No it doesnt.

Looks like PRN will be number 2. More pax in August than ZAG and a much stronger end to the year.

SKP growth will level off in 2027, but its wizz-fulles increases have been great. But its never going to be the second busiest airport in the western Balkans.

Zagreb and Pristina are going to have a very interesting race for second place this year. Just 47,000 passengers separating them after eight months. Wouldn't be surprised if Pristina overtakes Zagreb by December.

@09:25
ZAG gains the 200k gap with PRN usually in the last months of the year. The fact that it has added 50k more than PRN so far, makes a tight race even less likely.

I don't think anyone knows what the demand will be like this winter. BT is firing almost 50% of its employees, Transavia announced major cuts etc.

Oil is out of control and costs are rising. We already saw Animawings collapse and their A220s being taken away. I think many will struggle this winter.

@admin, could you tell us what was the difference in pax between Zagreb and Pristina during this period last year?

Pristina had 5.061 more passengers than Zagreb during this period in 2025.

He said if this trend continues in future SKP could be 2th busiest airport in the Balkan , he didnt said it will be tomorrow or for 1 month , everything is possible with smart decisions and good management the results are must!

Skopje will never be the second busiest in the Balkans. Athens, Thessaloniki, Sofia are in the Balkans too. The second in ex-yu, maybe, even likely, with incompetent uhljebs and traitors heading croatian aviation and Zagreb, but in the Balkans, definitely not.

It wont be in the former yugo space either. Without some mega change in its toursit appeal which i cant see occuring.

@13:49 you undermine yourself with words like traitor. Grow up

PIR we talk about Exyu region 🙄 couple years ago who would think that SKP can grow like this ?? Even likely with good management and smart decisions , improving , upgrades , government support which is essential yes all is possible , its not gonna by be easy not gonna be by night but with smart work results are very close. Lets see TAV offers for continuing the concession they preparing a master plan for for the nest 20 years and thats very important as well, sbould be announce probably next year and delivered to the govermnent as current concession coming to the end I believe its 2030

With good management and smart decisions anyone can become the 2nd busiest airport of ex-yu

Brač for the win!

Rijeka!!! Palalalalić is almost as good as Jasmin!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think admin mentioned in the comments when someone asked that from November, SKP's capacity levels go into decline compared to last year.

Well, not the half of the population has emigrated so PRN is of course ahead of SKP

A huge proportion of North Macedonia live abroad too. Lets be realistic aviation is driven by migration.

Same things as Sarajevo last 2 years. in 2024 growth of 33,8% and 2025 growth of 22,2%. Ofc you cant grow 5 years in row for more than 20%

^ Past performace is no guranatee of future results as the legal saying goes.

Every growth of pax based predominantly on lcc does not relate to real demand and solid market growth or is questionable, especially for longer period projections. 30% growth in SKP does not mean they will jump on 2nd.

Of course SKP will not be second. Its a comment by those who do not understand how aviation actually functions. However you are incorrect about LCC growth not being'real demand' or 'solid growth'. That is exactly what the market needs and wants.

If pax growth is driven by carrier who does not make profit at same time, this mean such a market will not last long. For me aviation market is ALL - pax, carriers and airports. And market health/growth/develompent is related to all this components, not to mention other fundamental factors, for instance peace/safety in region. In short, pax numbers is not all.

Passenger numbers are not everything. For some aviation geeks, there is an obsession with traffic data that feeds into a 'mine's bigger than yours' mentality. While the overall health of an aviation market encompasses far more than simple passenger volumes, this ecosystem is constantly fluctuating and evolving over time.
A prime example of this is Croatia. Despite Split Airport facing poor statistical results and a slight decline this year, the country's underlying economic and infrastructural 'health' remains exceptionally strong. When looking at the broader picture, Croatia's strategic macroeconomic indicators are vastly superior to markets like Podgorica or Skopje—which, from a purely statistical standpoint, show impressive growth but lack the same structural resilience

If an airport has grown 500% in the the last ten years forget your wet dream that the market will not last long

*fifteen years

hm a big diaspora is a stable base for an airport development in general, even more stable than if you need to depend only on tourism (seen during the pandemic)

@12:34 indeed. Added to that is the fact that places like Skopje and Pristina are all point to point traffic. We see that in Sofia too, which has almost no connecting traffic. Passengers who arrive at these airports arrive there because they are coming/departing to the country (even if they then travel onwards by land) which underscores the viability market. Sure we'll see fluctuations going forward, but i agree the fundamental strength is quite clear.

09:04 SKP keep growing and dont just hate the achievements. Plus there is Freebird charters starting this month and will run through the winter season out of normal summer seasonal

Nobody is hating. Grow up, its time.

