Six airports from the former Yugoslavia have ranked among the 150 busiest on the continent during the first half of the year, out of which one is in the top 100. According to the European airport trade association, Airports Council International Europe (ACI), which publishes the only air traffic report that includes all types of airline passenger flights (full service, low cost, regional, charter, private and others), Belgrade Airport positioned itself as the 89th busiest with 6.162.159 passengers, 62.062 aircraft movements and 17.340 tonnes of cargo processed last year. It was ahead of the likes of London City, Minsk and Vilnius but behind Sofia, Thessaloniki and Gothenburg. Its counterpart in Zagreb ranked 115th with 3.435.531 travellers, 45.061 aircraft movements and 12.684 tonnes of cargo. While it performed better than Tirana, Split and Tallin, which took the following three spots, it was behind Luxembourg, Tbilisi and Wroclaw.
Split Airport continued to improve its standing among European airports, becoming the 117th busiest on the continent during 2019. It was followed by Dubrovnik (129th), Pristina (136th) and Skopje (137th). Ljubljana Airport just missed out of the top 150, ranking 151st on the continent. Out of Europe's capital cities, Sarajevo had the least passenger traffic, coming in at 169th on the continent while London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid and Barcelona were the busiest In Europe. Although all six airports from the former Yugoslavia within the top 150 saw their passenger numbers increase over the last year when compared to the previous one, all registered a decline in the amount of processed cargo with exception to Skopje, which was up 3.6%. Overall, freight traffic across Europe posted its worst results since 2012.
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| Overall passenger development across European markets according to ACI |
Europe saw its slowest passenger traffic growth in five years in 2019, mainly due to stronger deceleration in the non-EU market, declining domestic traffic, as well as airline bankruptcies and capacity restraint in the EU market. The Director General of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec, said, “Over the past five years, Europe’s airports have increased their passenger traffic by more than +32% - meaning they have actually accommodated an extra 595 million passengers since 2014. But 2019 has been a pivotal year. Volumes were still up, but the deceleration has been notable on the back of both supply and demand pressures”. Looking at the months ahead, Mr Jankovec noted that many airports have planned for continued lower growth in passenger traffic in the face of uncertain trading conditions. He commented, “Some of the supply side pressures might start easing, especially if the 737 MAX is finally approved to fly again and if the recent decrease in oil prices is not reversed. However, there are for now few if any signals that airlines may be considering more capacity expansion - and further airline consolidation remains an ongoing reality”. He added, “The immediate big question mark is what happens with the coronavirus outbreak”.
When you think about it, it's sad actually. 6 in 150 and 1 in 100. Should be more.
ReplyDeleteHopefully people realise how insignificant all our markets are.
DeleteThat's what I have been trying to tell people when they are attacking JU for growing so fast. They are not growing too fast, they are merely catching up with European standards. Zagreb needs to wake up now when Tirana has caught up with them. It's a sign that they must become more proactive and flexible in forging new business deals.
DeleteGoodness Bergen, Norway had more traffic than any exyu airport :/
DeleteNorway is not a really good example because there is a lot of air travel in Norway due to the country's terrain
DeleteLietuva and Belarus put all ex-YU countries to shame with their network, passenger numbers and growth.
DeleteAnon@9.33 is correct. Norway has a really rough terrain so flying is usually the most convenient option, that's why a lot of their regional airports have so much traffic.
DeleteAnd also it's the second largest city in one of the most richest and affluent countries in the world.
DeleteOnly first 100 are important.
ReplyDeleteAll the others are way too small
... says the Serbian fanboy.
DeleteLOL
"Out of Europe's capital cities, Sarajevo had the least passenger traffic"
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell!? First worst connectivity in Europe now this. Something really needs to change at BiH airports.
Well SJJ has flybosnia lol
Deletestart with the government over there and idiots running it. then when you cascade down to the airport operations it makes perfect sense. it would be surprising if it was different
DeleteIf SJJ allowed 05.00 departures then they would immediately experience growth as many airlines like JU, OS, LH... would immediately introduce overnight flights. I am sure JU alone would go double daily right from the start.
DeleteIt's unfortunate. Especially since I think SJJ has a lot of potential to grow.
DeleteThere are a number of factors limiting SJJs growth unfortunately.
DeleteSJJ's location is horrible. Weather delays due to fog also do not help.
DeletePlus the Government should launch a plan of subsidizing direct links to European countries instead of just relying on Arabs coming here because everywhere else in Europe they need a visa.
