The former Yugoslavia's ten busiest airports handled over four million passengers during the first four months of the year, with Skopje maintaining its position as the fastest growing. Macedonia's main airport welcomed 466.956 travellers between January and April, an increase of 25% compared to the same period last year. During that time, Wizz Air launched three new routes from the city and replaced its service to Lubeck with Hamburg. Furthermore, Czech Airlines will introduce flights from Prague tomorrow, while Qatar Airways will launch services from Doha in October. Dubrovnik Airport followed suit with numbers increasing 21% after a stronger winter. Despite officials estimating growth at only 3% this year, the airport is expected to have a busy summer with a total of 54 airlines from 24 countries maintaining flights to the city. Strong growth is also likely during the 2016/17 winter season as several new routes are to be introduced.
JANUARY - APRIL
| Airport | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | 1.235.349 | ▼ 2.7 |
| Zagreb | 711.669 | ▲ 5.3 |
| Pristina | 493.314 | ▲ 17.0 |
| Skopje | 466.956 | ▲ 25.1 |
| Ljubljana | 346.015 | ▼ 0.7 |
| Sarajevo | 205.298 | ▲ 4.2 |
| Podgorica | 179.100 | ▲ 7.0 |
| Dubrovnik | 174.577 | ▲ 21.0 |
| Split | 160.441 | ▲ 2.9 |
| Tivat | 87.900 | ▲ 3.1 |
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has maintained its position as the busiest in the former Yugoslavia, although its passenger numbers declined 2.7%. The figure was accompanied by a decrease in the number of operated flights. Despite the negative trend, Belgrade Airport estimates handling some five million passengers by year's end. Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport also posted softer results during the four-month period. Although it enjoyed modest growth during the first quarter, a steep decline in April pushed the airport into the red. It expects a slower growth-rate to that of last year and hopes to close 2016 with 1.5 million passengers.
Pristina Airport has seen double digit growth this year by handling 493.314 travellers during the first four months. It has also launched a new incentive scheme in a bid to attract new carriers and encourage exiting operators to boost flights. Pristina anticipates strong passenger growth later in the year after the European Commission proposed for the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to lift visa requirements for Kosovan citizens by transferring Kosovo to the visa-free list for short-stays in the Schengen area. "Visa liberalisation will make a significant impact and will develop air transport. The people in Kosovo are young, they like to travel, and when they have a chance they will”, the airport's General Manager said. Meanwhile, Podgorica Airport registered a 7% passenger increase. Its numbers are set to further improve during the summer with Wizz Air and Ryanair to introduce new flights to the city. Meanwhile, Tivat estimates its growth to reach 15% this year and for it to welcome over one million passengers for the first time since opening its doors to the public.
wow congratulations Skopje. It's getting quite close to Pristina.
ReplyDeletePRN is already leading in each month this year, and will get out of reach during peak as usual. It's interesting how charters and other adhoc fligths have filled up last year's gap. SKP will need at least one more based a/c either by W6 or FR to get ahead of PRN.
DeleteThough Macedonia as a whole will probably have more traffic than PRN due to incremental OHD traffic.
DeleteAm interested to see how Ljubljana will perform in May and whether this negative trend will continue.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any preliminary numbers. I am also interested to see whether last month's bad results were a one-off or a sign of things to come.
DeleteI think Wizz is sending an A321 to Skopje today.
ReplyDeleteFrom where?
Deletehttps://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/ha-lxa
DeleteIt's doing the Wizz birthday tour. There's a PR event scheduled for this afternoon.
Wake UP PRN Wake UP
ReplyDeletePRN is doing just fine. The only one who needs waking up is BEG.
DeleteDubrovnik also doing good business this year. My guess is summer will be traditionally good and number will soar during the winter with Turkish, new Croatia Airlines flights and possibly Austrian Air flights.
ReplyDeleteWith TK sales going so well, I wonder if they might send a widebody this summer. From what I've heard it's mostly p2p so the yields should be healthy.
DeleteStrange that OU never launched DBV-IST/SAW. The market is obviously there.
Nice to see you back Nemjee.
