that visa liberalization isn't happening any time soon, so this growth will eventually slow down and PRN will grow at a steady rate of some 3% to 5% a year. This is just a temporary boom.
DeleteFantastic results. Well done.
ReplyDeletePeople shouldn't get too excited about Germania. Even though they are an airline operating out of PRN, their real nature is closer to those buses that depart from Pristina every day. It's not the same as if Wizz Air or easyJet would open a base in PRN. These guys are here to work with family reiseburos and to shuttle gastos there and back.
ReplyDeletePRN's biggest issue is it's failure to sustain flights to non-gasto routes. I was in shocked when I read some time ago about easyJet cancelling Paris flights. Also until the economy improves, PRN's traffic will be linked to foreign and not local demand. That is why there are barely any charter flights to seaside destinations like ALL airports, even BNX, have them.
Didn't Germania fail from Paris too?
DeleteYes it did.
DeleteGermania did well, but they had just for just for summer season.
DeleteYeah right, if they did well they would have extended it into the next summer.
DeleteOf course they will, but it's still early take it easy.
DeleteThey are opening base in PRN and they will continue, just keep going Germania doing great.
No flights from PRN to seaside destinations? I reckon there are several holiday charters to AYT every summer!
DeletePurchaising power is still really low in Kosovo, most go on holidays by car/bus/minibus to Greece, Albania and Montenegro.
DeleteThat is bad news for SKP
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteThere is a lot of competition between these two airports for a large part of passengers. Also with INI.
DeleteAgreed. This part of the Balkans seems to be doing very good.
Delete4 airports with a strong catchment area.
INI - 360,000
PRN - 2,100,000
SKP - 2,100,000
SOF - almost 7 million
Traffic of nearly 10 million and 4 airports within 200-300km range.
INI fits in this group perfectly with its 360k.
DeleteINI started from scratch and can safely be added to the group acting as a contributor. Charters to Egypt will begin in May 2019 and traffic will gradually reach 500k by next year.
DeleteSKP doesn't have enough charter traffic and must work harder on this.
Germania charters in PRN are well developed.
SOF has strong ski charters. Maybe INI can resume ski charters too to have more activity in winter.
UK people love skiing and not only beaches.
Anon at 11:25
Delete+1000
every airport had initially started from scratch, but it has only 360k, and both SKP and PRN have 2,1 million.
DeleteINI has been growing for two years now, give them time. Good thing is that they are attracting a wide array of airlines and they will be the second ex-YU airport after BEG to have regular charter flights to beautiful Egypt.
DeleteOf course Anon 11:55, finally someone with a vision.
DeleteSKP suddenly forgot that only 15 years ago the traffic was 497,105 and took nearly 2 decades to reach 2 million.
5 years ago, INI had 1,335 passengers. Can you imagine? And in less than half a decade (not 2) managed to grow drastically.
So, before you post make sure you do some research first and think realistically.
SKP doubled its traffic from 1 mio pax to more than 2 million in 4 years.
DeleteINI reached 1k to 360k in 5 years
So, you do some research before posting
SKP subsidized that explosion in passenger number, INI on the other hand is growing organically. Even the new routes you will get will receive subsidies.
Delete@10:36 Pristina is not in the same market with Nis and Sofia. Pristina is in same market with Skopje and Tirana.
DeleteNice for Pristina. I expect 2.5 million in 2019.
ReplyDeleteWe might even see 3 million by 2020.
DeleteWaiting for some new legacy airline to launch flights.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if BA came back.
DeleteBA hasn't even came back to BEG and you think they will come to PRN?
DeleteI said it would be nice if they came back. I didn't say I think they will come back.
DeleteYou could be right. PRN-LTN seems to be doing pretty well with 5 weekly!
DeleteLondon is not very popular in BEG compared to say, LJU or DBV.
lol
DeleteWhich airlines are increasing frequencies to Pirstina during summer 2019?
ReplyDeleteI think Pegasus and easy jet are increasing operations.
DeleteIt's really interesting how Germania is the busiest airline at PRN. If I remember correctly, they handle almost half a million passengers on their PRN flights per year, yet they barely sell any tickets for PRN over their website. Its all done through tour operators.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, very impressive indeed. I like them as a company. Seem organised unlike chaotic Eurowings.
DeleteThey fly to interesting destinations from Germany and will become an all-Airbus operator by next year.
Seems to me like another market where Adria was in prime position but let it slip through its fingers.
ReplyDeleteMacedonia and Albania too.
DeleteThe growth was phenomenal this year. Well done.
ReplyDeleteMK, KS и RS да беа мали и сиромашни како F, D и CH ќе направеа еден ваков на тромеѓето: https://www.euroairport.com/en/
ReplyDeleteIf I understood correcetly.. This idea is not attractive to Kosovo, at all. That airport would be to far from Prishtina and west and north Kosovo.
DeleteI recommend Eurowings with A330's to open non-stop flights PRN to/from New York JFK for summer season 2019.
ReplyDeleteDo it Eurowings, great chance and you'll make great profit from USA diaspora.
