The three remaining flag carriers of the former Yugoslavia - Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Air Montenegro - handled a combined total of 1.193.888 passengers during the first quarter of 2025. Air Serbia remains the largest of the three, welcoming 789.101 customers on board its aircraft. Its passenger traffic rose 5.5% on the previous year, while the number of operated flights increased 3%. While the average passenger load factor hasn’t been disclosed, it is estimated to be 72%, based on available seat capacity during the first quarter. In 2023, Air Serbia had already surpassed its pre-Covid passenger numbers. For the current year, Air Serbia aims to increase its passenger count by 6% to 4.7 million.
Croatia Airlines handled 329.481 passengers during the first quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 2.3% on the same period last year. The figure is still 4.7% behind its pre-pandemic 2019 performance, when it welcomed 345.800 customers over the first three months of the year. The airline’s average cabin load factor stood at 59.9%, up 0.2 points on 2024 but still down 8.7 points on 2019. Croatia Airlines welcomed 240.308 passengers on international services, 88.226 on domestic flights and the remaining 947 on charter services. The carrier operated 1.2% fewer flights than last year. During the first quarter, the airline had the most capacity on its Zagreb - Frankfurt service, offering 79.050 seats, followed by Zagreb - Dubrovnik with 69.022, and Zagreb - Split with 62.908 available seats.
Air Montenegro handled 75.306 passengers during the first quarter of the year, representing an increase of 44% compared to the same period in 2024. The carrier operated a total of 940 flights, up 27%. The average cabin load factor stood at 70.7%, a notable improvement of seventeen points compared to Q1 2023. During the first quarter, the carrier had the most capacity on its Belgrade service, offering 26.332 seats, followed by Istanbul with 13.456, and Ljubljana with 4.524 available seats.
It is so odd that neither of these three airlines cooperate with one another.
ReplyDeleteThe only cooperation that would make sense is JU-4O.
Delete^ but it would turn Air Montenegro into a pure feeder airline...
DeleteTheir pax numbers on TGD/TIV-BEG would increase a lot. So they would profit from such codeshare.
DeleteIt’s a shame that after 30 years, the ex-YU carriers still aren’t cooperating or consolidating. The region is too small for three separate flag carriers.
DeleteIts a shame that after 30 years the EX yu governments dont cooperate which damanges their populations greatly.
DeleteMaybe OU can cooperate with YUs long haul flights? Make convenient transfers to coastal cities.
DeleteNot unless they were privatised and even then its not likey. Sad reality is that political issues trump sound economic and geographical logic in many places around the world.
Deleteits not only up to government. foreign control and influence doesnt allow for further cooperation. the two largest influences being LH and Turkish for aviation and by extension their governments. OU will never be allowed to grow and develop beyond being a feeder by the germans. Just look at FB. Same traffic numbers as OU and no development in Bulgaria either. Also for those claiming that 4O would be a feeder for JU like OU is for LH. Thats only if the partnership isnt negotiated and planned well. it depends on the competence of the management at 4O. But there is no other option for 4O for a partnership to develop and grow. A partnership with the two would help great growth.
Delete"OU will never be allowed to grow and develop beyond being a feeder by the germans."
DeleteWhat the hell does this even mean? Croatia Airlines is utterly useless voluntarily, not because "the Germans" are controlling it. Who are these Germans anyway? Lufthansa does not cooperate with OU very much and it puts flights from Zagreb and Dubrovnik at the same time as the OU flights.
Lufthansa Derangement Syndrome is very common on this site.
DeleteI am sick of nationalist comments in airline business. It is simply business, if you call something CRO-Cola or SRB-Cola doesn't mean it needs to be successful or succeed. It simply business not World Cup match.
DeleteWhat are Air Montenegro's numbers compared to Montenegro Airlines?
ReplyDeleteThey had around 40,000 passengers per months in 2019, so these Air Montenegro results are far far away from that.
DeletePre pandemic Montenegro and YM were very dependent on Russian tourists.
DeleteThey are doing much better financially than YM.
DeleteGood to see Air Montenegro finding momentum. Their improved load factor shows they're on the right path operationally.
