Belgrade Airport posts record April result
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has recorded one of its best April results on record. The airport handled an impressive 240.282 passengers, an increase of 38.8% compared to the same month last year. The result is not surprising as many flights were grounded last April due to the closure of European airspace, as a result of the volcanic ash cloud. However, the airport also posted an increase compared to its previous April record in 2008, beating it by 25%. So far this year, Serbia’s main airport welcomed 770.653 passengers. For comparison, last year it handled 633.408 passengers until the start of May, an increase of 21.6% in 2011.The most popular routes from Belgrade in April were Zurich with 20.086 passengers, Podgorica with 18.506 and Vienna with 18.117 passengers. The airport’s management has announced it is looking to slash airline handling fees for a second time this year on the back of these good results and thus attract more airlines.
i remember the days when this blog didnt just copy and paste articles/news reports that were on other websites.. life was much more interesting back then :(
ReplyDeleteGood work Belgrade !
ReplyDeleteNice to see the numbers, does anyone know what the absolute, pre 1990 record was for BEG ?
I read somewhere 3,5 mil, is that correct ?
Although Zag hasn't reported their April 2011 data yet, my internal sources told me they too had a nice increase.
In april 2011, they had about 191.000 pax which is 35% better than 141.000 in 2010 and 16% better than the record of 165.000 from april in 2008.
Less impressive than BEG, but it should be exciting to see what SPU and DBK will do in the months June-August.
our minister of tourism D. Bajs announced an increase of about 600.000 according to all the contracts, hope at least 90% of that gets realized...well see...
Does anyone know how Ljubljana is doing ?They never post their data until the end of the year?
Well it has become obvious that more passengers were using Belgrade simply by looking at the equipment used by airlines.
ReplyDeleteAustrian still sends their F70s out of the peak hours but they have added four additional flights so it's justifiable. Lot has completely removed their E145 from the route and now fly the E170. Cimber used to send occasionally their Crj to Belgrade now it's only a 737. Norwegian mostly sends their B737-800 on the route replacing the -300 series. Spanair, and airline in whose success I doubted the most, kept sending their A321 and remained on the route with three frequencies. Swiss with their additional daily flight... and so on.
Overall things all things are looking much better at this point. I think the summer months will decide if Belgrade will just score 3.000.000 or will it surpass it.
I think soon we will start talking about the crowds at Belgrade Airport as it is reaching its capacity. They absolutely need to make better use of the A7-A10 gates during the summer rush-hour as they put all the flights on the C gates and A1 to A5 which makes things even worse.
Are there any news on the expansion which was mentioned some time ago?
Does anyone know how much of this increase is due to Wizzair as none of their flights had been included in past April numbers?
ReplyDeleteHow are they doing in general out of BEG ?
Chelica2
@1st anonymous: It was an official press release by the airport.
ReplyDeleteWizz had over 27000 PAX, nearly 138 PAX/flight in april at BEG.
ReplyDeleteBEG had 3.4 mil. passengers in 1987.
ReplyDeleteWow 3.4 in 1987? So maybe it's about time we stop dreaming of the good old days coz it seems to me they were not that great to start with. A country of 24.000.000 whose main hub handled only 3.4?? wow
ReplyDeleteAs for Wizz Air, I never fly them, I usually go for Malév, Lot or Jat and I am happy that they are in Belgrade since they bring down the prices BUT what is their on-time performance out of Belgrade? I think EVERY single flight they had was late!
I've monitored WZZ flights in and out of BEG past month and some flights were delayed (only one canceled to LTN, if I remember correctly), but all in all relatively OK performance. Few minutes of delay are not that bad! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with JU500, Wizzair is not doing bad at all, their flights(regading timing) are not better but not worse than other airlines. I flew with them from LTN to BEG, flight was on time, plane almost full, lots of English people going for a weekend break, and overheard a gruop from eastern Croatia saying how BEG is more convininent for them. The same plane was taking passangers to Malmo and what I saw in the departures it was pretty full flight too(and on time!). I think Wizzair is only to be seen at BEG, they will definitely spread the network. Hope they will start flying to other airports too. Cannot wait to see them at SKP.
ReplyDeleteAt the end, great news for BEG, this summer will be very busy.
I wonder how RJK numbers are since FR started from STN and Skavsta?
To be precise, BEG record figures so far are from 1987 - 3,311,951 pax.
ReplyDeleteWith current trends, soon to be surpassed:)
Thanks Anonymous #3
ReplyDeleteSo Wizzair has already captured 11% of BEG passengers with load factor of 77% (if I got my math right)
Chelica2
oh yeah, during Easter Austrian Airlines had at least 1 A321 fly into Belgrade from Vienna and back :)
ReplyDeletethis is exciting, on nikola tesla airports timetable page they added a small box of USA and showed the route to chicago... :)
ReplyDeleteGreat for BEG!!Congratulations to all there!!
ReplyDeleteBut two days ago Belgium officially announced that they will propose a suspension of the visa free regime with Serbia.
See what happens in June.I hope this wont come true coz everything falls in water then!
Who cares about Belgium, it's a lame country, actually it can't even be called a country!!
ReplyDeleteThey will never pass the removal of Serbia from the white schengen list. First will be Greece to object it with Spain following. These two profit a lot from Serbian tourists.
Jeroen
@anonymous #8 ,
ReplyDelete3,4 for 1987 was pretty good actually given the relativeness of the time. Frankfurt was handling around 20-25 mil. back then, today the numbers are around 55 mil.
It's about time to get back on track with aviation in ex-yu.
I am predicting 3,25 for Belgrade this year which would be best case scenario, 3,1 - worst case.
Zg- 2,5 best case scenario, 2,25 worst case.
Swift Air flights to last until December 29th?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/roundup/2011/05/06/roundup-bs-04
I think they meant october ;)
ReplyDelete