Two capital city airports in the former Yugoslavia will see their capacity levels decline during the final month of the 2024/25 winter season in March, with Wizz Air to retain its position as the region’s largest carrier.
Belgrade Airport has the most available seats on scheduled flights in March, standing at 722.320. The figure represents an increase of just 0.2% on 2024. Wizz Air remains the main culprit for the slow growth, however, British Airways’ absence, as well as Qatar Airways’ daily rather than ten weekly flights will have an impact. Air Serbia will continue to maintain its position as the largest carrier, holding 50.2% of all available scheduled capacity at the airport. Zagreb follows as the second largest with 429.499 available seats on scheduled flights during the month. It represents an increase of 6.8% on the previous year. Croatia Airlines will retain its position as the largest carrier at the airport, with 40.7% of available capacity. It is followed by Ryanair with 27.8% of all available seats.
Skopje Airport is set to see stronger growth for the first time in several months, boasting 252.909 seats in March, up 6.5%. Wizz Air, which will reduce capacity by 2.8%, or 3.848 seats, will hold a 52% share, while Transavia will commence operations to the Macedonian capital. Pristina Airport will have 242.999 available seats, however, it has numerous flights sold exclusively through tour operators which are considered as charters. Therefore, these are not included in the overall scheduled seat capacity. If only seats on scheduled flights are taken into account, the airport sees an increase of 10.9% in capacity on the previous year. easyJet has the largest volume of scheduled seats, holding a 22.4% share, ahead of Chair Airlines with 15.6%.
Sarajevo Airport has 164.691 scheduled seats on the market in March, representing an increase of 48.4% on 2024. Pegasus Airlines, which has increased its capacity by 26.9% year-on-year, is the largest carrier with 17.1% of seats, followed by Turkish Airlines with 13.6%. Fuelling the strong growth is primarily Ryanair, which has brought an additional 20.050 seats, becoming the third-largest airline. Podgorica Airport has 124.932 seats on scheduled flights in March, a decrease of 2.9% on 2024. The suspension of several routes by Ryanair is the main culprit for the decline. Having removed 52.5% of its capacity or 9.554 seats. Turkish Airlines is the largest with 21.3% of total capacity, ahead of Air Montenegro with 18.2%.
Finally, Ljubljana Airport has 118.888 seats available this March, which is down 3.3% on the previous year. British Airways’ absence coupled with the reduction in flights by Air France and Transavia have impacted the figures. Lufthansa will be its largest carrier with a 17.6% capacity share, just ahead of Turkish Airlines, which has 290 fewer seats than its German counterpart.
Largest carriers by scheduled seat capacity in the former Yugoslavia, March 2025
"Most EX-YU airports with March growth" - Ljubljana crying in the corner.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that the new tender does SOMETHING
Play might try Lju ops, other than that I don't see anything coming out of the never ending story of subsidy flights
DeleteSomething more is needed in LJU. They need a carrier to base an aircraft or two and cover the most demanded routes. Just look what only one FR aircraft is doing in Trieste and how much pax they bring. But I am afraid that until Fraport-LHG is controling the airport, this will not happen.
DeleteOnly way we get an aircraft based in LJU is if AirDolomiti decides to base one or two E190s. Nothing else is viable - not because there isn't enough demand, but because Fraport is tied with LH too much to let pax go to other airlines.
DeleteI agree, but if AirDolomiti do that, they will not fly direct P2P routes to so far unserved destinations (generating new pax) but they will only replace LH flights to LHG hubs. The same is valid for OU (long time rumors they want to base two A220s in LJU). Is this really beneficial for Slovenia? I don't think so.
DeleteIn some way it is beneficial for Slovenia; if nothing else the salaries and the taxes are paid in to Slo. Not heard about the OU romours, what are they saying? 2 A220 to replace the LH group?
DeleteI would like to have what you guys are smoking.