DeletePre-Covid 2019 was 657k pax according to the Wikipedia. 2024 number was 499k pax according to the official site. Growth 44% surpasses precovid numbers.
Delete^What are you talking about?
DeleteAir Serbia 800 k. Croatia Airlines 300 k. Bravo Hrvatska!!! 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines continues to underperform. Load factor under 60% in 2025? Something clearly isn’t working.
DeleteCroatia Airlines needs serious restructuring if they want to stay relevant in the long term.
DeleteUnfortunately, the worst scenario is going on and nothing will change. They will remain irrelevant in the long term, and financed by public money, because their main task is not operating and developing their airline business. They have 3 other main tasks:
Delete1. feeding LH
2. safeheaven for uhljebs and aparatchiks
3. personal benefits for few selected individuals tied to high politics, within and outside the company
Still stuck in some pathetic gloating over neighbors so called failures?
Delete60 % LF made on feeding LH with 13 % market share is not so called failure, it's pure failure. And there is one thing and one word I agree with you. In addition to failure, it's pathetic. Btw I am not a neighbour. Pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteI wonder how much the expansion in summer capacity will help Croatia Airlines recover further.
ReplyDeleteWell they are increasing capacity by 15% so it must result in growth.
DeleteYou never know with them. They had less revenue in Q1 even though there passenger numbers increased :D
DeleteThe problem for Airlines is the cost of a ticket is less now then 30 years ago while Business costs have increased.
Delete30 years ago luggage was included in the price and the meals & drinks were free.
DeleteAlso the planes flying today are more economical meaning the costs for fuel have been decreased.
So, not all business costs have increased.
OU will continue to fly fresh air around this summer. LF might just creep up to 65%
DeleteSo out of those three JU handled 66% of passengers.
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteSo the three airlines combined carried only 22% of pax flying through the ExYu airports last year.
ReplyDeleteOur region is LCC central.
DeleteAnd Lufthansa Group and Turkish.
DeleteSame as elsewhere in Europe
DeleteSerbia and Slovenia are actually the opposite of LCC central, and Croatia is not very LCC-heavy either. Compare the traffic to Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and you will see.
DeleteAt least all three grew
ReplyDeleteKind of sad there are just three flag carriers left in the entire region.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Almost forgot Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia, they all had flag carriers as well.
DeleteIn my opinion, three flag carriers for such a small region feels excessive.
DeleteYes that is so sad to have "only" three carriers in area of around 20 mil people which is one of the poorest in Europe.
DeleteYou can't call ex you countries poor. People all have fancy German cars, designer clothes, go out for coffee every day. I wish I could afford such luxury living in the UK!
DeleteYes you can call west Balkans poor because they are poor. Numbers are pretty clear about that. People from poor countries go to find job in the western Europe because there are better salaries and better life. Going in coffee shops every day has nothing about that.
DeleteHaving lower salaries does not automatically mean that the quality of life is poorer.
DeleteLets not forget that climate in UK, Denmark, Sweden is awful comparing to Balkan countries.
Lets not forget that social life in these countries can't be compared to Balkan countries.
Food in these countries is often tasteless comparing to Balkan.
High salaries are important but they aren't the only factor that determines the quality of life.
@11.20 Well, come to Balkans then and live this high life with us. It is not difficult to obtain Ex-Yu citizenships and residence permits
DeleteThousands of Nepalis doing that.
Delete"Lets not forget that climate in UK, Denmark, Sweden is awful comparing to Balkan countries."
DeleteSerbia and Bosnia have the worst air quality in Europe, so sunshine doesn't help very much. Also life expectancy is awful.
Please stop watching pure official numbers. Economy in ExYu is so much more than that. As simple as that, with official average salary in Serbia, you couldn’t live more than 15-20 days in the month. But most people live and live big time. So please use your head
DeleteNot always, only during few months of winter.
Deletehttps://aqicn.org/map/europe/
Life expectancy is same in Serbia as in Croatia (EU member, long coast).
Three flag carriers are 2 too much..
DeleteOh my, just what bland pork dish is tastier in Balkans than a nice big fat juicy steak in the west? Air quality is abysmal and life expectancy below average as so many people smoke too many ciggies.
