All capital city airports in the former Yugoslavia will see their capacity levels grow in May, with Ryanair to remain the region’s largest carrier, followed by Air Serbia and Wizz Air.
Belgrade Airport has the most available seats on scheduled flights in May, standing at 933.020. The figure represents an increase of 7.9% on 2024. Air Serbia will increase its seat count by 4.1% from the airport and continue to maintain its position as the largest carrier, holding 52.7% of all available scheduled capacity. Zagreb follows as the second largest with 570.830 available seats on scheduled flights during the month. It represents an increase of 10.3% on the previous year. For a second month in a row, Ryanair will have more capacity than Croatia Airlines, maintaining its position as the airport’s largest with 35.6% of seats compared to the flag carrier’s 33%. The budget airline will see 33% capacity growth year-on-year from its Zagreb base this May.
Pristina Airport will have 378.007 available seats, with scheduled capacity growth currently projected at 2%. GP Aviation has the largest volume of seats, holding a 32.3% share. It is followed by easyJet with 13.9% of total capacity. Skopje Airport will boast 312.673 seats in May, up 8.7%, despite Wizz Air continuing to reduce its capacity, down by 4.7% on the same month last year. It will still hold the largest share at 50%. Sarajevo Airport has 257.112 scheduled seats on the market in May, representing another strong increase of 41.3% on 2024. Ryanair, which is growing its capacity by 175% year-on-year, is the largest carrier with 18.9% of seats, followed by Pegasus Airlines with 13.1%.
Podgorica Airport has 193.240 seats on scheduled flights in May, an increase of 13.7% on 2024. Wizz Air is the largest with 17.3% of total capacity, closely followed by Air Montenegro with a 16.7% share as it launches a new service to Prague. Finally, Ljubljana has a total of 184.146 seats on scheduled services, up 14.1% on May 2024. Fuelling the growth is the entry of KLM and Eurowings onto the market, as well increased capacity by British Airways, Swiss and Lufthansa. The German flag carrier will be the airport’s largest with 16% of all seats, followed by Turkish Airlines with 12.2%.
Largest carriers by scheduled seat capacity in the former Yugoslavia, May 2025
Sarajevo with over 40% every month.
ReplyDeleteThey also have a good diversity of airlines
DeleteEvery month ? January,February and March they had 100k passengers each month , small numbers big percentage ;)
Delete^ It's still progress.
DeleteIt is progress ok , but in the end what is important , percentage or total passengers number!?
DeleteCountry with 3m people barely handling 100k passengers in a single month for me is not a wow or a win , smaller countries then Bosnia have identical total numbers each year
DeleteFirst of all, Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have 3 million people, but 2.5. Second, there are 3 more airports next to Sarajevo. Third, there is no national carrier. So the results and growth that Sarajevo is achieving this year are both WOW and win .
DeleteOn google.com says Bosnia has 3.4 milion people from 2022 source , if that is not true then ok. Btw Every country has at least 2 airports some even 3 , even smaller , let say Montenegro has 2,Macedonia has 2 that is not a reason for having 100k passengers my friend. Dont just look for excuses and accept the reality.The national carrier will not do anything to bring more passengers then what Ryanair doing so that is not a reason too.
DeleteZao mi je ovih koji iz mrznje, neciji napredak ne mogu da prihvate. Crna Gora ima vrlo jak turizam koji barem pola putnika.
Delete19.01 Are you stupid, or are you just pretending to be? More than 40% growth is an amazing result. What do you expect — 200% or 300% growth? This level of growth is impressive given the current capacity of the airport."
DeleteBiH ima 100k turista manje nego Crna Gora, ali u obje države se jako jako malo prijavljuje, gotovo samo u hotelima.
DeleteNice to see full PRN numbers.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that is the full number. Considering that growth until now (Q1) is in double digits, I doubt that May will have this big of slowdown.
DeleteIt will have slowdown because Condor, Swiss and Eurowings have big cuts and Air Baltic no longer flies to PRN.
Deleteim not from there but usually when someone says "cuts from Condor" it means the local Reisebüros have shifted capacity to another charter airline with better (cheaper) conditions
DeleteIt is full numbers for PRN I assume this is also first time to see them.
DeleteGood growth next month
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the actual KLM loads in Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteYesterday, the flight to LJU was 80% full and 98% full on the way back. But that does not indicate anything of course...
DeleteFlown with them thrice so far and loads were always above 85/90%.i genuinely don't think i saw more than 5 empty seats in economy.
DeleteAny news on potential morning flights? Those would be awesome
I'm baffled by BA's ability of being able to make LJU work but not a much bigger market like BEG.
DeleteIt helps when you fly almost daily. Not 3 weekly with barely any connections.
DeleteI would not be surprised if klm goes 10 weekly next summer (morning flights in the days when transavia is not flying).
