Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is seeing a quicker than expected return of air traffic and demand with the airport to record 180 commercial aircraft movements today, with ninety departures and arrivals scheduled. Eurowings has inaugurated its new service between Stuttgart and the Serbian capital this morning following a sixteen-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, while Israeli carriers Arkia and Israir are also restoring operations from Tel Aviv after several months. Furthermore, Norwegian Air Shuttle has also returned to the Serbian capital for the first time since March 2020. Driving the growth in operations is also a record number of leisure flights which have now outstripped pre-pandemic levels. They are mainly being operated by Air Serbia, although Aegean Airlines and Nouvelle Air also have regular charters during the week. Overall, Hurghada is the most popular leisure destination with up to nine daily flights on select days.
Capacity and demand is still well below 2019 levels, however, a number of airlines are now restoring frequencies to the same volume of flights as prior to Covid-19, among which are Swiss and Qatar Airways, while others will increase their current frequencies in July including Aeroflot, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Aegean Airlines and Flydubai. Air Serbia itself will also grow its scheduled traffic from Belgrade by 29.4% from 1.612 flight operations in June to 2.086. During the month of July, Tivat will be the busiest scheduled route to and from Belgrade based on offered capacity with 59.628 seats on sale, followed by Zurich, Moscow, Frankfurt, Podgorica and Istanbul.
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| Belgrade Airport this morning |
Belgrade expects to handle up to 50% of its 2019 traffic if the positive trends continue. “What we want is to prove to the world, starting with people in Serbia and Belgrade, that it is safe to travel and that they can travel again. Of course, it does not depend only on us. Conditions to enter other countries, isolation and tests need to be taken into account … so we are doing all we can to enable traffic from here. We can see some good signs right now. Airlines, starting with Air Serbia, are increasing their summer program with more flights and destinations so we are seeing things happen. We hope we will reach about 50% of our usual activity that we used to see in 2019. It still seems low so it’s not the end. But if we are there, it will be a great achievement for us”, Belgrade Airport’s General Manager, Francois Berisot, previously said.
Nice to see the airport returning to life.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the ususal amount of daily flights at BEG before corona?
ReplyDeleteI think in summer it was between 70 and 110 depending on the day of the week.
DeleteWow so we are at prepandemoc levels.
Delete*prepandemic
DeleteIt was reporeted on here that charters are better than before covid.
DeleteAnyone know the load on the EW flight? Is it two weekly?
ReplyDeleteFunny how one the day EW restores STR-BEG JU ends up sending the ATR to Stuttgart.
Yes it's 2x weekly.
DeleteI think they will kill JU on this route.
DeleteInteresting that tonight's flight from TLV with Israir is on the MAX.
ReplyDeleteNice. Second MAX of the day after Flydubai.
DeleteI think Air Serbia should keep the Aviolet brand considering the amount of charters they are doing. Dedicate two planes for it and differentiate the product.
ReplyDeleteIt's an unnecessary cost to have different livery, seats, uniforms and catering like they did with Aviolet. This way it's much easier and cheaper. But they definitely need more planes.
DeleteWhat they need is more planes
DeleteI don't know how the manage with the current volume of traffic and their fleet.
DeleteSmartwings helped. Today the 737 flew to TIA and then MXP.
DeleteWithout the smartwings wet lease they would be toast.
DeleteUp to 50% of 2019 traffic?
ReplyDeleteIs it too optimistic?
Let's wait and see. They had 600,000 January to May.
DeleteFirst quarter was extremely slow because of disastrous situation in Europe. But Q2 was much better and Q3 will be excellent.
DeleteI think the airport will handle more than 50% of 2019 traffic.
ReplyDeleteHighly unlikely
DeleteGood to see Turkish at almost pre pandemic frequnecies with 12 weekly flights now.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that unlike before covid, they now send a widebody every Wednesday morning (A333).
DeleteIndeed. I am surprised CAD allowed them to do so.
DeleteThey had to accept it otherwise there would be a problem with charters. I mean it's not like JU can complain, they have all the charter traffic for themselves.
DeleteI would rather have the extra two weekly flights than the A330.
DeleteWell this July they are going from 11 to 12 even with the 330.
DeleteThey will probably be back to double daily next month.
