EX-YU airports handle 3.3 million passengers, two in Europe's top 100


Commercial airports across the former Yugoslavia handled a combined total of 3.293.864 passengers during the first two months of the year, with 1.55 million travellers in February alone. Among them, during the second and shortest month of the year, three airports stood out for their high growth rate. They include Belgrade with a year-on-year increase in February of 21.2% , Pristina with 37.5% growth, and Skopje, which had a 31.3% boost in numbers. All three have previously seen their busiest February in 2023. On the other hand, three regional airports underperformed during the month, including Niš, which saw a 19.1% slide in figures, as well as a 10.4% decrease on the pre-pandemic 2019, Banja Luka, which had 34.4% fewer passengers than in February 2023, and Tuzla, which shed 64.5% of its travellers year-on-year. The trio has been hit by a decline in flights and capacity by low cost carriers, particularly Tuzla which is no longer a base for Wizz Air.

Passenger performance by airport, February 2024


During the first two months of the year, Belgrade Airport ranked 67th busiest on the continent, just behind Tirana, Bristol, and Sofia, but ahead of Reykjavik, Malta, and Stuttgart. Pristina positioned itself as the 98th busiest, behind Luxembourg, Tbilisi and Vilnius but in front of Stavanger in Norway and Newcastle. Zagreb took 103rd place. It was behind the likes of Pisa, and Cagliari, but ahead of Wroclaw and Hannover. Skopje ranked 114th, with the Macedonian capital behind Ibiza, Treviso, and Cluj but outperforming Salzburg, Memmingen and Chisinau. During the first two months of the year, the Macedonian market was the second-fastest growing in Europe, increasing its overall figures by 39.5%. It was behind only Albania with 59.4% growth. In contrast, the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the biggest year-on-year decline in Europe, contracting 19.6%. Elsewhere, the market in Kosovo grew 28.9%, Slovenia 22.8%, Serbia 22%, Croatia 12.1%, and Montenegro 5.5%.

Passenger performance by airport, January - February 2024


European rank of select regional airports by passenger numbers 


The majority of European markets saw year-on-year growth during the first two months of the year. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the exceptions were Russia (-15.4%), Moldova (-2.4%), and Armenia (-0.8%). London Heathrow was once again Europe’s busiest airport over the two-month period, with 11.807.060 passengers, however, Istanbul’s main gateway is hot on its heels with 11.775.071 travellers. Both saw growth of 10.5% on 2023. They were followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle with 9.611.141 passengers, Madrid with 9.499.466, Amsterdam with 9.170.818 travellers, Frankfurt with 7.921.971, Barcelona with 7.155.251, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen with 6.337.536, Rome Fiumicino with 5.857.647 and London Gatwick with 5.144.380 passengers. Out of Europe’s top ten busiest, four are still below their pre-pandemic 2019 records. They include Paris Charles de Gaulle (-8.1%), Amsterdam (-6.9%), Frankfurt (-13.9%), and London Gatwick (-15%).

Largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity across the former Yugoslavia, February 2024




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:09

    I think PRN may stay as number two this year based on that growth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      I don't think that will be the case after Ryanair launches their new routes in the next few days from Zagreb.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      Prishtina also gets new routes and bigger capacity in a few days, so we will have to see...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:29

      It is likely that Split may be number two this year.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:29

      They won't because OU has added 7 weekly flights from Zagreb all on Airbus aircraft, Tway has added 3 on A330, Ryanair has added 11 and increased frequencies on existing flights. Other than that OU added one weekly to MUC and Air France has added capacity and now serves Zagreb twice daily on Fridays and then finally Iberia has scheduled a lot more flights than last year

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:32

      True, it will be a strong summer for ZAG.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:34

      Other than than what I already wrote the growth we also have KLM and LH increasing frequencies as well as 4 extra to Istanbul and 2 to Dubai

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:44

      data for 2023:
      https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4jJV6ydRLkjy1G7-FHsCGiMHmHQbhIZqHEINSIt03nwFn6nkE-2LElPloHkgoSPjevdQS9tLdx8aVHKB-9Hcp6iKyHy41OBEgLpLzdmTKn4aRkQD1xV0BVBzy4xKEaS9H6-41dnCr1ux3KXPqTvvUrZRuC-Thzpwc4s_rxnxhTBlqzahunY_w4UHE_o-/s16000/exyustats23.png

      Lets see how things develop in 2024,

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:01

      Meanwhile Ryanair has slightly reduced flights to ZAG this summer, BVA, GRO and something else.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:10

    Wow Ljubljana in front of Podgorica and Sarajevo finally

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      How many passengers could LJU reach this year?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:01

      1.6 million seems realistic

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:58

      yes, 1.6 should be doable ... any news on latest subs?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:11

      For a month, EOY Sarajevo will win again with 100-200k more

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:21

    What's going on with Nis and Banja Luka. Why are they losing so many passengers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      " The trio has been hit by a decline in flights and capacity by low cost carriers"

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      maybe didnt meet the expactations

