Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled just under a million passengers during the first three months of the year, recording its strongest first quarter on record. During the month of March, the airport welcomed 343.771 travellers, up 9.8% on 2016. The figure was accompanied by a 3% increase in the number of operated flights. As a result, during the first quarter of the year, Belgrade Airport saw 955.988 passengers pass through its doors, an improvement of 9.9% compared to the same period in 2016. The airport added almost 86.000 passengers on last year's result. Furthermore, both the national carrier and foreign carriers serving the Serbian capital saw their passenger numbers improve on last year.
Commenting on the results, Belgrade Airport said, "With a planned summer schedule which will see the introduction of new routes, a good charter season, as well as more charter flights during the Easter and May Day holidays than ever before, and an increase in capacity on existing services, Belgrade Airport anticipates for its passenger growth to continue into the year". During the first quarter, the airport opened its new de-icing facility, began work on the overhaul of its Terminal 1 building (expected for completion by the end of the month), unveiled plans to expand its departures area and began tender procedures for its 25-year concession process.
This coming Tuesday, low cost carrier Transavia will commence operations from Amsterdam to Belgrade, which will be followed by the basing of a second Wizz Air Airbus A320 aircraft in the Serbian capital during the second half of May. As a result, four new routes will be launched and frequencies will be boosted on existing services. Greece's Ellinair will commence new flights from Thessaloniki this summer, while Air Serbia will introduce services to Venice. Unlike last summer, the Serbian carrier will operate services to New York, Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Malta from the very start of summer. Despite decreasing frequencies on several routes, the airline will maintain the same capacity on many of them during the height of summer, more on which you will be able to read in the coming days. In addition, Israeli carriers Israir and Arkia, which commenced operations to Belgrade last winter, will maintain five and three weekly flights each from Tel Aviv respectively, with the latter deploying the Boeing 757 aircraft on two of three of its weekly services. Meanwhile, easyJet, Lufthansa and LOT Polish Airlines will boost capacity on their services to Nikola Tesla Airport.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 329.714 | ▲ 13.5 |
| FEB | 282.503 | ▲ 6.1 |
| MAR | 343.771 | ▲ 9.8 |
Not only will Arkia deploy its B757 but it will be a B753! Belgrade is definitely passing the 5.5 million mark this year. This growth is phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all those involved in making it happen.
B753 ? Embraced 195 - just tried booking
DeleteFlights start in May, every Thursday. I was just on their website and it doesn't allow you to book flights. Israir does though.
DeleteIt's amazing how Israel has suddenly picked up. We will have something like 12 weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Belgrade this summer.
Delete+1 from an almost nonexistent market to 12 weekly flights in just a year and a half is interesting.
DeleteAirSerbia - 5
DeleteIsrair - 5
Arkia - 3
=13
Thanks. My bad. Not 12 but 13. Great.
Deleteare israelis coming for casino gambling or for what reason?!
DeleteAdmin, also unlike last summer we are going to have daily flights by Atlasjet which will deploy its A321 from IST to BEG.
ReplyDeleteGood news for Belgrade airport and future concession. Hopefully this will give a lot of excellent offers.
ReplyDeleteWonder what are we going to read about in the coming days about Air Serbia keeping the same capacity? Does it have to do something with new engines and cabin for 737 Fleet?
ReplyDeleteIt would be highly uneconomical. Those planes need to be retired and regional jets leased instead.
DeleteAnonymous April 2, 2017 at 9:55 AM
DeleteFully agree.
One question please...Would the price of longterm RJ leasing be lower (including all the costs of introducing new plane type to the fleet) than bringing back to life and utilize already owned B733 fleet?
DeleteA few questions please...
DeleteThe cost of paying for the maintenance and the much increased fuel burn is it factored in?
The much lower schedule punctuality because of lower reliability due to age is it factored in?
The consistence of product offering to passengers and the competitiveness of the airline is it factored in?
The cost of maintaining a separate pilot group for the 733 type?
The fact that extremely few third world airlines still fly 25 year old Boeing 733?
Are all the airlines of the planet and especially the low cost ones mad for choosing to fly modern and economical aircraft instead of old?
Arizona desert is full of 25 year old 737s, why doesn't JU or any other airline for that matter get them for less than peanuts and fly them instead of modern airliners?
Anon 12:42
Delete+1
B733 je odlican avion i treba ga jos cuvati u letnom stanju, A319 mu nije prici po dugotrajnosti i komforu u kabini.
DeleteI flew JU's B737 recently and the aircraft's comfort was far superior to the A319's in their fleet.
DeleteSoon BEG will have more flights to TLV that SOF.
Delete@ Anon 12:42
DeleteIt is questionable if maintenance costs and higher fuel burn would be higher than introduction of new plane type in JU fleet including costs of leasing, crew training etc.
The planes which get approval to fly do not have lower reliability (?!) and at the same time they do not have to have lower punctuality.
Product offering? LH was flying B733 until 2016 and these planes are still in the fleets of air baltic, TAROM, Ukrainian etc.
