Belgrade, Zagreb and Pristina were among the top 100 busiest airports in Europe during the January - May period, while Nikola Tesla Airport positioned itself within the top eighty. With a total of 467.615 passengers in May, Belgrade Airport ranked 80th ahead of the likes of Tirana, Vilnius and Luxembourg, but behind Larnaca, Sofia and Riga. Both Zagreb and Pristina were just outside of the top 100, ranking 112th and 113th respectively. Split was close behind, ranking 116th, then Skopje 132nd, Sarajevo 142nd, Podgorica 146th, and Ljubljana settling on 165th on the continent, making it the least busiest operational capital city airport in Europe during the month.
May performance by EX-YU capital cities
January - May performance by EX-YU capital cities
During the January - May period, Belgrade, Pristina and Zagreb were among Europe’s 100 busiest airports, ranking 78th, 96th and 99th respectively. Skopje was 121st, just behind Minsk but ahead of Chania, Montpellier and Salzburg. Split settled at 134th, in between Ajaccio and Bremen, while Sarajevo came 142nd in Europe, just behind Kaunas but ahead of Kos, Timisoara and Dubrovnik, which came 145th. Out of all the European markets, only three in Europe have surpassed their 2019 pre-pandemic passenger performance during the first five months of the year - Albania, with the largest growth in Europe exceeding 44%, followed by Kosovo with 25% growth and Bosnia and Herzegovina with an increase of 19.5%. With exception to Ukraine, which is in the midst of war, as well as Belarus, which is unable to handle any traffic from most European countries due to international sanctions, Slovenia saw the slowest recovery on the continent.
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| Passenger performance change January - May 2022 vs 2019 |
Over the five-month period, Istanbul was Europe’s busiest airport with over 24 million passengers, which is still 18% below the pre-pandemic 2019. It is followed by London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Madrid. According to Airports Council International Europe (ACI), the chief amongst downside risks for airports remains the pandemic, and the possible emergence of a new variant. Thanks to coordination at an EU level, approaches have become more risk-based leading to the easing of travel restriction within Europe and in an increasing number of external markets. But ACI warned that despite the experience of successive waves of Covid-19, there remains no agreed playbook amongst European states, let alone globally, for what would happen should a new variant emerge.
"and Ljubljana settling on 165th on the continent, making it the least busiest operational capital city airport in Europe during the month."
ReplyDeletewow just wow
160th airport in Europe :(
DeleteWe'll see by the end of 2022 if LJU will even be in top 200.
DeleteVery likely since many summer airport with huge traffic will move ahead.
DeleteNice to see BEG in top 80.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Sarajevo will eventually catch up to Skopje. It is getting closer.
ReplyDeleteDepends what Skopje does. Wizz is expected to introduce new flights next year.
Delete^ Let's hope for something new finally. None of the recent new additions by other airlines worked out.
Deleteeasyjet is performing well on their new SKP route.
DeleteHope they add some more routes.
DeleteRussia itself is a huge market with 140 million people + connection with central Asia, middle East ect are not affected.
DeleteI'm still astonished at how well Russian market is performing all things considered.
ReplyDeleteI think economically as well most are surprised at how well they are doing.
DeleteStrong domestic market I guess
DeleteStrong Ruble helps the Russians going to Dubai, Maldives and the east. Most Gulf carriers are full (or only biz class available) until mid-September on its flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg. From Singapore it's cheaper to fly to America than to Moscow.
DeleteWill PRN be second this year or ZAG?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe SPU?
Deleteit seems Pristina will be the ahead of Zagreb for a second year in a row.
DeletePRN has been ahead of ZAG for the last two years. This could be the third year in a row.
DeleteAll of that without a national airline or Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights.
I'm sorry but when I read which airports are in the same league as ex-Yu capitals - Kaunas, Bremen... sad
ReplyDeleteReality my dear
DeleteShows how insignificant the ex-Yu market is.