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:26

      Whose expectations?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:28

      Airlines expectations probably

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:32

      They cut flights from BNX over winter. However, Ryanair starts new routes and increases frequency - 10 weekly to Memmingen, 4 weekly to Vienna... Theu will have triple daily departures on average. AirSerbia has twice weekly BEG + Wizzair 6 weekly + charters. This will be good year for BNX!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:21

    Thank you for the numbers. Rare to find this info including about the busiest airports in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:22

    TIA is on fire.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:52

      Watch out not to get burns :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:13

      the numbers at TIA are incredible

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:16

      Visa liberalization has not only had an impact on PRN but also on TIA. I flew from Stockholm to TIA 4 times this year with Ryanair and I can say with conviction that the plane was almost 40% filled with Kosovar citizens resident in Kosovo.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:39

      its on fire until giving wizz and ryanair free use of the airport is no longer sustainable and it burns out the airport.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:26

      Is the airport private or state-owned? If it's owned by investors they will want to convert the pax to EBITDA by end of next year.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:13

      14:39 Wizz doesn't have ''free'' use of the airport. Nice lie but try harder next time

      Delete
    7. Anonymous17:39

      Do they get deep discounts?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:59

      They get discounts based on pax number and for new routes.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:45

      TIA is private.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:18

      TIA literally has on their website the stimulus package where it says that handling fees can be waived.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous19:25

      Yeah for 1 year

      Delete
    12. Anonymous04:31

      It's not a lie. Ryanair and wizz barely pay anything in TIA if they pay anything at all. If they had to pay like they do in split or Zagreb and everywhere else. then half their frequcies and routes to TIA would be cut

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:19

      LOL

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:30

    Ironic that Ryanair has a decline in capacity in February but in they will be the fastest growing airline this summer in ex-Yu and the largest airline as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      They also had decrease in January.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      Huge growth coming in the next few months.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:07

      Класични зицераши. Дижу капацитете у Хрватској на лето:)

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:36

    Good growth for most Airports. Hopefully stays that way given the expected restrictions in the coming months :/

    Thank you exYU Aviation for this detailed report!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:40

    Trieste will likely overtake several ex-Yu airports this summer. They are becoming a Ryanair base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      How many routes are they launching?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:49

      5

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:49

      Berlin, Brindisi, Krakow, Paris and Seville.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:54

      Thanks

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:54

      That could have been Ljubljana

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:22

      Even PRG had more passengers!

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:41

    Sorry but the combined total for so many airports is sad. 1.5 million passengers across 20 airports....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      My thoughts too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:44

      Probably VIE alone had more pax than all our airports combined.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:53

      @09:56
      WOW! 😮

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:20

      "Our" airports...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:22

      Even PRG had more passengers!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:41

    Omg last year we had Slovenia as worst performing market in Europe, now it seems Bosnia has taken that spot...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      BiH is impacted by Wizz's Tuzla base closure and Banja Luka's poor performance.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:12

      SJJ will save the year probably but instead of an epic rise we'll have 3-5% growth overall

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:42

    Impressive growth by most airports!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:48

    Wow PRN numbers are really impressive and not even having a proper LCC base. INI numbers are not very good. Perhaps it can try organising ski charters or winter warm destination ones. Here are some other official figures until 29FEB:

    BEG - 1,051,122
    SOF - 1,089,055
    SKG - 793,765
    TIA - 1,203,023

    TIA is highly likely to achieve 8 million by in 2024, they have many new routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      Another quite interesting fact is that Bulgaria's Gullivair will bring Mexican tourists to the Balkans via a Mexican touroperators and the route will include Sofia, Skopje, Thessaloniki, Ohrid, Tirana, Podgorica, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Mejdugore, Mostar, Sarajevo and Belgrade. The programme is on their website and flights will be operated from the new Mexico AIFA airport in selected days in May, June, September and October. 14 day packages:

      https://www.megatravel.com.mx/viaje/magia-en-los-balcanes-12399.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:00

      This is the same Gullivair that cancelled Skopje-Sofia after 2 flights and has been announcing US flights for years?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:07

      Koliko putnika je opsluzila ASL u februaru?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:16

      10:00, Gullivair used to operate flights from Bucharest and Sofia to Punta Cana in the past. This is what the touroperator indicates and on selected dates. Also, Skopje-Sofia was cancelled for obvious reasons. Wonder why there are almost 2 daily flights to Belgrade-Sofia and Ryanair flights to Zagreb and Ljubljana-Sofia in the past, again for "obvious" reasons. Also wonder why there is a new highway to Serbia and current one under construction to Romania and a new tunnel connecting Greece again for "obvious" reasons. So do not be "shocked" that Skopje-Sofia was cancelled and had 5 or 10 passengers abroad.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:40

      As if they thrived everywhere else and only SKP-SOF failed. Lol

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:44

      SKP-SOF failed because its not that far to reach it by car. Also the flights were twice a week and at random times, Gulivair does not operate to any European city with scheduled flights where people can connect, the demand was low as expected.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:49

      it failed because rarely anybody of us really has a "motiv" to go there thanks to politics

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:23

      Guys GullivAir is brand of BH Air ( but also have own AOC). That's it. As Airhub of Getjet.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:17

      It's Bh air yes.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:07

      10:49 Yet you see many cars with MK plates in Sofia and KAM supermarkets in the whole of Bulgaria and you have BH Air operating charter flights in SKP. Double standards as usual.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous19:14

      People dont travel between both countries that much anymore. Bulgarian tourist numbers in MK have fallen by 60% on a year level likewise macedonian tourist agencies said they didnt sell lot of ski packages to Bulgaria this winter.