Yes, I heard PRN is way higher on their list than CGN, DUS, TXL... and so on.
DeleteAdmin already covered this topic twice:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/10/pristina-airport-eyes-new-york-service.html
and also...
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/01/pristina-demand-for-us-flights-grows.html
After all, in 2009 there used to be a non-stop flight operated 2 weekly by Scanderbeg Air.
It seemed a joke and especially the logo itself and the project.
https://worldairlinenews.com/category/scanderbeg-air/
@Anonymous5 January 2019 at 12:22 - DON'T BE JEALOUS!
DeleteWe are talking about the FUTURE not about the passed what you have wrote! Forget it.
Great idea! Pristina airport manager should contact Eurowings CEO possibly and make a contract open service to/from JFK. Don't miss this chance Eurowings and Pristina. Good luck ;)
DeleteCom'n people, get real :) ZAG has some 150000 passenger departures/arrivals to /from the US yearly , via different hubs, and PRN 25000 only ; ZAG still no direct flights, and you expect PRN to get it. According to numbers, I doubt. Also as traffic is extremely seasonal, and Western Macedonia, Northern Albania and Kosovo only 3-4 hours by car from DBV, I believe people from these regions would use American Airlines seasonal service from Dubrovnik to Philadelphia
DeleteUnlike ZAG, PRN managed at least to get those flights in 2009. It doesn't matter if they are seasonal or not. Similar to BEG, a New York route always adds to the positive image of an airport and its reputation and honour.
DeleteYes, but Eurowings will not come to PRN to operate JFK for reputation or honour, but for profits. And operating long-haul from non-base airport for few summer months is very expensive and
Deletenon-profitable, and is highly unlikely. Please don't get me wrong :I would be happiest if all ex-yu airports had plenty of long-hauls and more routes and more carriers, I'm just trying to explain why Eurowings PRN-JFK is extremely unlikely
Yesterday, you told us you have a good memory.
DeleteDo you remember what happened to those flights in 2009? I saw a video on YouTube about this airline calling them "thiefs". Was it a fraudulent one?
The project itself was bizarre. Leasing a Chinese jet and also TIA-JFK was operated for a short period.
@pozdrav iz Rijeke5 January 2019 at 19:58
DeleteDon't rush you never know, Eurowings already operate service in PRN non-stop flights from/to five destinations (DUS, MUC, HAM, STR, HAJ etc..)
Dusseldorf is base airport of Eurowings and operates non-stop flights DUS to/from both destinations JFK and PRN.
In the summer time Eurowings even from non-base airports can operate with A330's to/from both destinations PRN-JFK-PRN easily at least the plane filled with passengers, also SKP and TIA are 1 to 2 hours drive to PRN and ready to fly non-stop to/from USA.
Example 1: (DUS-PRN-JFK-PRN-DUS)
Example 2: (DUS-JFK-PRN-JFK-DUS)
In the future Eurowings might open base in PRN like Germania is opening base in PRN which you never know.
Good luck 2019 :)
Grohotom
DeleteMy bad! I apologice for the text @Anonymous5 January 2019 at 12:56
ReplyDeleteYeah yet PRN still has more, plus all the „positive“ things you said about SKP is in other hand negative for the future, since they already have those airlines and flights. Now imagine when PRN will become those, which will be the case :*
ReplyDeleteanybody can „imagine“ everything but it still does not change anything in the present
DeleteAnd since you are sure what will be the case then you must be another one with a crystal ball.
You dont have to imagine then, fact is PRN has more passangers, enough said.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, PRN will be the fastest growing airport in ex-YU in 2019. Wizz might just surprise anytime by sending more and more 321.
DeleteThere is no doubt 2019 is the year standing in 5th place after BEG, ZAG, SPU and DBV.
Projections 2019:
BEG - 6,150,000 (carrier increase but JU almost same level of 2018 - Israel: more and more demand, El Al will try but will not proceed because of Arkia)
ZAG - 3,700,000 (Ireland will increase)
SPU - 3,450,000
DBV - 3,125,000 (bigger planes from Phil end of July)
PRN - 2,400,000
SKP - 2,250,000
LJU - 2,175,000 (Ukaine and north Greece market research)
Very good year for TIV is expected: 1,485,000
MK good news around W19
You do realize EL AL is free to launch BEG, there are already three airlines on the market: Air Serbia, Arkia and Israir.
DeleteAlso where will ZAG all those extra passengers when there are barely any additional frequencies or airlines for 2019?
distance between cities is 96km, once the R6 motorway is open PRI airport will be just 1h30 min from Skopje. it will be very easy to travel between both cities.
ReplyDeleteIndeks reported that the German embassy in Pristina will approve 40.000 work visas. I guess demand to Germany will boom next year when even more gasterbajters fly back home for holidays.
ReplyDeleteCan we expect flights from HHN or FKB to PRN anytime soon? With the work visas coming, low cost airliners could profit from the influx of workers in Frankfurt. Hahn and Karlsruhe/Baden would be great options.
ReplyDeleteI prefer WizzAir to open from HHN and VIE to Pristina possibly.
Delete