Niš Airport outlines growth plans


Niš Constantine the Great Airport plans to build a new passenger terminal and control tower, as well as install runway approach lights in the coming period as it anticipates handling 420.000 travellers this year. The General Manager of operator Airports of Serbia, Mihajlo Zdravković, said, "Constantine the Great Airport needs a new terminal as it is obvious that existing capacity is too small to adequately handle passengers, especially with the predicted growth in traffic". He added, "At this point, we are undertaking a study to determine passenger flow at the planned new terminal building. Once this is completed, we will commence work on the design of the project, which will enable the airport to further grow".

Mr Zdravković noted that construction of the much-delayed new control tower will commence soon. "Conditions have finally been met to conclude an agreement with the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency concerning the new control tower". However, the airport will first focus on the installation of runway approach lights, after it recently put into use the instrument landing system (ILS). "We are in the process of obtaining necessary construction permits and will commence tender procedures by the end of the year to select a contractor to install the approach lights. With that, we will complete the runway investment cycle", the General Manager said.

Niš Airport has seen its passenger numbers increase 61% in August after Air Serbia introduced twelve new routes from the city. Traffic is expected to further grow with Ryanair recently announcing a new service from the south-east Serbian city to Malta starting this November, and Wizz Air doubling its flights from Niš to Malmol as of next summer. "Stories of us wanting to close Niš Airport and chase out low cost airlines have proven to be completely unfounded. The arrival of our national carrier and its new routes have not resulted in budget airlines discontinuing flights from Niš. Instead, it had a completely opposite effect", Mr Zdravković concluded




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Well done INI. A good example of how to activate an airport

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Congrats INI.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    It is good that new terminal will be built, but it obviously won't be soon

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    My predictions for future Ryanair flights to INI.

    1.London - Stansted or Luton
    2.Beauvais
    3.Bergamo
    4.Charleroi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      I think the government didn't allow JU to launch Paris because they wanted to leave some other markets for other airlines. If they didn't then they would have attacked JU of sabotaging competition.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      London ain't gonna happen. Brexit + visa restrictions. Even from Belgrade we have too many flights. Though, if Ireland abolishes visas after Brexit, Dublin is possible

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:28

      I still hope BVA might be next.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:50

      I am shocked no one has looked at Nish-Paris, the market seems to be quite large.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:16

      Ryanair already flies from Nish to Bergamo-Milano !!!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    INI is growing really nicely. If they manage to pass 400.000 passenger mark then it will be a major success.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    Impressive. I think both FR and W6 are relying upon the wider region to fill these extra flights. I wonder if we might see close to 550.000 passengers next year as JU flights started quite late in summer this year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    It looks like that after all GoS is doing good job related to Nis airport (no airline left INI, JU introduced many new flights)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:04

      Well, Germania left but no big deal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      Germania later on went bankrupt. lol

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:12

    INI over the years:

    2014: 1.335
    2015: 36.200
    2016: 124.917
    2017: 331.582
    2018: 351.582
    2019: 420.000 (approximation)
    2020: 500.000 (my prediction)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:46

      2023: 1,000,000 my prediction

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:46

      2030: Flights to Japan, LAX etc befor Agram.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:20

      Agram could happen with cargo traffic but I don't see the other two, sorry.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    Maybe it's time for INI to bring back those Russian charters? Red Wings seems to be doing well in Belgrade, maybe they could introduce a one or two weekly flight to INI?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:49

    INI is becoming a more and more important airport in the region and is clearly starting to directly compete with SKP and PRN. 1 million passenger is now becoming possible.
    By 2025 that number might possibly reach 2025 and possible airlines such as QR, DY, LH, OS, U2, IB and why not FZ or Pobeda.
    It might also slightly hurt BEG and become an internal competition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      +1
      I believe INI's tremendous growth rate played a key part to the stagnation of SOF who after all those high growth years it know has minimal or no growth at all.
      INI is truly the star of the region!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:15

      I think Belgrade will compensate with extra transfer passengers brought in by JU which is something airports like SOF can not do. Also Wizz can always allocate extra capacity in INI if they feel their modest BEG operation is being affected.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:45

      Just checked Sofia Airport wiki page and there are various new planned routes. Not sure it's really stagnating. FR seems to be launching MRS and EMA this winter.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:51

      SOF also got some flights last winter and this year as well yet numbers have been less than impressive. I think this summer their growth was around 1.3%.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:52

      Bulgarians do not need visas to travel to the UK so EMA makes sense for gastarbeiter traffic.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:37

      New routes will be: Beauvais, Eilat, Marseille, East Midlands, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Budapest, more Ljubljana flights..

