Commercial airports across the former Yugoslavia handled a combined total of 5.093.079 passengers during the first quarter of the year, with 1.81 million travellers in March alone. Among them, during the third month of the year, three airports stood out for their high growth rate. They include Pristina with a year-on-year increase in March of 29.7%, Ljubljana with 22.7% growth, and Belgrade, which had a 18.4% boost in numbers. All three have previously seen their busiest March in 2023. On the other hand, several regional airports underperformed during the month, including Tuzla, which saw a 72.2% slide in figures, Banja Luka, which had 30.7% fewer passengers than in March 2023, and Dubrovnik, which shed 15.5% of its travellers year-on-year. A number of other airports also saw their figures decline compared to last year, among which are Zadar, Niš, Split, and Ohrid.
Passenger performance by airport, March 2024
During the first quarter of the year, Belgrade Airport ranked as the 70th busiest on the continent, just behind Toulouse, Fuerteventura, and Basel, but ahead of Malta, Cologne, and Reykjavik. Pristina positioned itself as the 102nd busiest, behind Newcastle, Stavanger in Norway and Pisa but in front of Hannover and Zagreb. The airport in the Croatian capital itself took 104th place. It was just ahead of Cagliari, Wroclaw, and London City. Skopje ranked 122nd, with the Macedonian capital behind Memmingen, Salzburg, and Chisinau but outperforming Cork, East Midlands, and Verona. During the first three months of the year, the Macedonian market was the fourth-fastest growing in Europe, increasing its overall figures by 29.9%. It was behind only Albania, Georgia and the Czech Republic. In contrast, the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the biggest year-on-year decline in Europe, contracting 21.9%. Elsewhere, the market in Kosovo grew 29.2%, Slovenia 28%, Serbia 20.1%, Croatia 9.6%, and Montenegro 4.8%.
Passenger performance by airport, Q1 2024
European rank of select regional airports by passenger numbers
The majority of European markets saw year-on-year growth during the first quarter of the year. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the exceptions were Russia (-16.1%) and Armenia (-0.2%). London Heathrow was once again Europe’s busiest airport over the three-month period, with 18.533.614 passengers, while Istanbul’s main gateway was second with 17.684.091 travellers. The pair saw growth of 9.5% and 7.9% on 2023 respectively. They were followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle with 15.059.671 passengers, Madrid with 14.839.396, Amsterdam with 14.396.947 travellers, Frankfurt with 12.531.304, Barcelona with 11.433.501, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen with 9.452.485, Rome Fiumicino with 9.390.526 and London Gatwick with 8.337.491 passengers. Out of Europe’s top ten busiest, four are still below their pre-pandemic 2019 records. They include Paris Charles de Gaulle (-8.6%), Amsterdam (-7.0%), Frankfurt (-15.3%), and London Gatwick (-13.8%).
Largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity across the former Yugoslavia, March 2024
Tuzla -72% :( is there any possibility it gets new flights?
ReplyDeleteNot with current management, that's for sure.
DeleteLike Lumiwings yes, like Wizz no
DeleteSad
DeleteCrazy how many passengers wizz flew from Tuzla and they pulled out
DeleteIn the end, that arrangement with Air Montenegro could have worked out well for them. Pity 4O pulled out those plans.
Deletesomething like a deal with Airserbia or croatia airlines makes sense if the purpose is to offer residents air connectivity....perfect feeder opportunity like we have in small us airports going to a hub and their final destination. AA even has a bus service in the Philly area. personally been on a flight to ord where it would ha ve taken me 2.5 hours to drive to, but flying was 25 to 30 min at most.
DeleteWhere would OU transfer them? To Minken/Vrankvurt via Zagreb?
DeleteI'm not aware of those destinations, but a handful of European destinations are in their network
DeleteI think Skopje is reaching the plateau...nothing new and exciting coming up soon
ReplyDeleteIt's not about plateau it is about Wizz Air cuts. From April the numbers are likely to be in minus territory.
