Pula Airport will close its doors during the winter for a planned 3.47 million euro overhaul of its runway following a record summer season. Work on the runway is expected to begin on February 1, 2017 and be completed by March 15. During this time, the airport will be closed for all traffic. However, a final decision on whether the overhaul will take place during February or will be pushed back until next autumn will be decided in the following weeks. The runway was built in 1954 and last upgraded in 1972. The approach lighting system is also expected to be extended from the current 400 metres to 900 metres. Pula Airport will finance the work from its own funds. During the winter season, Pula is served by Croatia Airlines from Zagreb and Zadar, as well as Trade Air, which maintains commuter domestic flights.
Pula Airport anticipates a record 2017 despite the planned closure after achieving its post-independence record this year by handling over 400.000 passengers during the week. A number of airlines have already confirmed new services to the city next year including Eurowings from Dusseldorf, Jet2 from London Stansted and Thomson Airways from Edinburgh. According to Managing Director Svemir Radmilo, a number of new routes are yet to be announced with the airport in talks with a further four carriers. Furthermore, Eurowings is expected to announce a new service from Stuttgart to Pula. As a result, the airport anticipates handling over 500.000 travellers next year.
Pula Airport plans to build a new passenger terminal in the near future as part of its new development masterplan. Mr Radmilo said the construction of a new 36.000 square metre facility is a key project which will fuel passenger growth. Pula Airport recently presented its master plan for the 2014 – 2039 period, including guidelines for the development of the airport's infrastructure and the business as a whole. Emphasis has been put on increasing scheduled and charter traffic, as well as attracting more budget carriers. The airport estimates handling some 1.5 million passengers by 2040. Its new masterplan was drafted by a consortium including the Zagreb-based IGH company and Airport Consulting Vienna. Pula Airport's existing passenger terminal was opened in 1989. It has the capacity to handle one million passengers per year.
Good work for Pula. I'm still a bit surprised though that they haven't managed to surpass the 1990 record, most if all not all Croatian airport have managed to surpass the Yugoslav records over the past few years.
ReplyDeletePula's numbers were affected quite a bit by Croatia's entry into the EU but in a negative way. Pula was the main airport for Russian tourists but as soon as Croatia entered the EU, visas were imposed for Russian citizens and man charter and seasonal flights were cancelled. Some have resumed over the last year or two but it still down on before.
DeleteIt's not just Russia but Ukraine and Belarus too. Prior to joining the EU 40% of passengers at Pula Airport were from Russia. Russians are still coming, but in much smaller numbers. Pre-EU it was in Boeing 747-400 planes, today it is in Airbus A320s, with a lot less capacity
DeleteInteresting info. Didn't know that.
DeleteTwo Transaero B747 parked next to each other in Pula was quite a common sight :)
DeleteIndeed :)
Deletehttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEqRSqNev80/U21TmyPTVPI/AAAAAAAAMa4/-zigMxGa-gI/s1600/_42.jpg
Didn't the decline in Russian traffic also have to do with an overall fall in international traffic to and from Russia? The economic downturn there and the weakening of the ruble should have played a big part too, I think. The same number of people as before in Russia no longer can afford travelling abroad. For example, Transaero went bankrupt for a number of reasons and Croatia joining the EU isn't one I would put high on the list.
DeleteIndeed. Transero boings were parked at PUY after the independence and after year 2000.
DeleteIsn't it a bit early for a new terminal if the current one has a 1 million capacity?
ReplyDeleteWell they are planning for the future. Better they build it slightly ahead then start thinking about building a terminal when the current one is already operating over capacity like Split.
DeleteI think this masterplan and proposal was made earlier this year at the time when the government was to select new management teams for all airport in Croatia. Since the government collapsed nothing came of it but I think this masterplan was planned for someone to retain their job ;) we will see. Glad to hear they will fix up the runway.
Delete+1 last anon
DeleteWon't the closure affect their passenger numbers?
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights Pula has during February and first half of March? Probably few.
DeleteTotal passengers in Feb 760 pax and in March 1040. So Feb & 50% of March equal predicted loss of 1280 pax for time of planned closure. The is less than 0,4% of yearly passenger number. Will not have any real affect.
DeleteAnother positive for Pula is that many airlines extended their flying season.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Ryanair will cancel Oslo-Pula next year.
ReplyDeleteNot that big of a loss. Norwegian flies from Gardermoen.
DeleteThere is still a lot of potential for Pula. A few years ago Wizz Air started talks with them and was interested in launching two destinations. Nothing came of it. My guess the fees were too high for them. Wizz is a good choice for airports like Pula in my opinion since they usually operate year round rather than seasonal.
ReplyDeleteso basically next year, it will be a race between INI TZL and PUY.
ReplyDeleteI think the main question will be whether Tuzla will overtake Pula.
