Belgrade Airport passenger traffic down 69% on 2020


Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled some 283.000 passengers during the first three months of the year, representing a decrease of 69% compared to the same period last year, or 72.6% on Q1 2019. The figure is below the average rate of decline recorded at airports in the European Union. Airport operator VINCI noted that entry restrictions to most European markets continue to hamper Belgrade’s recovery. “Travel restrictions applying to some European countries dampened traffic, but flights to and from Istanbul and Frankfurt remained comparatively steady. Serbia has been making very rapid progress on its vaccination campaign, which could spur traffic by the summer. Air Serbia started up twice-weekly services to Geneva in March and is planning to double the number of services to New York this summer”, VINCI said.

So far this year, four routes have been launched from the Serbian capital, including Geneva by Air Serbia, Moscow by Nordwind Airlines, Kiev by SkyUp Airlines and Hamburg by Wizz Air. The low cost airline also plans to introduce services to Sandefjord, Abu Dhabi, Heraklion and Santorini. Other carriers which are set to introduce operations to Belgrade Airport in the coming period include KLM from Amsterdam, Eurowings from Stuttgart, as well as Luxair from Luxembourg. More announcements are expected in the coming period. Airlines that have restored their operations to the Serbian capital so far this year include easyJet, LOT Polish Airlines, Israir Airlines and Arkia Israeli Airlines.

Based on existing schedules, Air Serbia will remain the dominant carrier at Belgrade Airport this summer season, with the airline holding a 49.4% traffic share. It is followed by Wizz Air with a 9.3% share, Lufthansa with 7% and Austrian Airlines with a 5.8% share of traffic. The largest number of frequencies will be offered between Belgrade and Zurich, which will this month see the trial of IATA travel pass on Air Serbia flights. It is followed by Vienna, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Podgorica. In terms of capacity, the most seats will be available on flights to Switzerland’s largest city, followed by Istanbul, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris and Moscow.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    All things considered could be worse

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    It's good to see that more and more EU markets are reopening. Greece from next week, Cyprus has reopened I believe and Malta from June.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Why doesn't Air Serbia attempt some markets that have reopened that could provide traffic and perhaps they could work with tour operators. For example Jordan has reopened for tourists. You do a test at the airport on arrival and get the result in an hour and then you are free. I know Air Serbia planned to launch Amman in 2020.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Because it would require thinking outside of the box which is something JU rarely does.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      They also could have launched Dubai months ago which has been doing really well from BEG. And saying that Flydubai flies the route is stupid. Many European airlines have launched DXB in the last month including Belavia and Air Baltic.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:09

      Air Serbia is busy profiting from Putin's ban of flights to Turkey. :D
      Tomorrow morning full A320 to SVO in both directions.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:13

      Saying that JU management is not active is really far from truth.

      We have many examples showing that JU reacted promptly, but in the cases where reaction was necessary and not in the cases where aviation enthusiasts believe something should be done.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:14

      I agree that they should have explored some new markets during this pandemic period. Many airlines have and have launched a lot of new routes. I mean even Iberia just announced they are launching Madrid-Maldives just for point to point traffic.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:37

      Jordan has had lockdowns on weekends for ages. And they introduced them again recently plus there are other restrictions.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:42

      There are lockdowns across Turkey and a curfew but that hasn't stopped them flying to Istanbul.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:14

      They could have also looked into one off charters to the Maldives, Mexico and Central America, Zanzibar (all wide open) with A330. But hey, better to hand over passengers to Flydubai, Qatar Airways and others.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:21

      Please be realistic

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:22

      I don't see why it is unrealistic?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    Taking in consideration that pandemic started in March last year these results are good.
    As BEG was closed for 1,5 months in second quarter last year we can expect to see growth here as well as in all remaining quarters due to vaccination campaign in Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:10

      April should help as there were only repatriation flights. I think first foreign carrier to resume BEG was Belavia on 18.05 I think. They resumed flights even before Wizz Air did.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:22

      I believe that we did not have so many repatriation flights that could be successfully compared to the situation we have now

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:27

      I mentioned repatriation flights in the sense that there were barely any passengers in April... and in the first half of May. This year airport's performance should be good in that period.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    I say this is a very good result and quite unexpected. I mean Croats could travel more or less anywhere in the EU and numbers in ZAG were pretty slim:

    Q1
    BEG 283.000
    ZAG 113.328

    Hopefully Greece lifting the entry ban these days for Serbs will help fill seats to ATH. They are also allowing flights to Serbia to land at other airports and it's funny that Santorini is one of them. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Ratio between ZAG and BEG before pandemic was 1.8 and now we see 2.5!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      Things will change when Ryanair starts flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:58

      Will it though? AF suspended its second daily to ZAG for the summer, TP delayed its resumption and so did FZ and many others. Can FR help recover so much loss? Also we don't know if FR will create a new market or if they will take from others.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:21

      There is also no LH from MUC, last year they had something like 2-3 daily flights.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:23

      Iberia delayed Zagreb, FlyDubai delayed Zagreb, Tunisair cancelled Zagreb, LH cancelled MUC-ZAG...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:26

      Many airlines delayed BEG flights as well, you just didn't list them. Eurowings today delayed BEG for the 5th time. I'm not comparing the two, I just said that Ryanair's arrival will significantly help with 12 new routes from September and the gap will be reduced next year.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:33

      Air France delayed BEG, Eurowings delayed BEG, Aegean delayed BEG, Redwings delayed BEG, Norwegian delayed BEG, TAROM delayed BEG.

      So comments like these are really pointless.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:03

      Interesting that even though those airlines delayed BEG, BEG has one or two airlines already flying at a reasonable number of weekly flights.
      Also, please do not forget that Serbian nationals are banned from entering the EU. This has been a major handicap.

      p.s. Red Wings did not delay BEG, they did not receive the necessary permit from the Russian government due to covid related restrictions. I would appreciate it if you would be mindful of such facts. Thank you for your cooperation.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:44

      I see Belavia is back with its E95 which is cool. I am happy to see them do well in BEG.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:35

      More importantly BEG had more passengers than SKG and BUD in Q1.

      BEG: 283.000
      BUD: 183.000
      SKG: 153.832

      Delete
    11. Anonymous15:40

      Hope people understand now why Vinci paid so much money.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous01:34

      Elaborate.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous09:17

      The question is why people have to travel to BEG more than to BUD etc.? In the middle of the pandemic?

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    “Travel restrictions applying to some European countries dampened traffic, but flights to and from Istanbul and Frankfurt remained comparatively steady...''

    I noticed many night flights on LH are on A320 now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:40

      Well tour operators around Europe are selling vaccination packages to Serbia. This Italian agency from Bologna is bringing people for €500 which includes an air ticket as well. I guess they are going on LH.

      http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/477080/Ponuda-italijanske-agencije-vakcina-i-cetiri-dana-u-Srbiji-za-500-evra

      Delete
    2. Nemjee11:48

      Lufthansa is listed as an official partner on their website. Funnily enough, when you enter the website the first thing that pops out is the form for a covid vaccination trip to Serbia.

      https://www.viaggisalvadori.it/#work

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    Airport is busy bringing new operators even during pandemic. Great job!

    Except for long haul. Vinci promised new long haul destinations but didn't deliver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      I think their long haul flights mostly depended on Air Serbia...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      Some ex yu airports offered joint advertising and similar incentives to long haul airlines. Did Vinci offer something like that to Air Serbia for overseas routes?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:48

      I don't know, you will have to ask Vinci.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:58

      Why would Vinci team up with anyone when they can do it on their own just fine?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:10

      Vinci does not own long haul aircraft. They can't do it on their own in that regard. Either with Air Serbia or other airline. So far no luck in that segment.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:13

      Probably long haul is not a priority at the moment. Most expects that short haul flights will recover first and quicker.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    Numbers could have been worse. A good sign is that Air Serbia crew which were furloughed are being called back to work.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:20

    And we would have anadolujet as new arrival if they were not blocked by Serbian CAD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Anadolujet is the same like TK

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:22

      Personally I wouldn't consider that the end of the world. I mean Turkish carriers are dominant in Serbia for 8 months in the year. I don't see why JU can't have charters to Turkey for a few summer months. After all, those people are already going to Turkey to spend their money there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Let's cry now.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:32

      How about the state doesn't choose for you who you should fly with or choose for tour operators who they should work with or choose for the airport who they should have as customers?

