Niš Constantine the Great Airport is just over one month into the construction of its new terminal building as it exceeded its pre-Covid passenger numbers in April. The new structure, spanning over 7.160 square metres, will be located on each side of the existing terminal and will form a single functioning unit. Existing facilities, which stretch over 2.100 square metres, will be overhauled. The new building will boast ten check-in desks, self-check-in stations, eight passport control booths, four passenger gates and one VIP gate. Furthermore, it will feature one air bridge and a luggage sorting facility. New food and beverage outlets, as well as duty free shops, will also be added.
The project, scheduled for completion by 2024, will increase the airport’s annual capacity to 1.5 million passengers and will enable it to simultaneously handle six aircraft, The development is valued at eleven million euros. In addition, work on the construction of a new control tower is scheduled to begin in November. “We are working hard on that project and tender procedures will be launched soon”, the Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Tomislav Momirović, said yesterday. The control tower project is valued at four million euros, while the cost of the accompanying equipment will exceed ten million euros.
Niš Airport has seen a notable rise in passenger numbers this year, fuelled by Air Serbia’s Public Service Obligation flights, which saw the airline launch operations to Belgrade, Cologne, Hahn, Istanbul and Ljubljana in January. The service to Istanbul is codeshared by Turkish Airlines. The Serbian carrier will also commence seasonal flights to Athens on June 15, while regular charters to Antalya, Gazipasa and Hurghada will begin next month as well. On the other hand, both Wizz Air and Ryanair have restored the bulk of their pre-pandemic operations. This has led Niš Airport to register 33.415 passengers in April, up 13.3% on the same month during the record breaking 2019. Following a slow start to the year, the airport handled 84.840 travellers during the first four months, down 19% on 2019.
It looks good. Hopefully they will work on bringing more airlines.
ReplyDeleteI like it
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Hope to see even more flights from INI soon.
ReplyDeleteWhy just one air bridge? :(
ReplyDeleteBecause the only airline that would use it would be Air Serbia. I doubt Wizz Air and Ryanair would unless they get it for free.
DeleteYes you are right. But kudos for them getting one in any case.
DeleteAbsolutely, it's good to see that they were realistic by putting just one.
DeleteVery good news for INI. From what I was told, LJU and IST are absolute successes.
ReplyDeleteI think it's extremely important that they are putting a greater focus on expanding their summer offer that goes beyond Montenegro. Ryanair's CFU flights seem like a great move. Maybe next year we see them launch Chania flights.
Let's see how they perform in 2022. I am hoping they will reach at least 300.000 passengers.
I think there is potential for a whole lot of other routes from Nis as well. But it's good that Air Serbia seemed to have made the right selection of destination this time around.
DeleteI see a lot of potential for Nis-Paris (or Beauvais) flights. Huge diaspora from the south in France. Hopefully someone launches it.
DeleteIt's good that they switched the A319 with the ATR on LJU. That was definitely a lot of capacity for such a route.
DeleteI think one or two routes might work for the time being but I don't see potential for more right now. That said, it would be great if existing routes would get more frequencies over time.
Potential destination in my opinion:
Delete1.London - Stansted or Luton
2.Beauvais
3.Bergamo
4.Charleroi
Yes, it is really strange there is no Paris (or Beauvais) flights from INI, having in mind huge diaspora there...
DeleteLondon ain't gonna happen. Visa restrictions.
DeleteI am shocked no one has looked at Nis-Paris, the market seems to be quite large.
DeleteRyanair already flies from Nis to Bergamo!
DeleteWell, Bergamo is already served by FR if I am not wrong.
DeleteActually, I could see someone like FR or W6 launching BVA especially since fares from BEG to both CDG and BVA are quite high so there is room for a spillover effect from which INI could profit.
Or they could even try attracting Transavia France from Orly.
DeleteThey could try but I'd rather stick to FR and W6 as they seem to be more focused on this market.
Delete@9.23 well there used to be flights from london operated by TUI some 15 years ago.
DeleteThose TUI flights were Kopaonik ski-charters
DeleteWhy haven't they continued cooperation? TUI was sending a B757 so I assume loads were not poor. This was back in 2005 when Serbia was undoubtedly in much worse situation. Now you have new hotels, new ski tracks, new ski lifts etc. The infrastructure is much better. I mean even Viceroy opened its first European hotel on Kopaonik.
DeleteI believe those British tourists have moved to neighboring Bulgaria. Before the war in Ukraine, Russians started to head to our mountain resorts in quite large numbers.
DeleteThere's never been much love between Serbia and the UK so I don't see either country rushing with promoting itself as a tourist destination.