      P.S If you know who the owner of KAM is....

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:52

    Will Ljubljana stay ahead of Sarajevo by the end of the year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      It will be hard with all ryanair flights

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:25

      I doubt it, Ryanair is launching first flights from Sarajevo in 2-3 days, it will probably be ahead of Ljubljana from April onwards.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:30

      well ljubljana has also nice increase in frequency from april on ... on more or less all routes plus 3 new. its gonna be interesting to see how things go for both airports ...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:52

    No recovery in sight for Tivat unfortunately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      Worst impacted airport due to Ukraine war in our region.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:07

      I know but it has been 2 years already.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:16

      Any progress on the lights for night flights, as I imagine this has an impact. With prime day time slots already allotted on higher yield routes, it seems until they have the ability to have night flights they restrict themselves.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:52

    Crazy how many passengers wizz flew from Tuzla and they pulled out

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:53

    Visa liberalization having impact on PRN numbers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      Well done PRN. Excellent result.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Agreed

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:26

      They had this sort of growth all of last yea, well before visa liberalisation.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:29

      its emigration regardless of visa

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:41

      10:29 Boring as always

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:50

      but isnt it like that?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:50

      Nah

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:02

      lmao ok. Famiglia Reisebüro sagt Dankeschön!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:21

      What are you going on about, of course it's emigration Even the EU said so.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:31

      Sure

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:07

    Think its impressive Belgrade is in front of Malta, knowing how many of the low cost airlines especially have fleet based and registered out of Malta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:42

      Registered fleet in Malta has nothing to do with the pax numbers Malta Airport has every month. For the rest of your comment, i agree.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous12:26

    Why the airports of Mali Lošinj and Portorož are never mentioned in these statistics? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:11

      No scheduled flights

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:52

      I think that they don't share figures all the time. Sometimes in these reports they are included, probably when they send data. That said, I think Portoroz has some very odd way of counting passengers.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous12:42

    Glad Ljubljana is finally doing ok. They have a very diverse offer of airlines this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:45

      Thanks to Slovenian government subsidies. Fraport has not lifted a finger

      Delete
  20. Anonymous13:26

    Throughout January and February 2024, TIA has processed 42.000 Kosovo citizens. 10.000 from MNE and 20.000 from MKD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:09

      Nice!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:27

      thats not even 5% of their nr

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:24

      @16:27
      You may call it "not even 5%...", and I call it pretty sensational that an Airport like TIA is able to grab some 400-500k PAX annually from Kosovo, with some 250km distance apart. Especially considering that until couple years back, Albania was exporting passengers to neighbouring countries!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:37

      these guys must have serios inferiority complexes to publish such numbers, imagine ZAG airport publishing detailed numbers of Slovenians, or VCE, SKG or SOF

      but the last sentence from @17.24 maybe says it where it is coming from. Welcome to the modern world guys!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:51

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/07/zagreb-airport-eyes-up-to-200000.html
      Lol

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:08

      @17:51
      How dare you 😄😜

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:30

      Read the article, they dont keep such statistics.

      However, publishing such data on a monthly basis is a new low

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:35

      Show me where TIA publishes such data on monthly basis

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:55

      Has nothing to do with inferiority complexes.
      It is actually really good to have theses kind of statistics and this comment section is just the right place to publish them.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:04

      So let me get these straight, publishing stats is a new low? You hear something new every day.
      I wish all airports published detailed data. It would make these discussions a lot more informed. The reason why they don't publish these numbers is because they don't want to reveal confidential info for free for competitive and other reasons.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:58

      didnt they also brag now that they are bigger then BEG or SOF on their social media channels? sorry but if that is not inferiority complexes then i dont know.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:46

      You have inferiority complex

      Delete
  21. Anonymous15:50

    Zadar barely ahead of Osijek. That's a bummer. Pula doing much better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:51

      It's because it's winter. Zadar will have massive growth this summer. May be in front of Ljubljana by the end of the year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      I know. Year after year the same. No improvements. Apparently ZAD to MUC over winter was not a success.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous16:08

    I wonder why Kosovo can’t get a national carrier, other countries like Montenegro with less passengers and demand have one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:22

      they have 3

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:11

      If there's no will there's no way

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:42

      Those charter companies are more or less national carriers, just look at Albania and the "success" of its national carrier.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:10

      Completely irrelevant

      Delete

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