DeleteAirDolomiti will not pay (much) salaries in Slovenia and those flight will not be treated as *A flights any more. Seen at other locations. OU plans to base 2 A220 in LJU, no details disclosed, only rumors, but I assume they will somehow replicate JP operations, mostly feeding LH group. It's in LH interest after all.
DeleteI see the LDS* sufferers are commenting again today.
Delete* Lufthansa Derangement Syndrome
LDS has proven to be a real thing first with Adria and now with Fraport
Delete@10:04 sure buddy, sure!
DeleteAirBaltic is currently suffering from the same LDS illness.
DeleteActually Air Baltic thanks to wet leasing from LHG had a record number of passengers last year!
Delete^ take a look at their finances... They are on the bring of bankruptcy.
DeleteAir Baltic is wet leasing *from* LHG? That is something new. But what is the fact, LJU will not see SN metal in LJU this summer any more, it will be replaced by Air Baltic A220.
DeleteBtw there are rumors Binter Canarias is interested in basing aircraft in LJU.
Delete@10:17 you need to inform yourself better. Air Baltic is leasing a lot of its excess capacity to LHG airlines. And thus it carried 8.3 million pax last year.
DeleteDoes the 8.3 million figure really include pax from wet-leased flights? Because if so, it's hugely misleading.
DeleteEvery single rumor about someone basing planes in LJU has been false.
Delete@Vlad why would it be misleading? The airline is getting paid to fly these people.
DeleteIt has more aircraft that it can currently use on its own network and found a very common method of utilizing them.
So it had an over 18% growth last year and increased load factor.
https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/airbaltic/airbaltic-breaks-records-with-8-3-million-passengers-in-2024/
Well, for sure there was some serious interest expressed from AirDolomiti, Cyprus Airways, Air Baltic, Play and Croatia airlines. Not to mention fake storytellers (from China, India etc). But it seems they are all gone... for many different reasons.
DeleteThis is rather unusal to record wet lease passengers as your own. I agree, this is misleading. But thanks for the link, now it's clear, Air Baltic transferred 5.2 mio passengers, plus more than 3 mio for wet lease partners.
DeleteIt is as misleading as counting pax flying charters for travel agencies as your own.
Deleteie not misleading at all.
No, the two are completely different. And no ACMI airline counts passengers they flew for another airline as their own.
DeleteActually they do cause carrying wet lease passengers is part of their business.
DeleteYour narrow definition of what an airline should do is not relevant at all today.
Again, it is completely misleading and no one does that. Air Baltic does it for marketing purposes to make their numbers look better because the airline itself is shiny from the outside and a complete turd inside. That's why they narrowly avoided bankruptcy this month and had to be bought by Lufthansa to survive.
DeleteAir Baltic is in deep financial trouble and Martin Gauss found the way to float the wreck by wet leasing the capacity instead of operating it (since it loses money with regular operations). But this frustrated the owner of Air Baltic, the state, since they keep on covering the airline's losses for years in return for the increased connectivity at RIX (which was completely artificial and unsustainable, and would eventually fade out). Now the state has an airline which is shrinking its network, carries less passengers to the country (that's why Martin pushed to have pax carried on wet lease to be counted as if Air Baltic's, even though he is a professional and knows that it doesn't work like that) and still loses money and expects the government to fill the gap.
DeleteI have a feeling that we'll see Martin CEO of another airline in Europe by 2026.
@anon 10.37
DeleteCounting passengers on wet-leased flights as your own is misleading because these flights have no BT code, were not marketed by BT and ultimately do not contain BT passengers in any meaningful way. In addition to that, LH and LX will (rightly) count these passengers as their own, so BT is effectively double-counting the same passengers on the same flights.
+100 @Vlad
DeleteI hoped that BEG would have a much bigger increase than just 0.2% on 2024.
ReplyDeleteMore E-jets for JU can not come soon enough!
Is another E jet actually coming?
DeleteThe airport's entire growth should not be dependent on Air Serbia. They need to do more to attract more airlines or get existing ones to grow ops.
DeleteThat is the plan, isn't it?