      Delete
    5. Nemjee09:40

      Well, they do not do that in places where there is an Open Skies Agreement which is not the case with Turkey. Personally Turks have a gigantic trade surplus with Serbia, there are more Serbian tourists going there than Turks coming here and I won't even mention all the subsidies their companies received here. So if JU is supposed to dominate ONE market for four months then so be it.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:32

      I agree with Nemjee ... let's not forget - these are Serbian citizens travelling to Turkey to spend their money in Turkish hotels/resorts. So 100% of pax are Serbians and in the charter space anywhere across the world, home registered carriers (unfortunately in Serbia, there is only one option) need to have first bite at satisfying the demand from tour operators. Where the demand is greater than what any Serbian carrier is able to provide, then an EU registered carrier should have a go (due to Serbia's membership of the ECAA) and only then, should a Turkish carrier be able to pick up any unsatisfied demand.

      Charter traffic is usually dealt with outside of an air services agreement which normally covers pax and cargo scheduled flights.

      For local tour operators to have a real choice, it would be great to have an alternative to JU but at the moment, that isn't the case.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:42

      Why is JU a problem for tour operators? I mean many use them to Greece, Spain, Italy... where they can make a deal with foreign airlines.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:14

      And what about AirCairo? They have charter flights to Egypt, and they arw not serbian company?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:35

      Because they are owned by Egyptair and blocking them would result in JU losing its licence as well. Al Masria was a few other Egyptian charters were blocked.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:25

    A huge down

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      You might want to have a look at other airports.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:33

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:33

    Well at least Q2 will be good across Europe :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:36

    The list of new routes being introduced by airlines is quite good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      It's nice to see legacy airlines such as KLM and Luxair starting up flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      So glad about KLM.

      It just showed how BEG matured even in these difficult times.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:37

    Is the Eurowings flight seasonal or year round?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:44

    Reopening of Greece will be a relief for Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      One of the most important summer markets.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:50

      Anyone know how Heraklion and Santorini are performing?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:51

      They haven't launched yet. It starts in June.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:59

      Sorry, I meant if anyone know how sales are going

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:10

      Considering that all the lowest fare tickets have been sold out for Santorini, I would say it's going well.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:05

      I am happy about Santorini. Really nice addition from Belgrade.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:45

    Russian market would also perform excellently if more flights were allowed.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:45

    Does anyone know how SkyUp is performing on the new route?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:45

    I think airlines are confident in Serbia especially now the first vile of Sputnik was filled in Belgrade. That means that Serbian travelers will have constant access to protection against covid. Btw only two countries in Europe outside of Russia will make it, Serbia and Italy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:32

      I wonder if this will push cargo demand out of BEG. Bahrain announced that they want to buy the Russian vaccine and they seem to be getting cozy with Belgrade. I wonder if they might get the Serbian manufactured one.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:35

      I don't think cargo is a priority for them which is shown by the fact that they don't have any plans to development additional cargo infrastructure.

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/08/inside-belgrade-airports-multi-million.html

      Cargo development

      The airport has made a plan to further develop cargo traffic at the airport, however the existing infrastructure and cargo terminal are expected to meet VINCI’s needs. “We believe we can cope with the current infrastructure for a certain period of time. With the additional apron, we can serve additional cargo aircraft. We will build some new racks to place containers in order to make more space. Here it is more of an improvement for operations rather than big investment in infrastructure for the time being”, Mr Brousse explained.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:36

      Vaccines can be carried on regular flights, no need for special cargo flights.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:46

    It is good to see that some new routes launching.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:48

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

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:12

    I wonder if Aegean will also move their flights to resume earlier than expected considering Greece is reopening next week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      They haven't so far so I doubt they will.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:39

      Greece will most likely announce tomorrow that fully vaccinated visitors from the EU + 5 other countries (Serbia, UK, USA, UAE, Israel) will be able to enter the country without a need for quarantine/self isolation. But I doubt the influx of family members and homeowners will be enough to sustain extra flights - JU already has the market covered.

      Delete
  22. Does anyone have data about the number of passengers by months for BEG. THX

    ReplyDelete

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