DeleteEx-yu market is not insignificant. If you compared results by markets overall, not particular cities, you would see much better results, if the whole of ex-yu considered single market. It would be in upper part, maybe even the first third of european results. However it is slowed down and pushed back by corrupted politicians who don't care about growing flag carriers and their capitals becoming real hubs (JU and BEG the only exception, to some extent), restricting LCC'S in diferrent ways, hardly working on making its own population more and more miserable and poor, and contribute as major factor in lack of strategy and cooperation within the region in the field of civil aviation
DeleteAll non-EU countries of Ex-Yu are among the poorest countries in Europe. logical that this affects air traffic. And croatia has also fallen far behind in comparison to countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteBravo Fraport LOL!!
DeleteLooking forward to seeing the June results.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I'm wondering how BEG did. In May they did very well but there was also that basketball tournament that added a lot of passengers, so we will see.
DeleteSo I think we can conclude that BEG will definitely stay in the top 100 by the end of the year. Let's see if there will be any other from ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteHopefully PRN and ZAG will make it in the top 100 by the end of the year.
DeleteDoubt it
DeleteBefore Covid, Belgrade and Zagreb (sometimes even Split) were always in the top 100. Pristina entered last year. We will see what happens by the end of the year.
DeleteBefore Covid, BEG was the single airport from ex-yu ranked in top 100, for decades...
DeleteI'm glad EX-YU is listening to clowns at Fraport and didn't compare LJU with any airport.
ReplyDeleteLooking at this list, I think it is obvious why Fraport doesn't want Ljubljana compared to anyone.
DeleteThey have a point. You cannot compare low cost traffic Airport with non low cost traffic Airports.
DeleteNo sense at all.
Is LJU the only airport in Europe that has non low cost traffic? Didn't know that.
Delete@9.58: your comment makes no sense. Especially since LJU also has LLC flights.
DeleteApparently Slovenia really was the only country affected by covid
DeleteI don't understand how come any US airlines don't fly to Europe's busiest airport for 3 years, IST.
ReplyDeleteI doubt they can compete against TK. TK has so many flights to US it's crazy.
DeleteThis is true. I am surprised that TK flies double daily to most cities in the US and they are constantly expanding. They recently started Seattle. Also they offer really cheap connecting fares. On my recent (packed) TK flight from Chicago, many people were continuing on to Thailand.
DeleteThey can't compete with either service or price, same goes for all the ME3 airlines and their hubs.
Delete3 airports over a million passengers by May. Not bad.
ReplyDeleteIn June BEG for sure reached 2 million.
DeleteWow Frankfurt not in the top 5 busiest in Europe!
ReplyDeleteI think it was just after Madrid.
DeleteGood results for most
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it, it's sad actually. 1 in 100 in May and 3 in 100 barely in 5 months. Should be more.
DeleteWill an ex-Yu airport ever reach top 50?
ReplyDeleteUnlikely
DeleteBEG has a chance if reach planned capacity. We'll wait for that still.
DeleteLjubljana's results are just embarrassing. Capital city, EU airport... should be doing much better.
ReplyDeleteNo national airline, turned down offers from six airlines. What else to expect?
DeleteThank you for the results
ReplyDeleteWhat happened in Finland for them to be recovering so slowly?
ReplyDeleteThe war in Ukraine and Finnair having to cancel a lot of flights because of closure of Russian airspace is not helping.
DeleteDuring Covid they also had very restrictive entry measures. So it's just one thing after the other really.
DeleteYes true, I forgot Finnair has had to cancel a lot of flights to Asia and it is having an impact on the rest of their network.
DeletePRN has achieved incredible results.
ReplyDeleteLike ACI said, the more problematic thing is if new variants appear and how governments will react. There needs to be a unifies approach.
ReplyDeleteTIA overtook so many ex-Yu airports
ReplyDeleteSarajevo used to be in 175th place, and now it is in 142nd place. If it continues to expand, it could enter the TOP 100 in a couple of years
ReplyDeleteThe management has made some excellent decisions in the last year or so. I just wish they would finally finish the new terminal. It has been years and the project itself is very small.
