April numbers down as airport expansion continues
As May comes to a close, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has recorded a passenger plunge in April. Last month, Serbia’s busiest airport welcomed 251.873 passengers, down 5.7% compared to April 2012. As a result, the airport has recorded its largest drop in monthly passenger figures so far this year. Fuelling the passenger plunge was Jat Airways which saw its numbers decrease by 16% in April due to flight reductions across its network. Foreign carriers operating to the Serbian capital managed to see their numbers improve compared to last April. An additional factor was the Orthodox Easter holiday, which was observed in mid April last year while it was marked in May this year.
So far this year, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled 855.597 passengers, a decrease of 1.8% compared to the same period last year. The airport is maintaining its position as the busiest airport in the former Yugoslavia, some 227.000 passengers ahead of second placed Zagreb Airport. Despite Jat’s woes, preliminary figures indicate the airport is on course to handle a record number of passengers in May. Working in the airport’s favour were the combined May Day and Easter public holidays as well as charter airlines launching their summer flights to the city during the month.
Meanwhile, construction work at the airport is continuing as part of the multimillion euro upgrades taking place. The expansion of the airport’s C apron, which will see an additional four parking spaces for commercial aircraft, is nearing completion and should be in operation by midsummer. The C apron, used by terminal two, features six air bridges. The added parking spaces will be used by smaller regional jets and will increase capacity by 17%. The investment is worth 2.6 million euros. In addition, on June 3 the foundations for new glass air bridges, to be used by terminal one, will be laid while in two weeks time the airport will end its long running procedure of double security checks.
Sorry for offtopic
ReplyDeleteAdria's unofficial statistics for May:
flights down 7% /2012
pax cc 94400 up 8,8% /2012 !!!! schedule pax up 10,5% , charter pax down 2,5%
pax per flight 54,7 up 16,4% /2012 from 46.
Adria is using 2 CRJ2 less than the same season last year - with less flights and more pax things are getting better. There was an article that they have 2,5m less loss than the same period last year.
The removal of the two CRJs should also help improve their financial performance.
DeleteI do not know why Adria's management is stubborn and doesn't understand that the most ideal aircraft for them is the Dash-8!
Totally agree about Dash-8!
DeleteAnd what is new about Adria-Jat-A319 deal?
DeleteToday the JU CEO said the deal is going through
DeleteI live for the day when the double checks cease to exist.
ReplyDeleteI flew from Belgrade recently and though the renovations were very much needed, I can't say I am impressed with the new look. I find the white floors and the general look of the airport quite cheap.
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows why they started having double checks in the first place? The whole process with the checking before entering a gate is quite strange, because sometimes they are extremely thorough and almost want you to take off your shoes and sometimes they just don't seem to care at all. I've actually set off the metal detector a couple of times, but the guards just told me to proceed.
ReplyDeletebecause arriving and departing passengers aren't separated
DeleteSecond security held by police till last December. Police were not so strict because they knew 99percent of people had previous security. All you had to do is to put your suitcase in scanner machine but they tolerated metal such as belt, change or wallet. They did randomly choosing person to full check.
DeleteSince December Airport Belgrade took charge on metal detector and diversion control, so security officers had to do full security check under supervising of one police officer who might be a bit unhappy of loosing its position.
For me this is nonsense. The incoming passengers have already been checked before boarding an incoming flight.
ReplyDeleteReally anyone on the outside of the airport in other country smuggle or jump on terriost on the plane between boarding time that why double check always
DeleteThis morning a guy on RTS' morning program was talking about this. He said the double checks were introduced in the 90s due to a large increase of fire armss in the country and the deterioration of the overall security situation. He also said the airport had to wait for approval from the US to get rid of the second security check which they just got.
ReplyDelete@EX YU AVIATION Can you let us know how is Easy Jet doing ( loading factor ) on Milan-BG and vice- versa.Thank You!
ReplyDeletelol, as if he knows that
DeleteApril LF 74%, May 78%.
Deletegood start, i think
DeleteSpeaking of that US approval to get rid of the secondary security check, does anyone know when will FAA start their inspection for a potential Category 1 reclassification? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe approval process has begun. It takes a few months. I think it should be given CAT1 by the end of October.
DeleteHonestly, the language on this blog is sometimes a bit too flamboyant. A 5% drop in traffic, while not unnoticeable is certainly not "plummeting". Plummeting is when you see a 40% drop or something. This is a 5% decrease.
ReplyDeleteOh and the airport didn't plummet, if you choose to use this word. The traffic did.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what are the chances of Belgrade having direct flights to the US? I heard multiple stories involving AZAL, Etihad, and Air Berlin but I don't see anything materializing.
ReplyDeleteWill there be any direct flights to North America within the next 3-5 years?
Probably not.
DeleteEven if we do, chances are they will not be profitable.
I posted this before. Just my opinion regarding this in more detail.
DeleteI can see North America flights to Croatia soon, (within next 5 years) but only in the summer as a charters service. Very similar to what we already have with JAL and Korean coming to Zagreb.
It won't be long before some American travel agent realise they can make money selling holiday packages to Croatia and when that happens I think we will see direct charter flights.
In terms of direct year round RPT service, someone could try it but it wont be profitable and there are enough 1 stop options covering most of the Americas via a number of European cities which is already very competitive. It will be nice to see but very unlikely.
On a side note, what is interesting is possible flights to Asia and Australia from the region.
JetStar (not my favourite airline) had a huge order for the 787 Dreamliner about 80 confirmed and another 80 options. This has been revised to just 14 aircraft at this time. They are also trying to set up another Asia base in Hong Kong, they already have one in Singapore.
The plan when they had the 80/80 order/option for some of these aircraft where apparently to act as Asian hub busters for the Qantas group from where it was mentioned Qantas via JetStar may one day expand into Europe again. Probably Ex Yu was not high on the list and places in Asia followed by European cities like Rome, Paris and Athens would have been serviced first but it was still an interesting strategy but one I'm not sure they are still perusing.
Hmm I would disagree with you. I don't think there are any chances of having a US carrier launch flights to Croatia (or any ex-Yu state).
DeleteAs for Croatia, the main reason is because it can't be reached with a B752. The U.S. economy is in a really bad shape now and I doubt it will significantly improve over the next several years.
U.S. and European carriers have a hard time making a lot of leisurely destinations work. Just look at Barcelona, the market is there but the yields are simply not. Croatia will get its American tourists in the future but these will be funnelled via other hubs. However, this is good news for Croatia Airlines as they will still keep on handling them.
What happened with Wizz Airs first flights to Oslo and Beauvais-Paris?
ReplyDeleteAccording to BEG airport website those flights did/will not happen....
Paris Beauvais is departing as it was announced on June 1st and Oslo on June 3rd (not May 31st as written on this blog)!!!! Everything ok, don't worry ;-)
Delete