I understand that beggars can't be choosers but if you don't change your mindset and the image of your country to the rest of Europe you will always be a beggar.
In regards to JU, they could launch flights outside of the curfew. Split morning and evening flights would for example connect onto destinations such as JFK, BEY, CAI, AMM, SVO, ATH, SKP, LHR, TIA, OTP. It wouldnt be the first for them to launch flights outside of their 'usual' waves, as seen with LJU, ZRH and now CDG.
DeleteWell this summer JU will have a morning departure to SJJ (like DBV) that will connect to JFK both ways.
DeleteBEG-SJJ 07.10-08.05
SJJ-BEG 08.35-09.25
With that schedule JU will also offer connections to London from Sarajevo since in summer on Saturday JU's LHR leaves BEG at 17.05. One weekly connection each way isn't much but it's something. I think JU should consider morning/evening flights to SJJ.
They could have flights like to TGD, ZAG or LJU:
BEG-SJJ 20.20-21.15
SJJ-BEG 21.45-22.40
They could also connect to AMM, CAI, TLV, SVO and the whole Balkans.
Why did cargo decline everywhere?
ReplyDeleteEuropean economy is slowing down.
DeleteWhat mostly affected ex-YU airports is the winding down of the war in Syria. Fewer arms to export. I really wonder what Rijeka Airport's cargo numbers were. Probably down 100%.
DeleteINI cargo numbers are booming due to weapons exports, mostly going to Saudi Arabia which is fighting a war in Yemen.
DeleteINI is doing generally ok, in January their growth continued so I am sure they are going to be somewhere between 450.000 and 500.000 this year.
DeleteIf Belgrade manages to reach 7 million this year then it will enter top 70 as many airports are around 7 million passengers. If BEG really did handle 400.000 passengers in January then it was on par with SKG which is great.
ReplyDeleteSKG had 3.4% growth in January. If entire BEG growth was due to JU, and it was not, than the January numbers would go up 11-12%.
Delete(347.000 in Jan 2019, and JU added slome 36.000 pax in Jan 2020)
Realistically we could expect 15-16% growth which Is somewhere really close to 400.000
Exactly and SKG had I think 403.000 passengers so if JU can keep on closing the gap outside the summer season they could come close to each other this year. Next step should be SOF.
DeleteSKG is also expanding. Aegean will start flights to Barcelona, Brussels, Rome, Milan, Zurich, and Berlin. It will also increase by 25 percent the number of available seats to other international destinations.
DeleteWill be interesting to see how Aegean performs in SKG, the market is very competitive. I think they will have competition on almost all routes from there.
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia SKG will have 18 new routes this year. Plus all the A3 increase in available seats.
DeleteSo I don't see BEG catching up to them this year but if JU continues its great expansion next year too I can definitely see them competing for dominance in the region along with SOF.
Just my2cents
BEG increases, JU plus foreigners , should be around 50 to 60 new weekly flights. I think that's actually more than SKG.
DeleteSeems like Macedonian market had the biggest growth in Europe!
ReplyDeleteThird biggest. First is Ukraine, then Austria.
DeleteThese good results were achieved primarily because of Ohrid.
DeleteAustria's growth will drop to around 5% this year, consolidation has begun since the situation in VIE has become unsustainable.
DeleteI read on Airliners that SN has begun resturcturing and that Ohrid might be one of the first victims.
Deletewell dont read them. SN was flying tourists to Ohrid for Thomas Cook. Now that they are gone TUI took over them and tuifly is stepping in.
DeleteSN is going to have massive cuts across its network. Also it will lay off a lot of staff.
DeleteIs there a link to the actual list?
ReplyDeleteNo ACI only sends those to the media. The rest of us get a top 5 in each category.
DeleteThanks for the reply.
DeleteAnyone care to make predictions for 2020?
ReplyDeleteI think ZAG will be at 3.6 million in 2020
DeleteBEG 7 million.
DeleteBusiest cities in 2019
ReplyDelete1. London ( LHR + LGW + STN + LTN + LCY + SEN )
2. Paris ( CDG + ORY + BVA )
3. Istanbul ( IST *old and new combined + SAW)
4. Moscow ( SVO + VKO + DME + ZIA )
5. Amsterdam ( AMS )
Here is a list for the world
Deletehttps://i.imgur.com/r3LjxWK.png
World list is wrong. It is missing busiest airport in the world, Atlanta.
DeleteIt's not wrong, it's not just complete. Atlanta airport hasn't announced pax numbers yet.
