Pristina Airport anticipates handling 2.5 million passengers next year, outstripping its pre-pandemic performance after staging the quickest recovery on the continent. This year, the airport expects welcoming 2.1 million travellers through its doors, which is some 91% of its pre-Covid numbers. “Several factors have contributed to Pristina Airport’s figures. An undeniable factor was the Kosovan diaspora's ties to their country - with their families and their readiness to come back home to visit, especially after an unpredictable period caused by Covid-19. The Kosovan diaspora’s ties have proved to be strong many times, especially during the pandemic”, the General Manager of Pristina Airport, Haldun Firat Kokturk, told EX-YU Aviation News. Mr Kokturk noted the target for next year could be achieved if there are no new virus-related measures implemented both at home and abroad, which could offset recovery.
Commenting on the airport’s activities in accelerating the recovery process, Mr Kokturk said, “Our team worked closely with each and every airline to understand their needs and accommodate them operationally with the aim of reinstating their routes back. This meant frequent coordination with airlines, flexibility on terms of payment, and financial incentives to support the routes in uncertain times that are hopefully behind us”. He added, “Cooperation with our partner, the Government of Kosovo, as well as the [airport operator] LKIA teams' tireless efforts played an imperative role in handling this process as smoothly as possible”. Pristina Airport has seen a number of new routes launched this year, primarily by tour operator MyWings Aviation, which has wet-leased aircraft in order to introduce flights, the latest of which has been to Zagreb.
Pristina Airport recently completed the extension and upgrade of its runway (pictured), which will enable aircraft to land in adverse weather conditions and handle larger jets. Mr Kokturk explained that the project included the extension of the runway from 2.500 metres to 3.040 metres. Furthermore, the Instrumental Landing System (ILS) has been upgraded to CAT IIIb, which aids with approach and landing when runway visibility at a distance is no less than fifty feet (fifteen metres) and is at a visual range of less than 200 metres and not less than fifty metres. In addition, the meteorology systems and AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) have been replaced with new ones, new VHF (very high frequency) antennas have been installed in order to facilitate air space management, new airspace maps have been created and the latest weather forecasting technology has been implemented. The equipment has been acquired from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Norway.
It's really impressive how quickly they grew to almost pre-Covid levels.
ReplyDeleteWill they stay number 2 airport in ex-yu next year?
ReplyDeleteRunway looks good
ReplyDeleteAgree. I'm glad they invested into it. Now PRN can handle large aircraft and also not get closed over fog which was often the case during winter.
DeleteSo, technically it might become the 5th busiest in ex-Yu after BEG, ZAG, SPU and DBV.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean? It's second busiest this year.
DeleteLet's see if they can maintain that spot next year
DeleteWell they were number 2 in 2020 as well.
DeleteIf Kosovo didn't have visa restrictions, it would probably be second or third airport in ex-Yu for years.
DeleteThat's a very good result all things considering.
ReplyDeleteI think it will have much more than 2,5 million next year. They are being conservative.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI would like to see more actual legacy airlines flying to PRN.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Most are missing.
DeleteIt's surprising that Lufthansa does not fly to Pristina. They could easily pack passengers to the US via Frankfurt, not to mention all the diaspora from Germany.
DeleteLH has very high costs, that's why they don't fly to SKP either.
Deletewhat do you mean?
DeleteHe means that they need to have a number of business class high tarrif passengers on their flights.
DeleteCongrats Pristina. Solid result for an airport in covid era. Good work.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air should open a base there
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat's interesting is that PRN has no transfer/ connecting traffic.
ReplyDeleteYes but they have a huge diaspora.
DeleteHave a feeling over 60% of passengers were from Switzerland.
ReplyDeleteHighly likely.
DeleteSame as in Serbia and Macedonia where Switzerland is one of the biggest markets. Ex-Yu diaspora over there is immense.
DeleteYes but not only Switzerland,also south-west of Germany and east of France.Thats explain why EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg has so many flight to ex-Yu especialy PRN (yesterday 13...)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for this concession to be over. PRN deserves a competent investor and management.
ReplyDeleteLimak has no merit in the Airports performance. Their sole justification for their presence is that cheap Terminal they built, which day by day looks more like a rural Bus Station instead.
What? Why do you find their concession problematic?
DeleteThe concession runs until 2030.
DeleteThe list is long...
DeletePRN was handed to Limak as a cashcow. 20 years of consession in exchange for a mediocre Terminal which PRN could have built itself with its own annual net profit of 3-4 years.
Gov. 100% subsidizes all infrastructure investments, while Limak cashes in 70% of profit for doing nothing.
PRN performance is merit of individual companies and demand. Limak doesn't have any achievement to speak of. What they're known for, is having a reputation for systematically violating their workers rights and not giving a damn for customer service. Stinky toilets at PRN don't even have soap or toilet paper most days.
Limak invested 120 m Euros to The AirPort. They Are paying 39.5 percent of The gross revenue to Kosovo government. They paid around 90 m euros in 10 years and they did not stop paying because of pandemi. They have more than 800 employees and they continued paying 100 percent of their salaries event they did not come to work because of Covid. All the facts that you raised are totally wrong.
DeleteWhat?
DeleteJust because LIMAK pays contractual dividents (!) and salaries (!), doesn't make the concerns I listed any less legitimate.
That is what I am trying to say. So you are confessing that Limak invested 120 m to the airport and paying significant amount of concession fee. Please check your above message. Now you changed your stance I guess.
DeleteGood news for PRN usually means bad news for SKP.
ReplyDeleteIt's a catch 22. SKP must learn to keep up with PRN to stay in the game.
DeleteSKP no longer has the monopoly on cheap flights, and Macedonians have also began using PRN.
I hear Macedonian being spoken mostly in CH and Vienna flights (latter prob. to avoid travelling via BTS).
Unless the new subsidies kick in, SKP seems to be 100% covered as all the connections are secured to Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. With the closure of Australia, there are no longer flights with QR and FZ.
DeleteYet again with the new PRN runway, things will probably change a lot and we are likely to see more of the previously served traffic from SKP be shifted to PRN.
SKP was not able to sustain flights to Ukraine and Russia and think it might eventually need more secondary or tertiary airports in Germany or Finland for instance.
PRN definitely still has a lot of unused potential, especially in attracting decent European carriers rather than these reisebüro charters.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain to me once and for all why does PRN have so many of these?? I don't get it. I haven't seen this at many other airport, if any.
DeletePristina has both. BA, Swiss, Turkish, Austrian, Norwegian, SAS are all large carriers. It is missing only Lufthansa, KLM and AF. But I'm sure soon will see them fly to Pristina.
DeleteTruth is that most flights in PRN these days are indeed reisenburo charters. Only OS and TK have a real presence.
DeleteBut why? Ok, I understand today during pandemic, but why are these reisenburo charters so popular at PRN yet they barely exist anywhere else?
DeleteBravo PRN!
ReplyDeletePandemic or not, Pristina has the opportunity to keep top position for a while.
ReplyDeleteThis will be the second year in a row that they are the second busiest in ex-YU. Will they keep that tile next year?
DeleteGreat that they finally finished the runway extension. It has been dragging on for some time now.
ReplyDeleteAny new routes next summer?
ReplyDeleteI really wish Wizz Air would open a base. They perform very well from PRN on their existing routes.
DeleteWay to go. These is impressive by most counts and the funny thing is they didn't get some new LCC basing planes or anything of the sort.
ReplyDelete