Belgrade and Zadar have registered large-scale growth in available seat capacity this quarter when compared to the same period during the pre-pandemic 2019. Both have already surpassed their pre-Covid passenger figures and are among the fastest growing airports in Europe. During the third quarter, from the beginning of July until the end of September, which are considered the busiest months in the aviation calendar, Belgrade Airport is the 20th fastest growing airport in Europe in terms of added seat capacity, while Zadar has taken 36th position. Other airports in the former Yugoslavia that have ranked within Europe’s top 100 fastest growing airports this quarter include Skopje (61st), Split (78th) and Sarajevo (94th), while Pristina positioned itself 101st.
Belgrade Airport has added just over 300.000 seats this quarter compared to the same period in 2019, up 26%. While Air Serbia has generated a large amount of that growth, foreign carriers have also contributed, most notably Wizz Air, Turkish Airlines and Flydubai. Belgrade positioned itself between Valencia and Bristol and was ahead of larger European hubs such as Lisbon. This summer, Zadar Airport has recorded the greatest number of new route launches in Croatia, spearheaded by Ryanair, which has increased its number of flights from the city by 215% on 2019. Zadar Airport handled over a million passengers for the first time last year and is expected to both replicate and build on that success this year as well. It has added 221.755 additional seats on Q3 2019 and positioned itself in between Funchal in Portugal and Belgium’s Charleroi.
Capacity growth Q3 2023 vs. Q3 2019
Sochi in Russia is Europe’s fastest growing airport during the third quarter. It has added over 1.4 million seats on 2019. This is primarily as a result of Aeroflot turning the coastal city into its international hub and other airlines redirecting their operations from nearby Krasnodar, which has closed its airport. Several other Russian airports have also significantly grown their operations, among which are St Petersburg, which has become Europe’s eighth fastest growing, Mineralnye Vody (11th), Kaliningrad (13th) and Kazan (14th). Regionally, Tirana has added over 700.000 seats after becoming a major Wizz Air base during and in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. It has ranked sixth by capacity growth in Europe.
Imagine if Ryanair kept some routes over winter. Zadar numbers would explode.
ReplyDeleteWho's going to fly to ZAD in the winter?
DeleteThen imagine Zadar has a population of 5 million inhabitants. Numbers would explode.
DeleteI would fly to Zadar in winter
DeleteOU is interested in flying from ZAD in winter. So we might see FRA or MUC kept in winter months.
Delete^ only if they are paid by local council.
DeleteWhat would you do in Zadar in winter? I was there with my Welsh friend in late September - the place was deserted and this was before Covid (‘18).
DeleteSeptember isn't in Winter. Follow the conversation dude.
DeleteWhy wouldn't you fly to ZAD in winter? The city and surrounding area offer a lot to explore. Unless you are dumbwitted twat ofc.
DeleteWell said, last anon!
DeleteNice to see
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering where ZAG is at?
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering how much seats they added. Kind of amazing ZAG is not in the top 100 when it has Ryanair with 24 new routes compared to summer 2019.
DeleteZAG did the expansion last year and achieved one of the best recovery rates in Europe, earlier than the airports mentioned here. And it's already above 2019 levels for months.
DeleteIt just shows the airport would be struggling big time without FR. Which means that they essentially made the right decision in attracting them because numbers would probably be negative right now.
Delete"ZAG did the expansion last year and achieved one of the best recovery rates in Europe"
Deletewhat are you talking about? Maybe you should check the passenger numbers at BEG and ZAD last year.
@9.23 you are actually right because it would be behind SKP without FR
DeleteGood work by most. Congratulations
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to BEG for doing an amazing job in promoting itself as a respectable and thriving hub!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Vinci has shown the airport can't handle it.
DeleteAnon 10:20 maybe it just Vinci that is not able to handle it the way they operate it right now?
DeleteHow many airport in ex-Yu are already above pre-Covid levels for January - June?
ReplyDelete*airports
DeleteIt was written the other day: Belgrade, Zagreb, Pristina, Skopje, Podgorica, Zadar, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Niš, Ohrid and Kraljevo.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/07/former-yugoslav-airports-handle-132.html
It's nice BEG added so many seats but it was obviously completely unprepared to deal with it.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBEG is a zoo. An embarrassment for our country.