^ explain what expansion is occuring this winter please?

SKP is expanding through all year all those months behind us , even in winter airport still have positive numbers and growing better than all years before. I dont know what you expect to expand but keeping the positive result is great job. Having 300k+ in a single winter month is amazing results.

So you didn't explain what expansion there is this winter.

You will see during the winter not now , it is too early to tell you the results for each month , but you will realise in December. Keeping the strong performance its even better then expansion that could be temporary ;)

there will be no expansion over the winter, get over it

No expansion I am talking about keeping the good current performance

@19:03 It is very possible that a slight overall decline is observed over winter as people have noted. But lets see.

Reduction in Ryanair, Vueling, Transavia and Eurowings flights

stagnation continued in Sep

Not even stagnation but a drop of over 3%. Stagnation is from 0% to 1%.

Why is it so hard for them to launch the tender? I don't get it.

Perhaps there is still some explaining with the EU going on for the PSO money, as the Croatian Government has already injected 156 million into EU

Could be

What do you mean 'planned stagnation' lol dont get disappointed by airports. Life is too short for that.

By planned stagnation I mean that they haven't really gone out and chased anything new. There is this theory, because if they reached 5 million passengers this year, they are contractually obligated to begin the terminal expansion next year and they don't seem to want to do that now since it will be expensive and want to delay it by a year.

They will soon do what many airports in ex-YU have done when their numbers start stagnating or declining, and what Zagreb did just a few years ago. They will offer an LCC to open a base.

Well for me Croatia's airports growing by just 2.1% is quite disappointing considering how strong tourism has been this year.

shows most people come by other means of transporation (cars), which also dilutes the argument that OU is so important for the tourist industry and it's therefore necessary to keep pumping money in it.

There is still growth in ZAG, be optimistic.
LJU is growing more recently, maybe this is a natural course of pax moving between this two airports toward more equilibrating state that once (15-20 years) was present.

09.40
You are aware that over 80 airline companies operate to Croatia and OU covers only 13 % of market share? (question is only about "other means of transportation"; the part of "pumping money in OU" I agree

Wizz Air has increased capacity to A321s I believe which makes a difference. But the plus will be wiped out from November when Ryanair leaves. Maybe they manage around 1% growth if that by the end of the year.

better LF?

I am not sure that better LF can get INI 50k more passengers

Ryanair flights will be replaced by Air Serbia ones

On far smaller aircraft. So not a like for like at all.

The wonders of the A321

It is insans how much the airport growth during the lest years

Its not insane, just nice.

Yes nice you corrected me:))

Montenegro could become one of the biggest success stories in the region if Wizz Air continues expanding and the authorities finally address the limitations of the airport infrastructure.

Adressing the airport infrastructure will take many years.

And they don't really seem to care about the infrastructure because they just got easyjet to open new routes from Tivat next summer. The airport is literally falling apart.

Governments across the region have failing in infrastructure at every level. And that is an observation for all exYU states.

+1

Yep. These results really demonstrate how important LCCs have become

Fingers crossed for Wizzair, if they sneeze all the region would catch a cold

That has been the case for over a deacde

It is. Kosovar people work in Western Europe and come home to visit when they can. Nothing wrong with that.

but what is so interesting about it?

It's actually a very good result, it's one of the biggesy growths in Vinci's portfolio

Well we dont know what airlines make. But we can work it out when they amend, reduce, increase or cancel routes.

ah the dezurni negativac @9.33

Excatly.

Exdogly 🙂

The ability for consumers to select the best airport/route for them is a welcome thing indeed.

and if the transport infrastructure improves even more, e.g. regular shuttles, or finally finish the 12 km of highway from Skopje to the Kosovo border, the mobility and thus the options would be even better

There is an decent amount from Kosovar passengers traveling from Skopje but from southern Serbia not so much. I think Macedonian diaspora per capita flies the most often back to their home country from former Yugoslavia(except maybe Kosovo) and are willing to pay higher fares. Compared to Bosnians which are an larger ethnic group in western Europe is the opposite. They prefer to drive, which makes sense because it's closer. If the fares are cheap they use the plane but if prices increase than they will go by car. This makes SKP much more profitable for lcc's than SJJ and TZL. Tourism is also growing and local purchasing power also but locals are still very price sensitive.

It is...but many, many Macedonians use airports in Sofia, Tirana, Prishtina, evn SKG. Not many flightd from Nish, bur even those sometimes work for Macedonians.

Bosnia is also 500km + closer to western europe and easier to reach by car than Macedonia…

12:51 do u know how many people from Kosovo,Serbia,Albania closer to border using Macedonian airports ?? Most Macedonians using those airports you mention are in winter because of the heavy fog and delays and cancelled flights during that period

Someone will soon tell you that Vienna had more :D

I remember a few years ago 30 million PAX was the total for the entire year.

