Airport across the former Yugoslavia have seen their passenger numbers plummet during the first half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the majority to shut their doors for two months. Although the majority started to see improving figures in late June and early July, depending on their reopening, recovery remains fragile, with most airlines cutting down on their operations and travel restrictions still hindering the resumption of many services.
| Airport | Passengers H1 2020 | Passengers H1 2019 | Change (%) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | 1.008.000 | 2.612.981 | ▼ 61.4 | - 1.604.981 |
| Zagreb | 547.735 | 1.534.105 | ▼ 64.3 | - 986.370 |
| Split | 108.434 | 1.102.118 | ▼ 90.2 | - 993.684 |
| Dubrovnik | 87.026 | 1.059.684 | ▼ 91.8 | - 972.658 |
| Skopje | 385.855 | 1.059.223 | ▼ 63.6 | - 673.368 |
| Ljubljana | 197.090 | 859.557 | ▼ 77.1 | - 662.467 |
| Sarajevo | 143.540 | 457.734 | ▼ 68.6 | - 314.194 |
| Tuzla | 108.847 | 271.008 | ▼ 59.8 | - 162.161 |
| Niš | 104.924 | 165.658 | ▼ 36.6 | - 60.734 |
| Ohrid | 46.752 | 104.484 | ▼ 55.3 | - 58.032 |
| Banja Luka | 32.849 | 66.035 | ▼ 50.3 | - 33.186 |
| Zadar | 14.591 | 295.698 | ▼ 95.1 | - 281.107 |
| Mostar | 4.029 | 8.489 | ▼ 52.5 | - 4.460 |
In Serbia, passenger traffic at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport during the second quarter fell 94.6%. Over the first half of the year, it handled 1.008.000 passengers, representing a decrease of 61.4%. Commercial aircraft movements were down 51.2% to 15.452. In a statement, operator VINCI said, “The recent announcement by Wizz Air that it would base a third plane at Belgrade flying a dozen new routes confirms the appeal of the Serbian capital and is expected to support the recovery that began in late May (down 88.5% in June, compared with June 2019). Over at Niš, Constantine the Great Airport handled 104.924 during the January - June period, down 36.6% on 2019.
Zagreb Airport, the only in the region not to have closed its doors for commercial traffic this year, welcomed 547.735 passengers through its doors during the January - June period, representing a decrease of 64.3%. “If we are comparing the number of flights on a weekly basis then we are currently at around 40% of last year’s traffic. If we look at passenger numbers, then we are at around 30% to 35%”, Zagreb Airport’s spokeswoman, Lidija Capković, said. Split Airport handled 108.434 travellers during the first half of the year, down 90.2%. However, the coastal airport has seen the first signs of recovery in July. “Between July 1 and July 13, we had a turnover of some 55.000 passengers and by the end of the month we expect a further 65.000, which will result in some 120.000 travellers by the end of July. During the first half of the year we lost around a million passengers and we will lose another million in July and August”, Split Airport’s Operations Director, Mate Melvan, said. Croatia’s third busiest airport, Dubrovnik, welcomed 87.026 travellers through its doors during the first half of the year, down 91.8%. “It all depends on the epidemiological situation in Croatia, as well as our guest’s countries of origin. The majority of airlines with which we have worked in the past are returning, we have some new arrivals as well, while some have collapsed due to the corona crisis. We have to remain optimistic”, the General Manager of Dubrovnik Airport, Frano Luetić, said.
Macedonia’s two international airports, Skopje and Ohrid, processed 432.607 passengers during the first half of the year, representing a decrease of 63%. Ljubljana Airport handled 197.090 travellers during the first half of the year, a decrease of 77.1% on the same period in 2019. Aircraft movements during the first two quarters stood at 6.561, down 60.7%. The airport anticipates it will welcome between 400.000 and 500.000 passengers this year.
Airports in Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been impacted by the coronavirus. Sarajevo Airport handled 143.540 passengers, a decrease of 68.6%. “Sarajevo Airport has seen a significant decline in air traffic and passenger numbers. Based on current estimates, we expect for the number of travellers to decline 55% this year”, the airport’s spokeswoman, Sanja Bagarić, said. Tuzla Airport handled 14.190 travellers between January and June, down 94.8%, while Banja Luka Airport’s passenger numbers declined 50.3% to 32.849. Mostar Airport processed just 4.029 passengers during the first two quarters, down 43.3%.