DeleteMnoge zemlje bi jedva docekale da imaju takvu sramotu :D
DeleteLjubljana, Slovenia: last by unlimited%
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately yes
DeleteBravo Fraport!
DeleteCrazy that some Russian airports are growing so much when literally no European airline flies to Russia, except for Turkish and JU.
ReplyDeleteReally surprising. Ok Sochi I understand but all the other airports...
DeleteThat's because they have nowhere else to fly but within Russia, all the people who flew abroad now fly only within Russia. Logical really.
DeleteYou disregard the traffic that came from Europe completely, which was surely not unsignificant in the case of St. Petersburg, as well as the fact that they can fly everywhere else normally.
DeleteRussian economy became the 5th largest in the world last year. So it actually grew.
Delete@12:53 It's not even European 5th largest economy :)
DeleteDon't forget all the Russians escaping Russia for obvious reasons.
DeleteHow come Sarajevo has improved so much even though they no longer have Wizz?
ReplyDeleteIt has more flights, especially from the Middle East. Wizz Air didn't fly to Sarajevo in 2019 so them leaving has no impact. But Sarajevo's numbers are worse than last year.
DeleteEuropean connectivity is just as bad as it was 4 years ago unfortunately.
DeleteBy the begining of S24 Tirana Airport will have added 30 new LCC routes (FR and W6) and will surpass 8 million passengers next year.
ReplyDeleteTIA is the true leader of the region!
DeleteLet's see how long it lasts.
DeleteTIA is just a seasonal destination. sure it can become popular every year like Ibiza
Delete🤣 Yeah, just seasonal
Deletehalf of the routes are seasonal. plus Wizz and Ryanair are inflated to the max
DeleteTIA is not part of the Ex Yu region.
DeleteThere is no ex yu region. There is EU and others.
DeleteActually, there is World minus some small procentage called the west.
DeleteEX-YU Aviation News was launched on June 1, 2008 with the aim of bringing together commercial aviation news from the former Yugoslavia. Tirana Airport was never a main topic of a news article.
Deletewould love for EX-YU aviation to grow into 'Slavic Aviation'. Get to read about LOT/ Poland, Bulgaria and Russia.
DeleteSlava da man strikes again!
DeleteTime to fill those seats.
ReplyDeleteConsidering their passenger numbers, it seems they are being filled well.
DeleteAlso should be taken into consideration all the new airlines that have started flights to BEG since 2019: Jazeera Airways, Air Baltic, KLM, Luxair, Hainan Airlines and soon British Airways.
ReplyDeleteQuite a lot of European legacy airlines added. Good work.
DeleteYou forgot Anadolujet.
DeleteBut it has also lost some airlines. Air France, Etihad and the Russian carriers although we know the reason for that.
DeleteI think Etihad will come back next year, at least seasonally. We will see.
DeleteAir France should also return.
DeleteSKP is on good way , recovering from the Covid with good percent of capacity , also SKP is much more realistic to finish July , August with around 300k each , Ohrid also is full with tourist this summer , I am pretty sure we will see much more routes from both airports next year ..
ReplyDeleteSKP will have a very strong winter
DeleteYes, I agree Skopje will do well this winter with a lot of Wizz Air growth - not just new routes but also increase of existing flights, the new Lufthansa flights, increase from Aegean and new routes from Aegean to Sarajevo (and possibly another one to be announced)
Deletealso more flights to Turkey
DeleteAh yes true Sun Express is keeping Antalya and Izmir over winter.
DeleteAnd Wizz Air still has to schedule the other two routes they were granted subsidies for. Not sure if they will start this winter or they will wait till next summer.
DeleteWhich routes are those?
DeleteSKP figures are obviously "higher" for obvious reasons.
Delete@9.47
DeleteStuttgart and Salzburg
@9.48 lmao again you.
Delete9.48 goodmorning sunshine
DeleteIs it possible we see Dubai and Doha for the winter in SKP or they will wait probably summer ? I wish to see Madrid flights to SKP also , I do also hear it is possible we see that soon...but I dont know why Wizz is not backing Barcelona ..