DeleteWas flying BEG-FRA this morning. Airport extremely busy. My flight on the A321 was full. More than 50% of passengers were Indian. They even greeted passengers over the PA with "namaste".
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear. Lufthansa is going double daily on the A321 the whole July, on both flights.
DeleteTalking of BEG, they really need to finish those gates. They are already struggling with capacity. This morning's Wizz flight to NYO boarded from A7b gate meaning it was on the remote stand. I wonder how many bus rides they needed to get them all in.
Lufthansas's MUC was also at remote stand, right next to Wizz
DeleteI don't know if they moved it later to the gate. Maybe it was just parked there over night.
DeleteI think it was moved to the gate since boarding was from A6. Unless they boarded by bus from there.
DeleteI have been seeing a lot Indians in Zemun, especially in Kej, lately.
DeleteOr at least my impression was that they were Indian, but from South Asia for sure.
Yes they are from India.
DeleteExplanation in comments below.
DeleteGreat, maybe they can now fix up the bathrooms in the airport! The one in the baggage area is disgusting.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what's up with the Taxi mafia taking over the airport? There was again no one at the taxi desk in arrivals but I noticed a lot of the "privatnik" taxi signs when I cleared baggage a few days ago. I had to go upstairs and catch a Beo Taxi that was dropping off someone. The driver even told me that the taxi mafia guys have taken over. A few people I know have been hit with 5000 dinar fares that usually go for 1800 dinars.
The airport is getting a bad reputation for not addressing this issue.
Just call a hopin or a car go and you'll be fine. They are nicer, better, cheaper and safer than any beg taxi you can get into.
Delete*I once had a taxi driver chase a car that cut him off for 10 minutes with me on the front seat as a customer.
Wow crazy
DeleteI agree about the toilets. They really need to improve the cleanliness.
DeleteNice
ReplyDeleteNice that Eurowings is finally back and great to see so many new routes and airlines at BEG despite pandemic: KLM, Luxair, Nordwind, Windrose, new Wizz routes including Abu Dhabi, new routes from Air Serbia, Aeroflot etc
ReplyDeleteTarom also increased BEG from 2 to 3 weekly.
DeleteNice. Are they using ATR72 or ATR42?
DeleteTomorrow 8 flights to Antalya
ReplyDeleteAnd 8 to Hurghada too.
DeleteLots of flights to Bodrum too.
DeleteThe charters are gonna save BEG this summer.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly helping.
DeleteGood job
ReplyDeleteIt goes to show there is a lot of organic local demand which is always good.
ReplyDeleteYes, Serbs generally have a tradition of travelling on holiday in summer. Many didn't go anywhere last year so they are using up the opportunity this summer.
DeleteeasyJet also resumes BSL-BEG from today and boosts GVA to 4 weekly. Norwegian is bringing back Stockholm from tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIs easyjet now back on all of its BEG routes?
DeleteYes now that Basel is back they are completely recovered.
DeleteGood to hear
DeleteNo wonder there are so many flights to Russia from Belgrade. Tourism is doing really well. Just look at May arrivals.
ReplyDeleteRussians: 5.691 +80.5%
I think that was the month when SU started sending widebodies to BEG.
Check numbers from India when they are out for June. Many will be surprised :D
DeleteYes, so many Indians in Serbia. Mybe we'll see direct flight from BEG to India
DeleteBecause they can enter Serbia visa free and can not enter many countries without quarantine elsewhere. So they do it in Belgrade.
DeleteBelgrade will go back to thriving
ReplyDeleteAgree. Belgrade will have even more visitors after this Covid19...
DeleteAny word if Etihad will come back?
ReplyDeleteApparently they are considering it.
DeleteQatar is profiting massively from Etihad pull out.
DeleteAnyone kow how many passengers we can expect this year at BEG?
ReplyDeleteAround 30 million
DeleteSorry I meant 3 million
DeleteI wouldn't mind 30 million.
DeleteHaha
Delete30 million or even half of that would be a nightmare for airport operator Vinci. They didn't even start building new central hall that could raise capacity to 15 million passengers.
DeleteAnyone know what the new capacity will be with the C expansion and the new bus gates? I see that they are massively using the E platform these days.
DeleteOfficial numbers have not been released as far as I know. Additional bus gates, new passenger bridges and remote stand capacity will be significantly increased. Those additions will likely exacerbate queues and delays at the central terminal building.
