Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is preparing for a busy year, with over thirty new routes to be added to its network this summer, serving a total of over 130 scheduled routes, excluding charters. Air Serbia is leading the way with its own expansion, having announced the launch of twenty new routes for this year so far, in addition to three new destinations introduced over the winter months. The carrier has also said a further two new points will be announced from Belgrade in the coming period. The Serbian carrier has so far also unveiled frequency growth on ten existing destinations for the summer including Barcelona, Bucharest, Berlin, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Larnaca, Ljubljana, Milan, Rome and Vienna.
Among foreign carriers, Wizz Air is basing its fourth Airbus A321 jet in the city and adding five new routes, in addition to frequency growth on flights to Dortmund, Beauvais, Eindhoven, and Rome. Anadolujet will inaugurate flights from Izmir later this month, airBaltic from Riga in May, Jazeera Airways from Kuwait City in June, while Aeroitalia is expected to add services from Forli to the Serbian capital in April, although these are yet to be scheduled. Furthermore, Lufthansa will be notably increasing frequencies on its flights to Belgrade, Austrian Airlines will boost capacity, while KLM will also be adding additional services on its Amsterdam route when compared to last year. Overall, over 100 new weekly flights are to be added during the summer months.
Belgrade Airport is expected to usher in the high season with the opening of its new central processor building, which will grow passenger capacity, as well as the overhauled A gate wing and a new runway. It has been on a hiring spree to have enough staff to deal with the expected growth in demand. Operator VINCI has not projected Belgrade Airport’s passenger numbers for this year, however, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, believes the figure will reach seven million, which would make it the busiest on record. “The expanded airport will have a capacity to handle up to fifteen million passengers per year. This year, we expect the airport to handle seven million, of which three million will be carried by Air Serbia. That leaves us with plenty of room to grow. The airport will enable smooth connections, which will bring competitive advantages and will bring passengers from other hubs to Belgrade”, Mr Marek said recently.
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Impressive by all means
ReplyDeleteThere are not 130. Air Serbia-85, Wizz-15 (I exclude the destinations operated by other +JU).
ReplyDeleteWhy do you exclude flights operated by other airlines lol. It says the total number of routes offered.
Delete130 routes not destinations.
DeleteHow does that compare to Budapest?
DeleteY@Anonymous09:31
DeleteYou do know, Wizz air is Budapest based airline? Its Wizz air hub ffs. Budapest will proabaly handle 16 million this year, Belgrade, not 16 million, capish!?
What is with the condescending tone? Did no one teach you some manners?
DeleteExyu market has many similarities and it makes sense to make comparison within that area. Comparing exyu airports to BUD makes as much sense as comparing BUD to ATL.
DeleteWell Budapest did not perform well last year
DeleteI'm really hoping Hainan will increase its frequencies during the summer.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they will. At least to 2 weekly. But this being a Chinese airline, they will probably load the flights in the syatem 2 days before they start.
DeleteWill KLM have 14 this summer? Like last year?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at Wizz BEG -BER and fares have really gone up. Flights seem to be filling quite nicely!
KLM didn't have 14 last year for large period pf the summer, it was less.
DeleteWizz's BEG-LCA seems to be selling well as well. Sundays in August are selling for 20.000 one way.
DeleteI guess tour operators booked some seats.
The problem with AMD is that government is reducing capacity with their green initiative. Will be interesting to see if they have even 1x daily because of this.
DeleteI can't believe how much bigger the W6 A321s look compared with the JU A319 in the picture!
ReplyDeleteHaha yes, my thoughts too. Looks like it's an A318
DeleteLuckily they're getting rid of those and replacing with A320s.
DeleteI hope we get to see the A321 in JU livery. I think it would look gorgeous.
DeleteTurbo super ultra gorgeous!!
DeleteHow does BEG compare to BUD, SOF and OTP?
ReplyDeleteThis time it will surpass Sofia.
DeleteThey already melted the big lead Sofia had before covid.
DeleteBelgrade cannot be compared to Budapest or Bucharest. This is pointless!
