Numbers on the up side at Belgrade Airport
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled 339.400 passengers in September, an increase of 7.2% compared to the same month last year when it welcomed 316.711 passengers through its doors. It marks the airport’s 30th month of consecutive growth. On the other hand, the number of operated flights to and from the airport fell 2% on 2011, with 4.110 flights being operated. So far this year, Belgrade Airport has seen 2.642.259 passengers pass through its doors, with the airport expected to handle its third millionth traveller in early November. Compared to last year, Serbia’s busiest airport has seen average growth of 9.2%.
October has also started off strongly. In the first week the airport welcomed 65.480 passengers. Performing the strongest are Wizz Air, Jat Airways, Swiss International Airlines, Aeroflot and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Earlier in September, Air One launched flights from Milan to Belgrade. The airline is performing relatively well on the route with an average of 65 passengers heading to the Serbian capital and an average of 105 passengers on the return service to Milan. The only new airline to announce flights to Belgrade until the end of 2012 is Qatar Airways, while Wizz Air will launch flights to Basel and Jat is expected to head to Banja Luka by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Serbia’s second international airport, Niš, saw strong growth in September after a major plunge in August. Last month, Constantine the Great Airport welcomed 2.559 passengers, an increase of 18.3% compared to the same month last year. Average growth in 2012 has stood at 15.9%. The airport can expect numbers to soar later on in the year with the arrival of Darwin Airline.
Ofcourse they grow because this is the only oppertunity serbs have to travel out of Serbia, Same as tourist and people who have to travel to BEG, Look at Zagreb, If Croatia only had ZAG as the possible travelroute out and in the passaneger numbers would have been higher.
ReplyDeleteAs the Serbian economy grows in the future so will the need for flying in the province. Passenger numbers in Nis are modest but they are on the rise. I am confident that with the flights to Switzerland the airport will become busier.
DeleteAs for Belgrade, I am happy to see these numbers. It means that yields have improved for airlines operating there. Hope this trend continues in the future.
Why must people be so repetitive.
DeleteWhy each positive thread about Belgrade has to turn into "Zagreb this, Zagreb that...". Why are you people so complexed? Can't you exist without Belgrade?
DeleteI could not agree more, everything that happens on this side of Sava has to be heavily discussed on the other side. Just watch the HRT news.
Delete"Ofcourse they grow because this is the only oppertunity serbs have to travel out of Serbia" - I guess by that definition SJJ, LJU, SKP and others should have constant growth just "becase they're the only airport in the country"? o<O
DeleteOf course not, but it seems some Croats who frequenct this blog have issues with Serbia and need to vent.
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DeleteI stand on my meaning, Yes im from Croatia but this had nothing to do, In fact im not an Croat or a Serb im from Denmark. I used just Zagreb as an sugestion to take an example. BEG is growning because they are the head airport in the country. Everybody will use an airport that offers so many routes that they can travel.Look at Nis and Morava Airport....you think they can reach this passengernumbers? In fact as we are talking about Zagreb, What if Split and Dubrovnik Airport would not have existed. This would make Zagreb to an airport that served for maybe 5-6 millons passenger every year.
DeleteYes but your argument is still not valid because Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and it is the only airport in the continental part of the country (Osijek can not be seriously considered). That means that the airport has a nice catchment area, not to mention that it does also attract passengers from neighbouring Slovenia and Bosnia. All that put together, the airport is not at a disadvantage when comapred to the coastal ones. Actually, ZAG is at an advantage because it does not face large changes of passenger traffic with the change of season.
DeleteOk and what ZAG possibly (though very unlikely) having 5-6 million a year has to do with BEG pax numbers growth? Could you enlighten us over the usefulness of your input?
DeleteHis comment is not useful at all, that is the problem.
Delete"BEG is growning because they are the head airport in the country." - So you are saying that all head-airports in respective countries have to grow automatically? :? And if an airport numbers are declining, that's actually cause it's not the main airport in the country... LOL.
DeleteI am a business major specializing in Eastern European economies. I can tell you. Firstly, I am neither Serb nor Croat so this is not a biased opinion.
