Terminal expansion on schedule at Belgrade Airport
Not only is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport celebrating fifty years since it opened its doors, it also expects that it will handle the most passengers on record and greatly improve facilities. “With an increased flight offering we will cement our position and continue to record growth at a faster pace than other airports in the region”, the head of Serbia’s main hub Velimir Radosavljević says. “Our goal is to handle more passengers this year than Zagreb and Ljubljana combined and finally gain the upper hand over Sofia Airport”, he notes.So far this year Belgrade Airport has seen a 14% passenger increase on last year by handling an additional 74.000 passengers. In March the airport welcomed 216.025 passengers, an increase of 14.4% compared to the same month last year. Since January the airport has handled 604.210 visitors. 2011 marked Belgrade Airport’s third busiest year on record behind 1987 and 1988. Its best result came 25 years ago when it saw 3.311.951 passengers, a year which is still a record breaker for several airports in the former Yugoslavia.
Meanwhile, work on the expansion of the airport’s gate area is continuing. A total of 9.000 square metres is being redeveloped and another 10.000 square metres will be added. Work is currently being carried out on the first phase of the project. The first refurbished terminal one gates will be opened progressively from late May until late June. Recently the airport refurbished its business class lounge and completed the expansion of its security and passport control areas, adding new X-rays, shoe scanners and cutting queue times. The entire reconstruction and expansion project is being financed through the airports profits.
Great news! The next good news would be: a direct trans-atlantic flights from BEG.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. From all the airports in ex YU, i like BEG most.
ReplyDeleteGo BEG go, excellent job!
ReplyDeleteNote to editor: It would be fair to copyright the photo @ Nikola Fific, Vecernje novosti
good for BEG. at least somebody is doing good. though transatlantic, hahahaha what a joke, yeah expect USAir, United, Delta and American to fly from several cities in a couple of years. don't be rediculous.
ReplyDeletebelgrade is now in the position to handle more than 5mil pax, so i am not that satisfied. people working on BEG are in G17+ and DS political parties.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should write a program where comments are automatically posted whenever a story about BEG comes up.
ReplyDeleteThere can be a comment generated about direct trans-atlantic flights, and then comments about how that's ridiculous, and just save everyone the bother.
Someone might wright a program too, able to detect every post made by doot, so that everyone with a clear mind would be able to skip all of his worthless comments
DeleteSo...they are going to stop those ridiculous double security checks?
ReplyDeleteAnd let us buy a simple PLASTIC bottle of water before we board?
Think not...
Not yet. Once additional floor is built to separate incoming pax, then they can abolish the double checks.
Deleteummmm well, BEG isnt the first airport to have the double security checks. VIE for example does this too. Last month I connected from BEG via MUC to DXB and had a security screening in MUC. Although its a hassel, BEG isnt the only airport that does this.
DeleteSomeone can make a program posting ":(" whenever Zagreb Airport is mentioned.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous Apr 10, 2012 05:45 AM Someone can make a program posting ":(" whenever Zagreb Airport is mentioned."
DeleteHahaha, this was a good one :)
pls publish some photos once constructions are completed. thank you
ReplyDeleteHow many gates does BEG have (bus+jetbridge)? And yes pls provide us with some photos!
Delete14 jet bridges and there are a lot of parking spaces that are not connected to the terminal.
Delete15....
DeleteA1-A8 and C1-C6 = 14
DeleteA9/A10 nonfunctional.
dude above go to beg aero and u will see that a 10 and 9 were used yesterday!
Deletecheers
dont look what is written @ beg.aero
Deletebuy a plane ticket from/to BEG and see for yourself, I know what I'm saying ;)
these gates have air bridges but every passenger has to board plane by entering the tarmac..
There is A1-A10 and C1-C6 with air bridges, plus B1-B5 which is remote stand as far as I know...hope this answers your question.
DeleteIt would be nice if Belgrade Airport provided free wifi. I doubt that it would cost much to set up but it would be a very nice bonus for passengers.
ReplyDeleteI flew out of Belgrade Airport 10 days ago, and when I asked at the information desk about wifi, the answer from the lady who works there was: "It hasn't started yet." I informed her that I read a few weeks ago a news story about free wifi for the first 15 minutes, but she had a blank look on her face. Totally clueless. Then when I got to area close to departure gates (near the cafe), I saw signs for wifi with the Telekom Srbija logo and slogan "Imate prijatelje" (You have friends). So I tried to get on the wifi with my Ipad. I was able to get on the network (had to pay a fee, which was deducted from my 064 mobile number). It was painfully slow and I could not browse most web sites. So my question is -- why even bother when you can't get the darn thing set up right?
