Airports across the former Yugoslavia were heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 which saw all but Zagreb close their doors for commercial passenger traffic for several months. Jointly, the airports handled 7.5 million passengers, shedding 21.9 million travellers on the year before. Individually, Slovenia was the most affected market, with an average decline of 83.3%. Furthermore, it was the second most impacted market in Europe behind Georgia. Croatia was the fourth most affected aviation market in Europe, following Slovakia, while Montenegro was close behind as the fifth most impacted European market. On the other hand, the Kosovo market was the most resilient in Europe, seeing the smallest rate of decline compared to the year before.
| Airport | Passengers 2020 | Passengers 2019 | Change (%) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | 1.903.337 | 6.162.159 | ▼ 69.1 | - 4.258.822 |
| Pristina | 1.102.091 | 2.373.698 | ▼ 53.6 | - 1.271.607 |
| Zagreb | 924.823 | 3.435.531 | ▼ 73.1 | - 2.510.708 |
| Skopje | 710.711 | 2.360.400 | ▼ 69.9 | - 1.649.689 |
| Split | 674.366 | 3.301.930 | ▼ 79.6 | - 2.627.564 |
| Podgorica | 343.187 | 1.297.365 | ▼ 73.5 | - 954.178 |
| Dubrovnik | 330.147 | 2.896.227 | ▼ 88.6 | - 2.566.080 |
| Ljubljana | 288.235 | 1.721.355 | ▼ 83.3 | - 1.433.120 |
| Sarajevo | 249.642 | 1.143.680 | ▼ 78.2 | - 894.038 |
| Tuzla | 228.425 | 592.384 | ▼ 61.4 | - 363.959 |
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport maintained its position as the busiest in the former Yugoslavia, however, it lost over 4.2 million passengers. Overall, Belgrade Airport was the 87th busiest on the continent, up from 89th in 2019. It was behind the likes of Charleroi, Eindhoven and Bologna, but ahead of Larnaca, Minsk and Malta. Driving the lower passenger decline at Pristina Airport when compared to others in Europe was the diaspora. “Our traffic mainly relies on the diaspora, which lives and works abroad, meaning most of them hold citizenship and/or residency permits of the countries they are living in”, Pristina Airport’s Chief Operations Officer, Gokmen Aritay, told EX-YU Aviation News. On the other hand, Tivat Airport was one of the most affected in the former Yugoslavia, with its two main markets - Russia and Serbia - closed for arrivals into the country for a protracted period of time.
| Airport | Passengers 2020 | Passengers 2019 | Change (%) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tivat | 189.815 | 1.367.282 | ▼ 86.1 | - 1.177.467 |
| Niš | 154.233 | 422.255 | ▼ 63.5 | - 268.022 |
| Zadar | 120.747 | 801.347 | ▼ 84.9 | - 680.600 |
| Pula | 83.502 | 777.568 | ▼ 89.3 | - 694.066 |
| Ohrid | 72.125 | 317.218 | ▼ 77.3 | - 245.093 |
| Banja Luka | 43.775 | 149.966 | ▼ 70.8 | - 106.191 |
| Rijeka | 27.680 | 200.841 | ▼ 86.2 | - 173.161 |
| Osijek | 6.626 | 46.378 | ▼ 85.7 | - 39.752 |
| Brač | 4.261 | 25.342 | ▼ 83.2 | - 21.081 |
| Mali Lošinj | 3.214 | 6.495 | ▼ 60.5 | - 3.281 |
| Mostar | 1.374 | 32.866 | ▼ 95.8 | - 31.492 |
Europe’s airports lost 1.72 billion passengers in 2020 compared to the previous year, a decrease of 70.4%. Europe’s airports were back to their traffic levels from 1995. EU airports (-73%) were significantly more impacted than those in the non-EU bloc (-61.9%). This is mainly due to the size and relative resilience of domestic markets primarily in Russia but also Turkey, combined with less stringent lockdowns and travel restrictions compared to the EU market. The distinct performance between the EU and non-EU market became apparent in the second half of the year. While both EU and non-EU airports saw passenger traffic coming to an almost stand still in Q2 (respectively -97.3% and -93.3%), losses in Q4 stood at -83.8% at EU airports compared to -63.9% at non-EU airports.
The numbers are dire
ReplyDeletePoor Mostar
ReplyDeleteThat airport needs to seriously do something if it is ever to have decent traffic.
DeleteIt had the perfect chance to attract Wizz Air. Now with them opening a base in Sarajevo those chances have dwindled.
DeleteMostar is a small city with not a large catchment area.
DeleteSame with OSI, that is why both airports struggle all the time.