I remember when PanAm operated. Times change. And its fascinating.

VIE won't be used for a while as their numbers this year are bad. So far this year their numbers are falling by over 6%.

@11:37

Thats a result of their protectionist rules and kicking out Wizzair!

@11.37 you are mixing low cost airlines at VIE (that have left) with their home carrier Austrian Airlines. When someone says "using VIE" it should mean flying to/via VIE with OS

@12:08, what on earth do you mean? Using VIE means using any airline that operates there.

@09:54 Pan Am does not exist for almost 40 years; yes they were here but now you have United, Delta, Air Canada, few Chinese Airlines and so on….

And before in addition to Pan Am there was Air Canada as well, one Chinese airline, Qantas, Zambia Airways, and so on... 50 years ago, basically the same as today. So, yes, overall it was much better before, concerning situation and environment

Things are changing and it is hard to compare; there were no ME3, there was no LCC, planes were with less range, less point to point flights; liberalization of market brought huge changes, ex yu market changed, european market changed, political situation is completely different….

16.49
Sign under every single word. You just forgot one thing: Globally aviation grew approximately 6 TIMES during last 3-4 decades you talk about. And in long-haul, we are where we were 40 years ago. Or lower. That was my point

Titograd, showing your age there I feel.

Titograd! you just can't take Communism out of some people's thoughts

I am actually not that old haha. I said Titograd because I noticed it still says so in the IATA Code: "TDG" (Titograd) .

Not my fault!

Hahah dont worry. I personally love the name!

love it too

And just btw Yugoslavia was never typical "communist" country. It was a hybrid. And its citizens overall were living very good lives (few exceptions always exist, everywhere). And I am old enough to remember it. Why do we live with today's propaganda of iron curtain, oppression and one type of yoghurt, is completely other story

Ok, but the joghurt is domestic- nobody from western Europe said that, it was Kolinda if im not mistaken. Btw, there was a recent interview with Melania on Fox Tv where she also confirmed she had a wonderful childhood and her parents were able to provide for the family (I am thinking, this also includes various types of yoghurt)

What "big uncertainty"? Wizz only needs a 3rd aircraft in PRN and GP Aviation routes are entirely covered. Wizz can wrap it up with year if it wants to. Simple as that.

It will take some time before people realise the Wizz base this winter, until that happens I think GP still will be around

@ 09:57
At this day and age, that info is likely to be received to most potential travellers within just 24 hours of being announced publicly! 🫠

East airports overtakes western

Thanks to disaster called Croatia Airlines

:)))

Maybe TGD will temporarily overtake SJJ this year but when SJJ brings easyJet, Wizz and extended Ryanair it will go back to default

They have not as of yet launched that.

The mega fan of the day.

He is telling the truth

Nobody said he isnt!

+1000

why

You need to go to school for your answer, you can’t learn here….show some initiative and results will come!

Yep. Reflecting the country being the largest economic and touristic market of the exyu space.

Use the map. Slovenia has one relevant airport, N Macedonia and Montenegro two, Croatia eight (Losinj, Varazdin etc are not significant)

And how many passengers are using a single airport in Serbia, BEG?

I see three airports in Serbia. One of which is Nis which is busier than 3 other Croatian airports but somehow does not seem to qualify as an airport for some, while the Croatian ones do.

@16:40 it says in the article above.

Regular followers already know Croatia has most passengers and Belgrade is the busiest airport in the Ex Yu region. It has been like that for decades. We also know that third of all passengers came through Croatian airports, and that for each passenger at ZAG, there are two passengers at BEG.

And 85% of airlines and passengers in Croatia are foreigners….just my 2c

We can take it as given that its volume and connectivity are regarded with great enthusiasm.

:)))

@16:26 Same is true for all airports, but superiority does not apply to any other exyu airport.

Well obviously.

Also Alghero seems not to return for summer '27.

I thought it was Bright and Shiny with wider windows 🤣🤣🤣

@17:15, you ok there sir?

@17.19 OU A220

16:17 on February 16th this year were both Palermo and Alghero announced, so there is still plenty of time until the next summer season so there is a big chance during the next months both of them be scheduled again

Seems bad business but they might yeah.

They were not bad business at all , I dont know how you conclude that. For short summer routes they are perfect fit

I mean it is bad not to schedule them already, but hopefully they return for summer '27. The Wizzair schedule from Skopje sees aircraft perform W patterns from places like Prague and Basel. This gives them significant future scope for growth by adjusting this and wouldn't require basing new aircraft which is promising for the fan boys.

More than likely.

You may want to re-read that statement.