My other question is -- if airports like Vienna and Chisinau can have good, free wifi, why can't Belgrade have it?
I think the main priority is setting BEG up to be a proper airport rather than the post office looking box it looks like. BEG lacks proper facilities major airports have such as smoking rooms which I think should be provided. A majority of airports dont offer wifi, however much its welcomed. Id rather see the money better spent on upgrading alot of the facilities such as a larger duty free, more variety of shops, cafes, fast food stalls etc rather than free wifi.
DeleteBelgrade has smoking rooms, used them myself...where are you getting the info from? Yes, they could put some in transit area as well. I know you're in love with fancy-shopping mall-like buildings but i see no problem in an airport not looking that way. Functionality and cleanliness is number. And of course, absence of WiFi is a big minus.
DeleteDidnt notice the smoking room, I always smoke outside T2 after I check in one last time before going through security. Where abouts is it?
DeleteI think that the soo called 'fancy-shopping mall-like' facilities only enhance the quality of the airport and ones experience using BEG. You might not like it but many find it convenient. I like having the option to purchase last minute duty free for family. The current duty free shop is small, nicely stocked, but can be better. The souvenir shop is nice, I like it and allows foreigners to purchase nice little souveniers from Serbia. Would be nice to have maybe a fast food outlet there, say McDonalds. A costa or starbucks, maybe a pljeskavica place. There is a couple depressing looking cafes and thats it. Money can also be better spent on providing proper parking facilities as well. Maybe improving the look of the apron areas would be welcomed. For me, there is better to invest money in rather than wifi, which most airports dont offer anyway.
Cities such as Milan, Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore don't have free wifi throughout their airports so why should Belgrade be an exception. It's actually really rare to find an airport with good connections to free wifi.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana has and it s doing fine
DeleteThat is bullshit, airports such as Dubai, Larnaca, Athens, Budapest, Warsaw, Vienna... and now even the German airports have 30 minutes of good wifi.
DeleteThe next inevitable airlines to BEG (after Qatar):
ReplyDelete-Bulgaria Air
-TAP Portugal
-Aerosvit or Ukraine International (one of two)
-Ural Airlines
-Belavia
-Emirates
-Vueling
Maybe BA to come back, KLM THE BIG ONE, and maybe Russiya airlines from st.petersburg.. WHat do you think?
DeleteBA is unlikely to return unless something terrible happens to JU. KLM won't come now that Air France has stopped codesharing with JU. Rossiya is a remote possibility, one thing is certain though; there is much room in BEG for many more Russian/CIS airlines. I'm pretty sure the only reason Transaero doesn't fly to BEG is because of protectionism for the JU/Aeroflot monopoly to the Russian market.
DeleteNo chance for KLM. Jat and KLM have really high levels of cooperation (very good relationship) and in their agreement Jat is the exclusive carrier between the Netherlands and Serbia.
DeleteI like your list but unfortunately I think it`s not going to happen soon.
DeleteDother company of Emirates Fly Dubai already fly to Belgrade.Aerosvit canceled their flights to Belgrade because load factor was poor. If flight to Kiev are not profitable I doubt that Belavias flights to Minsk or Ural Airlance to Ekaterinbourg would be.
Flights to Sofia, Madrid and Barcelona are really necessary
Heavens i'd love BA888 back again!
Delete(Obviously!)
At the moment- avoiding LCC option due to moronic departure time from BEG and arrival to LTN (can not even to begin to explain that dump!)...and JU...hmmm...if I have to!
Does anybody have any news about Morava Airport in central Serbia as I have't heard anything about that project for a while.Is it still going on?
ReplyDeleteCheck here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=90234336&postcount=475
DeleteI just love this :)
ReplyDeletehttp://img36.imageshack.us/img36/356/viennabeg.jpg
hehe, look at the equipment :))
Deletehehe, look at the equipment :)
DeleteThe bigger surprise is that Jat was in half hour early from Vienna :P
Delete@BEG21AH Thanks mate!Morava airport looks so cute.Hopefully there will be some interest by airliners to operete from there.
ReplyDelete