Considering the situation, they've held up quite well.
ReplyDeleteBecause January, February, and for the most part March performed really well.
DeleteTrue. For example BEG had 14.6% growth in JAN and FEB.
DeleteWonder how many pax BEG would have had if there was no coronavirus in 2020, especially how well things started out.
DeleteFor sure with all the increases and the Wizz Air expansion it would have over 7 million. Without Wizz Air it would be somewhere around 6.8 million.
DeleteI think it would have been around 7 million.
Delete7 million for sure
DeleteRecovery will be long, that's for sure. Let's see if this year we manage to pass 2 million passengers. Yesterday there were no departures after SKP at like 13.20.
Delete@10.16 you might check again
DeleteYes, there was one flight after that, a JU charter to HHN.
DeleteWhat was it for?
DeleteBelgrade had 6.15 million passangers in 2019. It was impossibile to add more 850.000 passangers with or without Wizz.
DeleteRemember that JU was supposed to introduce many new routes too.
Delete6 new routes + Wizz 9 new routes. Its was still not possible to add 850.000 passangers.
DeleteI'm not so sure. Almost all routes had frequency increases. Tivat was to go almost 40 weekly.
DeleteStill it was impossibile to add 850.000, i would rather say about 500.000.
DeleteDon't forget that foreigners were also supposed to add flights and JU would have kept many new routes in winter.
DeleteWizz alone would have added some 400.000 passengers in 2020 with three A321s.
But still 850.000?!?! Seems a lot to me for one year with aprox. 20 new routes. And Im not sure that Wizz added 3 new A321s.
DeleteThen you obviously missed the news. Maybe do some research before making bold assumptions?
DeleteBEG is going to handle 115K pax in July at least. Last July they had 746K pax.
DeleteWithout Corona they would have had close to a million.
DeleteWizz added 1 new A321 and 2 A320s were converted to A321.
DeleteExactly, that's quite a jump!
DeleteCan someone answer my two questions:
Delete1. what was Hainan A333 doing in Belgrade?
2. What was this Xiamen flight between Gao and Belgrade? It seems to have been circling over southern Italy before turning towards Rome where it seems to be landing.
@ 10,42 and @ 10,46
DeleteIt wasnt a charter flight, it was a scheduled INI-HHN flight that diverted to BEG due to RAT deployment.
https://youtu.be/9OIQ3p1JIxA
It was on ground in BEG for half an hour before continuing to HHN.
Regarding the Wizz expansion, I doubt that would of happened had the corona virus not affected traffic at BEG. They saw an opportunity to jump in, while having excess capacity and a need to deploy it somewhere.
DeleteThe opportunity must have been an illusion given how many times they postponed it
DeleteThe recent Wizz Air cuts will impact quite a few airports.
ReplyDeleteGood thing is that BEG fell by 88% in June so there is an improvement.
ReplyDeleteSo Mostar had the slightest decline.
ReplyDeleteBecause they barely had traffic last year as well.
DeleteIf you are looking percentage wise, then Nis had the smallest decline.
DeleteINI even managed to overtake DBV
DeleteManaged? Do you know what word "managed" means?
DeleteYou obviously don't Anon 21.57
DeleteSo you think that INI managed to force one chinese guy in Wuhan to eat a bat with mysterious virus who will than spread all over the world and make travel restrictions and quarantines literally everywhere. So because of that you will have more unemployed people who will not have a money for discovering the world and result of that will be less tourist in Dubrovnik and less air passangers at DBV while that wont impact diaspora at INI. So because of that passanger numbers at INI wont fall. So yeah they "managed" this.
DeleteIt's useless to compare this year with last year unfortunately :(
ReplyDeleteALL airports ALL over the world have been hit by steep passenger decline.
ReplyDeleteAnd things won't be getting back to 2019 levels for 3-5 years at best.
Some people commenting in this blog who dream next year not only full return of trafic but even new passenger records need to wake up.
Just my2cents
+1000
DeleteIt depends from the situation with health crisis and how quick the economies will recover.
