Eurowings, easyJet and Wizz dominate in Pristina


Low cost carriers handled the bulk of Pristina Airport’s traffic in 2019 with Eurowings, easyJet and Wizz Air alone accounting for close to one million travellers. Eurowings, which based an aircraft in Pristina and launched a number of routes from the city in 2019, was unsurprisingly the busiest, handling 343.701 passengers, representing an increase of 109.6% on the year before. easyJet came in second, welcoming 268.694 travellers on board its aircraft, up 11.1% on 2018. It was followed by Edelweiss with 254.636 passengers, an improvement of 6%, and Wizz Air, which handled 253.282 travellers, up 153.3%. The busiest legacy carrier at Pristina Airport was Turkish Airlines with 179.351 passengers. The figure represents an improvement of just 0.1% on the year before. Overall, the Turkish carrier was the sixth busiest at the airport.

Busiest airlines at Pristina Airport in 2019

AirlinePAXChange (%)
Eurowings343.701 109.6
easyJet268.674 11.1
Edelweiss254.636 6.0
Wizz Air253.282 153.3
Orange2Fly232.669 16.2
Turkish Airlines179.351 0.1
Chair Airlines169.013 30.0
Pegasus Airlines129.744 8.1

During 2019, two carriers with bases in Pristina went bankrupt - Adria Airways and Germania - which had an impact on the overall order of power among airlines operating at the airport. Adria accounted for 128.422 of all passengers during its almost ten-month run in 2019, while Germania, which ceased operations in early February, welcomed 24.789 travellers. In 2018, the German carrier was Pristina’s busiest with 321.499 passengers, while Adria was seventh busiest with 157.931 travellers. On the other hand, most other airlines saw their figures improve in Pristina, among which were Pegasus Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Austrian, Swiss International Air Lines and SAS Scandinavian Airlines.

Switzerland continued to maintain its position as the busiest market out of Pristina, with 33% of all passengers either departing or arriving from the country. It was closely followed by Germany with a 32% share, then Turkey (15%), Austria (5%), United Kingdom (3%), Slovenia (2%) and Norway (1%). New York remains the busiest unserved route from Kosovo with over 15.000 passengers transferring through other points to reach JFK Airport (10.000) or Newark (3.000). Other most common cities reached by transferring through different airports were Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Chicago, Helsinki, Brussels, Toronto, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Antalya, Washington, Ankara and Munich. As previously reported, Pristina Airport handled a record 2.373.698 passengers in 2019, representing an increase of 9.6%. Aircraft movements stood at 9.113, up 8.6%.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:13

    Pegasus seems to be hurting TK in PRN big time. TK is struggling at the moment and they have just announced a whole range of frequency cuts such as Napoli, Pisa, Bologna, Samara, Riga, Tallinn, Gothenburg...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well TK was flooding those markets and many others with cheap seats in the hope that eventually passengers would be willing to pay more for connecting in IST.
      Obviously it didn't happen and now cuts need to be made.
      Plus the Turkish state has serious financial problems and it has to reduce subsidies to TK and others.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      Not only that but the new airport is extremely expensive to operate out of and many service like catering or cargo are still at the old airport and need to be moved every day. They rushed with the move and now they are paying for it. TK is lucky they have limited competition from ex-YU markets. Maybe OU could try their luck in IST, few weekly with the Q400 could work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:39

      TK has problems with the MAX

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:00

      TK has issues with overcapacity, the fact they ended bringing back the A319 proves it.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:11

      Pegasus has been growing by double digit rates every year. TK in the last couple of years is really hurting. That was before the move to the new airport.
      Pegasus on the other hand is using SAW which is far closer to the city AND only flies narrowbodies.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:25

      TK is hurt? LOL

      Biggest flag carrier in Europe in 2019 in terms of passenger numbers. And Lufthansa is second.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:08

      TK is impacted by the troubles of its home country and last year it didn't grow.
      Also the other Turkish carriers didn't grow.
      Meanwhile RU carriers grew.
      And so did former Soviet state airlines and of course JU.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:14

    So the busiest airline in Pristina has just 14% of the market.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Meanwhile in Skopje….

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      ...low cost heaven a la Sofija

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:10

      Just that in Sofia you have a healthy mix of everything, LCC and legacies. No one really dominates.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:03

      The most non-monopolised market in Ex-Yu.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:25

      ^ I think that title belongs to the Slovenian market at the moment after Adria's bankruptcy.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:14

    easyJet’s result is by far the most impressive considering they achieve that figure with just 3 routes to PRN!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      True but two out of those two are from Switzerland ;)

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:14

    I have a feeling Wizz will open a base in Pristina sooner or later.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Airport is too expensive for them to open a base.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:40

      a W6 base in PRN is a massive danger to SKP numbers and routes

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:53

      Not necessarily. A bigger danger might be to let Eurowings expand. With a base in PRN Wizz could balance between the two bases, opening routes that would not harm the other while keeping away competition.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:11

      Well W6 already destroyed EW to VIE from PRN. Let's see how long OS lasts.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:13

      OS will survive due to transfers.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:15

      These numbers show that there is enough demand for Wizz from both SKP and PRN.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:16

      In the end Wizz will chase away all the smaller airlines and increase its ticket prices. That's their strategy.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:21

      Does Wizz get subsidies to fly from Pristina like in Skopje?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:30

      No

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:38

      of course they do. incentives. you can see on theor airport page

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:00

      It can't even compare to the subsidies in SKP.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:01

      OS will have transfers but that still doesn't mean they might not reduce flights or capacity to match demand.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous12:06

      oh yes they compare. have a read. and compare. what Wizz is getting per pax in SKP they are getting it for fees in PRN

      Delete
    14. Anonymous17:04

      Not true. In Skopje Wizz gets government subsidies and airport incentives. In PRN only airport incentives like all other airlines. In Macedonia only Wizz gets government subsidies.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous09:00

      Potato potahto.

