Three airports in the former Yugoslavia have placed among the top 100 busiest on the continent at the start of the year this January, according to Airports Council International Europe (ACI). With a total of 240.981 passengers, Belgrade Airport ranked 72nd ahead of the likes of Stuttgart, Thessaloniki and Glasgow, but just behind Tirana and Riga. Pristina Airport positioned itself as the 88th busiest with 183.130 travellers handled. It was ahead of Rome Ciampino and Vilnius but just behind Beauvais and Bordeaux. Pristina Airport registered its busiest start to the year on record. Zagreb Airport made it into the top 100 by placing 99th, handling 140.176 travellers. It positioned itself ahead of Pisa and Verona, but behind Chisinau and Minsk.
Elsewhere, Skopje Airport, as the fourth busiest in the former Yugoslavia in January, ranked just outside of the top 100 on 105th place. It was followed by Sarajevo, which positioned itself on 131st. Ljubljana, which welcomed 37.604 passengers through its doors, was Europe’s 146th busiest airport, placing between Stockholm’s secondary Bromma Airport and Rhodes in Greece, which is also operated by Germany’s Fraport. Overall, the markets of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are now outperforming pre-pandemic passenger figures, while Croatia had the smallest decline on 2019 out of all other markets in the European Union during the month.
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| Passenger development on European markets, January 2022 vs January 2019 |
The Director General of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec, noted, “January saw the recovery going into reverse mode, due to the attempts of many European countries to contain Omicron through a combination of local measures and largely inefficient travel restrictions. The positive thing is that we are now out of these dynamics. Travel regimes are finally aligning, allowing fully vaccinated people to freely travel again both within and outside Europe, and local restrictions are also being eased across the continent. But just as prospects were finally brightening, the atrocious invasion of Ukraine by Russia is now casting the longest of shadows”. In January, Istanbul was the busiest airport on the continent, handling over three million passengers. It was followed by Paris, Madrid, London Heathrow and Moscow Sheremetyevo.
Will be interesting to see if they manage to keep these rankings this year.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like JU has really missed an opportunity here. Just in Moscow there were 74 flights a week to Paris (2019) - yes both the conflict and Covid bring the numbers down. But there is certainly a lot more room than just 14 flights a week from BEG.
DeleteTo SVO? It could go to 50 a week right now, but it's not allowed by Russian CAD
Deleteanon @12:10 - good point. One would have expected the CAD to have fast-tracked the JU request for increased frequencies. The only other option would be to increase the size of the airplane - but NY limits the number of flights.
DeleteCongratulations. I'm really surprised to see Tirana ahead of all of them.
ReplyDeleteI’d say it’s all because of Wizz driving the high numbers. In under two years they’ve been increasing exponentially.
DeleteIt surely won't stay ahead of BEG at the end of the year.
DeleteSure, no one can and will overtake your BEG. Typical…..
DeleteOh what a jealousy!
DeleteThat's why the best is just to sit back, wait and watch as BEG-related magic happens.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see if BEG will stay ahead of SKG in 2022.
DeleteDon't be hasty it's still January results. Summer is still ahead and don't forget Belgrade is not a tourist mecca. Rhodes with a population of 100,000 was ahead of Belgrade in 2021.
DeleteBEG was ahead of SKG in 2021 and just behind Sofia. That said, Sofia has so far lost quite a few destinations for the summer season so we will have to see how they perform.
DeleteBelgrade might not be a tourist mecca, but Serbian tourists travel more than enough to compensate for that.
Delete@ANONYMOUS 10 :40, You are wrong SKG:3.449.000 about., BEG:3,286,000 about in 2021.
DeleteStill the difference is small since as you claim SKG is a tourist Mecca. At least BEG is ahead in January and I am sure this year it will be ahead as BEG has much more announcements than SKG.
Delete@09,27
DeleteLooking at 2019 numbers, last full year of normal operations, TIA would need to double pax numbers to reach where BEG is, without BEG seeing any growth, which is unrealistic.
For 2021, BEG was ahead by around 300.000. TIA was -12% compared to 2019, BEG -46%.
TIA in 2022 will have quite a few new routes, however will lose several routes from Ukraine and Russia. JU is returning alot of frequencies and opening several new routes, not to mention other airlines. BEG is a transit hub, TIA isn't.
You can leave your fake nationalism in the cave where it came from.
@ANONYMOUS 11:28 I didn't say that SKG is a tourist mecca, I said this for Rhodes..
DeleteBel Cielo and how about you compare pre covid numbers for RHO and BEG? After all that is what we are heading towards. RHO won't be ahead for much longer as BEG will keep on thriving. Don't forget that many airports overtook BEG because it had an abysmal Q1 with less than 300.000 passengers.
DeleteFirst BEG fanboys were rambling how they will overtake BUD, they obviously gave up with that so they downgraded to TIA now. What next?
Delete@ANONYMOUS 12:56, we have a whole year ahead of us to see who is right and who is wrong about the results between BEG and RHO.