Delete@ 9.05
Delete"Mr. Rupić confirmed that the arrival of a second Embraer E195 is expected in the first quarter of the year"
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/02/air-serbia-says-more-long-haul-growth.html
Can not understand why VINCI operated BUD is growing by 18% while being a much more mature market while BEG is having minimal growth.
Delete@09:06
Delete+1000
Hopefully a few more will arrive in time for the peak summer season.
@
DeleteAnonymous 09:08
The two can't be compared for many reasons which were already discussed here. But also like was already written, BUD has an excellent aviation development team. They attend all the conferences and they go after new airlines and every lead and new opportunity. At BEG, I don't even want to comment. And like I said, it is not VINCI. Both teams are local and there long before VINCI came.
@Anon 09:11
DeleteVINCI is the operator and has final responsibility for the airport's performance.
THEY are losing money by not attracting more airlines and passengers to it!
Since the management team they found in place was not competent enough they should have brought other people to do the job.
True but also don't forget that BUD has a massive catchment area. It's basically the only airport in the country. In the second position it is Debrecen which has fewer passengers than INI.
DeleteEntire Hungarian traffic is centered around one airport. Add to that southern Slovakia and you have over 10 million increasingly wealthy passengers using that airport to travel.
Like Anon 09.11 said, they also have a professional team running the show which is something BEG never had. I don't think it will change anytime soon as they are still stuck in the Jat Airways mentality style of management. Even the new CEO who was appointed by Vinci isn't showing initiative to change something.
BEG is lucky to have Air Serbia which has remained proactive and has fueled the airport's growth over the years.
Nemjee BEG is also essentially the only airport for the country!
Delete^ Not really, it's a false narrative pushed by some. INI had 357,313 passengers in 2024. If the airport didn't exists, 50% of those would be flying from BEG.
Delete^ So BEG would have an extra 180.000 passengers. That is a massive 2.5% increase I think...
Delete@Anonymous 09:18
Delete+1
BEG is not the only airport in the country, there are a few more. In addition to those, BEG also competes with other airports in its catchment area and those include: OSI, TZL, TSR, INI and finally BUD.
DeleteBEG and BUD are sharing a considerable catchment area. The latter was more successful in attracting passengers from Serbia than the former has been in promoting itself for passengers from southern Hungary. Were there ever attempts by BEG to promote some destinations in cities such as Szeged? No.
Even though there are fewer Serbs using BUD, there are still a lot of them due to their superior offer and generally lower prices.
All this is because of BEG's management which still hasn't understood what it has to do to promote itself beyond its natural market.
OSI and TZL? Com'n give me a break
DeleteAnon 09:08 Where were you in 2023 when Belgrade airport run by Vinci had 42% growth unlike Budapest? How come you were not concerned about BUD underperforming compared to BEG?
DeleteSame old repetitive “masked-as-concerned” individuals. Belgrade had a good share of exceptional growth over the past few years. Please don’t worry about our airport since it’s breaking records every year and leaps and bounds ahead of anything else in the region.
DeleteNo, I said where were you at that time to ctriticise BUD leadership and compare them to BEG? You didn't, comments are still visible from that time
Delete@10:24 comments by whom exactly?
DeleteDo you really think every comment here is from the same commenter? Are you OK?
TZL had close to 600.000 passengers before Wizz cuts. That is not a small number.
DeleteAnon 10:31. Comments by Anon 09:08. Repeating the same about BEG every time is a cause for serious concern
Delete"Sarajevo Airport has 164.691 scheduled seats on the market in March, representing an increase of 48.4% on 2024. "
ReplyDeletewow!
The growth in Sarajevo is insane! And it will continue from April as well as Ryan is opening 5 new routes. Well done Sarajevo!
Deleteit is wow because there was nothing this time last year
DeleteRyanair cutting 50% of capacity in Podgorica is massive.
ReplyDeleteTrue but the overall capacity reduction is only 2.9%
DeleteClassic FR. If don't pay up, they leave
DeleteIt's not about paying, they increased their fees.
DeleteWe will see if they bring back the routes next winter.