DeleteIf there is no more threat for infections people will start flying more. I am not saying that it will be automatically on 2019 level but as soon as health crisis is over we shall see improvements much sooner than in 3-5 years.
Seeing improvements from the present situation and reaching 2019 numbers are two very different things.
DeleteCovid-19
caused a massive global recession. That will last much longer than the health crisis and we all know that travel and tourism are sectors that suffer disproportionally higher in times of crisis.
Don't hold your breath, it will get much worse before it gets better. HR GDP drop was just revised to almost 11% from 9%. The ride is still not over.
DeleteI think Tuzla may end the year with more passengers than Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteIt will probably have more passengers for a second month in a row in July.
DeleteTZL is on its way becoming the busiest airport in BiH.
DeleteI am sorry but Tuzla deserves it, they were the most reasonable airport of them all.
DeleteTuzla da ima treci Wizz air avion bila bi jaca od Sarajeva svaki mjesec...
DeleteSIGURNO
The more problematic thing is that revenue and profits have declined heavily. While governments are helping out their airlines, many have forgotten their airports.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAll airports in BiH have asked for state aid.
DeleteThe UK Airport Operators Association released an analysis of its member airports today that shows they are set to lose at least £4 billion in revenue by the end of 2020.
DeleteSo the main capital city airport have seen around 60% decline this year.
ReplyDelete*airports
DeleteYes, it is like that in the rest of Europe too.
DeleteYou've got to start somewhere. Thing will get better.
ReplyDeleteIt's really hard to predict how traffic will develop by the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteSKP and OHD are not that bad at all considering they just opened 22 days ago,
ReplyDeleteWhen could we see 2019 figures again?
ReplyDeleteNo one knows. Depends on the development of the vaccine and its effectiveness.
DeleteIt will take a long time for things to fully recover.
Delete2023
DeleteThis will be a long and difficult recovery.
ReplyDeleteGood to see most airlines coming back at airports.
ReplyDeleteI really wouldn't say that most have come back. Quite the contrary actually.
DeleteAt least there is something.
ReplyDeleteThe start of the year was good. I'm sure the end will be as well.
ReplyDeleteNot if there isn't massive effective immunization of the general public.
DeleteWith Corona infections and unemployment on the rise I expect deteriorating results coming our way.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, ZAG figures are not that bad inspite of losing so many airlines. ZAG was one the first airports to reopen while the others remained closed. Also flights were operated to EU capitals. Well done!
ReplyDeleteZAG never closed.
DeleteAnd still their traffic had bigger decrease than traffic in BEG
DeleteThe difference is barely half a million between both airports.
DeleteAnd do not forget that ZAG as the airport in EU had much more freedom to operate the flights than it was the case with JU in BEG.
DeleteThis will be a very sad year for aviation in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a very sad year for aviation for every country of the planet.
DeleteThis is the biggest crisis for the aviation industry since WW2.
DeleteWhat about Montenegro?
ReplyDeleteThey don't report any numbers anymore.
DeleteDo they fly anywhere?
DeleteYes, they have resumed almost all destinations. But I was asking about Montenegrin airports, not Montenegro Airlines.
Deleteexcept their two most important destinations
DeleteBut the biggest route (BEG) is not working so they have a biiig decrease
DeleteYM doesn't even operate two flights a day, that's how bad the situation is right now for them.
DeleteČuj SPU imao 87.000 pax a to je 99% down?!
ReplyDeleteKoja računica
A gde si to procitao? Pise
Delete"Split Airport handled 108.434 travellers during the first half of the year, down 90.2%."
Numbers are in line with global trends.
ReplyDeleteadmin, can we get a small table with an YoY overview?
ReplyDeleteIt's been added.
DeleteFantastic! Thanks!
DeleteDid BEG count passengers from reparation flights or just the normal flights from May
ReplyDeleteI believe repatriation passengers are counted for each airport. They are passengers after all.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhere is PRN in the table?
ReplyDeleteThis is tragic, more has to be done to reverse this negative trend. We need to tear down walls, not build them!
ReplyDeleteThe one and only silver lining on this is that we won't be subjected to nonsensical headlines of "Airport xxx broke a new record for passenger traffic" until at least 2022 or beyond.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how FR announced the closure of Hahn base which means HHN-INI would have been suspended now. Luckily the government banned them from operating this route.
ReplyDelete