Belgrade eyes gradual recovery amid new routes and vaccine success


This morning, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport saw the launch of the first of five new routes which are to commence in March, while a total of six new services have been confirmed so far for the coming summer season. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many routes are still in limbo as a result of travel and entry restrictions, however, with more than half a dozen new services planned, there is some hope for cautious optimism. This has been coupled with the successful rollout of the mass vaccination program against Covid-19 in Serbia, which has been one of the fastest in the world so far. Air Serbia inaugurated flights between Belgrade and Geneva today, while low cost carrier easyJet plans to restore the same route this Friday, which will also mark its return onto the Serbian market.

During the month, Wizz Air is set to introduce services to Sandefjord and Hamburg, SkyUp Airlines to Kiev and Eurowings to Stuttgart. This will be followed by KLM from Amsterdam in May and Luxair from Luxembourg in June. In addition, Russia's Ural Airlines has shown interest in launching five new services to the Serbian capital, while Norwegian Air Shuttle has filed a schedule for seasonal summer flights from Helsinki, although these are yet to be confirmed. At this point, 1.616 flights are scheduled to operate in and out of Belgrade this month (both directions included), although uncertainty still prevails due to the epidemiological situation across the world. Carriers such as Air France, Aegean Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Norwegian are all set to restore operations to Belgrade in March.

Last year, Belgrade Airport’s Chief Technical Officer, Nicolas Brousse, said, “No one can say with certainty how the situation with the pandemic will evolve, but we expect a return to our more usual operations during the summer of 2021. In the coming months, we anticipate a gradual growth in traffic. If the virus is put under control, we could expect a real restart in April or May, if the health situation improves in Europe and beyond”. The National Association of Serbian Tour Operators (YUTA) said it is coordinating talks between Serbian authorities and those from key summer markets such a Greece, Turkey and Egypt over entry rights for holidaymakers this year. YUTA is pushing for vaccinated travellers to be able to enter all countries without restrictions while those without vaccines to be able to enter with an antigen test, rather than the more expensive PCR test.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    Fingers crossed

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Anyone know how many passengers were on the inaugural flight this monring?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      30-something

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      Better indication will be Geneva-Belgrade.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:06

      In any case, it does not help that Serbia is on Switzerland's red list, meaning diaspora has to isolate upon return from Serbia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:12

      40-ish passengers with 10 transfers to SKP, TGD and SJJ.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:25

      SKP <3

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:01

      JU should definitely put focus on SKP from GVA.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:02

    Interesting to see that easyjet is coming back and has stuck to its original date. I guess mainly because of the new competition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Highly likely, especially since Berlin and Basel don't start till late March/early April.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    Considering the situation having 7 new routes is quite an achievement.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    Belgrade is rising again despite the fact that Serbian citizens can't enter EU.

    Really amazing job done here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      Belgrade needs to redefine itself as the leading aviation hub in the region vs. BUD.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:36

      Sinko, please don't compare BEG with BUD.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:53

      Синко why not? He's showing facts.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:20

      How can you compare BEG with BUD when it's not even close to RIX to begin with.
      BUD is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and home to many universities and not to mention the real estate business and most importantly an EU capital. Nobody denies BEG performance but be realistic.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:26

      The 'being realistic' is that BEG is now handling twice the number of flights as BUD since they have no tourists.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:48

      Yes, most departures with turboprops.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:52

      Really? The only two airlines operating turboprops in Belgrade are Air Serbia and Windrose. Today, turboprops make up just 28% of all flights from/to BEG.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:52

      Do you have a link to prove that most departures are with turboprops? Even OS is mostly sending the E95 and Aegean is sending the A319 tomorrow, not Q400.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:06

      Windrose is sending the E-145, not the ATR.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:25

      Sorry I meant to write Air Serbia and Austrian, not Windrose.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:16

    Hope things turn for the better.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:17

    BRAVO SRBIJA

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:17

    Anyone know January pax numbers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Is it realistic for BEG to handle at least 2 mil passengers this year?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      Depends from the situation but I would say it is realistic.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    Hopefully they introduce covid passports fast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      I hope they don't

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Can someone explain to me what these covid passports in Europe would mean. For example, I'm from Serbia and I have been vaccinated with both doses against covid. So would covid passport mean I could travel without restrictions to say the rest of Europe or is it merely just a place to store your documentation?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:44

      As far as I understood, it's a fancy term for a literal piece of paper and/or QR code on your phone that will confirm that you are vaccinated. However, we are already hearing some fascist opinions from the EU advising how vaccines that have not been approved in the EU (but for example have been approved in Serbia) will not be accepted. I find that weird as I am sure EU is dying for some Chinese tourists' money, but nothing surprises me anymore.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:09

      Greece is already begging the Chinese to come and save them.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:21

      Since Hungary has started inoculation with the Sinopharm vaccine and Sputnik will be administered in several EU countries, EU's plan will fail. Luckily.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:08

      https://news.err.ee/1608126439/ak-how-will-a-vaccine-passport-work

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    It is good to see that some new routes will launch next month.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      You mean this month :)