DeleteIs there any info on BNX?
ReplyDelete+73% in March with additional 17.644 seats.
DeleteThank you, that is fantastic performance!
DeleteWow
Delete@admin article says Transavia is reducing capacity. Is that only for the AMS/ORY route or both?
ReplyDeleteIn March they only fly AMS.
DeleteReduction of 2 rotations in March (11.3 and 18.3 ones are not sheduled)
DeleteI know it is an unpopular opinion but BEG had tremendous growth in both new airlines and frequencies of existing until Vinci got the Budapest concession.
ReplyDeleteThe W6 troubles doesn't seem to affect BUD.
It is unpopular because it is completely unrelated and false.
DeleteBecause it has nothing to do one with another. BUD would have had that growth regardless. If you think Vinci changed anything in the first few months it took over BUD you are very wrong. BEG's stagnation comes as a result of JU stagnation and big Wizz decline. It has been explained a million times that Wizz has massive competition in Budapest where they are fighting with Ryanair for market share and dominance. They have none of that in BEG and Ryanair has gone on record that they have no interest in flying to BEG.
DeleteSome commenters will insist it is just a coincidence. But even the kid they brought to be VINCI CEO for Belgrade is a clear shine about where their priorities are.
DeleteIf another LCC had opened even a small base in BEG W6 behavior would have been much different.
DeleteThey are going to have 13 aircraft in TIA!!! Why? Because FR is pressuring them there.
Wizz Air is a Hungarian airline and BUD is their fortress hub. It only makes sense for them to fight for it and to make sure Ryanair doesn't overtake them.
DeleteIn BEG they never became a dominant player and on top of that they are faced with stagnating JU. So this airport is a low priority for them.
This is why BEG management should have focused on encouraging others to expand or launch flights. They have done next to nothing. We are almost in March and there are minimal increases, launches and upgrades planned for spring.
Anon 09.33
DeleteI fear the market is not large enough for a third player to have a base in BEG. The market is not ready for it, someone would suffer in the end. It's better to encourage airlines such as easyJet to expand or even to invite FR to launch flights no one else wants to.
For example, you have both JU and W6 stagnating on BEG-LCA and fares are always crazy high in spring and summer. Why not encourage Aegean or Cyprus Airways to launch LCA-BEG or even give Ryanair what it wants to launch PFO-BEG flights. I could also see FR being the best candidate to launch Tenerife flights from Belgrade.
Anon 9:22 When BEG had massive growth you didn't celebrate it but instead claimed passengers would leave Air Serbia due to unorganic growth and large crowds. It didn't happen. Now you want us to forget your mistakes by shifting topic to slower growth? Not going to happen
DeleteNemjee TIA was a much smaller market than BEG yet it is going to have 12-13 million passengers this year.
DeleteAnd all because FR and W6 fought each other for marketshare.
^ Yes, conveniently forget they have a coastline and booming tourism industry. Some of you people are hilarious.
DeleteIt really doesn't matter, we all know that commentators here will never be happy with anything. They were unhappy when BEG had 40% growth claiming it is fake, unorganic, and there was even a person every month claiming the numbers were faked. They are unhappy when JU doubled its wide body fleet size and launched new long haul routes, but they were also unhappy when they were not growing wide body flights. If BEG tomorrow announced the arrival of 10 new airlines and a new base, people would still be unhappy and find something to complain about. You have a guy doing full conspiracy theories how BEG was affected by BUD, claiming it had strong growth under previous CEO, forgetting that it was due to Air Serbia's massive growth which would have occurred if Peter Pan was the CEO of the airport.
DeleteThey were also fighting in Sofia and Riga and once the war ended the situation calmed down. The same will happen in Tirana unless you think they will have 40 million passengers.
DeleteThe LCC fight in SOF resulted in the airport having permanent passenger numbers for higher than before the fight started.
DeleteIt created a new equilibrium point by greatly increasing demand for air travel.
Same thing will happen to Tirana. And keep in mind that country is far more difficult to reach by car from the rest of Europe.