DeleteDecent
ReplyDeleteDecent for Air Serbia and Montenegro, yes.
DeleteCroatia with 13 % market share, 60 % LF and shameful feeder role, far far far away from decent
Bravo for Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Air Montenegro.
ReplyDeleteBravo for Air Serbia
DeleteFull agree. Impressive.
Not sure about Montenegro, they are on the brink.
Croatia Airlines, light years away from bravo
Quite opposite, shame and disaster.
Pozdrav iz Rijeke
Pozdrav,we need your opinion more... please don't listen to those haters! Comment more!
DeletePozdrav unfortunately went to zama academy.
DeleteNeeds to stay there
DeleteAir Montenegro’s 44% growth is very impressive. They seem to be making the most of their limited fleet and network.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines still hasn’t caught up with 2019 levels. That's crazy.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThat's reason enough to dismiss the management.
DeleteAir Serbia is slowly building itself into a serious regional player.
ReplyDeleteIt already is
DeleteAir Serbia is showing that a well executed hub model can work even in a relatively small market like Serbia. Kudos to their network planners.
DeleteThe hub system is based on transfers, so the size of the market is less relevant. Hint: Qatar, Emirates, KLM.
DeleteAnd no, I am not comparing Serbia to those countries, but saying that if you want hub, you need a lot of transfers and less p2p travlellers.
Well, Marek said that transfers are about 40% of the traffic, hoping to reach 50%, which means it’s not actually hub model yet. We need about 10 more Ejets and 10-15 feeding routes, plus 4-6 long haul routes to become real hub and spoke airline
DeleteLet’s see how things go when the Russia sanctions go away
Delete^ all that's left for you to do is hope and pray.
DeleteWould be interesting to compare these figures with Ryanair or Wizz Air operations in the region. The LCCs are definitely shaking up the market.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines' reliance on Frankfurt is obvious. It’s time they diversify and invest in new markets beyond Star Alliance hubs
ReplyDeleteToo late for that now.
DeleteThat ship has sailed.
DeleteThe ship has not sailed. They only need political Mafia to leave them alone and to get professional management. With such development they would make wonders within few years
DeleteThey introduced Berlin, Hamburg, Madrid, Prague, Stockholm - all destinations that were previos connected only via SA hubs, and OU will connect them with direct flights and actually avoid Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich. So - they are investing in new markets and we can already see that FRA pax number from ZAG are stagnating.
DeleteAll these cities are seasonal only.
DeleteSeasonal at this moment, but will not be so long.
Delete^ don't hold your breath. There is a chance of just one of the five going year round.
DeleteWhat’s driving the spike in Air Montenegro’s numbers?
ReplyDeleteMore flights than last year.
DeleteActually it just looks like they are able to fill more available seats than anything else. Maybe better marketing, promotion and fares are generating this increased LF.
DeleteLet's not forget that they finally appeared in ticket booking engines only this year.
DeleteTrue forgot about that
DeleteBut they still do not sell transfer flights on their site.
DeleteTransfer? Lol
DeleteYes, transfer.
DeleteFrom where?
DeleteThey could sell transfer flghts from Serbia and Turkey to western Europe. But they don't. The deal they had with previous PSS provider was criminal. Now that they are with Hitit some new features should be enabled.
DeleteI have personally flown many times FRA-TGD-BEG as it was much cheaper than direct FRA-BEG flight especially if you buy the ticket few days before flight. And connection time was perfect.
DeleteExactly. Would be nice of them to offer connections, no matter how limited their network is.
DeleteWould be helpful to compare RPKs (Revenue Passenger Kilometers) here. Total passengers are just one piece of the puzzle.
ReplyDelete@Admin I guess numbers for Montenegro are compared to 2024 and not 2023?
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia will continue this growth in June as more capacity is being added to the fleet. One E195 is coming back from service today and the other one already started revenue flights.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete@admin,
ReplyDeletewhen shall we have BEG numbers for April?
Next Tuesday evening.
DeleteSo this means every flight of Air montenegro is basicly empty ... those numbers not promising alot and are far away from good , but good luck to them anyway...
ReplyDeleteDid you bother reading anything from the article?
Delete