DeleteI think I read a similar comment some years ago, and here we are, with almost 30% growth in Q1 2024
Deletelol. Skopje has reached the plateau in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 ...
DeleteSKP will never be the busiest airport in the world. It will never get to 100 million passengers per year. So there is a plateau for SKP it just wasn't reached yet.
DeleteWhy now Armenia is - not +? EVN have big numbers of russian pax?
ReplyDeleteExcluding Ukraine, which countries are still below 2019 levels?
ReplyDeleteI believe Germany is still far away from pre Covid numbers, mainly because domestic traffic has not recovered.
DeleteGermany is way below 2019 numbers (last time I checked they were at between 80-85%) but that is mainly because of ridiculously high taxes for airport usage (handling fees), dep/landing fees, ATC/overflight fees and hikes in air transport taxes at the same time, most recent massive increase (about +25%) came into effect on May 1st, 2024. The government is extremly air-transport-hostile.
DeleteSimilar situation (though not as bad) is in Austria, where - same as in Germany - the Green party is in the governmnet (coalition).
Quote from Lufthansa / translated to English: For the departure of a mid sized jet (i.e. A320) from a German airport state taxes accumulate to around 4,000 EUR. A departure of the same jet from MAD or BCN would cost only around 600 EUR.
DeleteWow!
That’s insane. Sadly, Germany’s politics is still known for choosing insane decisions, that they will once again look back and realise it only hurt their people in the long run.
DeleteSure, the third largest economy in the world, behaving responsibly and taking care of the environment, is "insane" according to the balkan mindset. No wonder West Balkans has the worst air quality in all of Europe. People breathing in toxic fumes because their governments are too corrupt to care...that I guess isn't insane. That's perfectly normal and smart. Not hurting people at all.
DeleteGermany should further improve their train network. If one considers the TOTAL travel time (home to hotel, or home to home) traine are not much slower on many trips, while proving better comfort for less cost.
DeleteBEG traditional advises missing marine traffic is behind SOF. Summer is different.
ReplyDeleteMarina traffic?
Delete?
DeleteMaybe "missing winter traffic"?
LJU is finally waking up!
ReplyDeleteFull p2p resumption 2024!
DeleteBravo with -28%!
DeleteI think Ljubljana could reach 1.6 million this year, which is close to the Adria numbers. Which means that with Adria it could easily reach 2.5-2-8. A lot of destinations are still missing
DeleteI agree LJU could reach 1.6 million next year. Don't I know why management thinks that figure will be achieved only in 2026.
DeleteUnfortunately, I would not be surprised if Wizz eventually completely pulls out of Tuzla. We will see.
DeleteInteresting, Zagreb had more passengers than Pristina in March, but Pristina still ahead during Q1.
ReplyDeleteZAG will overtake PRN in summer
DeleteEspecially with the FR expansion from April.
DeleteCroatia still the largest market in the Jug by far. Will be years before anyone gets close.
DeleteAnd BEG the overall champion of the region and I doubt anyone will ever get to its level in the foreseeable future.
DeleteLook at you guys at 10:34 and 10:55 arguing who’s the least miserable in the market of miserables. Ex-Yu airports handling so few passenegers altogether is sad. We are all yesrs behind any developed country in Europe.
DeleteCroatia has massive noumber of seats this year, around 16.4 million, this figure is up to February, no summer schedule changes added. Data from this blog btw. In 2023 Croatia has 13.2 million seats available, so this year more than 3 million extra seats. In terms for Pax, in 2023, Croatia handled 11.3 million passengers, so 11.3/13.2 = 85.6%, using same correlation for 2024, 16.4x85.6% = ~14 million, So this year Croatian airports could handle between 13 and 14 million passengers, this is a massive improvement on 2023.
DeleteZagreb Airport has currently 5.64 million seats available, again using same coloration as in 2023, when airport handled 3.72 million with 4.65 million available seats, we get about 4.5 million, so most likely Zagreb airport will handle around between 4.2 and 4.5 million passengers. I think 4.3 million passengers is very likely now, in April Airport has handled between 360 000 and 375 000, could be more, as Airport hasn't released data yet.