DeleteAmazing for Bosnia and Herzegovina aviation, especially considering there are another 3 airports in the country (2 of which are successfully functioning).
DeleteActually in 2019 Sarajevo was the least busy capital city airport in Europe (similar to Ljubljana today). Shows just how much work SJJ has done.
DeleteAnd how little LJU has done.
DeleteJust shows how good management can turn things around. But according to a Fraport fanboy here management has nothing to do with improving air connectivity.
DeleteAs SKP is losing more airlines such as QR, Nordwind and SJJ having new lines, the difference between both airports is now less than 150,000 meaning that there is a high chance for SJJ to overtake SKP. Their Israir Tel Aviv initially scheduled route was cancelled again most likely due to the lack of demand.
ReplyDeleteSeems like Macedonian market has been stagnating lately.
DeleteTheir recovery has been quite good and in line with most other ex-Yu airports.
DeleteWe need more new routes and greater variety of airlines.
DeleteAnyone care to make end of year predictions?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion BEG will be around 5.2 million this year. Not sure about the rest.
Deleteif Adria didn't go bankrupt Ljubljana would be around 110 for sure.
ReplyDeleteBut there are still some that think we are better off without it.
DeleteCan Belgrade overtake Sofia and Solun?
ReplyDeleteJAN - MAY
DeleteBEG:1,600,479
SOF:2,077,729
SKG:1,785,971
Doesn't look likely
DeleteDidn't BEG overtake Sofia before Covid? Or I mixed it up
Delete@ 13:06 - Nope
Delete2019
SOF: 7,107,096
SKG: 6,897,057
BEG: 6,159,000
Thanks
DeleteWhy embarassing ? Tirana is far, it's the only real airport in the country, Albanian diaspora is huge... Nothing surprising about Tirana's large numbers.
DeleteTIA is a mix of gasto but also leisure. There is a decent number of Polish destinations in summer and now Middle Eastern ones as well.
DeleteTIA predicts for this year 4.9 million pax.
ReplyDeleteImpressive. They will be very close to BEG.
Deleteembarrassing if TIA overtakes Belgrade
DeleteIsn't it more embarrassing that the capital city of one of Europe's poorest countries has more traffic than Zagreb and Ljubljana combined which are EU and NATO capitals?
DeleteThat's what I am constantly saying, Croatia had all preconditions to have at least triple bigger flag carrier and at least double numbers in ZAG as its hub, but doesn't have it because of lack of strategy and crime and corruption, but then Bravo Hrvatska and similar profiles spit on me
DeleteZasto bi bilo sramota da Aerodrom Tirane stigne ili prestigne Aerodrom Nikola Tesla Beograd? Aerodromi
Deletene postizu uspehe po zeljama i navijanjima blogera.
Vec privlacenjem putnika, turista, poslovnih ljudi.
Sposonosti svih ljudi u sluzbama obsluzivanja putnika,turista... Otvorenost zemlje i odnosi sa imucnim drzavama, dodatno pomaze...
Ipak Beograd ce i dalje biti lider na Balkanu. Ne racunajuci Atinu i Bukurest.
🛫🌐✈
Rodney Well said!
DeleteTIA may in a couple of years be no. 1 in the Balkans, simply due to tourist arrivals, given also it is the only airport in the country. Keeping proportions, this would follow success of the likes of Palma, Alicante, Ibiza or Heraklion. Tourist arrivals to Albania are booming and if this is well handled the boom may continue for the years to come. Not talking of 10+ millions, but 8 millions is definitely possible, in particular that there is no legacy that would entrench itself against lcc or dynamic foreign carriers.
DeleteTirana isn't the only airport in Albania - Kukes in the north now has commercial flights, Wizz has 4 routes from there.