DeleteMain terminal was already becoming a bottleneck in 2019 and if recovery continues at current pace summer passenger experience could become unbearable until new terminal hall is ready. No one knows when it will be ready but since they didn't even start construction it certainly can't be in use before 2024.
Current central terminal was somewhat expanded so that should help. Once C extension opens it will also have cafés and shops thus relieving the rest of the terminal.
DeleteNice to see demand coming back. Good to see Eurowings resuming Belgrade today.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time EW flew to Belgrade?
DeleteKLM is also constantly increasing capacity on BEG route.
ReplyDeleteThey are performing well.
DeleteYes. Within a month they went from Embraers to B737s.
DeleteIt's very hard to predict how things will pan out in this sort of environment and with the Delta variant making problems.
ReplyDeleteAlthough more transmisible, it seems to be much less dangerous.
DeleteKeep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteBEG today has the most flights out of any airport in the region.
ReplyDeleteI noticed this too. The wider region actually. Good job.
DeleteWhy is there a SpiceJet plane coming to BEG?
ReplyDeleteToday?
Deletebeg.aero says the flight is cancelled.
DeleteShort notice charter cancelled and those pax redistributed to other airlines flying to Belgrade.
DeleteInteresting. Thanks for the info
DeleteThere is another one from Yerevan .
DeleteYou would guess the Indians would fly via the UAE but obviously many of them dont .
A danas je ministar Mali u razgovoru sa kineskom ambasadorkom najavio kada kreću letovi za Kinu.
ReplyDelete"Zaključeno je da za tako nešto postoji volja sa obe strane, te da je važno da se u narednom periodu dogovore i sve druge pojedinosti, kako bi u drugoj polovini naredne godine mogao da se poleti prvi avion direktno iz srpske prestonice ka nekom od pomenuta dva kineska grada".
Mislim da su još uvek oprezni zbog Korone ali da sledeće godine stižu još jedan ili dva A330 i kreće dugo očekivana expanzija long-haul linija. Odlične vesti za BG aerodrom.
Svake godine od 2016 kad je došao A330 kružile su priče da sledeće godine dolazi još jedan. Svaki put ćorak.
DeleteLetovi bi gotovo sigurno počeli ovog leta da nije bilo pandemije.
DeleteGotovo sigurno da ne bi počeli. Nije bilo pandemije 2019 pa tada nisu ni najavili a kamoli počeli letove za Kinu ili Kanadu.
DeleteAny info on when Alitalia may be back?
ReplyDeleteNext year if they are still around.
DeleteThey are a shadow of what they were before corona. Really bad situation at Alitalia.
DeleteHoping Wizz will base a third plane.
ReplyDeleteWizz is almost completely absent in Belgrade .
DeleteMany of their flights are just once a week .
Air Serbia is damn lucky .
It's the second largest airline in Belgrade with hundreds of thousands of passengers. How are they "almost completely absent"? Further they launched 5 new routes this summer seson and upgraded both of their Belgrade aircraft to A321.
DeleteJust in theory.
DeleteOslo should have launched on thursday. Did it happen? No.
The two A321 that are theoretically based in Belgrade mostly fly routes that have no relation with BEG.
Hundreds of thousands of pax? Not this year.
Their expansion? Did not happen.
Wizzair = a lot of talk, no action.
Wizz Air the last ten years was busy complaining and whining.
DeleteAnd they dont get subsidies-what a drama!
Stop talking nonsense. "A321s flying unrelated routes". What rubbish does that even mean? Basel, London, Paris are unrelated routes? They launched Hambirg, Santorini, Heraklion routes. Oslo has been moved more than a month ago to a new date simmilar to the way Air Serbia has moved for example Kraljevo - Thesalonikki 7 times. You should be thankful you have Wizz as you would not have even near the passenger numbers, tourist numbers or the ability for a chunk of your population to fly. Fun fact for you. Last May when the airport reopened, Wizz Air which restarted flights before Air Serbia could wake up from the Covid comma, had more passengers than Air Serbia for a good 3 months.
DeleteYou make it sound like Wizz is charity devoted to flying Serbians for free. It is not. Wizz wants to profit from Serbian passengers.
DeletePassengers numbers for Apr-Aug 2020 are statistically worthless.
We will be thankful once Wizz stops flying to Belgrade.