Delete@9.38 and not only SunExpress ;)
DeletePegasus with more flights
Delete@anon 10.28 we definitely won't see either this winter. Summer next year less likely either.
DeleteI don't understand why is it so hard for them to get Flydubai back. At least 2 weekly.
DeleteI think Flydubai will return eventually. Qatar Airways almost no chance.
Delete10:28 there is no demand from the gulf countries to SKP, FZ and QR stopped their flights while all other countries in the region have more flights. SKP is not their market or target
DeleteDo we know if Aegean will add another Skopje route or is it just rumours/wishful thinking
Deleteeither they fly or they park for 10 hours at SKP and do nothing
DeleteEverything will happen eventually.
DeleteSplit and Dubrovnik are not?
ReplyDeleteWhat?
DeleteDubrovnik is struggling a lot in catching up to 2019 numbers.
Delete^Why?
DeleteI'm guessing fewer tourists from Asian markets.
DeleteHopefully Croatia Airlines starts those winter flights. It will improve numbers.
Delete2 flights per week to FRA or MUC with Dash 8 won't make much of a difference. If they start.
DeleteEspecially after loosing BA.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteHow yes no.
DeleteHow no yes.
DeleteActually on a state level Croatia's airports have just now reached pre Covid levels. Up around 2,6%
DeleteNo yes how
DeleteWell done BEG and ZAD. A few other ex-Yu airports also doing rather well.
ReplyDeleteTaking into accnt that FR had late start on many destinations to ZAD and reduced frequency it is quite surprising.
DeleteNot really surprising compared to 2019. but I did wonder if ZAD was gonna reach last year's success. Apparently it will, and add more pax.
DeleteFive airports in top 100 is not bad at all.
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to see what sort of capacity these airports had in 2013 and 2003.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that Sarajevo is now falling behind.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe it that they thought they could cover the loss of Wizz Air with a non European airline opening a base and magically being issued permits to fly to EU capitals. From all accounts it was Jordan Aviation.
DeleteCan we see the rankings for all airports?
ReplyDeleteVracam se Zagrebe tebi, tebi pod zidine stare,
ReplyDeleteVracam se Zagrebe tebi, tebi na obale Save,
Zagreb, Zagreb........
I think half of those flights are because of me. Air Serbia lounge again over full today. Thet need to make a bigger lounge at BEG, especially since it is their hub. Lounges in Nis and KVO are also needed.
ReplyDeleteI think about half of those flights are on me. So it seems between the two of us we make up just about all the passengers.
DeleteYou and me bro, we run the show.
Deleteif BEG keeps growth at 25% every year or close to that then they will reach 15 million by 2028 which is great.
ReplyDeleteso just between Serbia and Croatia we will have 30 million by 2028 which is amazing progress for the JUG.
25% every year is virtually impossible. This is a comparison between 2019. and now, not year on year. At this point even 10% every year would be a great achievement.
DeleteI like your thinking tho.
Btw..if BEG reaches 8 million this year, which is possible, that would already be around 20 million passengers just between Croatia and Serbia. All of ex yu...28 - 29 mill.
Now, knowing this forum someone will probably say that's nothing compared to whatever in Europe, as they were reinventing the wheel, but we know what this region has been through. We're all doing alright given where we are and where we were not that long ago.
Nice work
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't Vinci using all the check-in counters in BEG? Check-in was really bad for me with queues stretching into the new corridor leading to escalators to passport control. The old Terminal 2 Air Serbia branded ones seem to be hidden now. You could previously access to the left of the information counter. Will they still be there after the extension is completed or they superceded by the new central processor ones given that JU is using that area now?
ReplyDeleteThey are hidden because the area is under reconstruction. The check in desks will be there afterwards but will be as a continuation to the existing new check in desks.
DeleteWe need winter flights. Zadar is truly a beautiful City... Thousands of years of history. But the hotels need to act 1st and stay open. The mentality of the locals needs to change from a summer season only and The Airport needs a bloody lounge. Simply put....never gonna happen....
ReplyDelete