DeleteSo Slovenia second last in Europe. Must be from the restrictions like people write here, which obviously only exist in Slovenia.
ReplyDeleteIt's no surprise. Numbers in LJU were declining months before anyone even knew about corona.
DeleteThe market started to recover and then covid happened.
DeleteStarted to recover? February numbers were down 24%, January down 27%
DeleteLjubljana's numbers started to fall in August 2019.
DeleteWhen Adria crisis started.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteIronic that BEG actually improved its European rank.
ReplyDeleteBecause other airports did equally as bad.
DeleteHelps when you have a national carrier and an LCC based there.
DeleteCompetition is always good. I am also happy that JU enjoys minimal protectionism.
DeleteSerbia is about to sign a memorandum with Greece but I don't know when the market will open. Aegean moving BEG to early March could be an indicator of that.
DeleteIt already signed the memorandum...
DeleteNope, that was media desinformation. They were merely negotiating about terms and conditions. They still did not sign it which is why we don't know when their borders will be opened. Today it was reported that Spain will allow people who were vaccinated. That's good news for BEG-BCN.
DeleteOh I see, didn't realize.
DeleteFirst quarter of this year will be equally as bad
ReplyDeleteBut second quarter will be much better :D
DeleteTGD overtook LJU...
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Podgorica managed those numbers. They did better than I expected.
DeleteAnd SJJ will probaby overtake LJU this year
DeleteOr Nis ahead of Zadar!
DeleteJust shows how bad this management is
DeleteThey are sooo bad. They didnt stoped the spread of virus in China therefore they are bad.
DeleteWhat they should have done is been better prepared for Adria's collapse. The writing was on the wall for years.
DeleteNot surprised
ReplyDeleteConsidering the situation, some have held up quite well.
ReplyDeleteBecause January, February, and for the most part March performed really well.
DeleteIt's useless to compare 2020 with 2019 unfortunately :(
ReplyDeleteAll airports All over the world have been hit by steep passenger decline. And things won't be getting back to 2019 levels for 3-5 years at best.
ReplyDeleteTuzla was very close to overtaking Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteYes, but I think it was their only chance. Things will change a lot at SJJ this year.
DeleteIf Wizz does what it said its would do it.
DeleteThe more problematic thing is that revenue and profits have declined heavily. While governments are helping out their airlines, many have forgotten their airports.
ReplyDeleteWell LJU received aid and so have airports in Bosnia.
DeleteThe PRN figures are extremely impressive. This trend is likely to increase this year....
ReplyDeleteProbably. I assume because of elections and the increase in arrivals, February will be relatively good at PRN.
DeleteBelgrade has managed to weather the storm and avoid total collapse.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Ural launches all those flights.
DeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteThings will get better.
ReplyDeleteWhen could we see 2019 figures again?
ReplyDeleteIt will take a long time for things to fully recover.
DeleteWith Corona infections ongoing and unemployment on the rise I expect deteriorating results coming our way.
DeleteNo one knows
DeleteWell at least we all know there will be growth in March, April and May when compared to last year.
ReplyDeletebut what about Jan and feb
DeleteDo more of what Sarajevo did, especially smaller airports. Osijek got the same idea.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/02/osijek-airport-issues-public-call-to.html
Agree with last commentators. LCCs are the only way out of this crisis for many airports.
DeleteTrue for smaller airports. For BEG & ZAG they will rely on their national airlines for growth.
DeleteBEG also has Wizz Air on which to rely for growth. After all, they kept flying from BEG right after the lockdown.
DeleteWow, Bosnia has 3x more passengers than Slovenia last year, who wouldve thought :)
ReplyDeleteGood result
Delete2020 was a very sad year for aviation in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very sad year for aviation for every country of the planet.
DeleteThis is the biggest crisis for the aviation industry since WW2.
DeleteNumbers are in line with global trends.
ReplyDeleteDid they count passengers from reparation flights?
ReplyDeleteI believe repatriation passengers are counted for each airport. They are passengers after all.
DeleteThis is tragic, more has to be done to reverse this negative trend.
ReplyDeleteWhat?
DeleteDoes anyone know or has any information whether WB residents would be able to travel to EU countries this year? Anyone has any news no mater how good or bad it is?
ReplyDeleteWelika Britanija residents? :) :) :)
Delete@Rijeka - LOL! I am dying over here. Hahaha
DeleteI need explanations... :D
West Balkans i assume
DeleteBoy how the rankings have changed in just a year. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteThey are not standard and I doubt they will be this way at the end of this year.
DeleteTIA overtook Zagreb by and large by having 1.3 million pax.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting, especially ZAG is in EU and had much more freedom to operate flights.
DeleteNot to mention the crucial difference according to national airlines fans: ZAG has national airline!