DeleteWhy not? Belgrade already caught up with Sofia and it reduced the difference with Budapest by some 10% to 15% last year.
DeleteWhy do you think so? Romania has many airports, Serbia has only one big one. This means that all traffic is served from Belgrade. Which means that Belgrade can reach the levels even surpass OTP,BUD! Also Serbia has a good national airline unlike Hungary which doesn't and Romania has their own OU!
DeletePlus not all Romanian regions gravitate towards OTP. Romanian Banat can easily from from Belgrade especially as long as TSR's offer remains mediocre at best.
DeleteFurthermore, even Hungary can make only one airport work. Look at Debrecen and how modest their numbers are.
+1
DeleteThat is why the airport surpassed Sofia. Because Bulgaria has as many as three major airports.
DeleteSerbia has seven, hopefully Nis will be able to expand and serve at least 1 million passengers.
Serbia have one*******
DeleteI wouldn't say Nis is so insignificant anymore. Over 350,000 passengers last year.
DeleteBurgas and Varna are located on the other end of the country and they can compete between themselves not with Sofia.
DeleteSofia can compete with Plovdiv or Nis and that's about it. They are in a pretty good and dominant position compared to their immediate competitors.
Belgrade managed to come close to Sofia because the economy was stable, Serbia had minimal covid restrictions and JU boosted their network which attracted a large number of additional passengers.
Also let's not forget that last year BEG-IST was allowed to grow to its optimal demand which also brought in additional traffic.
Anonymous 09:10
DeleteThe big lead Sofia had before Covid-19 was due to FR and W6 fighting each other for market share by flooding SOF with capacity and dumping fares.
That's over now.
Maybe OU will launch Belgrade especially if Air Serbia start to really go after the Croatian coast
Delete+1 why not
DeleteWhy do you think so? Romania has many airports, Serbia has only one big one.
DeleteBucharest`s owerall GDP of $ 65 billion for 2022 is bigger than the one of Serbia`s.
Yes but due to Romania's geography large chunks of the country don't fly from OTP. Like I wrote, Banat gravitates towards Belgrade much more than it does towards Bucharest.
DeleteThere is a Ryanair in Budapest and Bucharest, also Wizzair is more serious there, than in Belgrade, so like Bergamo with 8 milion pax, low cost story.
DeleteYou can't beat them.
Wizz was beaten in Norway.
DeletePlus JU promises more in Budapest than Wizz in BUD
DeleteGood luck, they'll need it. I think BEG might pass the 7.5 million mark especially if Q1 performs really well.
ReplyDeleteIt is about 33% growth. I wish it, but...
DeleteQ1 last year was disastrous so this year they could experience really big growth. January will be very indicative of things to come.
DeleteI also think they will reach 7 million this year. This January will be the busiest ever start to the year.
ReplyDeleteAny idea how many pax they had in January?
DeleteNo clue. We should find out in a week or two.
DeleteI'm pretty sure BEG has never had so many destinations on offer. And these don't include charters.
ReplyDeleteGood work
ReplyDeleteI'm satisfied with the number of foreign airlines Vinci has attracted since they came to Belgrade, keeping in mind Covid. KLM, Air France, Air Baltic, Luxair, return of Eurowings, Hainan Airlines, Anadolujet, Jazeera Aorways, Aeroitalia...
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all
DeleteThe good thing ia that there is still a lot of room for new airlines.
DeleteEmirates might come.
DeletePersonally I don't see who else can launch BEG now.
DeleteI don't see Iberia with JU and W6 growing in Spain. TP can't compete with W6 and maybe even JU down the road.
Maybe BA if JU keeps on sliding closer and closer to oneworld. However with the economic cooling the UK has been experiencing I don't see the launching BEG any time soon.
SK is out of question now that Wizz Air is launching BEG-CPH.
What I see happening is existing airlines adding more frequencies and capacity to Belgrade.
Only ones I could maybe see down the road are EK and SkyExpress.
Biggest obstacle for a BA flight is the visa requirements for Serbian passport holders entering the UK.
DeleteIt's a real shame cause their network to North America is second to none.
For Serbian passengers that fly through UK to USA/Canada no transit visa is necessary as long as they have USA/Canadian visa.