@10,46
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, there were alot of complaints from tourists about being overcharged prices during their stay in Serbia, while the overall package was not value for their money. They operated 1 full season and canceled the Kopaonik packages during the second season, offering Bulgaria (Borovec) as an alternative. No other agency has offered winter charter flights to Serbian airports since.
Serbia did little to market Kopaonik vs Borovec who had a more serious marketing campaign. Zlatibor was also of interest to Thompson however UZC not being open for flights was one of the reasons given for not starting packages to Zlatibor. 74.000€ was spent in 2004 and 2005 promoting Serbian mountains, 15.000€ of which went to ads in Thompson Ski brochures.
Serbia has a terrible approach attracting foreign tourists. This hasn't changed in decades and I doubt will change any time soon unfortunately.
Completely agree with you JATBEGMEL about the tourism strategy. I remember when our (now ex) Minister for Tourism and Trade Rasim Ljajic said how it is a waste to spend money on marketing campaigns on big international broadcasters like CNN and BBC. What an idiot.
DeleteI think there's a lot of opportunities, Paris, but also Amsterdam (Transavia) and Charleroi or Brussels (TB/FR)
DeleteNice Tupolev out-there.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think it's a B727.
DeleteHaha yes. In Tuzla they used A380s on renders once but this is new :D
DeleteAt least it's more realistic.
DeleteYes, its B727. Tupolev have additional aerodynamical part on the top of the vertical stabilizer
DeleteGood luck, INI, you deserve a nice terminal! And, congrats for excellent results.
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed growing nicely.
DeleteFinally. They have been announcing this new building for ages. I'm glad to see they have actually started construction. Can't wait for it to be finished.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the passenger statistics of each of the new Air Serbia routes from Nis?
ReplyDeleteThings looking bright for the south
ReplyDeleteYes, especially since Morava Airport will also continue to develop.
DeleteGreat! With current flights and JU having good loads, INI can reach 750.000 passengers per year.
ReplyDeleteEven more
DeleteThe target seems to be 1.5 million considering the airport's capacity :)
DeleteVery nice. It's a bit of a shame that LCCs seemed to have stopped growing from Nis though.
ReplyDeleteDo they still have that 3 euro deal for handling and landing fees?
DeleteThe contracts end at the end of this year. We will see what happens.
DeleteFingers crossed both stay.
DeleteWell done INI. A good example of how to activate an airport
ReplyDeleteAbout time
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that after all GoS is doing good job related to Nis airport (neither of the two LCCs left INI as some predicted and JU introduced many new flights)
ReplyDeleteYes, but who knows what would have happened if the government didn't replace the previous management which was very proactive and got both Wizz and Ryanair to fly there.
DeleteThe previous management was replaced because it was creating too much competition for Air Serbia which wasn't even flying from Nis at the time. The whole reason Air Serbia even came to Nis was to reduce the presence of the LCCs.
DeleteThere is only so much management can do. At the end of the day it's the market that dictates demand. The south is still relatively poor so most year-round demand comes from diaspora.
DeleteThat said, the economic situation down there is slowly improving which is why we are getting so many charter flights this year.
INI could overtake Tuzla in a year or two.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on what Wizz Air does in Tuzla. It has been stagnating for a while but it has done the same in Nis too. The difference is that Nis does not rely on a single airline.
DeleteSo happy about INI development.
ReplyDeleteHowever, INI management seems to be so incompetent... None of this developments, which are really respectful, is attributable to them but to GoS, which is really strange.
Thumbs up INI. Always good to read positive news.
ReplyDeleteWhat good news? If the company didn't sold the majority of their shares to Belgrade they would modern airport than the people who are now building
DeleteWith the growth of INI, there might be a stagnation in SKP. After all, both airports have been rivaling and INI is expected to have more passengers and primary airports.
ReplyDeleteBased on what have you concluded that INI will have more passengers?
Deletebest is yet to come
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they put a railway station in front of the airport? The railway passes right next to the airport and I assume it goes to/from the main railway station in Nis.
ReplyDeleteIt would be still a ten-minute walk from the current railway crossing to the terminal. The current bus system seems to be a rather reasonable public transport connection, except for early departures or late arrivals. A bus ticket in Niš is 60 Dinars, and a Taxi charges not more than 400 Dinars to the near centre.
DeleteI was in Nis a few months ago (tried out the BEG-INI flight) and was surprised how well the taxi system is organized in the city. Much better than in Belgrade if you ask me.
DeleteAlso don't forget that Nis was the first city in Serbia where taxis switched to electric vehicles.
DeleteAs far as buses go, the airport is perfectly located as you have to pass it on your way to downtown/bus station. For many bus companies the airport is along the way so it doesn't create much of a hassle to fit it into regular schedule.