DeleteYou are correct in stating that Belgrade has more growth than Zagreb because of it being the only used airport in Serbia other than Pristina and Nis. However, Belgrade's pax are more and more of the business nature. If you look geopolitically, Belgrade is in a prime spot. Every firm would want to have a base their and conduct regional businesses in Belgrade. Actually, what we are seeing is an increase of FDI in Belgrade on a yearly scale. To put it simply, Zagreb does not even come close. It is to put it bluntly, just a capital city. Nothing more. Belgrade is a regional hub and it wil overtake Sofia and Bucharest much like it did during the Yugoslav years as well.
Belgrade offers so much more than Zagreb. So even though it may be the only airport in the country, Zagreb wold never be able to match it even if there was no Dubrovnik or Split.
Zagreb is not doing bad either. But Croatia does not have much to offer in its inner territory. It has a coast, and it is developing the coast. Much like Belgrade. Serbia's biggest tourist destination is Belgrade, so it's developing that too.
Overtaking Bucharest? Have you got the slightest idea about the figures of the Romanian capital - one of the biggest capital cities in Eastern Europe? For SOF I can agree - but it has other important airports. Croatia's current economic situation is much better than the rest of its ex-YU "comrades" with the exception of Slovenia - not to mention in 5 years time.
DeleteEvery firm in the EU, would choose Croatia because it would be so easier to do so.
to the business major specializing in eastern european economies Pristina isnt in Serbia
Delete"one of the biggest capital cities in Eastern Europe?" - You mean the UGLIEST capital city in Europe?
DeleteHe wasn't meaning about overtaking BUH in numbers (although it might happen) but in terms of global importance, which i think Belgrade already did.
DeleteTo the business student (and the rest of you who erroneously think Beg is the capital of SE Europe):
DeleteOn the global scale of world cities Bucharest is rated much higher than Belgrade and so is Sophia. Bucharest is a Beta city, Sophia Beta-, Zagreb and Belgrade are both in the same category= Gamma+.
On Global City Competitiveness Index (according to cities' demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and visitors Bucharest is 76th out of 120 cities ranked. Belgrade and Zagreb are NOT on that list.
Zagreb's PPP (purchasing power parity) is $32,185 per capita, Belgrade's $19,458.
Everything else you guys are arguing about is useless. Neither city airport traffic is even on the list of 100 busiest airports in Europe. Such a major economic 'powerhouse', larger than Athens or Bucharest (yeah right!) is NOT even on that list. So, where are all these tourists and business travelers?!
Lets be realistic, neither Zagreb or Belgrade are performing well. Which one has more passengers at the moment is irrelevant.
And no, Belgrade is no hub, no travelers from former YU are using it as a hub to distant destinations, each capital city serves those destinations which it needs, the transfer hubs for ALL, including Belgrade, is Frankfurt, Paris, Munich, London and the likes.
A city of Belgrade's size should have at least 5 million passengers, Nis should have 500.000.
When the traffic of airports is mentioned, the total amount of trffic for each country can be listed and then each airport can be listed under each country separately. I think it would solve much of the arguing on this blog.
ReplyDeleteNot really because different airports serve different markets. It would be like comparing apples and pears.
DeleteCroatia is a tourist country and Zagreb is a regional city. Belgrade is the capital of South-East Europe. There is nothing to compare in here.
DeleteThere is one simple fact, Croatian coastal airports see a large number of low-yielding passengers heading for holidays. Zagreb on the other hand sees more VFR, connecting traffic and business passengers. Croatia Airlines is restricted by its German master and because of that passenger numbers in ZAG can never rise so much. Zagreb will never match Dubrovnik when it comes to tourism, so that front is also lost.
DeleteCroatia is approximately 4,2 million and has 4-6 main airports equally distributed within the country while Serbia has a total of 7 million and has literally only 1 airport serving the whole country. These figures are quite normal for a number of reasons:
ReplyDelete- Abolishment of visas to EU
- Higher emigration
- Monopoly of JAT on important destinations
- Arrival of Wizzair which have much bigger aircraft than JAT for example
ZAG's destinations are quite different because the airlines served are relevantly more important as well as the routes served by OU.
Nis is located very close to 2 capital cities with good traffic. We cannot expect 4 weekly flights to Switzerland with a 50 seat aircraft to dramatically increase figures.
- First of all it is Jat and not JAT.