DeleteMaybe OU will launch Belgrade especially if Air Serbia start to really go after the Croatian coast
DeleteGood joke :)
DeleteThere is always that subjective concern by a Serbian passport holder about getting stuck in LHR or Gatwick for whatever reason and then being trapped in the terminal until the next flight instead of being able to go to a hotel because of the visa requirement. This gives them pause when deciding the route to purchase tickets that transit the UK.
DeleteI don't see the appeal of transferring via LHR. Even if BA flew to BEG you would land at a completely different terminal then your US flight and then it would take up to 20 minute transfer on a public train to the other terminal. Add to that the constant issues the airport has had over the past year, I would avoid it.
Delete@10.37
DeleteJoke of the year!!! You should try stand-up carrier 😃
Will be fun if BA start manchester :)
Deletepozdrav iz Rijeke11:24
DeleteI want to be loved by someone as much as Croatian airlines is gated by this man. <3
From what I’ve noticed, pozdrav doesn’t have hatred against OU, but more against the lazy people running it on the taxpayers’ dime. Someone who cares this much surely loves their country.
DeleteThere is the possibility of some African companies such as Ethiopian launching flights.
DeleteIs it possible to see another Wizz Air plane in Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteYes especially if this expansion performs well which I think it will.
DeleteJudging by the interview published here last month, they seem to be happy now with the terms they have at BEG.
Delete30 destinations by the end of 2023;)))
DeleteHow many destinations will they have with the August expansion?
Delete23
DeleteI would really like if they got ITA to start fights.
ReplyDeleteMe too but with Air Serbia flying to 10 destinations in Italy, I don't see it happening.
DeletePlus like double daily to Rome
DeleteActually I know a lot of people that use the ITA-Air Serbia codeshare to connect onto ITA flights. I used this myself last year. I'm sure they could be successful with a few weekly flights.
DeleteNot surprising considering the very competative fares ITA offers ex Belgrade. I found very cheap tickets from Belgrade to Tokyo via Rome with ITA for Marcg
DeleteInteresting, had no idea. Will look up their fares.
DeleteExciting year ahead.
ReplyDeleteBravo BEG 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteLet's just hope they will be able to handle all the traffic
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhich airline may start flights to Belgrade in the coming years?
ReplyDeleteMy guesses:
SAS
flynas
Salam Air
Air Canada or Air Transat
Corendon, Sun Express or other Turkish leisure carrier
Aer Lingus?
Finnair
Iberia
Vueling again with new routes
Ryanair?
Gulf Air
Emirates?
American or Delta, another Chinese carrier
Emirates might join the party.
DeleteSAS does not "see" Serbian market although JU flies to OSL, ARN, CPH and GOT.
DeleteFlynas maybe. I think that last year they were talking about some flights to BEG but they never happened.
Salam Air won't happen.
No flights planned from Canadian airlines.
JU keeps charter market to Turkey so I do not expect to see any leisure Turkish carrier in BEG.
Air Lingus certainly not.
Finnair also not. Maybe there was some chance before war in Ukraine, but now when they do not have right to fly through Russian airspace for Far East connections it is not realistic.
Iberia - I don't know what they are waiting for. The market is surely there, JU is flying to many cities in Spain but Iberia sleeps. Same like SAS.
Vueling would not cancel BEG if they intended to return.
Ryanair only if BEG decrease the prices and we all know it won't happen.
Gulf Air probably not but I am not so sure that EK won't start BEG taking in consideration that flyDubai has 14 weekly flights to BEG.
No American or Delta. I have heard some roumors that Air China gave up Shangai-Belgrade.
TAP isn't even flying to ATH. I doubt they'll come to BEG first.
DeleteWith Wizz Air starting Lisbon and JU rumoured to be looking at LIS, I doubt we will see TAP.
DeleteWe won't see Turkish leisure carriers because of the restrictive bilateral which suits JU and TK.
DeleteEK is a possibility when they get A350.
Delete@9.33
DeleteDon't write off Salam Air for next year :)
Sky express from Greece also possible.