DeleteThey have already scheduled 6 flights per week during the high season so maybe we even see a widebody.
Thanks! Do you know what aircraft they plan on sending? Will it be a B738 or A321?
DeleteAnyone Know if Ryanair or Wizzair or others will fly to PRN
ReplyDeleteOT: KAKO ODGOVORITI RYANAIRU?
ReplyDeleteRyanair je definitivno odlučio ratovati na nekoliko fronta. Danas je već jasno da je skolopio pakt sa Norwegianom (ne širi se u Skandinaviji, no istovremeno će biti feeder Norwegianovim long-range linijama). Istovremeno vrlo žestoko otvara paralelne baze u najvećim bazama easyJeta, Wizzaira i Eurowingsa.
I koji je mogući odgovor?
- Eurowings je Lufthansina LCC i obzirom na planove koji će mu u samo godinu dana omogućiti 100 aviona, a u dvije do tri godine preko 300, za njih se ne bojim. Oni nemaju nikakvog interesa, ni potrebe ulaziti sa ikim u deal. Biti će dovoljno jaki da se sami odupru Ryanairu, a uz Vueling nisu u ospasnosti
- no easyJet bi morao odgovoriti na napade. Kupnja Monarcha nije dovoljna da se odupru Ryanairu, a još će im involviranje Monarcha potrošiti gomilu resursa i vremena. EasyJet je već involvirao druge kompanije u svoju, no za svaku od njih mu je trebalo 2-3 godine. U svakom slučaju easyJet bi morao vrlo hitno uči u pregovore sa Wizzairom oko spajanja i stvaranja super-jake kompanije koja bi se mogla oduprijeti Ryanairu. Ovaj potez bi bio i te kako logičan:
1. Flote su im potpuno kompatibilne A320 obitelji, što bi bilo kakvo spajanje učinilo vrlo brzim
2. Najveća destinacija Wizza svakako je London Luton sa 36 linija (ovo im je obično prva linija na nekom aerodromu kojeg pokreću), istovremeno to je jedna od najvećih easyJetovih baza sa 52 linije. U tih 90-tak linija iz Lutona kompanije se poklapaju u tek jednoj sezonskoj liniji i to za Split.
3. Baze Wizzaira i easyJeta se ne poklapaju. Nemaju ni jedne jedine zajedničke baze. No, Wizz ima linije prema nekim od easyJetovih baza (Nice, Berlin, Hamburg, Milan, Lisabon, Porto, Barcelona, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool Gatwick) i obratno (Sofia, Prague, Budapest). Naravno trebalo bi uvesti brdo linije koje povezuju baze, te mogućnosti konektiranosti linija
4. Kako se tržišta easyJeta i Wizza ne poklapaju (prvi se bazira na zapadu, drugi na istoku) ovo bi automatski značilo povezivanje šireg tržišta, tj. cijele Europe.
5. Potom bi trebalo uči u deal sa prekooceanskim linijama (na istoku se povezati sa nekim long-range LCC, a na zapadu ili sami pokrenuti letove ili uči u deal sa nekom kompanijom poput Air Transata, WestJeta ili sa nekom od brojnih USA LCC pokrenuti long-range).
Kad bi ove dvije kompanije to učinile u skoroj budućnosti imali bi 300 aviona i 51 bazu, spram Ryanaira koji ima 326 aviona i 74 baze. Tada bi bitka bila ravnopravnija (uz to Ryanair ima skromnu ekspanziju na istok što bi bila ogromna prednost easyJet/Wizzaira), dok u trenutnoj situaciji Wizzair sa tek 68 aviona ne može odgovoriti Ryanairu, a i easyJet je u velikim problemima u sukobu sa Ryanirom.
Ako se ne varam easyJet je pokazao interesovanje da kudi Er Berlin. Iskreno, ne znam sta ce im to u zivotu kada je jeftinije i lakse da jednostavno sacekaju da AB bankrotira i da preuzmu linije koje imaju potencijal.
DeleteRyanair je ekstremno bogato, popularno i agresivno cudoviste. Ova kombinacija ih cini posebno opasnim. Pogledajmo sta su uradili za jedan jako kratak period u Grckoj, Bugarskoj i Rumuniji.