Delete- Jat holds a monopoly to LHR and will only temporarily have it to CDG. HOWEVER Jat sees fierce competition to both London and Paris. What other key routes are monopolized by Jat? So your argument fails there.
- Higher emigration? Serbs are not Chinese to sustain 30 months of growth just based on emmigration, you said it yourself, we are 7 million, not 700. On top of it all, Serbs can travel to the EU but can not work there, so emmigration doesn't play a major role here.
- How are airlines that serve ZAG relevantly more important? BEG has all the airlines that fly into ZAG, plus more. ZAG just got a link to the Middle East via Budapest while soon BEG will have both a legacy link, AND a low cost one.
1 - How on Earth the supposed monopoly of JU should increase pax numbers?!
Delete2 - Which are those important routes "served by OU but not served by JU?" Hilarious. It's actually quite the opposite.
3 - BEG has nearly a double of number of destinations than ZAG which is in my opinion a much better indicator of airport's importance than pax numbers. KBP or BEY have similar numbers of pax as BUD or some second-tier EU city but from those airports you can easily reach virtually any part of the world. Same goes for EZE. MSQ has less numbers than PRN but can fly you through most of Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. Also WAW is far more important than BUD again although they have the same numbers of pax. So think about it instead of engaging into those never-ending childish arguments.
"- Arrival of Wizzair which have much bigger aircraft than JAT for example" - Are you out of your mind and one of those who are saying "we'll turn Zagreb into a world hub"? You have the right to love your city but you can also do that while being realistic and without hating others.
DeleteI didn't know that the A320 is "significantly bigger" than a B737-300. The airlines flying the largest planes to BEG on scheduled flights are anyway not Wizz Air or JAT but SU, LH and LX who regularly send their A321 to BEG. It used to be Spanair as well until they collapsed. Surprising though that LH never managed to fill an A321 to its focus-city ZAG.
I disagree. ZAG has more business travelers and leisure travelers in comparison with BEG. Besides, there are way more multinational companies in Croatia unlike Serbia. The current figures show a difference of approx. 832000 passengers between both cities, which of course is a lot but this will very soon change having both airports competing. EU is going to have an impact...a very big one on Croatia.
DeleteOff (@Anonymous 12:12 PM):
ReplyDeleteAre Serbian passport holders allowed to work in France?
Maybe they are in "Pristine" Mihajlo. They might consider your correct spelling in Albanian a good incentive for giving you a job.
DeleteNo, I was curious to find a solid page that would confirm this about temporary paid activity, Wikipedia cannot be counted on... And, anyway, that and redundancy in your comment are not the topic of discussion.
DeleteSerbia is not in EU so passport holders cannot work in France unless they apply for a work permit.
DeleteMihajlo, greetings from your southern neighbours.
DeleteIf you have a biometric Serbian passport you could travel to France "on business' for up to 90 days within a six month period. But you cannot work, i.e. earn money and get paid in France. You could, however travel to discuss work, make arrangements, attend meetings, etc.
Hope this helps.
Mihajlo Dordjevic, if i say you look as an idiot you would also say that my comment has been "redundant"?
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ReplyDeleteLet me educate our Croatian youth since EU is such a big deal here.
ReplyDeleteBasically what the EU is is ANOTHER YUGOSLAVIA. So, by that knowledge we can conclude that the only former Yugoslav nation that should actually join the EU should be Serbia.
Hahaha The EU another Yugoslavia???? Croatia will gain and become better off in the EU unlike Yugoslavia and I don't thing Brussels will be sending tanks down Croatian streets any time ever!
DeleteI don't get this that only Serbia wanted Yugoslavia? Serbia didn't want Yugoslavija, they wanted Great Serbia with borders from Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag. Your politicians were talking in that way, so how the hell you than wanted Yugoslavija where we all would be the same. Pure bullshit.
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ReplyDeleteAir One LF then is 47%? I guess that is ok since it just began flights.
ReplyDeleteCograts Belgrade! Well done, nice. Go on! You can do it much better but it will take time.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's it! I don't have anything more to say about this topic, nothing!
BUT! I'm looking all this comments and asking myself what is going on? Why everytime when BEG is mentioned there is always some discussion, the stupid one! Is someone obsessed? What's the reason? Jealousy?