Croatia might end up with 2 airports handling over 4 million passengers this year. with one more airport handling 3 million and one airport handling 1.5 million. Overall Croatia's airports could handle over 13.5 million passengers this year.
Passenger Traffic in 000 in 2024
Zagreb: 4300
Split: 4000
Dubrovnik: 3000
Zadar: 1500
Pula: 600
Rijeka: 200
Osijek: 40
Brac: 30
Total: 16 670 , this is what could happen, we'll wait for early next year to get final results for 2024, but I am sort of certain it'll be 95% accurate, Split might handle 3.85 million, or Dubrovnik might handle 3.1 million, but generally speaking it'll be around 13.5 million passengers for all of Croatia. 2025 will be very interesting, as 2024 is still year of recovery for Croatian aviation sector. Asian and north American market are still down on 2019, by a significant margin.
Few typos above post, "In 2023 Croatia has 13.2 million seats available" meant to say "had" and "Total: 16 670 , this is what could happen" meant to say 13 670...
DeleteBelgrade has far more passengers in Q1 than all of Croatian airports combined. With more than 8 million passengers expected this year and 10 million within reach in 2025, Belgrade is the only airport in Exyu firmly in the top 100 airports in Europe.
Delete@11:49 its like I wrote on one of the pages 2-3 days ago. yes the Jug is years behind but that's because the western EU airlines are keeping the Jug nations in an environment of corruption and management not capable of growth. After Jugoslavija and JAT stopped it was Lufthansa group in Vienna and Turkish airlines that benefited the most. Those two took over market share and they are not going to let it go they'll place any political/organizational block to stop real development.
DeleteTake for example Air France/KLM. they joined together because they couldn't run a profitable business that can compete with Lufthansa group alone. Same with SAS.
Now if JU, OU, 40 FB tried to do the same in any combination then it will be stopped by the EU.
Zagreb and Sofia have demand for long haul routes just like BEG, but the interference from Lufthansa, Fraport, TK and other western politicians/organisations will keep that years and years away.
Between all the South Slavic nations, the passenger numbers are about 36 million a year, and that's will poor infrastructure, poor management and many routes missing. With cooperation, right management and no interference, the total can be at least 50 million. Then we would no longer be years behind.
How does Pristina Airport have so many passengers with such a small population compared to other ExYug airports. Their economy isn't as big as Serbia, Croatia or Slovenia. I am just wondering what's driving such a high passenger count. Also not Ex Yug but same with Tirana airport lots of passengers small economy.
DeletePRN serves entire country + a lot harder to reach via road compared to the countries you mentioned. Nothing much to wonder about.
DeleteIt also has high levels of emigration, especially after EU lifted visas.
DeleteAnonymous11:49
DeleteCroatia is doing really fine, it is right where it should be, Slovenian market is also recovering but the fact Both Slovenia and Croatia are in Schengen, EU, Eurozone, both are highly developed advanced high income economies, I wouldn't generalize so much, Croatia is doing really well, as does Slovenia. If it comes to aviation market, both countries had really poor aviation market before the covid, meaning loads of room for improvement. Yes Zagreb could be having at least7-8 million passengers right this moment, but growth and expansion isn't a sprint, it is a marathon, as development and expansion progresses, so will the noumber of passengers at airports. Slow and steady wins the race, as the saying goes.
Anon 18.46
DeleteWhen it comes to Kosovo and Metohija you have to understand that many young people left and keep on leaving. This is an important factor for aviation as these guys tend to fly back home more often and for shorter periods of time. For example someone who lives in Brussels or Zurich might head back home for the weekend, something that was unimaginable among older population.
Ethnic travel makes up the vast majority of passengers which is why PRN's list of destinations remains extremely modest if you exclude gasto epicenters.
Cost of of flights to PRN. The taxes and everything for flight operations is not clear.
