Germany is the largest international air market for the countries of the former Yugoslavia this summer season with a combined total of over 5.85 million seats between the two regions from March 30 until October 25. It represents an increase of 7.2% on the summer of 2024. Germany ranks within the top three international markets for all former Yugoslav states.
Croatia leads the way with 2.842.093 seats with Germany this summer, making it its largest foreign market ahead of the United Kingdom and Italy. Overall capacity has grown 6.4% year-on-year. Ryanair is the largest airline operating between the two countries, holding a 26.2% capacity share. It is followed by Eurowings in second and Croatia Airlines in third place. A total of sixteen cities in Germany are linked to Croatia this summer.
Serbia has 1.001.302 seats with Germany over the 2025 summer season, making it the country’s largest market, followed by Montenegro and Turkey. Capacity between the two has grown 6% compared to last year. Despite maintaining just two routes, Lufthansa is the largest carrier between the two countries this summer, due to its use of Airbus A321 aircraft. It is followed by Air Serbia and Wizz Air, with Eurowings as the only other operator coming in fourth. A total of fourteen cities in Germany are linked to Serbia this summer.
Macedonia boasts 576.622 seats with Germany this summer, positioning itself as the country’s second-largest market, behind only Turkey but ahead of France. This summer sees capacity between the two markets grow 2.8% on scheduled services. Just two airlines operate between the states, with Wizz Air being the largest with a commanding 83.6% share of total capacity. Lufthansa is the only other operator between the two countries. Ten cities in Germany have a nonstop air service with Macedonia this summer.
Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks just behind Macedonia in capacity to the German market. A total of 573.696 seats are available between the two this summer, up 41.1% on last year, primarily due to Ryanair’s growth as well as frequency increases by Wizz Air from Banja Luka and Tuzla. Germany is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second-largest market behind Turkey but ahead of Sweden. Ryanair is the largest operator between the two countries, followed by Wizz Air and Lufthansa. Nine German cities see nonstop connectivity with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pristina has 232.529 seats to Germany, however, it has numerous flights sold exclusively through tour operators which are considered charters. Therefore, these are not included in the overall scheduled seat capacity count. If only seats on scheduled flights are taken into account, the airport sees a decrease of 10.2% in capacity between the two on the previous year, primarily due to a sharp decrease in flights by Condor and easyJet. Overall, Germany is Pristina’s second-largest country market after Switzerland.
Slovenia has 231.108 seats this summer to and from Germany, with all flights between the two countries operated by the Lufthansa Group. The figure represents an increase of 22.9%. The growth has been fuelled by Eurowings’ entry onto the Slovenian market and Lufthansa’s capacity growth. Germany is Slovenia’s largest air market, ahead of Turkey and France. Lufthansa holds 88.3% of total capacity between the two, with Eurowings maintaining the rest. Only Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf are linked to Ljubljana.
Montenegro has 191.980 seats available to and from the German market this summer. The figure is an improvement of 17.1% on the same period last year. Germany is Montenegro’s third-largest market behind only Serbia and Turkey. Wizz Air is the biggest of six carriers between the two countries, followed by Eurowings and easyJet. On the other hand, national airlines Lufthansa and Air Montenegro rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in terms of capacity. Montenegro boasts flights to seven cities in Germany this summer.
Those are big numbers
ReplyDeleteA significant portion include transfers to Canada. When booking on the Air Canada site, the VAST majority of connections to any city are via FRA and MUC.
Delete"Croatia leads the way with 2.842.093 seats with Germany this summer, making it its largest foreign market ahead of the United Kingdom and Italy." That statement requires verification, I simply can't believe there's more demand on Croatia-Germany route than Italy, Spain or the UK routes... Croatia is very popular country in Germany, after all 3.3 million Germans spend their holidays in Croatia every year. But I am almost certain there's more demand between Spain, Italy and the UK, especially in summer months.
DeleteIt is verified. You are more than welcome to do your own research.
DeleteThere should be info about Austria and Switzerland. More like, passenger numbers in between former YU and German speaking countries. Majority of YU population has concentrated in German speaking countries.
DeleteInteresting. Germany and Turkey seem to be in the top in ebay country.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise Germany remains a top market. There’s strong business, tourism, and family travel demand.
DeleteLess and less business which is good.
DeleteWhy on earth less business travel would be good? That is the most lucrative market segment for an airline.
Delete^ +1
DeleteThe stuff some ...experts wright here are unbelievable!
Germany is the 3rd biggest economy in the world, the largest in Europe as well as the most populous country in the EU
DeleteIt's arguably the most important market any airport could tap into. And it's good we're well connected with them
Anonymous 10:10, I thinks your statistics are not correct. Germany it might have the largest GDP in Europe, but certainly not in top 5 largest in the world. Skopje needs connections with GCC countries.
Delete@Anonymous19:17
DeleteGermany is 3rd largest economy in the world, with $5.015 trillion in 2025, or about $59 600 per head...
No surprise
ReplyDeleteHow does Slovenia have such a huge increase? Are the capacity increases really that huge? I don’t think Eurowings arrival alone would boost the numbers so much.