Competition is a good thing, but this... We should cooperate not to pin eachother! Just look how much deleted comment there are!
Aviation is very nice science. So, enjoy and try to be more European, try to contribute to something good, and try not to delete your comment!
Go BEG!
Cheers ;)
Hahah, look other themes, in every theme there is talk about Serbia and Belgrade, so this is just not true..
DeleteBecause we are simple superior!
DeleteAccept it!
Zagreb does not have less air passengers then Belgrade, but Belgrade has just one big airport nearby (Budapest is on 375 km). In radius of 400 km Zagreb has Ljubljana (140 km), Graz (180), Trieste (231), Budapest (340 km), Vienna (360 km), Venice (380 km), and airports specialized in Low cost like Rijeka (165 km), Zadar (280 km), Pula (260 km), Split (390 km), Treviso (370 km), Bratislava (410 km). By registration plates in parking of those airports you can see how many passengers use those airports instead of Zagreb. Also lot of passengers use charter lines from Stuttgart, Linz, Graz, Vienna, even Munich where they go by car, especially for charters out of Europe or to Greece and Canary Islands. All those airports are up to 3 hours driving.
ReplyDeleteIn last 40 flights I used:
- Zagreb 11 times (just 27% of my flights)
- Vienna 8 times
- Budapest 4 times
- Trieste 2 times
- Split 2 times
- Bratislava 2 times
- Graz 2 times
- Stuttgart 2 times
- Munich 2 times
- Zadar 2 times
- Ljubljana 2 times
- Venice 1 time
well the fact is that there went more pax through BEG then ZAG!maybe we could count pax using alternative airports but then we should do this for all of them (LJU;ZAG;BEG;SKP etc).speaking about it, LJU has even more competition than ZAG as most of those airports you listed are even closer to LJU, specially popular is Venice! (exept ZAD,SPU which you named to be "low cost" airports but i would like to correct you here maybe more a seasonal low cost airports).picture is similar in Slovenia, if you cannot get a direct (and/or cheap flight) you immediately check Venice/Munich/Vienna.and Treviso in case you fancy FR.and i agree, lots of leisure pax from Slovenia use GRZ/VIE/MUC/Milano airports as the choice is much bigger and more affordable.but we cannot change a lot here.Venice has a big potential,Munich nad Vienna as well, while LJU and ZAG have limited potential so stop complaining, BEG has a better position when we consider direct competition and that will not change.
DeleteRoughly you wanna say that the people from Zagreb use all those airports as far as Bratislava and Munich BUT don't use Belgrade? If that's what you wanted to prove you would be very far from reality.
DeleteWho cares?
DeleteBEG has more passengers than ZAG. End of. You can't blame BEG because people don't use OSI as a low-cost option.
Get over it.
I'm from Croatia and I say that that is normaln that LYBE has more pax than LDZA. Belgrade is bigger city than Zagreb.
DeleteAnd on another hand, we in Croatia has much more pax overall than Serbia. And that's it.. All other discussions are crap.
"Roughly you wanna say that the people from Zagreb use all those airports as far as Bratislava and Munich BUT don't use Belgrade?"
DeleteOf course not. For example there is direct flight Bratislava-Edinburgh for 62 EUR, of course I was using that when I have to go to Scotland. If BEG will have any lines which are competitive to VIE, BTS, BUD... I will use it. But for sure I will not go 400 km east and pay more. If I will need to go to Dubai for example, and price will be much better than flights from Budapest or Vienna (I will always pay more for Emirates than to fly with flyDubai) I will use Belgrade. Unfortunately BEG has just few lines comparing to number of lines in Vienna, Budapest, Venice, and prices are usually more expensive. For example price to Seoul with Qatar from BUD (there was no Qatar flights from ZAG than) was some 40% cheaper than with Aeroflot from BEG via SVO.
I'm from Zagreb, and I fly to Belgrade once a months to visit my mother and sister, and let me tell you. I can see the difference in how busy the airports really are. BEG is busy for it's size, unlike Zagreb. But Zagreb will grow over the next summers because of PAX going to the ocean.
ReplyDeleteEmirates will soon be flying to Belgrade, according to sources in Dubai.
ReplyDelete