DeleteAs for Tirana the cost is close to nothing for the airlines. They can fly to Tirana near enough gor free and can keep their fares cheaper than other destinations. It also attracts the cheap/alcoholic travels that used to go to Croatia or thr black sea before it became more expensive. If Tirana airport charges the same as BEG, SOF, ZAG the majority of those passengers wouldn't pay the new ticket price.
But because ZAG has OU and BEG has JU and SOF has FB, with planning they can keep and keep increasing their numbers whereas TIrana will be years and decades away from being able to have anything without LCC's
Copium at its best
Deletecompare wages at tirana airport vs ZAG, BEG, SOF. then cope harder.
Deleteor since Tirana has so many more passengers, why it so far behind in revenue? Sure it makes it easy for tirana marketing to cope when the accounting and finances shows the reality.
Do you know TIA's revenue?
DeletePeople aren’t leaving Kosova because of Visa liberalization, this is wrong because they can’t stay in EU for more than 90 days. Many people are visiting their families in western Europe, that’s why numbers are so high at Prishtina
DeleteWell where I live we have loads of Albanians from Kosovo and Albania, mostly undocumented migrants, many are working illegally, some seeking asylum but most are here without resident documentation. I can only imagine how easy is for many of them to fly back home every few months if they earn money with relatively cheap flights out of most EU airports these days. BTW not pointing fingers at Albanians, everyone needs to make a living and there are no jobs or opportunities in Kosovo or Albania they they'll seek employment elsewhere.
DeleteCheap flights make travel open to all, I often look for deals on skyscanner and can get cheap flights for as little as €120 return anywhere with in the EU, I hate to admit but I am contributing to massive C02 emissions with my frequent flights.
Many Kosovars travel through Skopje airport and Tirana because it's close to the country. If they would use Prishtina airport only, it will the second for sure.
DeleteTivat still struggling
ReplyDeleteIt's winter, what do you expect?
DeleteIt's struggling compared to winter 2019
DeleteWorst impacted airport due to Ukraine war in our region.
DeleteIt lost its biggest market and another 2 which were in the top 5. It will take time for them to find alternatives.
DeleteEaster is later this year.
DeleteIsn't Orthodox Easter in like 3 days?
DeleteNumbers are generally low and more and more airport are below last year
ReplyDeleteThey literally have one of the highest growth rates in Europe. Some people just want to complain.
DeleteWell except for Bosnia which has the biggest decline in Europe.
DeleteCrazy that Timisoara had more passengers than Sarajevo, a European capital...
ReplyDeleteWeit for summer
DeleteTimisoara is in a member country of the EU.
DeleteYeah, even though Sarajevo will reach a record year with 1.7-1.8M passengers, it can and should do even better. The growth by Ryanair, SunExpress and others will be offset by other Bosnian airports declining
Deletewow @ JU being the largest airline in the region, at least for a month :)
ReplyDeleteby capacity though
DeleteImpressive growth by most airports!
ReplyDeleteWill Sarajevo overtake Ljubljana by the end of the year?
ReplyDeleteI think it is possible with the new Ryanair routes.
DeleteBut LJU also has several new routes...
DeleteAnd Zadar will be ahead of both by the end of the year.
DeleteOf course it will, it has more available capacity, it should absolutely dominate Ljubljana from May-October like last year. Podgorica is an interesting battle though.
DeleteWell, ZAD is not having much of the start this year, has it?
DeleteI'm very curious in ZAG's numbers for this year considering the FR expansion.
ReplyDeleteThere was an article about it recently here for the summer season with the projected capacity growth for each month. It will be strong growth.
DeleteDon't forget Croatia Airlines is also introducing a few new routes.