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:41

      More LJU flights. lol

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:27

    Hope Air Serbia adds more flights soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      They need more aircraft.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:06

      Or they can cut some underperforming routes like BUD and redirect those two flights to other destinations?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10:28

    The good news is that they will start the construction of a new control tower next year and have completed installation of ILS CAT 1.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous10:29

    Great news for INI. Hopefully we will see the terminal building soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:30

    I think Istanbul would be very popular if it happened from INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:32

      They can't as Turkish airlines can't add more flights to Serbia. TK is looking at adding regional planes so a three weekly to IST could do wonders.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:34

      Maybe Pegasus from SAW might be an option.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      Pegasus would offer connection possibilities but Turkish would be by far better solution. Their growth in Belgrade is obstructed anyway.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:39

      I fear the B738 might be too big to Istanbul.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:42

      Pegasus would make a lot of sense since they don't fly to SOF.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:43

      But they fly to SKP and BEG.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:31

    I am still amazed Swiss is flying to INI :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      Is there any room for LH to use LH regional for Frankfurt flights? If coordinated well with Swiss they could offer (almost) daily connections to North America and numerous other destinations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:37

      EW from MUC would make sense.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:40

      It's amazing that we have one stop connecting flights from INI to NYC, MIA, ORD etc. Lots of Serbs from America use them now.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:41

      I think CityLine CRJ-900 are a better fit for INI.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:38

    INI could overtake Tuzla in a year or two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      If INI keeps on growing like this then I see that happening as well. TZL has reached its current maximum. If it wants to grow it will have to strike a new deal with Wizz Air to either base a 3rd plane or to add more flights with planes from other bases. I think 3 A320 in TZL might be a bit too much now that BNX has flights.
      INI will come really close to 500.000 next year.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:39

    Thumbs up INI. Always good to read positive news.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:44

    With INI-LJU and INI-TIV turning into absolute success, could we see INI-BNX launched in the future?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      What about flights to Athens? Greece is popular in Serbia and I am sure Aegean could fill a two weekly Q400 in summer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:56

      +1
      Right now I think ATH is the biggest gap to INI's destination map.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:50

      Speaking of ATH. I flew JU513 yesterday. Both directions LF was 100%

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:56

      A319 or A320?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:17

      320 yu-apg

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:01

    Congratulations to INI.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous12:24

    Why don't they put a railway station in front of the airport? I suppose that the railway track ends up at the Nish central station?

    ReplyDelete
  21. I recently went on air serbia nis to salzburg licely flight and only 22 euro one way no checked baggage.. Will definitely use again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely flight*

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:53

      How was the load on the flight?

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:04

    Is that an Antonov 124 on the apron?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous16:50

    How is the cargo in INI?
    Turkish doesnt fly anymore?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous16:56

    When they say they will make a new terminal, do they mean tear down existing one and build a bigger one instead; or do they mean make a new terminal in addition to current one?

    Taxiway does not exist at INI - any plans to add it?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous17:07

    Why is the parking in INI double than in BEG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Money :), airport doesn't make much on taxes, so they charge some other services.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous23:27

    Connection with Belgrade is very bad, also from Airport to Main Bus Station in Nis, old green rusty busses, that easily can help you to lose flight.
    After 3 or 4 times, I lost patience and from Bergamo, I use Ryanair flight to Timisoara and from there, Gea Shuttle.
    Plenty of people to Belgrade, use that flight and you can easily see them.
    If you want more Pax in INI, make batter bus connection from Airport to Bus station in Nis and to Belgrade.
    Saluti da Milano.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:13

      I've heard that TSR is quite good and prices are way much cheaper compared to INI or BEG. After all, Transylvania is a developed region.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:01

      If you are using the shuttle to Timisoara then why don't you use the same service to INI? I Googled 'kombi prevoz aerodrom nis' and got many search results, here's one:

      https://www.pexonteam.rs/kombi-prevoz-nis/

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:02

      And btw Timisoara isn't really in Transylvania.

      Delete
    4. Anon 23:27, those buses are already history. Connection to Belgrade is bad? For 100 eur you can go with taxi to Belgrade, count 2 or 3 persons and there you go. And to bus station in Niš taxi is 2 eur, so there is no problem with organization, at least not too much.

      Delete
    5. But once the Chinese finish rebuilding the railways, Nis to Belgrade by train will make the trip to Nis worth it.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:33

    Bravo Srbija! Bravo Nis! Bravo Ryanair! Bravo Air Serbia!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous10:31

    Nis need flights to Turkey. Interesting that Air Serbia gave up on such a good destination. Nis-Istanbul would bring full planes I'm sure, and a lot of Turkish tourists that have problem at the moment how to come to Nis, and not to lose a lot of time on highway from Belgrade.

    ReplyDelete

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