Much bigger damage to product offering would be so called hybrid model which is now on the table of Air Serbia. After all, if the cabine is modernized many passengers do not even know what type of the plane they embarked and they do not see the difference between B733 or B738.
I gave you the lists of European airliners which still operate B733. Even Norwegian was flying with B733 1-2 years ago.
Is the new firebrigade station finished?
ReplyDeleteI think they didnt start building it
DeleteWhat is the schedule for the Hainan flights to Beijing? When are flights starting?
ReplyDeleteIt should be in June apparently.
DeleteAmazing results and even better to come! Congratulations BEG!
Deletegreat timing as i want to fly to beg in june/july from china. I hope the prices are better than the current peking-moscow-belgrade prices
DeleteGreat news congrats Belgrade. Nice to see Air Serbia and foreign airline all growing.
ReplyDeleteNice results there
ReplyDeleteOff topic: W6 initial flight from BUD to SKP is about to land. It will be nice view to see all 6 gates at SKP filled in this period of the day, 4 W6 planes, Pegasus and Austrian. http://prntscr.com/erghtx
ReplyDeleteLet us know the LF, hvala.
DeleteWhat growth? Weren't people predicting doom and gloom scenarios? This is the best quarterly result in the airport's history - passenger wise.
ReplyDeleteGood results from BEG. It will be a very busy summer. If JU is actually not reducing available seats that is also quite good. Anyway, looking forward to the next three months.
ReplyDeleteI think this year BEG could handle 5.3/5.4 million passengers.
ReplyDeleteWell, they will reach 5.4 with an average growth of 10%. However with Wizz Air's second aircraft I am sure we will see at least 15% to 20% this summer.
DeleteMonthly percentage of growth at BEG will never reach 10% till the end of this year. During hot summer months ASL will see decline figures.
DeleteThe news hurt you that bad? Pity, it is good news that generates positive feelings with normal human beings.
DeleteIt's not about haters and none haters. He have expressed his opinion based on some facts. The thing that you don't like them is your problem and don't make him a hater. Stop looking for the insiders... It's all in your head!
DeleteWhat facts?
DeleteThat JU is cutting flights this Summer.
DeleteHere it is: JU is cutting 46 weekly departures (-11%). If this is not a fact for you, you might consider your mental health.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/03/summer-2017-air-serbia.html
Yeah most cities by one weekly flight while capacity will stay the same or even grow on some routes. That's why they cut them in the first place.
DeleteAir Serbia had extra plane - CRJ900 last summer that will not come back.
DeleteVery interested to see how Transavia will perform. Anyone know their loads at the moment?
ReplyDeleteIt´s good to see BEG´s dependency on JU is slowly fading away every year. Monopolies are just like dictators - should NEVER be allowed.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing is that Air Serbia never, EVER had a monopoly at BEG.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/03/air-serbia-posts-strong-2015-results.html
DeleteIt was 53%...pure monopoly.
OU 65% in ZAG, JP 60% in LJU, W6 55% in SKP.
DeleteYou are a special kind of stupid. A monopoly would mean if JU was the only airline flying there, that is if they handled 100% of the traffic.
DeleteTruth hurts Anon 2:51pm - a monopoly can sometimes even be 30%. Now you tell me how many routes in total does JAT have competition with? Also, remember that JAT and AZ belong to EY.
Delete"Monopolies are just like dictators - should NEVER be allowed"
DeleteHe must be talking about Wizz in Tuzla, 100% monopoly. He wants Wizz banned.
Didn't JAT cease to exist in 2013 ? He's obviously not aware of what's been happening over these past 3 years - so he is obviously referring to Air Serbia.
DeleteThat aside, what does AZ have to do with anything as it relates to JU and it's share of business at BEG ? They are 2 completely different airlines operating 2 completely different route networks.
As for JU's share at its home base of BEG, it is significantly less than OU in ZAG, JP in LJU, LH in FRA and MUC, OS in VIE, KL in AMS or LX in ZRH.
So pls help us to better understand the point you are trying to make ...
Don't worry about that guy - English is not his native language. if it was, he wouldn't have made such a stupid comment as "a monopoly can even be 30%".
DeleteHe probably meant "dominant position", which is NOT a monopoly.
For the record, when someone has a monopoly position, in this context, it means that no one else has access to that market and they are locked out.
So no one has a monopoly position at any EU airport.
Sweetie, I am just trying to explain that as time goes by, the JU monopoly is losing ground. JU flies to AMS, MLA, charter to GRO - it will now face competition with HV, W6 and VY. Serbs will have a choice.
DeleteEnough of your sweetie BS. First of all, Air Serbia does not have a "monopoly" at BEG. Insisting on using that term to describe JU position after couple of other comments helped clarify the term “monopoly” is pure provocation, and those are not tolerated by site Admin according to rules. Second, it is actually a fact that market share of JU at Belrade airport has increased since 2013 when they transformed into Air Serbia, so JU losing ground at BEG is your pathetic wish. Go fight LH, OU, JP and OS market share at their primary hubs and come back once you bring more choice for their passengers. This site does not need your alternative facts and faux care, your pure hate is showing through.