ReplyDeleteBecause Lufthansa increased frequencies on Munich-Ljubljana route this summer. Percentage growth is always larger when the base number is smaller.
DeleteAnd I believe they are also using A320 on some Frankfurt flights
DeleteWeren’t they 14pw last year as well?
DeleteNo, there were 13pw last summer.
DeleteAha, thanks!
DeleteMunich growth wasn't realised in the fullest last year, this year it'll be 14/week doe.
DeleteWe love Germany! 💕😍🇩🇪
ReplyDelete❤️
DeleteWe also love to fly JU to Germany! 🇷🇸
DeleteNot if you want to fly to MUC though.
Delete^ Yes, instead you can use them on the 10 other cities they fly to in Germany. As for your obsession with Munich, mentioning it every other day, it is likely they know much better then you why they think Munich would not work for them financially.
Delete+100
DeleteJust fly with JU to SZG or NUE and catch a bus or a taxi from there to get to MUC.
DeleteWhy would I do that when I can fly directly to my destination, MUC?
DeleteI do not think MUC would not be successful financially for JU. It seems to be for every other airline in Europe. Many of them smaller than JU and with smaller demand for travel to MUC than Serbia does.
DeleteWhat is so special about JU that unlike all other airlines in Europe that prevents it from flyybg to MUC profitably?
Because you have no clue what the passenger structure on this route is where absolute majority is Lufthansa transfer passengers.
Delete@Anon 09:42
DeleteI'm sure the other 9 cities in Germany that JU flies to can support its route and there are enough travelers for them BUT Munich which is both bigger than Frankfurt and on the most populous state, Bavaria can not!
Or maybe some analysts here should just stop making illogical assumptions.
No, we should trust your assumptions.
Delete@09:22 Taxi from Salzburg to Munich would cost more than the plane ticket... There seam to be trains in that part of the world.
DeleteMunich as airport is not bigger than Frankfurt.
DeleteMunich city is bigger than Frankfurt.
DeleteIt proves nothing.
DeleteIs Atlanta the biggest city on the world?
This is crazy! Just goes to show how present and strong the German economic still is.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope next year markets like Spain or Greece become #1 from Serbia.
Mutti
ReplyDeleteWhat Mutti? If you followed international relations, you would have seen that Croatian-German relations are on decline for a decade now. France is Croatia's strategic European partner now, not Germany!
DeleteHow yes no!
DeleteSeems the same thing is happening with Serbia.
Delete+1
DeleteHahahahaha according to 10.09.we will have to stop singing Danke Deutschland and start Merci France
Delete1630, not will, but already are. Laugh all you want, clearly you got nothing better to say.
DeleteWhat I find interesting is that Germany-Ex-Yu is growing yet German air market is still way below pre Covid numbers passenger wise.
ReplyDeletePre-covid it was very reliant on domestic travel. Over the past 10 years, though, they've built or upgraded a lot of rail lines to high-speed. Munich-Berlin, Frankfurt-Cologne, Hannover-Berlin, etc.
DeleteAs someone living in Austria, which is connected to Germany, I can say that it is definitely not because of improved train lines, they are worse than ever, but because Germans travel less, esp. flying cause of economic issues. Before was Thailand, now is Croatia with car.
DeleteThe diaspora and tourism demand clearly continue to grow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Lufthansa dominates in Serbia with just two routes.
ReplyDeleteTwo routes and six daily flights. They even started sending the A321 from MUC y'all.
DeleteIf Wizz Air did not cut so much BEG would have solid growth in March. They were a bad boy so we had a decline.
JU could launch a daily flight to MUC and have full planes from day one.
DeleteThe demand is massive!
Six daily flights? When?
Delete@9.33
DeleteObviously no since no JU management in the past 15 years has thought so.
This summer.
Delete@09:35 you do realize that sometimes management can be wrong, right?
DeleteYes, I'm sure they never looked at it and the past 6 management teams were wrong. They were waiting for your words of wisdom.
DeleteDemonstrably they are wrong on this since there is enough demand for a JU flight to nine other German cities but not to Munich.
DeleteI don't think anyone cares about whether you personally have a JU flight to Munich. You have polluted this entire topic.
DeleteMunich became new Lagos!
Delete100% Lufthansa Group operators in LJU lol
ReplyDeleteWell that is what Slovenes wanted when they flew from Zagreb, Venice or even Vienna inseatd of supporting Adria. Now it's like that.
DeleteYes and they seem happy with not having to cover JP losses every year.
DeleteTrue sat.
DeleteThis goes to show that Balkan tourism to Germany is peaking!
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteBravo Lufti!
ReplyDeleteJU could launch easily MUC with Embraer‘s.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteEven double daily E-jets would have very high loadfactor.
^ You know? You have the passenger figures, passenger movements, financial data in front of you? Everything that the airline does.
DeleteLeave the guy alone. He needs a flight to Munich with JU so naturally JU should fly there 5 daily for him.
Delete^ Did you bother to read the article before commenting? it shows how big the market is!