DeleteTIA has a national airline as well. They were actually the only airline allowed to operate several daily "repatriation" flights from March to June.
Deletejanuary trends seem to be even more crazier
ReplyDeletefun facts: in January SKP = ZAG+LJU+SPU+DBV
the problem with network airlines is their very low LF in contrast to p2p airlines
It is obvious that airports that rely more on diaspora have been less affected than those relying on home based passengers on tourists.
Deletea passenger is a passenger
DeleteDBV looks beautiful on the pic. I hope traffic pics up there this year.
ReplyDeleteOn Wiki I see Belgrade as 83rd in Europe.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe
Heathrow lost its strike as being the busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers (I don't know how many years in a row) to Istanbul IST.
Wiki list is not correct nor is it fully updated.
DeleteAnd on top of that the passenger numbers they put for BEG is incorrect.
DeleteAnd Anonymous 11:40 can you please tell me where can I find the correct answer?!
DeleteYou have the correct number in this article.
DeleteSo 1.904.025 from Wikipedia and 1.903.337 from Ex yu aviation, wow big difference!
DeleteIt's interesting to see that MSQ has had more passengers compared to BEG. Belarus is a non-EU country and faced the same restrictions.
DeleteAnapa, RU seems to have seen a huge increase thanks to its domestic traffic most likely.
The figures compiled for this article are based on data provided by ACI Europe (Airports Council International), which circulated end-of-year results for all European airports late last week. The full list is only sent to the press, so unfortunately it is not made public.
DeleteTherefore, all the figures and ranking are based from that official document, which, when comparing to airports which have publicly announced their results match.
@ Anonymous 20:39, based on that list, Minsk is actually one position behind Belgrade with 1.901.086 passengers.
This will be a long and difficult recovery.
ReplyDeleteYou can count on that. There are no signs of recovery yet.
Delete"shedding 21.9 million travellers on the year before"
ReplyDeleteWOW
This isn't some kind of "race", unless one is under the age of 12 years old. Each airport has their own unique dynamics and Covid is, for each, a collective race to the bottom. Hopefully 2021 will outperform 2020.
ReplyDeleteIt will take at least 3-4 years to full recovery. Growth is not expected before 2023-2024. More airlines will go under. Flag carriers will more aggressively fight for lowcost passengers. Further consolidation of surviving airlines is possible closer to the end of the crisis. More government help will be needed for this and next year. Lowcosters will deplete cash reserves. Weird things ahead.
ReplyDeleteAirport tax per passenger is 18euro
ReplyDeleteBelgrade airport profit only from passenger tax is 1.903.337 x 10euro = 19033370(19 million euro profit for 2020 year)
Airport passenger tax for Split airport is 21 euro per passenger.
21euro tax x 674.366passengers = 14161686euro profit(14 million euro profit for airport operator)
All airports are profitable in Serbia and Croatia
These figures you quote are not profit, but revenue.
DeleteAs soon as Corona is brought under control, later on this year or perhaps early next year things will begin to rebound fast. There is a lot of pent up demand for leisure and diaspora travel. Diaspora throughout Europe that in the past came 'home' once or even 2-3 times per year has not been able to do so in the last year or so, with some exceptions. Diaspora/immigrants in the Americas who would come back to the old country once every year or two will come back for a visit as some as it is possible without all the tests and quarantine and other hassles. Same for leisure travel all over the world.
ReplyDeleteAir travel will rebound relatively fast and reach 70-80% of 2019 levels within a year of the recovery. Airlines and Airports that can quickly adapt to new conditions, new routes, stream lined process etc. will benefit sooner and the most. Small airport will take longer to recover.
There was a chance of that happening if the pandemic ended this winter. While people r e a l l y wanted to travel this summer, that pent up demand will fall flat as the pandemic drags on and basically a lot of travells will be like "meh, I don't feel like bothering with flights and whole that security theatre" and they just won't be traveling as much as before. The momentum for recovery has been lost.
DeleteI hear you but it all depends on/if how fast Corona is brought under control.
DeleteAnd I hate the 'security theatre' too, as you so eloquently put it. ;-)
Priština defended herself quite well.
ReplyDeleteAny updates on Sarajevo airport construction progress? Last news item on that topic was last year. Last news flash on Belgrade airport construction was 7 January and for Ljubljana on 19 January. Did pandemic slow down the construction progress at all three airports?
ReplyDeleteNo. It's only slowed in Sarajevo.
DeleteBEG expansion is going strong.
DeleteBEG published some pics on their website you can see some updates there.
Deletewww.beg.aero
You've got to start somewhere. Thing will get better.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you start?
Delete