Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport welcomed over one million passengers in a single month this August, achieving the milestone for the first time in its history. The airport handled 1.003.859 million travellers during what is traditionally the busiest month of the year, representing a 7.5% increase on August 2024. This summer also marked another first, with the airport recording four consecutive months - from June through September - of more than one million scheduled seats on offer, with October also being close. The airport is also on course for a strong end to the year based on projected capacity growth through the last quarter.
Air Serbia was the largest carrier at the airport during the month with a 53.9% share of total available scheduled capacity. It was followed by Wizz Air, with 17% of all seats, then Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Swiss, Air Montenegro, Flydubai, Austrian Airlines, AJet and KLM. The airline that grew its capacity the most compared to last August was Wizz Air, adding 54.026 seats. It was followed by Air Serbia, Lufthansa and AJet. With the exception of Eurowings, all scheduled carriers increased their capacity levels. However, unlike in August 2024, Belgrade Airport was not served by airBaltic (set to return in 2026), Luxair, British Airways or Wizz Air Abu Dhabi.
The busiest route from Belgrade in August, based on seat volumes, was Tivat, followed by Zurich, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Podgorica, Larnaca, Vienna and Amsterdam. The route with the largest increase in available capacity was Larnaca, which added 6.234 seats. It was followed by Guangzhou, which was not served during the same month last year, as well as Dortmund, Podgorica, Milan Bergamo and Rome. Overall, Belgrade Airport handled 5.895.343 million passengers during the January - August period, up 5.9%.
Belgrade's largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity, August 2025
Finally :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats
ReplyDeleteBravo Beograde!
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers could we see in total this year?
ReplyDelete8.9-9 million.
DeleteWow, amazing news! :)
ReplyDeleteWay to go!
ReplyDeleteNext mission: 9 million this year!
Amazing news, congrats Airport Nikola Tesla Belgrade on historic first! This is really a major milestone for an airport in this region.
ReplyDeleteNow roll up the sleeves and finish all the work in progress areas. Million passengers a month deserve better surroundings than constant construction.
Infrastructure is the weak link
DeletePlease @BEG bring back the online reservations for parking! It makes a huge difference for passengers that would like to come to the airport with their own car.
DeleteThat is so true!
DeleteWow, congrats! I wonder why Vinci was quiet on such a milestone, they've known that for a while now
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to appear professional and consistent in when you deliver both good and bad news. If they would immediately share when things are good and push for later when they're not, then you leave the space for speculation as to why it wasn't shared at start of the month therefore people assume it's cause they didn't reach it
DeleteShows how much the airport has grown in the past decade. Air Serbia really is the driving force here.
ReplyDeleteActually, it’s not. JU had wrong capacity balance this summer. They need expansion urgently. Airport have so much potential, but JU is having second year one digit growth
Delete"wrong capacity balance"
DeleteWhat does that even mean?
Means too many unused charter capacity, instead of regular flights’ frequencies growth
DeleteOr new destinations
DeleteThey have a 54% market share during the busiest month of the year when foreign airlines have the most flights. So they are more than fine.
Delete@9.31
DeleteThey had 8 destinations this August that they didn't operate last August. How many new destinations per year would satisfy you? 20?
But still only 1% growth. And 6 more planes than last summer. Capacity could be used a lot better
DeleteThey definitely should have called you to organise their capacity. Btw their annual growth is over 4%.
Delete@anon 09:20 Actually, the airport does not have "so much potential", as Air Serbia CEO had warned earlier this year.
DeleteWhen did he say that BEG did not have potential? Stop making things up.
Delete9:39 No need, seems that you are already in armchair CEO position
DeleteHow? By telling you they had 4% growth. It is you that is giving them advice.
Delete@Anon 10:15 He said that the airport infratructure is becoming a bottleneck, having im mind Air Serbia`s plans. And that is exactly what it means: it does not have enough potential from Air Serbia`s point of view.
DeleteThe thing is: when your home airport has nice growth, and all the regional airports you consider your playground have nice growth, you should have nice growth too, if you have done things right. That's common sense.
DeleteP.S. I don't think it's worring JU underperformed (compared to market) this July/August, they'll come back quickly.
Guys, do you really think you shoud debate with a person who says that JU with 54% of market share is not driving force in BEG?
DeleteC'mon, his only intention is to belittle this success nobody in ex YU has ever had and let's not help him in that.
Exactly. If the airport grows 8% and largest airline grows 1%, means that other companies grows a lot more. Potential is there, but some mistakes are made
Delete@11:12 54% is capacity share. Market share is share of JU's pax in total pax, it must be somewhat around or under 50% which is still huge. Driving force this summer was Wizz but yes, overall, JU is the key player for BEG now and in foreseeable future, without doubt.
DeleteGuys, growth this year is thanks to Wizz Air and others. JU actually had a drop in passengers in July. This year they are stagnating so let's hope we see some growth from them this winter.
DeleteFor now we should all thank Wizz Air and others.
Wizz Air had a substantial drop in passenger numbers in Belgrade throughout the first quarter and has been the primary culprit for the airport's slower growth, rather than other airlines.
DeleteAir Serbia holding more than half of all capacity is impressive.
DeleteI find this impressive too
ReplyDelete"With the exception of Eurowings, all scheduled carriers increased their capacity levels"
Belgrade airport is going to Routes World in about a week. With million passenger record, time to show us BEG can do what BUD did when they managed to get new flights from both US and Canada for 2026. Other than China Southern, BEG didn't bring other long haul airlines since the start of concession.
ReplyDeleteHainan Airlines came as well.
DeleteWhat's realistic? US is, or soon will be covered by JU at most potential airports, China by JU and two Chinese airlines... Canada obviously, India maybe, some Africa (I will not say Lagos :)
DeleteI am buying a round if they announce new longhaul destination this year except PEK & MIA.
DeleteThe mix of airlines is good, but it’s a shame we lost British Airways and Luxair. Hopefully some of those carriers return.
ReplyDeleteThe return of airBaltic in 2026 will be a welcome addition.
DeleteI don't really understand the market of Luxair given the supply of Wizzair to neighboring airports as well as KL to AMS, LH to FRA and JU to BRU/FRA. The British Airways was never going to work given its visa policy.
DeleteOn the other side, I'm really hoping that Air France and SAS would finally pick up BEG.
AF with E190 would be perfect. Would be nice to see ITA too even though Italy is very well covered from BEG with 10 destinations.
Delete@09:31 There is a strong ex-Yu diaspora in Luxembourg, of course they would prefer direct link from the city they live and work in for quite good money and I think it's usually them commenting...
DeleteLarnaca being the fastest growing route is a surprise! Shows how popular Cyprus is becoming with Serbian travellers.
ReplyDeleteCyprus is good balance between flying time, prices and weather that is nice a good part of the year.
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteGood job. I guess the next airport in ex-Yu to surpass it in a single month will be SPU?
ReplyDeleteMost probably, although I think we are not that close to the event.
DeleteLet’s see how winter goes.
ReplyDeleteCongrats BEG, but let’s not get carried away. Still lots of work to do.
ReplyDeleteNice numbers
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny Tivat is still the busiest. For such a short hop, that route is pure gold.
ReplyDeletea shuttle bus with wings in summer
DeleteUntil a highway is available from Serbia all the way to the Montenegrin coast, it will be the case. I don't know why JU never deployed A330 to TIV though.
DeletePeople complain, but BEG is clearly on the rise
ReplyDeleteThis is just the beginning :)
DeleteCongrats BEG! Finally joining the “million club” for a single month. Took long enough but worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Ryanair?? Still refusing to touch Belgrade, while they’re everywhere else in the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteThey called the airport's management names and threw a tantrum.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/01/ryanair-says-underdeveloped-belgrade.html
DeleteRyanair allows in BEG competition to take the passengers away from them as they play the role of offended princess.
DeleteThey can't make it with current subsidy scheme, they were completely clear about their business with Belgrade. And Belgrade is, I think, clear about business with Ryan, they'll call them only if and when in dire need since key existing partners (JU and Wizz) are more important. I see this as fair business from both sides and there's really no need to call out Ryan or Belgrade on this matter.
DeleteThe real milestone will be 10 million annual passengers. That’s when BEG enters the big league.
ReplyDelete10 million will happen very soon and I don’t really see as a big milestone.
DeleteAfter all, there are 60 airports in Europe above 10 million.
20 million would be a big league from my perspective.
Wizz Air is clearly back in the game. Wouldn’t be surprised if they open up more new routes to Spain soon.
ReplyDeleteHope so!
DeleteWizz's growth is actually quite important, especially considering how high their load factors are across their routes.
DeleteAnd they are now operating an all A321neo fleet in BEG.
DeleteTenerife would be logical next destination.
DeleteI think they can make more of Valencia and Malaga, too. Unfortunatelly they're not that out-of-box so I don't think we can expect Bilbao from them and I expect JU to be the first on the Canary too...
DeleteBEG needs Tenerife and Ibiza flights. Other destinations will struggle.
DeleteNext year we can expect 4 months with over a million passengers and hopefully hitting the 10 million mark 🔥
ReplyDeleteI think next year we might see 3 months over 1 million.
DeleteGreat milestone, excellent job Belgrade. Especially the fact it's achieved in challenging year which, as we can see, didn't influence air traffic in the country. I think this called for some champagne at the airport, Vinci...
ReplyDeleteThey would probably say that opening champagne would be environmentally unfriendly :D same explanation they use for not using water cannon salutes for inaugural flights lol
DeleteYeap, much of CO2 in champagne :)
DeleteExceptional results for BEG.
ReplyDeleteMost ExYu capital airports are on the high now.
Balkan is atractive and it will be even more atractive unles we do something stupid...
Europeans are realising that their money are running more when in our cities and the value for money is great, especially among young Europeans plays.
Skopje for example was full with German speakers this summer.
The Balkans is attractive and is yet to see its peak development which is why the numbers go and will go up for some time for sure. Bosnia can double the pax numbers really quickly, Serbia has room for growth with JU's hub&spoke and leveraging BEG-INI, MNE is yet to make its airports a proper thing, Macedonia is a hidden gem, Albania and Kosovo buzzing... Unfortunately, the economic development is not coming with social development so we still see outstanding number of people leaving Balkans but that works for the industry too...
DeleteEurowings has become completely irrelevant at the airport.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey discontinued Stuttgart which is why capacitiy fell
DeleteGood growth and good result
ReplyDeleteYou can only imagine what happens if JU with half of capacity of the whole airport, increases frequency on their already existing routes.
ReplyDeleteOne or two million additional yearly pax could be generated without starting any new destination.
In order to do that it would need to hire hundreds more of pilots and flight attendants.
DeleteNot happening in a million years!
Yes, that's what airlines do. They have 41 mil profit last year, they should invest in new frequencies, routes, crews and airplanes
DeleteJU returns more than half of that sum to the state budget.
DeleteIt's nice seeing 1 million + on that table for the first time :)
ReplyDeleteImpressive growth overall
DeleteTop 3 Ex Yu airports by added passengers during Jan-Aug period compared to same period in 2024
ReplyDelete1. PRN 410.052
2. BEG 330.625
3. SJJ 300.986
So what will be yearly figure for 2025? Guestimate of course!
ReplyDelete8.9 or 9 million.
DeleteWonder what September will be like
ReplyDeleteAbout time
ReplyDeleteFinally becoming a mid size airport
DeleteCongratulations to Belgrade Airport for finally crossing the one-million mark in a single month! This shows just how much aviation in Serbia has grown in recent years.
ReplyDeleteI’m surprised Tivat is still the busiest route.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, with rising numbers, more legacy carriers will return in the future.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice
DeleteWhen will the expansion for expo start?
ReplyDelete