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:20

    This will depend on the EU limitations. It will also depend on the gastos and whether or not they are considering visiting their home countries. This will also mean people will less prefer to make transfers and stick to a direct, non-stop flight if they can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      I think people will rush to book whoever is the cheapest.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      I think so too. Look what happened with bookings the second the UK announced its timeline to exit the lockdown.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:22

    Congratulations BEG

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    I like that there are two European legacies starting flights - KLM and Luxair. But also great to see some more LCC lines.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:29

    Is it me or is Wizz lagging behind the competition?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:31

    If you consider there is travel ban into the EU this isn't all that bad.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:31

    How many flights out of BEG today?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      33 departures

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Of course this is 33 scheduled commercial departures. I'm not including private or cargo flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      This is very good. Last time there were over 30 departures per day was in early September last year when there was a lot of charters to Turkey and Egypt. So with no charters now, this is great.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:39

      Yes, for these times that's a very good number of flights.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:39

      For comparison, Budapest has 14 departures today.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:42

      On average Belgrade had twice the flights of BUD during the last period.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:47

      Helps that JU has transfers. Aegean returns tomorrow and RO with a new schedule at the end of the month.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:00

      Source for RO return?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:19

      Their website. Duh.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:40

      BUD has fewer flights but it still managed to close 2020 with 4 million passengers compared to BEG's 1,9, even being much more closed and restricted.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:55

      BEG managed to reduce the difference from 2.5x to 2x which is good.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:02

      BUD wasn't much more closed and restricted until October of last year.

      There again, Belgrade's advantage was for only for a month or so after what Serbia was put on EU's red list.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:03

      This clearly shows that BEG has healthy O&D demand while BUD is extremely reliant on tourism.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous11:03

      Just like ZAG which pretty much had the same collapse.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:10

      I think many tour operators are only discovering Belgrade now. Look at the Ural interest.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous11:23

      BEG closed 2020 with 1,9 million passengers behind MSQ. Nothing more to add.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous11:26

      It might be worth adding that your information is wrong.

      BEG - 1,903,337
      MSQ - 1,901,086

      https://i.ibb.co/RGX7hhK/beg.png

      Source: Airports Council International

      So before writing nonsense, it might be worth consulting other sources other than wikipedia.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:33

      Actually, even Minsk is far from an insignificant airport, yet they have a huge passenger drain to Moscow/Kiev/Riga, especially the latest with its low-cost options, similar to BEG/BUD in the past.

      They have a respectable national carrier with a good network over Eurasia.

      They fly as far away as Almaty if i remember.

      Talking about Belavia, during a recent flash sale, Belgrade was their top 5 selling destination behind Istanbul, Kiev, Odessa and Warsaw.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous11:52

      Now, THIS is a good example to compare: MSQ. Yes, it can be considered a competition. Belavia fleet is quite new with an elegant livery and pretty decent coverage.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous11:55

      BEG and MSQ show the importance of having a local carrier which offers transfers. That's one advantage they both have over BUD.
      Just because BUD was on top before covid it doesn't mean it iwll stay like that. Just remember where BUD was in the 1980s and where BEG was. In conclusion, BEG is working on REGAINING it's old dominant position.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous12:46

      Oh no it's the BEG vs BUD guy again. Why do you feel the need to compare them all the time?

      Delete
    22. Anonymous13:17

      @11:55 - How can you be a "dominant player" if you have 20 planes?
      The 80s era was 40 years ago...time to move on. BUD was always and will always be ahead for a long time.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous13:34

      BEG was in '80s capital of the country of 22 mil people and now BEG is the capital of country of 7 mil people.

      Huge difference.

      Delete
    24. Anonymous13:52

      BUD was not always ahead but like for 20 years following sanctions, that's out of 100 years of civil aviation in total.

      Delete
    25. Anonymous14:29

      What do you mean that BUD was always ahead when that's clearly not the case?
      Latvia is a country of some 2 million people yet RIX handles over 7 million passengers. What matters is that BEG is moving ahead, full steam. Look at the new announcements and you will see what I am talking about. Btw what's interesting is that BEG growth is very diverse, it's not JU pushing it which gives us hope that things are indeed looking up.

      Delete
    26. Anonymous14:41

      Between 2000 and 2016 Latvia lost due to emigration 12% of its population (Lithuania some 15% and Estonia some 5%). This is the main reason behind the number of pax at RIX. A very sad race of the poor who will have more pax. I very much prefer tourists at BUD.

      Delete
    27. Anonymous14:49

      Hungary also lost a great deal of its population, there is more to the country than Budapest. There is a great deal of ethnic traffic out of Budapest.

      Delete
    28. Anonymous15:03

      I very much prefer the transfers and tourists at BEG, which is crucial in this period.

      Delete
    29. Anonymous15:04

      Hungary enjoys a high level and volume of tourism similar to Croatia and Chinese real-estate business men. It's a year-round destination and has way much to offer.
      Comparing BEG with BUD is like comparing LAX with CYS in Wyoming.