DeleteDid you notice that LH can fill 3 daily A320 series ac on the route?
Yes, with transfer passengers.
DeleteJust like in FRA! And JU has 13 flights per week!
DeleteFRA is a bigger transfer airport for LH than MUC.
Delete@10:16
DeleteTrue!
The introduction of the ERJ's isn't going as easily as anticipated, and that capacity is already needed on its existing network. By the end of the year we should see the ERJ's start replacing the A319's so that won't leave alot of room for new routes, especially on higher frequencies needed for MUC relaunch. I'd bet more on routes with 2-3 weekly frequencies such as HEL.
DeleteAs for FRA, JU has maintained the route for decades unlike MUC so throwing smaller capacity for double frequencies made sense and obviously worked well. FRA is an example where the ERJ was beneficial for its existing network. I think DUS or BER will be next to go to the ERJ with frequencies increasing from 7 to 10-11 pw.
Air Serbia Summer 2025 from BEG:
ReplyDelete1. FRA 13 per week
2. BER 7
3. DUS 7
4. STR 4
5. HAM 3
6. HAJ 2
7. NUE 2;
8. CGN 2
Delete9. HHN 2
That’s from INI.
DeleteAnd we have
Delete10. LH MUC
11. W6 FMM
12. W6 FKB
13. W6 FDH
14. W6 DTM
Which are two more cities Croatia have connection to?
Bremen and Weeze
DeleteThanks
DeleteBremen and Cologne from BEG should do well with E190
DeleteCGN tried and failed.
DeleteCGN failed with A319. HEL, MRS also. E190 is the key success for those routes
DeleteGermany is the economic and travel engine for much of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAir Serbia could launch MUC without any problems with E:
ReplyDelete1. Monday morning
2. Wednesday evening
3. Thursday evening
4. Friday evening
5. Saturday morning
6. Sunday evening
How many JU Munich comment threads are you going to start?
Delete@admin, please react.
DeleteThis becomes terrible.
Why does that bother you? Btw. Lufthansa mainly carries transfers, which is why flights from Munich to Belgrade are very expensive. Even in Frankfurt, they are not so brutal with prices. So Air Serbia would carry mostly P2P passengers, but they could certainly also carry some transfers to Skopje, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Tivat, etc.
DeleteBrcause I trust the airline's route planning department more than your anonymous obsession because you need a ride there, which makes you think you have the right to pollute every other topic with your Munich theories and conspiricies.
DeleteI wonder if capacity levels in LJU are above or below 2018 levels when Adria was around. Admin, could you possibly give us the number?
ReplyDeleteThe capacity levels this year are 12.9% below 2018.
DeleteThank you! Thought so...
DeleteAre the regular A320/A320NEO upgrades of LH 1458/1459 already considered in the capacity levels of 2025?
DeleteOther airlines have covered a significant part of JP capacity but not all. Also a lot of Adria capacity was connecting traffic from the region and Albania to western Europe.
DeleteWill the equipment change on second daily departure from Ljubljana to Frankfurt stay on A320-family aircrafts for the whole summer season?
DeleteCurrently some 320 and 32N scheduled until end of April. Also some 319 MUCLJU
DeleteToday was a 320 in LJU. Tomorrow 32N
France being Macedonia's third biggest market is a bit misleading.
ReplyDeleteIt is due to the fact that Wizzair flies daily (some days even twice) to Basel-Mulhouse airport, but due to legal requirements it uses the French MLH code instead of the Swiss BSL code. However, these flights cater primarily to the Swiss-German diaspora in the region. Thus, it can lead to the conclusion that there is a relatively big market between France and Macedonia which is not the case in reality.
That's true. However, with Paris Orly and Lyon flights commencing in addition to Beauvais, the numbers to/from France should rise dramatically.
Delete4 flights to France from Macedonia would be definitly great addtion and numbers would growing for sure. Especially with Orly airport thats a big door opening for SKP.
DeleteGreat article and overview!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if part of the reason why LH dominates Ex-Yu is because Ex-yu airports are more expensive compared to Sof, OTP? Bud? We know that wizz and especially FR are really aiport fees sensitive. If this is the case, I don’t get why management doesn’t reduce airport fees like they did in ZAG. I know that many people are against Ryanair torturing airports regarding fees, but also FR has right as well. You can’t run low cost business model if you don’t operate effectively. Eurowings, Transavia and the other legacy airlines low costers will never complain about fees, but their prices are not always low cost either!
ReplyDeleteWhat percentage of Cro-Ger market is Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteImpressive numbers
ReplyDeleteMacedonia need flights to Munich for sure , and those numbers would be even higher after that. I hope we will see that airport in future.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa changed equipment at flight FRA-BEG to full A321 and A21N
ReplyDeleteThey fly regulary to SKP with 320/321 and mostly 319 ... since launching never used smaller type of planes then this.
DeleteMeanwhile Ryanair terminated 5 German routes this week one from Weeze, two from Berlin and three from Cologne. The market is struggling that's for sure.
ReplyDeletelol
Delete