DeleteBA is doing good numbers in Ljubljana because every destination bar Luxembourg and potentially Warsaw this year have a massive potential to grow, with Belgrade JU is pretty much flying to every destination needed for local traffic and is now changing to transfer one
DeleteKLM and Transavia are killing it in our region!
DeleteKLM should do 3 morning flights in the winter with E75 too, and then see if it sticks. I'm sure that next year either 737 or additional rotations will be added, some flights are sold out for this summer already, and we are in April.
DeleteI was flying with them today. Just landed actually. There were 94 ppl on departure flight (2 in business). I got info from ground staff that flights are 90% full on average. They are already discussing double daily
DeleteCome on, it's Easter. Flights are full everywhere
DeleteGreat to see all capital city airports in the region growing.
ReplyDeleteEncouraging to see balanced growth.
DeleteQND
DeleteImpressive growth for Sarajevo! A 41% increase and Ryanair leading the way .
ReplyDeleteImpressive percentage small numbers. First month in the 2025 they having 200k+ passengers in a single month.
Delete17:00
DeleteAre you stupid, or are you just pretending to be? More than 40% growth is an amazing result. What do you expect — 200% or 300% growth? This level of growth is impressive given the current capacity of the airport.
40% growth is kind of sad for a capital city. Only airports like Zadar, Tuzla or Ohrid should be seeing such growth.
DeleteHow is it sad tho? Skopje had it, Pristina had it, and now Tirana also had it and ended up having more passengers than Belgrade. How is that sad? :)
DeleteIt is pointless. The guy is just a troll.
DeletePRN charters also included?
ReplyDeleteGP Aviation seems to be included now.
DeleteYou don’t hear much about GP Aviation outside Kosovo. In fact, I don't think anyone else has heard of them.
DeleteWhy should they care about that?
DeleteTheir customer base has heard if them and that's what matters.
Did I say they should care? I just made an observation. Calm down.
DeleteYou are the only one sounding upset.
Deletelol dude how am I upset?!?! I'm just saying it's interesting that an airline no one has heard of or knows about dominates a certain market. The only person that sounds triggered and upset is you.
Delete@9.54 correct 100%
DeleteLjubljana needed this boost.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteLjubljana’s numbers are still way below where they were a few years ago. Encouraging, but not a comeback just yet.
DeleteAre there any news on the tender already?
DeleteMore seats mean nothing if flights are expensive or infrequent.
DeleteLjubljana’s numbers during JP days were inflated because of connecting traffic. Now it is pure O&D.
DeleteTransfer passengers are a genuine part of business. So there is nothing about it being inflated. For any airport, getting transfer passengers is important.
DeleteWondering about LJU April numbers. LH today with an 321 in LJU. Tmrw again 32N. LH has brought 320s very regularly to LJU this month.
DeleteLH A320 is planed only until end of May, then they switch back to CRJ9/CRJX. I hope they get rid of those CRJs as soon as possible, they are more and more unreliable. Yesterday LJU-FRA was canceled.
DeleteA321 arrived to pick-up passengers from yesterday's canceled flight.
DeleteLjubljana didn't recover even P2P traffic from 2018 while Zagreb and Trieste are booming. The last tender should bring two new routes.
DeleteWhere did you get the info? Which routes are we talking about?
DeleteAnonymous10:50, where you saw LJU - FRA was canceled. On Fly radar and time time table all flight yestedays was realized. All summer season after May LH flying with CRJX 1000, April and May one flight is with A320 on LJU - FRA route.
DeleteOnly A320 family flight currently scheduled from LH to LJU is on 22MAY evening flight LJUMUC with 319
Deletescheduled in May....
DeleteYes, A320 was scheduled for LH1458/9 only in April (all days except Tuesday).
Delete@anon 11:53: LH1461, CRJX EI-HIC pushed back and then parked. Still on ground more than 24 hours after planned departure.
DeleteThe CRJ s are awful and constantly break down
DeleteZagreb finally turning into a real Ryanair stronghold.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines getting overtaken by Ryanair in their own hub two months in a row says everything about their long-term strategy.
DeleteWhat does two months in a row have to do with it? The change is permanent, Croatia Airlines will never be above Ryanair again.
DeleteRyan air plans to add another 20 routes out of Zagreb by 2028, currently flying 32. Very likely, they'll have 40% of the traffic in 2026, 45% in 2027 and 50% in 2028. I expect they'll handle at least 3.5 million passengers in 2028 and 2 million this year.
DeleteCom'n 11.52, of course it will not happen.