Bitka za Balkan je pocela i pravo pitanje je sta ce biti sa kompanijama poput OU, JU, RO... koje vrlo lako mogu postati kolateralna steta.
Lepa ideja. Dobro pitanje je dali bi takav M&A prosao antimonopolisticku EU komisiju. Imajuci u vidu da je cak i Ryanair-ov pokusaj preuzimanja Aer Lingus-a bio blokiran, sumnjam.
DeleteTrue. In OU's favor, I can say that ZAG's new infrastructure will make OU more attractive. It's a decent complimentary deal for whoever is considering to buy OU. Most ExYu markets have either: great infrastructure (Skopje, Pristina) or stable airline (Air Serbia). Neither SKP nor Pristina have a national carrier, which makes the route strategy planning "less controllable", while Air Serbia has great plans that to some degree are limited by BEG's infrastructure...
DeleteCertainly interesting to see further developments. To me it seems that the ExYu market will "polarize" between ZAG and BEG, with ZAG taking Slovenian and part of the BiH markets, while BEG will take the rest. LCC (SKP, PRN) and P2P (tourism: TIV, SPU, DBV) will fill the gap and will present the "third market segment" besides the 2 main ones...
Spajanje EasyJeta i Wizza (68 aviona) je daleko manje nego što je bilo spanjenje
Delete- Britisha i Iberije (130 aviona)
- Lufthanse, Austriana (80 aviona) i Swissa (83 aviona)
- Air Francea i KLM-a (160 aviona)
Bilo je još spajanja u kojima su se matične flote bitno povečale (Alitalia-Air One, British-bmi, Brussels-Virgin Belgium, Air Berlin-LTU-Niki, Aegean-Olymipc, Ryanair-Buzz...)
Konačno i easyJet je već kupovao:
- Švicarki TEA Basie (danas easyJet Switzerland)
- Britanski GO! od Britisha (28 aviona)
- pregovori sa Monarchom su u finalnoj fazi (33 aviona)
Pokusaj onda objasniti ovo:
DeleteMergers: Commission prohibits Ryanair's proposed takeover of Aer Lingus
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-167_en.htm
No to sa Ryanairom je bio potpuno drugi problem, identičan onom sa Aegeanom/Olympicom, radi se o dva prijevoznika u istom hubu/bazi. Regulatori su svhatili da bi u tom slučaju kompanija kontrolirala 90 i više % domaćih letova i večinu inozemnih letova, što bi bio monopol. No, zato je British u preuzimanju Aer Lingusa bio vrlo uspješan (postupak kod regulatora je trajao jako kratko) jer uz British u Dublinu kao bazi i Irskoj je i Ryanair dakle nema monopola, već će se klati bar dvije kompanije. U slučaju spajanja easyJeta i Wizza nema monopola jer se ništa ne mijenja. Njima se baze ne poklapaju.
DeleteNe mješati kruške i jabuke.
As I mentioned few days ago on Easy/ Wizz merger, 3 key drivers:
Delete1.common fleet ( with big orders each)
2.complimentary markets (no overlap)
3.common enemy (Ryanair)
This us sufficient for the deal to happen.
Keep brands separate as each is distinctivly different and have good recognition in respective markets.
my2cents
Also, as explored few days ago, switch some of A321 orders for A321LR and go transatlantic.
Deletemy2cents
easyJet+ Wizz Air= WizzyJet my name proposal
DeleteIf no new routes are launched, Skopje's growth will probably slow in June because Wizz didn't add capacity. It just rearranged its flights to allow three new routes. But we will see.
ReplyDeletewizz is going to base a 4th aircraft!!!
DeleteThere are no proofs of thar. Just a statement from a TAV official. We are talking about TAV officials, who were saying that SKP is going to compete with Vienna regarding pax numbers.
DeleteI don't see any possibility of basing a 4th A/C @ Skopje. Sorry guys, but there is no point into basing a 4th...