DeleteKukeš.
DeleteTIA? BEG is ahead of them, you confused us with ZAG.
DeleteFYI, Tirana in January 2022 had 251,243 passengers.
DeleteI am referring to the whole year not just one month.
DeleteThe article is about January of this year, which is why this ''discussion'' happened in the first place. I personally have no doubt that BEG will be ahead of TIA by the end of year, just gotta love how the fanboys got immidiately triggered.
DeleteBut aren't you also getting triggered by those fanboys making you just as bad? I mean joining a discussion and desperately trying to prove them wrong, to prove you are right, fighting until the very end? Kinda sad man, I'm not gonna lie.
DeleteWill an ex-Yu airport ever reach top 50?
ReplyDeleteEven this result is a success.
DeleteI remember that BEG was somewhere around 80th position before pandemic.
@9.11 Unlikely
DeleteBEG has a chance if reach planned capacity. We'll wait for that still.
DeleteOh I think from March the real fun begins at BEG. Demand is really strong all around and I think great things are to come.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see Lufthansa Group fighting back in BEG. They are really upping their game for next week.
ReplyDeleteLX: 15 weekly, they had one flight on Wednesday on the A321 but now they added a second on the A320. They are sending the A321 on the 17th as well.
OS: 10 weekly, A320 on Thursday night out of VIE.
LH: FRA has 10 flights next week, 4 are already on the A321.
LH: MUC 13 flight next week, two flights already upgraded from CRJ to A319.
What aircraft does OS sens on the other 9 flights?
DeleteE95
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeletePRN has achieved incredible results.
ReplyDeleteTotally!
DeleteLjubljana's results are just embarrassing. Equaling Rhodes in winter!
ReplyDeleteBravo Fraport LOL!
DeleteWill be very interesting to see the numbers by the end of 2022. No way they will get 900.000 passengers, will be lucky if they get to 600.000. On same level as BNX, TZL, INI.. just embarrassing. Bravo Fraport! LJU keeps on winning!
DeleteAeroflot absence will be felt unfortunately. So will Iberia not coming back, even though they had just a few flights last year.
DeleteAnd Windrose, Rossiya, Nordwind, Easyjet on three routes, TK and Finnair reductions..
DeleteFZ will have an important and positive impact on LJU.
DeleteThat is true. FZ is currently the only major improvement I see on previous years.
DeleteSarajevo has really improved its rank. Perhaps next year it could be close to 100.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteHopefully people realise how insignificant the ex-Yu market is. Just 3 airport in top 100 (one of them barely).
ReplyDeleteWell at least BEG is showing that it can overcome its irrelevance by reporting solid growth. It was supposed to achieve 7 million before Chinese virus hit the world.
DeleteI agree markets are insignificant. Bergen Airport in Norway had more passengers than any ex-Yu airport this January. Bergen, btw, has a population the size of Novi Sad.
DeleteBergen has more passengers because of Norway's geography, not because of anything else.
DeleteMore than 2.7 million tourists every year visit Bergen
DeleteIt's a well known fact that Norwegians fly around the country because of the mountains. That's why a city of 285.000 has over 6 million passengers at its airport.
DeleteI'm curious to see how BNX and INI will perform this year. Both have finally received considerable boost in flights.
ReplyDeleteBNX said it expects around 300,000 passengers.
DeleteThat would be fantastic
DeleteEspecially considering they were closed for a month.
DeleteSeems ex-Yu markets in general are performing much better than the rest of Europe.
ReplyDeleteExcept for LJU. Its still disaster here.
DeleteExcept for Slovenian market...
DeleteNice. Last year we only had 2 in the top 100. Let's hope it can stay this way.
ReplyDeleteHow did Budapest do in January?
ReplyDelete561,596
Deletewow they are definitely back. I remember last year they were very close to BEG.
DeleteWhat about Sofia?
DeleteSofia did well 309,534
DeleteGood results. Seems like everyone is rebounding.
DeleteLJU isn't..
DeleteWell it is doing better than 2021..
DeleteSOF always had a strong December and January because it is the airport that serves the ski resorts.
DeleteCan someone tell me how PRN is doing so well? What is the main reason?
ReplyDeleteAirport heavily depends on gasto traffic from Switzerland and Germany which is unaffected by travel restrictions. They also have a tendency to visit very often.
DeleteInteresting, thanks.
DeleteThere was always huge demand for PRN but in previous years mainly gastoz travelled with Wizz to SKP. Now with higher presence of LCC in PRN traffic is there where it should be.
DeleteLol what a nonsence the last comment. Nor is the Lcc presence much bigger then it was nor did they travel from other airports. 1o-15 daily flights to Switzerland and mass exodus from the country is the reason. Shady Familia Reisebüro are running PRN. Even Wizz cannot offer more then 3 weekly to Basel ... PRN's number one destination
DeleteThey dont care about Corona. One of the reasons
DeleteTrue that. An example is Vienna. When Wizz wasnt around couple years ago, most Alb would fly out to Bratislava via SKP. Now its the reverse. Macedonians are using PRN to reach Vienna. Even more so now during runway works.