DeleteAnon at 7pm .... at least people flying from BEG have choice, unlike the people using ZAG. The airport there is protecting OU's monopoly position by not allowing LCCs to enter the market.
DeleteAt least BEG airport is far more pro market and pro competition than are other airports
Anon@8.21PM
DeleteSvakako.
Ummm...so monopoly according to people here means 100% market share? LOL!! It must be so hard to check the definitions, even though it would seem that everyone here has access to Internet. And when other people try to explain what monopoly actually means, then that is characterized as fake facts, fake news...etc. No wonder that balkans is the black hole of Europe and Serbia is by far the worst in that respect. Fastly turning into little Russia, with little Putin as president.
DeleteBtw...if JU's 53% isn't monopoly, then OU's 60% in Zagreb isn't monopoly either, right? Oh...but no, in Zagreb that somehow seems to be a monopoly.
DeleteAnd yes...even 30% CAN indeed represent a monopoly on the market, depending on other benefits the given company has. JU has benefits assured not only by the airport, but by its parent company and by the Serbian government. So...once again - welcome to the Socialist People's Republic of Serbia!! :))
Nema ni jedne činjenice, samo čisti hejt kao u svim drugim postovima kojima truješ protiv svega iz Srbije već godinama, nekad kao Anon sa puno tačkica ... a nekad kao Majkl.
DeleteHow long is the concession process expected to take?
ReplyDeleteThey will select the concessionaire in the middle of summer. Then it will probably take a few months for the contract to be finalized.
DeleteShould be done by the end of the year.
DeleteOT: LX flight ZRH-INI is on the way with CS100 HB-JBB, congart. to INI airport, hope somebody takes picturs with the water welcome!
ReplyDeleteOt,Do you have information about fire station and atc tower at BEG,are they going to be built before consession or..
DeleteOT: flew today back ZAG to ZRH with RJ100. Full flight with transit passengers to PEK JFK MIA YUL MXP
ReplyDeleteThe new airport in ZAG of course top. Very short ways fm entering the ap building to the gate. Interesting is that this airport is really built too big. Only half of the possible check-in location space is used. 2 rows. Space is for 4 rows
WiFi has good connex but kicks u out every 10 to 15min. Minus was that after sec check if u buy bottle of water in the store, u get charged 21 kuna. In my eyes airports should be obliged to sell at least water after sec check in stores at city level. In downtown Zagreb u pay probl around 4 kuna for a small bottle
How were the loads?
DeleteHEL charges you €5 for a bottle of water!
Thanks for the update. The other day Swiss sent their CS100. You just missed out.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMwMxS54Ph4
Do they use the follow me car for the gates?
DeleteBravo, ZAG! Thanks, JU520 for the info!
DeleteFlight was completely full!
ReplyDeleteOT - Huge Air Serbia promotion today, JFK at 357 Eur. round-trip:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.airserbia.com/en/special-offers-our-best-offer-for-this-weekend
I flew on 29mar in LX CS100 with Swiss-Croatian capt. U can read story on avioradar.hr
ReplyDeleteDont know if they use follow me car
Btw Jumbolino today was parked at gate 25 but we could not board thru jetbridge.
BEGLAX koji gate ti je bio u ZAG? Jel vas bus vozio do aviona?
DeleteTHY 3493 iz Beograda za Istanbul,od kada u ovo vreme lete i sto pod ovim broj,kao da je neki carter.Da li neko zna ?
ReplyDeleteToday was LX's first ZRH-INI flight. Does anyone know the load? I saw two pictures and I counted around 50 passengers but there were more on the plane and some who already deplaned. All in all seems like a decent load.
ReplyDelete77 passengers ZRH - INI
DeleteLF 62%, not bad.
DeleteI'm curious, where on the internet can I find these stats e.g. LF?
DeleteNowhere, you can only get them when insiders share them.
DeleteCongratulations Belgrade from your sister city of Corfu island, I hope we'll see some more air serbia or aviolet charters to our island this summer, many good wishes to you!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteDa li postoji mogucnost da TK pocne da salje a330 za BEG
ReplyDeleteNe kao redovnu liniju. Međudržavni sporazum Srbije i Turske o aviosaobraćaju ne dozvoljava veći avion od B738/A321. Kao neki čarter možda ili u nekim izuzetnim situacijama. Ali i kada pogledaš nema potrebe.
DeleteTK 2 daily(7pw)
KK 1 daily(7pw)
PC 1 daily(4pw)
Slali su ga jednom pre Nove godine, redovna linija i vecernji let je bio u pitanju ali slazem se sto je anonymous 08:29PM napisao, nema potrebe jer postoje 4 dnevna vec leta ka IST/SAW
Deletepardon, hteo sam da napisem 3 do 4 dnevna leta
Deleteza anonimusa 08:29pm:
Deletegde to tacno pise?
http://www.parlament.rs/upload/archive/files/lat/pdf/zakoni/2016/3668-15%20LAT.pdf
Mislim da se ne navodi direktno u sporazumu ali komisija svake godine zaseda da bi unapred utvrdila kapacitete i broj dnevnih polazaka za predstojeću godinu.
Delete