@nemjee
DeleteeasyJet's reduction at BEG is something that fascinates me. They've literally handed over almost all their routes to Wizz, which has simply picked up where they left. Market for them was there. GVA-BEG is their only remaining route but I see even this eventually being handed over to JU at some point, with easyJet leaving our market completely. It's unfortunate because I saw them being a third player at BEG.
@10:26
The TIA scenario is something we have already seen at SOF. Flights, routes and frequencies went crazy for a while, now it has all settled down and BEG has once again overtaken SOF. Growth of FR and Wizz in TIA has settled, in fact there have been a couple route cancellations for this summer. Growth in TIA is coming more from other airlines with seasonal routes and charters. Another major expansion of JU should push BEG's numbers towards that of TIA.
@10.51 Exactly what anon 10.38 is saying. Only that I don't see point of equilibrium in TIA at 13mio...The numbers will fall down once the war ends.
DeleteIf TIA's new equilibrium would be at 10 million passengers per year it would be a fantastic performance.
DeleteEspecially if you think that 10 years ago thy had less than two million passengers a year and it is the poorest country in Europe.
Anon 12.37
DeleteIndeed, my guess is that yields in BEG are not good enough for them. That's the only reason I could see why they are staying clear of a lot of eastern European markets. Their presence in the Balkans is mostly focused on holiday destinations where they carry Westerners with higher purchasing power.
Wizz Air and Ryanair have a more competitive cost structure for our region and that is why they profited all those years ago.
People always speak of the FR-W6 war in BUD, SOF, TIA... but in BEG we had a JU-W6 war and we all profited from it. Unlike BUD, SOF or TIA we at least have a player who secured long-haul flights on top of expanding their Euro-Med network. I am sure those three airports would take JU in a heartbeat if they could over either FR or W6. There is a reason why all airports out there are desperately trying to secure legacy carriers.
DeleteAir Serbia's network has more or less stabilized. Weaker routes were dropped so now this is what we have and from this we go on. People forget that BEG might not have boomed like some other airports but the fact it had a steady growth made sure there were no shock effects once the fighting ended.
^^^
DeleteI'm sure BUD would have preferred Malev to still be around instead of having Ryanair, Wizz and Smartwings competing on who will bring the most passengers. The city of Budapest and Hungary too! 😂
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeletePristina going strong this year too.
ReplyDeletePristina is the silent winner.
DeletePristina's numbers would be even higher if charter flights were included. Tour operators play a huge role there
DeleteFinally some growth at SKP.
ReplyDeleteZagreb nearly 430 000, that is a lot for February! Even with 70% load factor, we're looking at 300 000 in February!!! My projections, Zagreb will manage around 270 000, anything over that would be an outstanding result.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThese are numbers for March
DeleteHow big is the Air France and Transavia reduction in LJU? Is it the result of KLM arriving?
ReplyDeleteAir France reduces capacity by 25% (close to 2.000 seats) in March. This is a result of fewer flights this entre winter season.
DeleteTransavia reduces capacity by 41.6% or close to 3.000 seats.
Sarajevo increase wow!
ReplyDeleteImpressive
DeleteWhats going on with Ini?
ReplyDeleteSome info for Tuzla?
ReplyDeleteI will start doing capacity articles for smaller airports in the former Yugoslavia, so will bring you the numbers shortly.
DeleteThanks :)
DeleteThank you @admin
DeleteAfter months of slow growth, it’s great to see Skopje’s numbers improving. Wizz Air cutting capacity is disappointing, but Transavia entering the market is a positive sign.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Zagreb and Sarajevo growing! Zagreb’s 6.8% increase is solid, and Sarajevo’s nearly 50% jump is impressive. Ryanair is clearly making a big difference in the region.
ReplyDeleteTurkish Airlines is doing well across multiple airports. Sarajevo, Podgorica, Ljubljana…
ReplyDeleteWe are really small fry when you look at the numbers compared to other markets. Still, good to see growth.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete