The former Yugoslavia’s 21 commercial airports with scheduled passenger traffic handled a combined total of 9.202.362 travellers during the January - April. The figure represents an increase of 796.789 travellers on the same period last year.
Macedonia was the fastest-growing market in the former Yugoslavia, adding 294.341 passengers during the first four months of the year. Its capital, Skopje, was the region’s fastest-growing airport, handling an additional 271.404 travellers compared to the same period last year. In April alone, Skopje recorded a 31.1% increase in passenger numbers, serving 339.052 passengers. Belgrade remained the former Yugoslavia’s busiest airport.
Passenger traffic among former Yugoslav airports, January - April 2026
Belgrade remained the former Yugoslavia’s busiest airport, adding 190.527 travellers during the January - April period despite facing several headwinds, including the suspension of services by a Middle Eastern carriers, among them one of its busiest airlines, Flydubai. In addition, the closure of Lufthansa CityLine significantly reduced operations to Munich for much of April.
Elsewhere, after several years of strong passenger growth, Pristina has begun to experience a slowdown. In April alone, passenger numbers declined 7.8% year-on-year. The airport is expected to face further pressure in the coming months due to significant frequency reductions and network cuts by its largest carrier, GP Aviation. Meanwhile, smaller Croatian coastal airports have been affected by the suspension of domestic Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights operated by Trade Air, after the Croatian government failed to launch the tender process for a new four-year domestic services contract within the required timeframe. A public call has yet to be issued.
Quite a few airports in the red....
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean. Only five of them are in the red and three of them are negligible cause they had < 16k passengers in the first four months.
DeleteThere are barely any reds. One of them is -1% which is nothing, and the others are so tiny that they go up and down very easily when they gain/lose one single route.
DeleteThe region added almost 800,000 passengers in four months. That's a very strong result considering the economic uncertainty across Europe and conflict in the Middle East.
Deletewell the -7% for BNX arent that negligible
Delete^ considering who their adivsor has been recently, I'm really not surprised.
Delete(laughed loudly)
DeleteIt won't be a good year for PRN by the looks of things.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised by Pristina's numbers. Many routes have become expensive and competition remains limited compared to other regional airports.
Deleteit feels so unusual though
DeleteMacedonia adding nearly 300,000 passengers in just four months is an incredible result for such a small market.
ReplyDeleteSkopje's growth is remarkable
DeleteHas inbound tourism to North Macedonia seen a huge increase? I understand its doing quite well.
Deletenot really, except for Italian and spanish numbers. You will never know though until they finally start registering them properly (the whole private sector doesnt register their guests)
DeleteI've always loved visiting Skopje, especially for its yummy food!
DeleteI don't think we as Macedonians have strong inbound tourism, not even middle level inbound tourism, not even plan to develop a real tourism, everything is based on kebapi and pivo. I visited Sarajevo recently and I was astonished how much you can do and see in Sarajevo for example, beside the great food.
DeleteWe have Ohrid lake but we don't know how to develop, no high end hotels for rich guests, everything is based on rooms from the 80s.
We have great potential for ski resorts but no real plan to develop. What we can be "proud" of in these 30+ years of independence is the high corruption everywhere and many missed chances to become a "boring" and stable country
I'm not from N.M but i really like the slightly disorganised natural feel to the country. I find Ohrid overly built up and not my cup of tea. I like the more quieter towns and beautiful landscapes. But yeah i guess there is a lot of room to increase which is good! Just wish it was less covered in rubbish. But thats similar to neighbouring states and a real minus for foreigners who come. Big up to visiting though.
DeleteThere are more tourists coming by air now then years ago. Even on Wizz flights from MAD and BCN there are spanish tourists, FCO is usally half italians and half macedonians, people are coming from ARN and PRG as well. Its nothing special but compared to years ago when 95% of the LF consisted of diaspora, this is good now. Plus many of us started to travel to Europe for leisure like never before. Not to mention the charters from Europe to Skopje that were coming every day until the end of May full of tourists.
Deletein summer the Old Bazaar and Stone Bridge are almost too touristy :) never believed that day would come to say a thing like this
DeleteLjubljana continues to underperform compared to most airports in the region. Growth is there, but it is still far behind what we see in Skopje, Sarajevo and even Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteWIthout a serious LCC base Ljubljana will never catch up, but steady, 15-20 % growth per year is okay, as long as the connectivity is being improved and there is a few new routes each year. It is heading in the right direction.
DeleteSlovenia really needs a stronger national aviation strategy. Passenger growth is welcome, but Ljubljana is still recovering from mistakes made years ago.
DeleteSo you always compare LJU to the fastest growing airports in the region? A few years ago some people here said LJU should be more like Tuzla and Banja Luka.
DeleteA few years ago LJU was like TZL and BNX by the number of handled passengers.
DeleteLJU's growth is actually bigger than two of those 3 airports that you have mentioned
DeleteIronicly in the photo, the only airline not present at the fate is the one that is responsible for all of Skopje's growth :D
ReplyDeleteStill like the pic though :)
Delete^ yes, me too just found it funny :D
Deletehas become an iconic photo :)
DeleteSecond airline responsible in Skopje is that airline , first one we all know who it is :P
DeleteSmaller Croatian airports are suffering from problems completely outside their control. The PSO network may not generate huge traffic numbers but it is essential. What is the government doing?!?
ReplyDeleteSaving money on what is just a vanity project
DeleteSplit had a somewhar big minus in April, what happened there
DeleteLufthansa strike hit the Croatian market quite hard in April- they are quite dependent on FRA and MUC and Lufthansa striked for 7!! Days with no operated flights
Delete+1 makes sense
DeleteWaiting for that one guy to say how Vienna had more than all ex-yu airports combined...
ReplyDeleteVIE had 8,69 million so it did not have more :D it also has a decrease compared to last year.
DeleteI think he is right pointing out how far behind the rest of Europe we still are with regards to air travel.
DeleteAnd until 1992, Vienna had less passengers than Belgrade...
DeleteHow big was the drop in Vienna?
Delete@10:35 puts the last 30years into perspective
DeleteIf GoS has its way with W6 closing its base in BEG the Austrians next year would again have as many or even more pax than all our air airports combined.
DeleteOur 21 airports also surpassed ATH during the same period by 183,468 passengers! 🥳
DeleteIs that some victory? Doesnt mean a thing really does it.
Delete@11:40 Isn't Wizz closing Vienna base?
Delete@Anonymous 13:57
DeleteI think Anon 11:43 was being ironic.
What can we expect in SKP by the end of the year, any potential for new routes? Will DXB finally be launched in the winter months? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteno
DeleteNothing major
Deletenobody can answer you that. What has made it through the press is that PMO will apparently be a upgraded to a year round route and that they explore the possibilites of basing one aircraft in OHD. If that happens it will free up space for some 3-4 routes (or freq enhancemets) and thats the most realistic scenario for now
DeleteWe could expect something by the end of the summer to be announced or end of the year. I believe for now they are just focused on current increasing and following the situation in the middle east
DeleteAt least with the pull back of Lufthansa, we can see the Austrian A321 more frequently now in Skopje :)
ReplyDeleteI assume it will be a common occurance, especially since they likely rebooked everyone onto OS.
DeleteThats the reason LH left, because OS was flying 50-80pax to SKP in the past months while LH had around 120 on every flight.
Deletethat one hurts stil
DeleteLH was one of the most succesfull airlines that comes fo SKP in the last few years and will all the good results they achieve they still decide to leave😡
DeleteCrazy growth for SKP. OHD doing very well too
ReplyDeleteBoth airports are doing very well this year. LJU from OHD is a logical next step for Wizz.
DeleteOhrid have alot of potential for summer seasonal routes even intra ex yu routes will work out. Hopefully they will find something nice
DeleteSkopje's numbers show what happens when airlines are given the right conditions to expand. Hopefully the government continues supporting route development.
ReplyDeleteGovernment supports and the tender is open for new airlines and routes as well. Everyone who likes the conditons is welcomed to apply.
DeletePodgorica should be doing much better considering Wizz Air's base opening. Looking at these numbers, either Wizz was empty or all other airlines were empty.
ReplyDelete+1 I'm also very surprised
DeleteBase opened in April while TGD was down in pax numbers until April.
DeleteJust wait. Growth will explode in June.
DeleteBEG's growth will be wiped out from November if government shuts down Wizz Air's base.
ReplyDeleteTrue unfortunately
DeleteTragic
DeleteThat would be a serious hit to confidence in the Serbian aviation market at a time when some claim the whole world is desperate to come to the specialised expo
Deletethey will duck out hopefully
DeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteHow can they duck out if they will be unable to serve airports that they do not have a base?
DeleteSadly next year LYBE will be far less crowded than this year.
No way that will happened in a year before Expo. After Expo, everything is possible
Deletethe serbian authorities will silently backtrack from thisbew regulation, everything will be fine
DeleteI also think they won't go through with it. It's lunacy and there is a lot of backlash.
DeleteDefinatly. They might be stupid. But they aren't that stupid.
DeleteThey are desperate to change the political narrative. And desperate people tend to do stupid things.
DeletePicking up a fight with W6 and the European Commission to help the president's baby might sound smart to them though.
Choosing to decrease connectivity just ahead of the EXPO it really doesn't sound clever at all.
DeleteNothing much about Expo falls into the clever catagory, but yeah decreasing connectivity is literally mad. Its the definition of mad in the current global economy.
DeleteActually, it doesn’t matter. Expert ANALyst said that Expo will bring only 2-3% of new passengers. So no big deal if they ban W6 anyway
DeleteChildish comment. Grow up
DeleteActually do you think LH and others will be sitting if W6 pulls out?
DeleteWizz didn't bring anything unique to Belgrade, there isn't even a single country where W6 flies and JU or other carriers do not. So all that we'll see is other carriers increasing capacity. LH is already a low-cost, anyway.
Actually right before the Expo is a good moment, since Wizz will have a lot to loose in terms of Bookings. I mean, no one forbids them from serving those flights from their other EU bases.
Delete@16.01 dream on if you think other airlines will replace the 1.6mil Wizz passengers
DeleteSo what will happen, they will all cancel their travel cause they bought Wizz Priority pass? 😂
DeleteActually thy will choose to fly someplace other than Belgrade.
DeleteAnd the locals who do need to travel abroad will either pay a lot more for flying JU or take the gasto bases.
This means PRN for April had 367.099 or 32.108 less than previous one. This is a 8% decrease.
ReplyDeletehow come DBV is bigger then SPU in winter
ReplyDeleteRyanair.
DeleteOMG Rijeka. Now after Banja Luka, Tuzla and Niš did it long ago, even Tivat, Osijek, Ohrid and Mostar are better. Sometimes I think for real it should close. No use having airport which is not an airport. And nobody cares. Disaster.
ReplyDeleteNumbers will grow a lot later this summer when Wizz starts its seasonal flightsm
Deletenot fair to compare it with Tivat that has more than 1mil
DeleteTivat has a 1 million limit?
Deletehuh?
DeleteSorry, I somehow read that the poster wrote "with Tivat that has more than 1mil limit". Not sure how. Obivously need more coffee.
Delete@Admin do you know why Portorož doesn’t post results anymore?
ReplyDeleteBravo Tuzla.
ReplyDelete@Admin
ReplyDeleteIt is not that much important, but I think KVO figure is goes for Jan-May period. Correct figure here is 2.344, unfortunatelly
Corrected. Thank you.
DeleteSarajevo in Top 5, nice :)
ReplyDeleteSPU and DBV are stil in winter sleep
DeleteThe most impressive statistic here is Skopje growing by over 31% in April. That's the sort of growth you normally see at emerging airports in Asia or the Middle East, not in Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBravo Fraport!
ReplyDeleteAditionally Wizz air will add 4 new routes in the days coming from both SKP and OHD which will increase growth too!!! Happy to see this numbers from both airports , also cant wait until June 15th to see the renovated OHD terminal :)
ReplyDeleteYou 100% sure?
DeleteYes 1000% sure ? Tell me in what I should not be sure ? 🤔
Deleteyou also said Rynair will open routes
DeleteWho the hell told you that ??
DeleteWizz air is launching Wroclaw and Krakow from Ohrid in June as well Austrian starting Vienna service , and Skopje is getting Alghero and Palermo in Italy thats total 5 new routes coming from both airports
Dude these are known for months....
DeleteYes and they are starting in June thats what I clearly said Wizz air will launch new routes , obviously people like you forgot them ;)
Delete'You said 'add' when you should have said commence. A little difference but goes a long way.
DeleteOk sorry Mr details
DeleteWhere is the growth for Niš coming from?
ReplyDeletePassengers?
DeleteWill Niš break its 2023 record and exceed 448,000 passengers?
Delete