      Delete
    30. Anonymous15:05

      Replying here is useless back and forth, but one more time: for the same period the net migration in Hungary is positive: +2% (more people migrated into Hungary than from Hungary abroad). Natural change (more people dying than newly born) is however negative: -6%.

      But who cares here about facts. Go and make the biggest hub in the Balkans and southern Europe if that makes you happy. Just like RIX.

      Source: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-12092-4_3

      Delete
    31. Anonymous15:05

      Clearly we can see the amount of ethnic traffic now that all the airports have lost their tourists and expats.

      Delete
    32. Anonymous15:10

      anon 15.03

      What tourists? In 2019 Hungary 16,9 mln international tourists staying for at least one night. Serbia 1,8 mln international tourist arrivals.

      Delete
    33. Anonymous15:11

      You are very ridiculous comparing BEG to an airport that doesn't even have scheduled flights.

      Right now BUD or ZAG are more looking like that.

      There again, have you read the title?

      Stay tuned for some new announcement that will shockingly prove you wrong.

      Delete
    34. Anonymous15:13

      @15:10

      That again confirms how reliant on external tourism BUD is.

      If with 10 times more tourists they have 2 times more pax that explains you why the situation is getting more even now.

      Delete
    35. Anonymous16:32

      Even in one of the worst years for tourism in years, BUD carried 3.8m pax compared to BEG 1.9m. Keep dreaming

      Delete
    36. Anonymous16:59

      Those 3.8m are from Jan, Feb and first half of March 2020. Budapest was not worth a penny after that. Yeah, BEG didn't do much better after March so why split hairs. Focus on 2021.

      Delete
    37. Anonymous17:06

      What I love the most is the hate brigade that has been coming here for years telling us to keep dreaming about this or that. However most of our dreams have turned into reality so it makes sense for things to keep on improving and for BEG to once again become a major player in the region. Don't forget that BUD is highly unprofitable and even the Hungarian government had to use some shady mechanisms to keep them afloat. I guess those passenger numbers came thanks to serious price dumping.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:33

    Things would improve much quicker if the EU travel ban was lifted.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:36

    Recovery will be long and hard everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:38

    The number of airlines flying to BEG isn't that bad actually.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:39

    Nice to see Qatar Airways sending its A321 to Belgrade again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:03

      Flight is full incoming from DOH. Not such a light load on the way back either. Tour groups and also Chinese living in Serbia coming back from New Year holiday.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:41

      QR is actually sending their Dreamliner to OTP and SOF the whole week.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:51

      Well, it is two routes combined after all. It operates DOH-SOF-OTP

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:56

      I saw on Instagram that's because of cargo.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:41

    I've been following this blog for a while now and it looks like Belgrade is the one which is ahead of the pack in this region (and this coming from a non-Serb ). It would make the blog even more diversified if the admin would include now and then other non-Ex YU airports in the region as topic of discussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      Of course.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:00

      We've been telling that for a long time.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:56

      Would be nice to add Albania and Bulgaria as well.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:36

      Other ex-yu airports are the topics of this blog

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:44

    National Association of Serbian Tour Operators (YUTA)

    I still the remnants of Yugoslavia still live on :D

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous09:45

    At least some optimistic signs. Wish them and the VINCI team all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous09:46

    It would be interesting to see what is the busiest market at the moment from BEG. Is it still Switzerland?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      My guess it's Montenegro

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      This month there are the most flights from BEG to Podgorica.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous09:49

    We will have an eighth airline start new flights this year if ToMontenegro is successfully formed.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:01

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:26

    I hope there will be recovery as we see the EU is doing everything it can to hamper economic growth in this region with its bans on certain peoples.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Serbia has much more to offer tourists than just Belgrade. And while Budapest is a great draw for Hungary, what else can tourists see in Hungary? Long term, BEG is the clear winner as the regions best airport. This will be clear once connections are established between Belgrade and Toronto, Belgrade and Chicago and Belgrade and China.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:10

      Dude, you are probably living in America and have no clue about the situation in Europe. Hungary is not only about tourism. Have you ever been to Gyor, Debrecen or the Balaton area? Plus, BEG has much more connections to North America and China compared to BEG. Seriously, those comparisons are crazy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:08

      They are not.

      There is nothing in Debrecen.

      Hungary hasn't either sea or mountains.

      It actually has the most boring landscape in Europe.

      That's why they're promoting the only thing they actually have.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:08

      Exactly!

      Delete
  29. Anonymous16:24

    Hello, how far is Belgrade from Budapest? Is there a direct train service or something? I have a HU passport, arriving from the US and want to avoid transfer at all cost. Other option is Vienna.. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:28

      This is too funny

      Delete
  30. Anonymous16:55

    There are too many toxic comments as is with EXYU coverage. Expanding to other countries in wider region would make this blog unreadable.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous17:11

    Looking at JU summer schedule I see many flights to Tirana are already upgraded to A319!

    ReplyDelete