DeleteOT: Iberia introducing 3rd weekly flight to Zagreb in August (with A319)
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that in the last 8 days both KLM and AF have been sending their A319/20 and 737-800 for at least 4 days each... Hopefully this is reflective of the increased loads. It's been happening too frequently to conclude that this has to do with the fleet shortage of the "planned" A318/737 aircraft...
ReplyDeleteYesterday my friend travelled ZAG-WAW-ORD with LOT. The flight to WAW was over 90% full...
How much she paid?
DeleteIberia is increasing its frequency from early August to trice weekly service to Zagreb.
DeleteHighly likely Iberia might to year round trice weekly service in 2018.
Tap is returning in Early 2017 and Alitalia, SAS are also looking at starting flights to Zagreb from March/April 2017, we'll know more in August, September from these two.
Aegean, AirBaltic, Finnair and Lingus are looking at Zagreb to start flights in 2018.
things are looking up for Zagreb.
This year 2,8 million easily, if things improve even 3.0 is possible.
Great work SKP!
ReplyDeleteI imagine once the political situation will calm down and the stupid name issue will be solved, I can see potential flights to Athens/Thessaloniki and seasonal flights to the Greek islands by Aegean. Flights to Moscow will be considered. Budapest flights will start by the end of the year based from the actions took by Hungarian government for subsidizing the flights. The only gap which will be left will be for the major gates for long haul flight, CDG, LHR, FRA and AMS. But overall got to be happy with the way SKP is progressing. Its much better place compared to what it was few years ago. For country the size of Macedonia its more then enough. I can see more potential in Ohrid, especially for the seasonal flights, something like Dubrovnik, there is still room for improvement there.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteСвака ти ка Његошева.
SKP-SKG? Those two cities are 243 km apart so I don't see how a flight would be commercially viable, they are even closer than BEG and BUD.
DeleteAs for ATH, yes, that would work with Olympic's Q400 or even with Ryanair a few times per week.
Are you seriously comparing Ohrid to Dubrovnik? lol
DeleteWell they are both tourist hotspots located on the shores of an attractive piece of water, so...
DeletePrednost Dubrovnika je to sto ima more. U svemu ostalome Ohrid je ispred.
Delete@747
DeleteDo explain, please.
@frishkiMay 19, 2016 at 11:36 AM
DeleteJust an idiot, ignore him.
@frishkiMay 19, 2016 at 11:36 AM
DeleteIdiot are You.
Ne znam koju si istoriu (povijest) ucio, ali ako malo bolje procitas videces da Ohrid ima mnogo bogatiju proslost. Ohrid (Lihnidos) je prilicno stariji grad nego Dubrovnik (Raguza). Ima mnogo dokaza o tome. Bio je glavna stanica na magistrali Via Egnatia. Ima 365 crkava (za svaki dan u godini po jedna). Ne zovu ga badava Balkanski Jerusalim. Uci bato uci.
Puno pozdrava iz prelepog Ohrida.
Good news for SKP. BEG numbers should improve in the second quarter and I think those 5 million are reachable.
ReplyDelete5 million aren't reachable, too big a passenger loss
DeleteMr expert, I will screenshot this and post it in December. Interesting how the other anti-BEG comment was left at the same time as yours.
DeleteBeg would need a really big increase for the rest of the year to reach 5 million passengers.
DeleteNOW I HAVE GREEN LIGHT FOR PUBLISH NEWS:
ReplyDeleteCEO of Croatia Airlines Kučko and Širac (member of board) were in Canada to sign LoI (Letter of Intend) for 4 CRJ (don't know for sure, but I presume it is CRJ 900).
Information is from source inside Croatia Airlines, not officially confirmed.
Huge news!
DeleteGreat, finally some good news!
DeletePogodio sam da je CRJ 900 .
DeleteDali avioni menjaju nesto u floti ili su dodatak.
Ako su dodatak to znaci da mogu da imaju novih 10-12 dnevnih letova ako F100 ode.
INN-Ns
Joke of an aircraft, unfortunately.
DeleteI am huge fan of Embraer and for sure that is much better and more comfortable plane, but one can not say that they did not sell 831 CRJ and fact is that some of biggest companies fly with CRJ900(Air Canada, Delta, China Eastern, China Express, Jazz, Lufthansa, SAS...). In Adria fleet you have 9 of those.