DeleteTAP is flying TIA next summer so you never know
DeleteTIA? Any source or?
DeleteReally big changes coming for BEG this year with so many new routes, airlines and infrastructure. Can't wait to see the new runway in action. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteIs it that inserted runway will be dancing or something similar since you are expecting it's action of some sort?
DeleteNo need to be a wise alec. I am looking forward to landing on a brand new runway.
DeleteNow please build a train link to the city. Thanks
ReplyDeleteZa 2 meseca kreće izgradnja Nacionalnog stadiona u blizini aerodroma koji će biti povezan železnicom. Završetak je planiran do kraja 2025. Pruga će ići do aerodroma.
DeleteI'll believe it when I see it.
DeletePlus from airport to Prokop the only sensible place is New Belgrade.
And I don't think it's gonna be good for tourists to get out above "buvljak" and the "new bus station"
Koliko li ce tek letova imati kada se potpuno zavrse terminali, pista. Nove rulne staze... Objektivno je ocekivati u interkontinentalnim destinacijama, cetiri leta za Severnu Ameriku. Tri za Kinu, i jos dve na dalekom Istoku. Za Australiju ce biti i dalje neodrzivo. Zbog nerazvijenih poslovnih i trgovinskih odnosa. Dovoljno da pomenem Rio Tinto, pa je dovoljno. Izvesno je da ce novi Beogradski Hab
ReplyDeletebiti bar drugi u ovom delu Evrope u iducih 5 godina.
Toliko investicija zahteva preporod, uspeh i profit.
Šta računate pod 'ovim delom Evrope'?
DeletePostovani Anon 14:29, pod ovim delom Evrope podrazumevam: Sloveniju, Hrvatsku, Crnu Goru, B. i H.,
DeleteAlbaniju, Bugarsku. Jedino Atina u Grckoj jeste i bice veci Hub. Od Beograda u iducih 10 godina.
Rodney Marinkovic16:48
DeleteIST je takodje u `ovom delu evrope` i mnogo je veci i od atine :D
I Beč je to relativno blizu.
DeleteIf I would be Easyjet, I would launch Gatwick-Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteAirSerbia's Heathrow flights are always full, expensive and with many P2P pax.
At the time easyJet was flying from Frankfurt I was dreaming about U2 opening FRA-BEG :)
DeleteBelgrade's connectivity with London is atrocious. W6 flying to Luton is a joke while JU's slots at LHR really don't suit people who work for a living. Flights to Gatwick/London City by whoever would be greatly appreciated by many
DeleteHope to see Air Serbia to Gatwick in a year or two.
DeleteThere are rumours that WizzAir will introduce LGW-INI. https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-london-gatwick-expansion/
DeleteI am not sure how viable it would be but for me personally it would be amazing.
I really can't believe how bad Belgrade and London are connected. Sofia used to have 6-7 daily flights while Belgrade has 1 or 2 as Wizz don't have a daily service.
Bulgarians don't need visas for UK. That's why they have much more flights. BEG currently has 12 weekly (7 JU, 5 W9), but it will likely have 14 weekly (9 JU, 5 W9).
DeleteWhat makes you think Brits don't visit Bulgaria? Thousands have bought houses in the Central part and pensioners are moving there. Edinburgh is also going to be increased to 3 weekly in summer and currently DUB is increased to 5 weekly and 2 weekly to Plovdiv.
DeletePlovdiv already registered more than 200k for the first time in 2022.
Will we ever see BEG handle one million passengers in a single month, like in July or August?
ReplyDeleteI think they had around 750,000 during peak months pre Covid so it's possible in a year maybe
DeleteAugust is the busiest month of the year. August 2019 saw 757.062 pax. With a 25% increase in pax, that should bring pax numbers for this August at around 945.000, more conservative growth of 15% brings that number at around 879.000. Perhaps August 2024.
