All capital city airports in the former Yugoslavia will see their capacity levels grow in September, with Ryanair to remain the region’s largest carrier.
Belgrade Airport has the most available seats on scheduled flights in September, standing at 1.045.592, marking the fourth consecutive month where capacity will surpass one million. The figure represents an increase of 7.1% on 2024. Air Serbia will continue to maintain its position as the largest carrier, holding 52% of all available scheduled capacity. A resurgent Wizz Air will grow its seat count by 25.2%, with a total share of 18.8%. Zagreb follows as the second largest with 599.552 available seats on scheduled flights during the month. It represents an increase of 13.7% on the previous year. Croatia Airlines will be its largest carrier with 36.4% of total capacity followed by Ryanair with 30.6%. The flag carrier will grow its capacity 24.5% year-over-year on the back of introducing five new routes in July, while Ryanair will increase its number of seats by 15.1%.
Pristina Airport will have 458.217 available seats, with capacity growth currently projected at 11.2%. GP Aviation has the largest volume of seats, holding a 30.7% share. It is followed by Wizz Air with 12.4% of total capacity. Skopje Airport will boast 349.861 seats in September, up 9.4%. Wizz Air’s capacity decline finally comes to an end, growing 4.9% on the same month last year. It will still hold the largest share at 48.6%. It is followed by Pegasus Airlines with a 12.3% share and growth of 22.4% compared to last year. Sarajevo will have 280.762 scheduled seats on the market in September, representing an increase of 17.2% on 2024. Ryanair, which is growing its capacity by 125.7% year-on-year, is the largest carrier with 16.6% of seats, followed by Pegasus Airlines with 12.6% and 14.6% growth.
Podgorica Airport has 231.652 seats on scheduled flights in September, an increase of 8.6% on 2024. Wizz Air, which is growing its capacity by 10% on last year, is the largest carrier with 22% of total capacity, followed by Air Montenegro with an 18% share. Finally, Ljubljana has a total of 192.757 seats on scheduled services, up 20.7% on September 2024, with most carriers growing their capacity on last year. Lufthansa will be the airport’s largest with 15% of all seats, followed by Turkish Airlines with 13.7%. The Turkish carrier will add the most capacity at the airport in September when compared to last year, growing by 7.774 seats, followed by new entrants KLM and Eurowings.
Largest carriers by scheduled seat capacity in the former Yugoslavia, September 2025
Is JU growing or shrinking in September?
ReplyDeleteIf it was growing they would have mentioned it.
DeleteYes, it is growing with a 2.2% increase in capacity.
DeleteYou are so smart @anon 9.,05
Deletenow it is only 200k seats difference between JU and CA! Soon difference will be even lesser!
DeleteA 2.2% increase seems low with extra E-jets and A330s in the fleet this year.
Delete@9:12 Difference is over 200k. Get a calculator to do the maths again.
DeleteThis site is full of people like the one at 9.05. Those that know everything.
Delete@Anonymous 09:12
DeleteIt is 212.000 seats. Which means that OU has only 62% of JU's available capacity.
But it does closing the share difference fast this year.
^ and it's load factor is disastrous so what difference does it make. They have more seats because they have more planes than they had last year.
Delete@Anon 09:19
DeleteThat is correct,
I also expected ASL to have more seats available with the increase in fleet numbers.
Maybe they have a lot more charters this year?
Croatia Airlines results this year with increased capacity are just amazing in comparison to JU. Even if OU goes bankrupt, Croatian government will do similarly what Maltese's government did with Air Malta. Simply start a new old airline and call it KM Croatia Airlines, smart move by OU management!
Delete^ Do you hear yourself?
Delete"Croatia Airlines results this year with increased capacity are just amazing in comparison to JU."
"Even if OU goes bankrupt"
You are calling an airline on the verge of bankruptcy amazing?
Good to see BEG with 4 months over 1 million seats.
ReplyDeleteSign of a maturing hub.
DeleteBy 2027 we should have four months with over a million pax per month. Only wish it was JU that was leading the growth, not Wizz.
DeleteWhen an airline adds back an aircraft that it previously removed and replaces an A320 with an A321 it is natural that in percentage terms it will lead growth.
DeleteJU next year should grow by a lot more than it has in 2024 and 2025. EXPO is coming fast!
DeleteYU had crazy growth in 2022-23, and it bit them. Makes sense to slow down a bit in 2024-25. Probably they will try to grow again in following years.
Delete"Probably they will try to grow again in following years."
DeleteThey are growing as we speak. You can't endlessly grow every year by 30%.
Growing less than your competitors in your home airport is not good.
DeleteThey need to grow a lot faster next year. They now have the fleet.
Percentage growth can't be the same because JU is by far the largest airline with over 50% capacity share. Them adding 5,000 seats and Wizz Air adding 5,000 seats will give you a completely disproportionate percentual growth rate.
Delete@Anonymous 09:43 I'm less convinced that EXPO 27 will drive a huge growth in passenger numbers. The event is almost completely unknown by the general public in other countries.
DeleteWe should also be aware that the current situation is beginning to get a vast amount of attention in the global media. Growth is defiantly not the most important factor at the moment, rather consolidation on routes and making a stable basis for the future. JU will face many challenges in the future and making sure it has a strong product (which isn't that hard to achieve) and workable route network (which is slightly harder) should be the priorities.
The political situation is the biggest obstacle for JU going forward.
DeleteI think it's a bit early to say for sure. However it's looking that way indeed.
DeleteExpo will not make a big difference. Check data for Astana airport with similar Expo from few years ago. Pax numbers were almost the same as previous years
DeleteThe only real way how JU can continue growing passenger numbers is with more A330 routes and flights. Having 4 A330s and 14 flights per week is a blasphemy
DeleteHow yes no... 130 countries are preparing their exhibition places at Expo just to Serbians may take a closer look. Expo have tradition of about 200 years, but for some people it's just local village event
DeleteGreat to see Wizz air decline finally to be finished at Skopje 👏 350k schedule seats in September is great numbers!!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteExcellent growth for LJU!
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteI think Wizz next year will overpass Ryanair at numbers segment seeing that adding new routes at Skopje, now base in Tuzla with 9 routes , plus they will recieve new planes , my opinion is Wizz will be dominant on the Balkans next year
ReplyDeleteWhat's the situation in Romania between the two?
DeleteWizz air opens new route there , ryanair I havent seen any new route
DeleteDid W6 also have more available seats in the region than JU last September?
ReplyDeleteNo, the airline was in the midst of a significant reduction in flights and capacity last year and ranked third. It also had fewer aircraft based in the region to begin with.
DeleteLooks like with many more aircraft available now Wizz will put pressure on everyone in the region.
DeleteJU better be prepared.
Bravo Fraport!
ReplyDeletePristina’s reliance on GP Aviation is always a surprise. Their dominance is unusual for a relatively small player, but it shows the strength of diaspora traffic.
ReplyDeletestrong VFR traffic
DeleteVisual flying rules??
DeleteGoogle it.
DeleteIt means Visiting Friends & Relatives
DeleteTo be correct, it is not reliance on GP Aviation but reliance on tour operators. GP is just the company that wet leases the aircraft to them. If someone has a better offer, they would be out within months.
DeleteAir Montenegro having just 18% share in Podgorica while Wizz leads is a bit worrying. The national airline should ideally have a stronger position at its home base.
ReplyDeleteWith ryanair and wizz air presence there that would not happend. They both bring tourists from Europe which are cheaper and convinient then Air montenegro
DeleteThat's why government is planning PSO so they can give Air Montenegro money.
Delete@Anonymous 09:30 Given Montenegro's modest population, having a national airline at all is quite a wonder.
DeleteAs many times written on this blog Air Montenegro could be profitable by just flying to Belgrade the whole day. But instead of making the best out of it they compete and lose money on other routes.
DeleteWhen thy were Motenegro Airlines they had domination on the Belgrade market with JU barely matching their frequencies.
The region as a whole is clearly growing stronger.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteRyanair’s impact in Sarajevo is huge. Just a couple of years ago no one would have thought they’d become the biggest player there.
ReplyDeleteFor now they are doing good , but we will see them after subsidies finish what will happend........
DeleteThey don't fly as many routes as W6 does from Skopje and most are packed, they could only expand
DeleteW6 is present in Skopje more then 10 years and have handled 15 million passengers , you cannot compare them with Ryanair currently in Sarajevo. When ryanair will stay in Sarajevo more then 10 years and handling the same numbers of passengers than you will be eligible to compare ;)
DeleteNice to see every single airport in the region showing positive year-on-year growth.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened with Ryanair's entry into Skopje?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean what happened? They had talks with the government over potential flights. That's it.
DeleteThe government was making sound as if flights are imminent and FR management was very impressed by the talks with the minister.
DeleteWell governments always do that.
DeleteWhen wizz see intensive talks with ryanair they launch new routes , clearly saying we will not see them in Macedonia.
DeleteMaybe its a tactic to preassure Wizz to expand, although I doubt it.
DeleteNo , I was believing and hoping they will come, but soon as they launch new routes I think that is clearly sign we will not see them in our country. I wish I am wrong but... and those new wizz routes were planned for next year , guess why they launch them now? :))
Deleteplus wizz now covering great german cities , good portion of italy , also starting now with spain , other europe cities are also covered by them , honestly there is not a big choice what ryanair could launch , except some UK route and what ever??
DeleteWhat Skopje really needs now is Dubai or Doha or Abu dhabi, Copenhagen , Munich, Dusseldorf , and London gatwick or stansted and will be completely covered
DeleteWhat Skopje really needs now is Dubai or Doha or Abu dhabi, Copenhagen , Munich, Dusseldorf , and London gatwick or stansted and will be completely covered
Delete@9.42 nobody made sounds. its the aviation fans that discovered the Ryanair corporate aircraft landing at SKP that day...
DeleteFranjo Tudman Airport continues its amazing run this year!
ReplyDeleteI am very οptimistic about next year as well.
DeleteThe only uncertainty is the international demand for travel. It is strong so far this year but a lot of economists predict a difficult 2026.
How come each month ZAG has 100-200K more seats than PRN, yet the difference in total passengers is close to zero this year?
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean load factor in ZAG is too low? some 70%? Or PRN has a load factor of 95%+ - being the cashcow that it is.....
Because PRN's traffic is mostly diaspora with fully booked flights. Also as we saw in the July results for ZAG, Croatia Airlines' expansion had no impact on passenger numbers, which would indicate their planes are half empty which is not surprising when you consider the airline's loads that are published in their financial reports.
DeleteDiaspora is not a guarantee that planes will be packed. Could be Croatia's loads are very poor.
DeleteHuge difference indeed. Such as waste.
have in mind there stil charter flights to PRN that are not included in the montly capacity numbers
Deleteexactly 11:33! charters are not included in calcs.
Delete@11:33 that's incorrect. Admin has confirmed months ago that charters are included.
DeleteWhen charters weren't included PRN would appear below SKP by seat capacity.
Great growth for LJU! The sales to BCN seem to be great, Vueling upgraded some december flights to an A321.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise but happy to hear. This route should have been served for years.
DeleteWhen booking, i don't see the type of aircraft - am i blind?
DeleteAircraft type is visible in GDS (Sabre) and they switched to A321neo on Sundays around Christmas indeed.
DeleteFunny to see that LH Group (LH OS EW SN LX WK) is offering more seat cap than JU or OU on the ex YU market
ReplyDeleteYes crazy how 6 airlines combined have more seats than 1....
DeleteBravo Lufti!
Deletewhat a duce..
DeleteJU must get rid of those awful Getjet wet leases and dry lease some decent and newer a320 . Yes the crew of Getjet is very polite and helpful but the airplanes are in a bad condition .
ReplyDeleteSo true!
Deletedoes capacity include / allow for a set number of infants per flight or they excluded from capacity/load calculation?
ReplyDeleteCapacity is number of seats in each plane for each route planned per person
Delete