      PRN charges are set by the government. I see fangirls trying to whitewash the fact PRN is following SKP practices after complaining so much for so long.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous09:06

      They are two completely different things but you can't seem to comprehend

      Wizz Air in Skopje - Gets annual subsidies from the government plus airport incentives.
      Wizz Air in Pirstina - Gets airport incentives.

      It's not that easy but if you read a through time maybe you understand.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous09:17

      It's you who doesn't understand. You're just repeating what you wrote and are not addressing the crux of the matter. Here's a nugget from someone who's actually involved -

      PRN ended up copying SKP's incentive scheme after years of complaining, down to each individual pax threshold.

      How you call the support is just a matter of putting lipstick on a pig. Potato potahto. Look these up, you might get what I'm saying.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous09:20

      At the end of the day Wizz Air gets two types of support in Macedonia and one of them is only applicable to Wizz Air and no other airline. In pristina they get one type of support which is available to any other airline.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:15

    No wonder BA is opening Pristina is Heathrow is one of the busiest unserved routes. But I wonder why they chose to just do a few one weekly flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      Slot constraints and its questionable how the yields would perform.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:17

    Adria would have had a better year in Pristina had it survived even with all the trouble it had.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:28

      Actually, they maintained flights from Pristina till the very end. Even when the service suspensions started they used wet leased planes from Germany to fly the Pristina routes.

      Delete
  7. A healthy mix of airlines.

    What is the most impressive thing is that PRN lost its busiest airline (Germania) and its longest serving airline (Adria Airways 1999-2019) and yet it recorded a nearly 10% growth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:25

      This is true. They did well to navigate the collapse of Germania and Adria and come out strongeer. Good on them.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:17

    What happened to Turkish? Barely any growth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      My guess is that Pegasus proved to be more popular since the market is price sensitive.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      But Pegasus has been there for years

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      Turkish Airlines tickets got more expensive. Price conscious customers booked with other airlines.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:37

      737 MAX issues.

      They can't fly 24 aircrafts. That's a huge number.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:42

      The new IST is far more expensive than the old.
      And Pegasus flies from SAW which is cheaper.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:30

    Time for Pristina-New York flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      For 15 000 passengers? If it gets to 50 000, maybe.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:33

    Are there summer charters from Pristina to Turkish coastal destinations? I'm surprised Antalya is on the list of points people transfer to the most.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous10:01

    I don't get why Edelweiss flies from Zurich to Pristina and not Swiss...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:09

      Edelweiss cost base is cheaper than Swiss's.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:34

      Edelweiss crew and service are better, its a codeshare flight with LX. Sometimes WK sends A330 or A340 when they have spare.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:55

      Probably always depends. I was pretty disappointed of the Edelweiss flight I made. Some crew members were flirting with passengers instead of working and to get another drink or somethig else had to wait ages for a cabin member. But maybe I had just bad luck with the flight and crew.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:15

    Excellent news

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:19

    We need Transavia for AMS to PRN

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Transavia would be fantastic, however, I think Wizz will soon launch PRN - Eindhoven instead.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:56

      They won't because EIN is maxed out.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous12:08

    after March there will be no more connections possible via FRA and MUC because Eurowings have moved those flights to charters.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wizz air growth is insane. At this pace it will reach 500.000 pax within 2020.

    Direct flight to JFK area must.

    If you add D.C., Chicago, and Toronto as top unserved destinations from PRN, you get over 27.500 Pax.

    BEG operates their bi weekly JFK flight with only 30.000 Pax.

    Prishtina reaches that number without any transfer passengers at all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:23

      Air Serbia had 79.657 on New York route in 2018. So your post is false.

      Delete
    2. My bad. 30k indeed refers to H1 alone!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:40

      I agree that Pristina-New York has potential (at least seasonal). Huge Kosovo diaspora in US.

      Delete
    4. Get serious people. ZAG has over 200.000 passengers with different US destinations yearly, and it has a kind of flag carrier, and bigger US expat community, and tourism, and still no single US flight, and you expect PRN to get it with 27.000. I mean I am happy for BEG and DBV to have US flights, I would be happy for PRN, or any other ex-yu airport as well, but somehow if any airport in ex-yu has potential for US flights, it is ZAG, not PRN.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:58

      I think SKP has more potential than ZAG simply because the market is more stable, the situation in ZAG is a bit chaotic, one day one airlines cancels flights then the next day another launches.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous18:56

    One weekly flight per year at 250 seats gives 14.000 seats one way per year. So 15.000 pax yearly (which means 7.500 pax each way yearly) to JFK+EWR are unable to fill half of that one weekly flight. And we are talking about pax that are very price sensitive and will go for an indirect flight, if the price for direct will be a bit higher than for an direct flight (which is always the case). This is about potential for PRN-JFK/EWR.

    As to BEG-JFK comparison, 79.657 is all pax, also transfers, not only pax direct BEG-JFK-BEG (O&D). Probably some 30-40% of this are direct pax BEG-JFK-BEG (24.000-32.000).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are ca. 27.500 unserved Pax to North America (NYC + NJ, IL, Toronto) from Pristina alone!
      A direct flight would incline people to fly more often. It would also attract passengers from Skopje too.

      Delete

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