DeleteZagreb will have best year yet, I expect over 4 million passengers. Airport has around 5.64 million seats available for 2024. In 2023, airport handled 3.72 million with 4.65 million available seats, using same coloration as in 2023 for 2024, we get about 4.5 million, so most likely Zagreb airport will handle between 4.2 and 4.5 million passengers. I think 4.3 million passengers is very likely now. We'll need to wait for April figures, I am hoping airport handled at least 370 000 passengers in April, could be slightly less, could be slightly more, but I'll stick with 370 000 in high hopes May outperforms last year's May, for May I genuinely hope airport for the first time passes 400 000 figure, but anything over 380 000 would be really nice in my book. So April, I hope it is 370 000+ and May 380 000+ but hoping for 400 000.
DeleteSorry, as this is a bit OT: Where do I find (link on here?) the statistic about pax numbers of all Exyu airports for the calendar year of 2023? I seem to not understand how the search function on the top right works... :(
ReplyDeleteHave all airports published their 2023 numbers?
Thx
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/01/former-yugoslav-airports-handle-over.html
DeleteCheers mate!
DeletePortoroz is missing in all the lists above...
ReplyDeleteIt's an airport without scheduled traffic that counts its 'passenger' numbers contrary to all normal counting practices...
DeleteThe question arises:
DeleteWhat is the common, official counting practice for pax numbers at airports?
LSZ also has no scheduled flights, but counts pax, and is included in the list.
Speaking of, surprised that Maribor carried 500 this month. Half of Kraljevo without any scheduled flights
Delete^ 2 sports charters and you get 500 passengers.
Delete@11h35: or more precisely: what's the rule for counting non-commerical pax into the airport's pax numbers? Private GA traffic, business traffic, sports/ad-hoc charter, military traffic, gliders/ULA, flight schools ... which of these should be counted, and under what conditions... I also see lots of GA prop and jet traffic in BWK yet they don't seem to count them (only during off season)?
DeleteIt is always amazing to see how SPU is only in 8th/9th place during a large part of the year, but 2nd for the summer (high) season, what a massive difference - taking into account Split and its catchment area is not that small. I wonder why during off season there are so little connections / competition with OU. I reckon SPU should be at least ranked in 5th place during winter (after obviously BEG, ZAG, PRN, SKP)
ReplyDeleteSOF have not published any results for March yet! How they did rank them?
ReplyDeleteSofia Airport handled 642.909 passengers in March.
DeleteEven with the Wizz problems and the passport struggle for our citizens to get it and wait for 3 months to get new passport SKP reach 600k for 3 months 👏
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteVisa liberalisation is now showing effect in PRN. If it maintains the current 30% growth, it will reach 4.4mln passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive, taking into account no LCC has a base there yet.
I think if LCC was based there, you'd see almost no other charter operator there anymore, right now they are doing rather well as competition is non existent, so they can charge any price they want and people will pay. Considering the fact that Kosovo is a landlocked and only way in by air or by driving very long way around, this is until motorway along the Croatian coast is finished in 2025, and one in Montenegro soonish, perhaps then you'll see large noumber of Kosovars taking that route,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriatic–Ionian_motorway but like with Albania where airport is almost only way to get in atm.
DeletePristina is performing extremely well!
ReplyDeleteQ1 2024, Pristina n. 2 in ex Yugo, around 50% of n. 1 performer Belgrade, that's incredible!
koliko putnika tirana u q1?
ReplyDelete1,910,616
DeleteFinally data for Mali Lošinj. Lošinj is magnificient island. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance of commercial flights?
DeleteI guess it is safe to assume that BEG surpassed 2 million in April
ReplyDeleteNo question
DeleteLot's of flights from BEG to TLV today as Maccabi fans return home after their team was defeated yesterday.
ReplyDelete01.55 IZ E95
04.40 IZ A321neo
09.05 IZ A321neo
12.15 E4 B738
13.55 IZ A321neo
Bravo Panathinaikos! ☘️
DeleteVictors flew on Sky Express' ATR. Must have been a comfy ride for a basketball team.
DeleteFR is making ZAG-SKG year round!
ReplyDeleteWas it not possible to just polish the concrete like you see in alot of similar spaces? I feel like the tiles let down the whole look. Still looks great, just not amazing.
ReplyDelete