DeleteWizz is launching 5 weekly to PRN in April, as opposed to 2 weekly in March.
Prn is welcoming all airlines. They don't focus on only one or 2 lcc. They have very balanced market share and LKIA has a very dynamic marketing strategy.
Delete@unknown you obv dont have a clue. BTS is stil on plus flights from OHD. Nobody is going to PRN to catch a flight for a destination they have at their home airport
Delete@the last one: it may be welcoming all but it is mostly an el dorado for coming and going shady tour reisebüros that are riping off Kosovar diaspora in CH and D
@Anonymous 18:26
DeleteNo one is forcing any passengers to fly with independent travel agents. If you don't like them, don't fly with them. There are alternatives for every single route they serve.
Also, you may have missed by the 3 busiest airlines at PRN in 2021 were: easyJet, Eurowings, and Wizz Air. Hardly 'El Dorado' in my books.
In fact, I had over 1,000 CHF in Air Prishtina vouchers that had expired last year. At it took was a phone call and a polite request to extend their validity "because of the pandemic" for them to extend their validity for another 2 years. Good luck in getting refunds of extending voucher validity with your average no-frills airlines.
Well it kinda makes sense, Kosova is known for being a business Mecca.
DeleteNo matter that everything is being destroyed for last two years because we saved zillion of lives. Still there are those here believe that?
ReplyDeleteAnd related to it, a joke a heard recently : Do you know Putin is getting Nobel for Medicine this year? He managed to stop corona.
DeleteThe current war between Russia and Ukraine will have a big impact on most of Europe. Especially East. In US people are cancelling holidays in Europe.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Hungary announced it is seeing tourism numbers decrease heavily since this started.
DeleteFinland too.
DeleteNot to mention the jet fuel price…
DeleteIt will have a big impact on Montenegro too.
DeleteCan Croatia escape the impact?
DeleteI don't think any tourist market can escape without any effect. There is a considerable number of Russian and Ukrainian tourists that visit Croatia. Most of those want come this year. But I do expect less of an impact than in Montenegro where these two make up over 30% of all overnight stays.
DeleteWell there is a possibility that this could end before summer starts.
DeleteYou are all forgetting something else: inflation.
DeleteEven if this situation calms down many Europeans will be poorer than they were some years ago. With limited income they will be looking for cheaper holiday destinations.
February and March will be bad. Wizzair made many cuts across exyu. Also this stupid war also will have an impact.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Wizz Air has also cut 20 routes from Vienna (permanently). What is going on with them?
DeleteI remember discussion here, not so long ago, about SPU being no 1 in Croatia. I was saying it was impossible to happen, except for particular results over two or three peak summer season months, and especially with planned Ryanair growth. And I was told to be wrong, by many. I also remember an article here, also few months ago, saying SPU overtook ZAG in terms of passenger numbers. Now I am little confused - how come ZAG is in top 100, and not SPU, if SPU was better last year?
ReplyDeleteBecause SPU did not have the FR effect. ZAG will keep on growing but without transfer passengers it will reach its limits. We saw even VIE reaching it at some point which is why Wizz is pulling out.
DeleteSPU on the other hand will keep on growing much more because the number of tourists will keep on increasing especially as the season becomes longer.
Disagree. As much as ZAG had FR effect, SPU had Easyjet effect, which contributed much to its numbers. In addition, season in SPU can become longer, but in ZAG it can be year round. Not to mention how many more people, and wealthier, live in ZAG and how many it attracts from Slovenia, which is not the case with SPU. Even if OU goes bust, it will affect both. And if wonder happens and OU makes real hub in ZAG, which is missing big time, numbers could rocket. Even P2P traffic in ZAG is far far far away from the limits you talk about. So, no, SPU will probably never be number one in Croatia.
DeleteMany Russian and all Ukrainian airports are out of the list...
ReplyDeleteNot in January.
DeleteI am shocked to see Tirana doing better than Belgrade. Huge diaspora flying in for holidays or what? It is a country of 2.5 million people ...
ReplyDeleteSimply, Wizz has enabled many many more people to fly. Before Wizz opened a base in 2020, there was barely any LCC presence in TIA.
DeleteDiaspora, foreign tourists, new Airport owner, lower taxes, lower fares...
DeleteJan and Feb don't matter much. Next six months is what matters.
ReplyDeletePRN Feb 2022 figures are out.
ReplyDeleteFeb 2022: 156,447 pax, an all-time record.
Up 62.66% on 2021.
Up 13% on 2019 (busiest year on record).
Jan-Feb 2022: 350,654, an all-time record.
Up 52% on 2021.
Up 14% on 2019 (busiest year on record).
Wizz had suspended most of its routes from the end of January until March. So, March figures are expected to be improve further.
Promising statistics.
DeleteSkopje Airport is busy building rental offices each year, there are more rental offices then airlines!
ReplyDelete