Delete@ Rodney
DeleteSramota je mozda zato sto je za vrijeme SFRJ, o kojoj znamo Vas stav, BEG imao 100 polazaka dnevno a TIA jedan do dva
Za rijeku ako je iz rijeke . Da hub u zagrebu ? Jel to zato sta je aerodrom rijeka nakon one nesrece aviogenexa dosao na crnu list sigurnosnu aerodromsku i zbog cega se nikad nije oporavio, pa se onda bolje prikoniti zagrebu . Isto kao i u sport , prodati se kriminalcu za par kupica . Pa jel vama jasno da je ta politika izgradnje nakakvog huba u najnezanimljivijem gradu u europi i dovela OU u orgomni gubitak . Cinjenica je da nakon izgradnje tog vaseg huba u mjestu koje i nije bilo grad do sredine 19 stog stoljeca OU je izgubila trziste na jadranskoj obali i prepustili su je strancima . Pa covjece vas grad ima vecu povijest nego ta umjetno politicki napuhana tvorevina koju su izmislili macek/tito/tudman sve redom zagorci . Je li vama jasno da izmedu tih uhljeba koje stalno prozivate i vas nema nikakve razlike . Politika izgradnje huba vam je ista osim sta su oni dovoljno pametni pa rade za svoj dzep , a vi dragi gospodine ne razumijete nista , nazalost . Da hub u zagrebu . Odbijete transferne i tranzitne putnike kroz zagreb pa cete doci do pravog broja putnika koje generira grad zagreb u maksimalno centraliziranoj drzavi . Strasan hub koji placa ryanu da mu leti .
DeleteCongrats TIA! Just 2,000 PAX less than BEG. Most probabaly it will surpass Belgrade in a year or two but if its southern airport in Vlora opens within 4 years its figures would probably fall under BEG
ReplyDeleteIt's unrealistic to expect TIA to overtake BEG with the current expansion rate of JU. That said, Albania really seems to be growing as a summer hotspot, so both airports have a lot to look forward to.
DeleteMan, some individuals are really forcing this "rivarly" for no reason. BEG has a proper flag carrier that handles a considerable amount of transfer pax plus huge outbound charter demand in the summer. That enough will keep BEG ahead. Not to mention TIA has serious issues with capacity. As an Albanian I'm happy to see aviaton and airports in our region continue to grow and develop. I don't care who's on top of the list.
DeleteI do not think it really matters whether it is BEG or TIA that has more pax. Still although BEG has its chances, my bet is on TIA and booming tourist arrivals. When arrivals to Albania become more upscale, there will be more arrivals by air and less by car. From this perspective a growth of couple of millions should not be a problem.
DeleteWell let's see. They're predicting +8 million in 2025, but with economical situation you never know.
DeleteThis way Sarajevo will skip Skopje in a few years and become 5th busiest airport in the ExYu which is still hard to believe. This just proves how quickly things change in aviation. Also, Bosnia overall will, probably, be the 3rd busiest country in the ExYu area which is somehow natural considering three airports are functional and the country has a huge diaspora and 3rd largest population.
ReplyDeleteDon't wanna sound too direct but SKP has always been mainly a gasto airport designed as a PRN and Albanian replacement or serving its Australian diaspora via Doha or Dubai.
DeleteSJJ and BiH is more touristic and diversified. In summer SJJ is basically booming given its size and still the untapped potential it has following the terminal expansion is likely to be higher. One has to see the airlines flying to SKP and the ones to SJJ. The idea is more than clear.
You clearly haven't been in Macedonia. I know Bosnia is visited by a lot of middle eastern tourist.And I know that tourism is growing in Bosnia. In Macedonia tourism is also growing. It grew by 56% between 2015-2019. The wizzair flights played a important role this. A lot of foreigners who visited Macedonia would probably not have visited without Wizzair. Macedonia has a diaspora over 600k in west europe so it doesn't need to serve Kosovan diaspora. Finanly it's not an competition and what ts actually your point.
Delete