Delete@Purger it is CS100s I've talked about the purchase of four, with first coming sometimes in mid 2019. CRJ900s aren't profitable they've got similar capacity to Q400.
DeleteOT: would someone have passenger statistics between BEG and VIE (total and O&D) ?
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance!
Figures for SKP but relying on heavy subsidies is not a good thing. Everything comes to an end. A very good example is the Girona(Gerona) airport which figures sore and then drastically dropped after the subsidies were cut.
ReplyDeleteA bad comparison.
DeleteSKP subsidies are neither heavy nor all-encompassing. Capacity on 2.5 out of 3 based Wizz aircraft is already phased out, and the remaining capacity is supported with no more than 5 EUR / pax on new destinations only.
I won't tire from repeating the facts.
when will the last one understand: only 30% of the flights are stil subsidized, rest is good business
Delete* Capacity on 2.5.. = Support of capacity on 2.5
DeleteLess than 30%. 10 freq / weekly out of 60+.
DeleteJU over at BEG is relying on heavy subsidies too but they are seeing less and less passengers since last Summer.
DeleteSKP on the other hand is seeing massive increases!
You need your head checked if you think 2% is a massive decline.Second BEG had a much bigger passenger base than Skopje to start with. Third you really need to let go of your BEG /Serbia obsession
Delete30% subsidies is quite a lot..a tremendous growth like this doesn't just happen for a reason especially for a city like Skopje. Not even TLL or VNO have such traffic despite being close to Scandinavia.
DeleteAnonymous May 18, 2016 at 3:54 PM
DeleteSKP has massive growth.
BEG is decreasing and JU is decreasing even more.
It is clearly written so don't make straw man arguments.
Stick to the facts.
BEG is the only major airports in thw whole Balkan region that has decreasing passenger numbers!
Every other airport is growing and by a lot!
Please stop getting upset about SKP and OHD great successes!
Unlike BED's subsides to JU SKP's subsidies ended on the vast majority of W6's routes but they keep on flying and adding capacity.
BEG should take a few lessons.
Lol. BEG will teach you all a lesson from next month. Don't you worry.
DeleteSKP is currently in 4th position and doubt it's going to reach a higher position. BEG will most likely maintain 1st place for at least 2-3 years. DBV will sure be a blast in 2017!
DeleteIf subsidies stop to SKP, then it will go down.
Koje glupave analize sa te vase "kad zavrse subvencije" - aloo ma koje subvencije ??
DeleteTuzla barely missed to be #10 with 87.300. Last year's jan-apr data was 56.400 therefore the fastest growing ex-yu airport is in fact TZL.
ReplyDeleteThe article does say fastest growing among top 10, otherwise it would have been Nis.
DeleteIndeed, 20.000 vs. zero...
DeleteINI will shine in 2017, you will see!
DeleteGreat job Tuzla!!! :)
DeleteOT: Tuzla Airport is all set for cargo flights. 3 weekly flights with Boeing 747-400F from My Cargo Airlines (Turkey). Flights are starting in the second week of June. Great source of income for the airport
ReplyDelete^Thats crazy!
DeleteIt seems as smaller the airport is the more they get attention from airlines and even see widebodies.
Contrary to every other place in the world. If that trend continues we will see Air Tahiti Nui starting direct flights from Los Angeles to Uzice Ponikve Airport soon.
There is a big difference btw BEG and SKP. And it's simple why SKP grows faster. BEG major operator is air serbia, a legacy airline.SKP major operator is WIZZ, a low cost airline. So if I was living in skopje it would be easier to pay a return ticket let's say to paris for 50€ just for my fun. I can't say the same thing if I was living in belgrade because I would have to pay 200€.I hope some of you understand what I mean.
ReplyDeleteOT: Best connection from Athens to Stockholm is AirSerbia this summer season.Bravo AirSerbia, I booked early september for 166€, great price and great time connections.
ReplyDeleteBest connection or cheapest connection? ;)
DeleteBoth!!
Delete