DeleteRyanair is just about to leave ZAG because there is no demand there at all, because croatians don't travel, especially not by air, and definitely not abroad 🙂
If An.@11.52 is right, additional 20 should be: Edinburgh or Glasgow,
DeleteVilnius or Riga, Helsinki, Gdansk, Krakow, Kiev, Lvov, Hannover, Nurnberg, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Marrakesh, Ibiza, Valencia, Sevilla, Porto, Lyon, Chania, Rhodos, Amman or Aqaba
I'm curious to see what will happen towards the end of their contract and subsidies for the base opening. How much will they squeeze MZLZ to extend the contract?!
DeleteAnd no, I don't think they came to leave, so good luck "prestigious" airport.
We need this to happen at BEG too
DeleteAir Serbia’s 52% share is impressive
ReplyDeleteGreat to see a regional carrier doing so well.
Delete52% is a bit low for a home carrier.
DeleteWould love to see a comparison of international vs domestic capacity in Croatia.
ReplyDelete66.500 seats are on domestic services this May in Zagreb.
DeleteThanks. To be honest, thought domestic capacity was larger.
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteIs AJET numbers included in TK's?
ReplyDeleteNo, they are separate.
DeleteSarajevo and Skopje difference now of only 60,000 pax, wow!
ReplyDeleteWe need to take "hats off" to Ryanair.
DeleteYes Lowcost but they are smashing it.
The Balkans and Eastern Europe are generally price sensitive and lower yielding markets. Any business that tries to make it there with high yields is bound to fail.
DeleteAir Serbia tried it and failed, they adjusted their pricing especially outside the busy summer months. In winter their fares are more than acceptable. That's why carriers such as Ryanair do so well in this region.
200 million passengers in one calendar year is a new record for Ryanair and it is one of the few airlines in the world to have achieved the milestone. The other airlines include American Airlines, which flew 248.7 million in the calendar year of 2024, as well as Delta Air Lines, who flew 200 million in the same year.
DeleteLast year total difference was 1.2 million passengers. So come down :D
DeleteNemjee will change his tune when Ryanair comes to Belgrade. He ignores the fact that Ryanair carries more passengers in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe.
DeleteRyanairs most important market is for sure Western europe ...
DeleteLCC dominate the short haul in almost all markets worldwide, but especially in Western Europe. Nothing to do with “price sensitivity” of the Balkan market, people generally don’t want to overpay for short flights
DeleteRyanair’s aggressive growth in Sarajevo is likely a test case. If yields hold, they’ll push even further
ReplyDeleteOr if passenger numbers grow the government will not add taxes. They will have good leverage when faced with SJJ management.
DeleteRyanair clearly sees big potential there
DeleteThey see a big potential anywhere where they can get it their way. They can be quite unpredictable.
DeleteApparently Ryan is doing extremely well in Sarajevo!
DeleteThat likely means Ryan is paying extremely low fees (or none) in Sarajevo!
DeleteBosnian CAA is very decided to uphold the raise of the charges. They need to finance their service.
DeleteWhere does the Skopje growth come from?
ReplyDeletePegasus increasing flights and new summer routes, Transavia to AMS and Easy to Paris (both NEW) + Freebird + Wizz bringing back A321
DeleteFreebird are charters and likely not included here
DeleteSo that means will be more passengers in the end of the month ?
DeleteSarajevo’s 41% growth is massive.
ReplyDeleteFinally in May they are getting 200k passengers in a single month. Thats why % is high because of the small numbers.
DeleteEven tho you are beyond anoying, every month, on each comment about SJJ, you reply the same thing like a parrot. You may even be right about jan-apr period.
DeleteBut no way you can say that about May.
Comparing to last year 41% in May is 85000 seats added.
I just dont see how is that big precentage and small numbers.
No other airport from the list added even near that amount in May.
Don't bother with this guy. His level of understanding business is at the level of an 8-year-old kid.
Delete^ How dare you say something like that.... to an 8 yo...
DeleteLjubljana is finally bouncing back
ReplyDelete👀 would you be so kind and elaborate on this?
DeleteDoes SKP charters with Frebird are included in this numbers ?
ReplyDeleteNo, they are not included in the overall capacity count.
DeleteSo it means this numbers would be higher in the end? Thank you Admin
DeleteThank you for providing unique content, stats and news. Beats aviation churnalism that's spreading on social media and regular media.
ReplyDeleteDoes this down of 4.7 by Wizz is possible to be achieved by Freebird charters in SKP in the end of the month ?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why Ryanair doesn’t fly to/from Pristina?
ReplyDeleteSame question why they dont fly to Skopje :)
DeleteRyanair top carrier in the region. OK , the region is poor, nothing new about that. People would gladly hang from the wings ...the only thing that matters is cheap, cheap, cheap....comfort or anything else does not count.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about this page is they seem to be realistic....pls look at this ....EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, etc.etc. That means than small , even moderate swearing is OK, as long as it is not EXCESSIVE. I wonder if any other site has such a liberal policy .
ReplyDelete