DeleteNo way INI can reach Tuzla and Pula numbers next year. Tuzla will have 43 weekly flights from March 27,plus charter flights to Turkey!TZL is looking at 550.000 passengers next year. With 275.000 departing passengers at 3 Euros charge, charter and cargo flights to Turkey, first time in history Tuzla Airport will be sustainable, no need for government subsides. Still Government of FBiH is collecting 10 Euros passenger tax per departing passenger at Sarajevo Airport for development of aviation sector in BiH, (400.000 departing passengers x 10 Euros=4 million Euros. Money collected will be used for future development of airports Tuzla and Mostar. Most likely Tuzla will start building new terminal next year! Pula will be close to 500.000, but INI will be around 300.000 in 2017. Anyway, very good development for small airports, who will be turning in LCC hubs for their own countries. Mostar for sure will get Ryan Air, and Pegasus will start Tuzla flights. BNX as always is just empty promises. Good luck to all, especialy for the airports like TZL or INI!
DeleteINI is an airport to follow.
DeleteWizz Air already announced the increase of DTM to 3 weekly. Ryanair will surely add more flights to BTS and SXF during the summer months. In 2017 300.000 is a given, the only question is how much over it the number will go.
INI has an advantage over SKP and that is that both FR and W6 compete there so the chances of lower fares is much greater. The growth there is impressive, especially since within a year we will get three carriers.
I would like to add that third flight to DTM starts on 27.03 which is quite early.
DeleteAll the best to Pula Airport!
ReplyDeleteBtw. Does anyone have the SKP numbers for September?
I think they didn't post them..
August:
DeleteSkopje Airport: 175.027 passengers
Ohrid Airport: 28.126 passengers
Sorry for the mystake! Not September but August.
DeleteThx ex-yu! What was the growth at SKP with these numbers?
Delete+0.7% on last August.
DeleteCould slower growth be a result of INI flights? Nis region plus everything south no longer needs to use SKP for some flights.
Delete@ Anonymous September 25, 2016 at 1:28 PM
DeleteNo!
August for SKP is not 0,7, it's 0,9
DeleteOT JU sends the Atr to IST today while Turkish Airlines or Pegasus have not reduced their BEG flights.
ReplyDeleteDo you think we might see less than daily flights this winter? IST recorded its busiest day in history last week so there is still a large market.
Thoughts?
(I kindly ask primitives and people looking for a fight to ignore this post, thanks)
Many European airlines have reduced Istanbul. Turkish and Pegasus have most of the market anyway, at least to/from BEG since apart from P2P Turkish carries a huge amount of transfers. Air Serbia has only P2Ps on this route. Tukrish has also been dumping fares across its network over the last few months.
DeleteMmmhh, does it really make sense serving IST with an ATR? Not to open up the debate again if Dash or ATR are "better", but I am sure the Bombardier turboprop makes more sense for this route, if there is no capacity of over 100 people.
DeleteInteresting topic. I think JU would have more success moving its IST flight to nighttime as like that they could offer connections to their whole network. This isn't the case now as they don't offer connections between IST and CDG, AMS or ARN.
DeleteI think that the smartest thing that JU can make is to drop IST and to move to some destinations that can bring transfer passengers such as Ankara and Chisinau.
DeleteESB would have to be operated at night as it doesn't fit in the noon wave.
DeleteI don't think JU considers Dash turboprops. If they need something between ATRs and Airbuses and if the past summer is any indication, they would go for regional jets.
DeleteBolje leteti sa ATR nego da se prestane leteti.
DeleteI OS leti samo sezonski za IST .
Trebalo bi se potruditi da se letovi bolje spoje sa konekcijama .
A takodje kao odgovor TK trebalo bi se uspostaviti i ESB .
INN-NS
Marko
DeleteNije problem u ATRu vec u losem vremenu. Sa trenutnim redom letenja JU ne nudi presedanja iz IST za JFK, CDG, AMS i ARN. I sam znas koliko bi putnika mogli da vuku.
Iz tog razloga ima vise smisla da se leti nocu kada bi se pokrilo celo trziste.
To i jeste velika steta trebali su na tome da porade imali bi samo dobit .
DeleteINN-NS
By the way, also ECA which is since long time up and running again is serving Pula - if I remember from last winter they are also serving Pula year round, not just OU and TDR.
ReplyDeleteBut according to their website they are currently landing in the port on water, not serving the airport.
OT:
ReplyDeleteWill JU fly MLA next year? W6 currently offers OW ticket from BEG starting approx. 51€!
It´s also so frustrating that BEG is probably the sole capital in Europe with no direct flights to Madrid and to Spain in general :(
Yes, they will return. If they keep the same schedule and if their fares don't go over €200 then they will be fine.
DeleteThe market to MAD is rather small, Spanair used to have a bit over 500 passengers per month when they flew the route. BCN on the other hand had 4 times that.
Thanks for the info. Was just curious, because I read about Serbians living in MLA and guess this will be a huge hit!
DeleteAs for the Spanish market, it is indeed very low. Thought JU can interline with IB or UX and connect the whole Spain and Latin America.
OT:
ReplyDeleteWizz opened their newest base in Kutaisi
So?
DeleteINI is next!
DeleteA market Air Serbia has been staunchly ignoring.
DeleteThere are rumours floating around that Monarch might be ceasing operations. I really hope they are not true.
ReplyDeleteI hope it not true. If yes then who could we see launc man-zag? U2?
DeleteOvo su odlicne vesti za PUY.
ReplyDeleteI odlicno se spremaju za novi Sezonu i nadam se da ce pridobiti jos novih Aviokompanija.
INN-NS
JU dva puta nedeljno, aeodrom je mrtav zimi. Potrebne su konekcije.
Delete