All EV taxi in Niš? I am sincerely and truly impressed. That's amazing!
Delete"It would be still a ten-minute walk..."
DeleteA ten minute walk???
Terminal building is 130 m away from the railway tracks.
@15.29
DeleteTaxis in Nis are excellent. All taxis have Wifi, many have possibility to pay with card, they have big ipad-like display screens showing the location of the car on the city map and are cheap and since all cars are hybrid all of them are relatively new. Warning though that at the airport sometimes there might be taxis from nearby towns (which also use Nis car plates). Best to avoid those since they usually drive to the city centre for double the price without a meter.
It is about time, the current terminal is far too small, especially for flights where all passengers have to report at the check-in counters. There is no space for walking neither for having a seat prior to the flight, already in the case of a single flight departing. Non-passengers were not even allowed to enter the airport building during my last flight from Niš this year.
ReplyDeleteBut regarding the worn-out state of the current facilities, how do they plan to integrate them into the new terminal? The building consists currently not of more than covered brick walls, in my eyes hardly worth to overhaul it rather than to replace the entire building.
+1 agree completely.
DeleteI hope we also see some charters to Greece soon.
ReplyDeleteThere are scheduled flights Nis-Corfu by Ryanair.
DeleteAnd JU is starting Athens in June. I think Greece is covered.
DeleteIt would be great if they concluded a codeshare with Aegean like they did to Istanbul with Turkish. It would open up a whole lot of opportunities for passengers.
DeleteAgree that a codeshare with A3 would be ideal but I doubt it. JU an A3 recently expanded their codeshare and INI was not added.
DeleteAre the new Athens flights being operated by the Airbus or ATR plane?
DeleteIt is AT7 to ATH
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-nis-athens.html
DeleteVery good choice that they decided to go for the ATR on this route. Any chance it may be operated outside of summer?
DeleteI guess it depends how their summer flights perform.
DeleteNo, they won't operate in winter. The subsidy for this route is only for seasonal summer operations.
DeleteIt's odd that TK has not loaded INI yet into their system, it's been quite a while now since the codeshare was announced.
DeleteFrom the renders I notice that the building will be on two floors. You can see that the air bridge is from the first floor while the bus gates from the ground. I think they could have fit and added one more air bridge. But overall I like it. It's not megalomania but it looks modern enough and what the airport really needs.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteExcellent. Now all we need is for Wizz Air to open a base in Nis.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be very hard for INI to develop as a base. Within a radius of 250 km there a lot of major airports - BEG, SOF, SKP and PRN.
DeleteDespite those they have successfully attracted two major LCCs.
DeleteYes but there presence has been limited over the past few years. They haven't had any major expansion.
DeleteWell the past few years have been difficult for aviation in general with Covid and travel restrictions.
DeleteThat is true although these airlines have expanded from other parts of Europe. Let's see what the rest of the year brings.
DeleteWhere will the new control tower be located?
ReplyDeleteLooks good
ReplyDeleteI hope that these developments bring a new airline to INI. Easyjet would be a welcome addition.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice with a route from Switzerland.
DeleteThis development will undoubtedly attract some new airlines. Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteHas the ILS been installed?
ReplyDeleteYes it has. In use for a while now.
DeleteHopefully JU upgrades INI-ATH flights to year-round. ATH could stand year-round from INI due to big diaspora in Greece and transfers as well.
ReplyDeleteActually I expect new airlines, new routes and increased operations from the existing airlines such as Lufthansa to FRA or MUC with their CRJ, seasonal flights to CDG with Air France ( allowing connection flights both LH and AF ) by sending E190 or A319, and resuming BER which hasn’t been resumed since the pandemic served before by FR by another airlines like EasyJet for example.
ReplyDeleteWell done. Nis deserves a nice airport. In the coming years this part of Serbia will be welcoming many more tourists.
ReplyDeleteOdlicno ce da izgleda INI , bice zanimljivo videti zimsku sehonu ko ce od novih kompanija da dodje posto postoji veliki potencijal.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
This is great news!
ReplyDeleteI like the design. I think it is well sized project for Nis.
ReplyDeleteIs there potential to develop cargo traffic at Nis Airport?
ReplyDeleteNis Airport had Turkish Airlines cargo flights. I don't know if they are still operating but they used to in 2019.
DeleteI'm guessing the jet bridge will be used by Air Serbia and potentially some other legacy arrival (remember Swiss operated to Nis until last year) while LCCs will use busses.
ReplyDeleteZasto niko ne pokrene opet let za Cirih
ReplyDeleteSWISS je lepo radio dok AIR SRBIJA nije uvela let za Fridrihshafen