DeleteAnd that's just the summer. Many surprises coming next winter too :)
ReplyDeleteBEG can go after SOF and has a good chance of beating it in 2023. But BUD, OTP are still very far. Not sure if BEG can reach them anytime soon. It would require aggressive growth of AS, others, consistent service and connections, political stability etc. Sudden failure or struggle of Tarom or something like that could bring BEG closer but otherwise it is a stretch. Still current BEG progress along with very solid AS growth/management are very good signs not only for aviation but for Serbian economy in general.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade will keep on performing well if airports in its catchment area keep on struggling (OSI, TSR...). Furthermore don't forget that millions of people live between Belgrade and Budapest and for many BEG become an attractive airport to fly from.
DeleteIf someone told me this time last year that BEG would have over 30 new routes in 2023 and be awaiting the launch of its 4th long haul service I would have said they are mad.
ReplyDeleteIf Air Serbia with 23 new routes and destinations will have only 3 million passengers , sorry but we are talking for a major failure !
ReplyDeleteIt will have much more. Of course you always give a much lower number than expected.
DeleteJU needs more planes and air crews to cover its announced schedule for summer '23
Delete@12:28 No worries it will come as usual last minute or the minute past the critical need ... like last year (summer) when the meltdown started.
DeleteNegotiating wet lease contracts during the summer season is expensive.
Delete@ANONYMOUS 12:09 Mr Jiri Marek said this number for 3 million not me ! Read the article first.
Delete^ and I told you that a lower number is always given to make the actual numbers, which will exceed these figures even more successful. Your hope for it to be otherwise is a different story.
DeleteAnonymous13:28
DeleteVinci said that will be 5 milion in 2022 and as we know it was more.
Routes don't matter as much as frequencies. The European network following this expansion is solid enough. Next step is to increase frequencies for 90% of them and terminate the worst performing 10% (or reduce, e.g. BUD)
DeleteAnonymous12:07 most of them are only couple of times a week, so 3m is a good number.
Delete@15,00
Delete* = JU
Destinations ex BEG (all airlines) 21 pw and above (as od 01.08.2023):
- Istanbul *
- Tivat *
- Zurich
- Podgorica *
- Amsterdam
- Frankfurt
- Munich
- Vienna
Total: 8
14-21 pw:
- Ljubljana *
- Paris *
- Athens *
- Larnaca
- Skoplje *
- Barcelona
- Dubai
- Budapest *
Total = 8
7-14 pw:
- Milan *
- Berlin *
- Basel
- Eindhoven
- Ankara
- Bucharest
- Sofia *
- Zagreb *
- Rome *
- London LHR *
- Warsaw
- Moscow SVO *
- New York *
- Thessaloniki *
- Doha
- Sarajevo *
- Copenhagen *
- Memmingen
- Dortmund
- Tirana *
- Izmir
- Dusseldorf *
- Gothenburg
Total = 23
Number of destinations above daily = 39
I think I am missing something. Quite a number of destinations are either getting frequency growth (BCN, FCO, MXP) or an upgrade of aircraft (OTP).
Impresivno!
DeleteKuwait.
DeleteAny chance of Helsinki coming back ?
ReplyDeleteLisboa esta chegando!
DeleteСекоја чест за Белград... Алал да им е на Србија!!! Вака се работи! Поздрав од Битола, Македонија :)
ReplyDeleteSvaka čast!
Air Serbia new destinations in China, could increase pax numbers of BEG Airport.
ReplyDeleteWell, a new route would not decrease pax numbers of BEG Airport.
DeleteAko wizz pukne u arabiji eto njih sa novim linijama u beg "jer su to oduvek i hteli"
ReplyDeleteWhats the point of growing when they are incompetent serving what they already have? My daughter and me arrived from NY in December, her flight was 17+ hours late and lost baggage, my baggage arrived broken. Filled reports at airport and then online, its almost 2 full month since and not a sound from them! If I transfer in Europe coming from States am covered by EU rules for compensation, direct flights ARE NOT (5 out of my last 8 flights from US my luggage arrived late with Air Serbia). Thx but no thx anymore, I am done supporting company that doesn't care.
ReplyDeleteIf that happened, it was the Ny airport who lost it. No airline has control over that. But yes, they should help you find it.
DeleteWe desperately need a connection between ex-yu and Australia, ASAP!
ReplyDelete