DeleteNumber 1: Atlanta 110.5 million
Deletehttp://www.atl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ATL-Traffic-Report-Dec-2019.pdf
Hopefully they manage to improve their rankings.
ReplyDeleteIf they improve their passenger numbers, their rankings will improve too.
Deletewow so Pristina and Skopje are literally neck and neck. One next to the other.
ReplyDeleteSo if Adria didn't go bankrupt Ljubljana would be in top 150.
ReplyDeleteBut there are still some that think we are better off without it.
DeleteWe are!
DeleteAny updates on Nordwind flights to BEG? I see Red Wings will be back with 4 weekly this summer which is great. Another Russian carrier would boost BEG numbers in 2020.
ReplyDeletePristina and Skopje one position apart :D
ReplyDeleteWill be an interesting race this year.
DeleteIt will be, won't it?
DeleteYes, I am hearing this story every year, 2012..
DeleteWhere is Pula?
ReplyDeleteWhere is Pula? Pula is over there still struggling with falling numbers outside the summer mnths. January saw their numbers further slide.
DeleteWhy the decline?
DeleteAnonymus 9:46, are you for real?
DeleteWe can expect very good BEG result this year.
ReplyDeleteAround 7 million is realistic. But let's wait an see. Ex-Yu usually published BEG's numbers around two months after the month so we will have official January stats in March.
DeleteWhat happened in Bulgaria for the market to detract? (looking at the map)
ReplyDeleteVery bad year for Bulgaria overall. Sofia had minimal growth, some months had a passenger drop while Varna numbers fell by 8.7% and Burgas by 12%.
DeleteI think there was too much capacity added to both Bulgaria and Romania over the past year. We are seeing massive cuts in Romania these days, OTP-TLV on FR being the latest victim. In Bulgaria there seems to be overcapacity as well. For example Wizz Air launched SOF-LGW but they cut one daily flight to Luton.
Interesting. I thought LCCs were still fighting over the Bulgarian market and adding flights like crazy.
DeleteNope, the battle slowed down some two years ago and since then the market has been more or less stable without any major fluctuations. In Sofia this year Wizz Air is cutting SOF-FRA and SOF-DWC but they are adding flights to LED and BLL. So now growth, just rearranging capacity.
DeleteEasy explanation:
DeleteSOF:
FR is not expanding due to shortage of planes
W6 is battling in VIE and fighting with the airport for allowing FR at the nicer Terminal 2
FB doing nothing
BOJ+VAR:
Record 2018
FR closed BOJ base due to plane shortage
Bankruptcies of some major airlines/tour operating working on the market
+ some consolidation
DeleteFR won over quite a lot of markets like the British one (except for London) and W6 decided to put rather capacity on other routes or airports.
I do not see growth anytime soon before FR gets new planes and starts expanding again.
Could Zadar enter top 150 this year?
ReplyDeleteNo chance. Read the text. Ljubljana was 151st on the list this year. They had 1.7 million passengers. Zadar will have 1.1 million tops this year.
DeleteAh true I see. Still needs some way to go.
DeleteJust noticed Iceland. Is it because of WOW that they had such a huge decline?
ReplyDeleteYup, WOW created a massive bubble that exploded.
DeleteUnfortunately easyJet also stopped flying BSL-KEF
DeleteNot just because of WOW. Iceland's tourist numbers started to decline before WOW went bankrupt. There are problems that are deeper than just WOW.
DeleteDeeper problems that WOW worry me.
DeleteSadasnja pozicija Beogradskog aerodroma je objektivna.
ReplyDeleteObjektivno je i ocekivati da u iducih pet godina ovaj aerodrom bude oko sedamdesetog mesta. Umesto sadasnjeg osamdeset devetog. Bazirajuci se na prosirenje terminala, povecanja broja turista i ekonomskog razvoja Srbijev verujem da ce se ostvariti.
🛫😀🛫🇷🇸🛫
Looking at the map, ex-Yu markets performed quite well.
ReplyDeleteI don't get how ACI concluded the non EU markets undeperformed when they all saw a lot of growth
ReplyDeleteBecause Iceland saw a massive drop and Turkey barely grew.
DeleteNorway as well.
DeleteOh and just noticed Switzerland too.
DeleteNice to see 3 Croatian airports in top 150
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWell it would be embarassing for them not to be in top 150. It will be achievement when hey make it to top 100.
DeleteWe're modest people, no need for being megalomaniacs.
DeletePuts things into persepctive
ReplyDeleteWow, nice to see LJU beating every other European airport at being the worst.
ReplyDelete??? How exactly is it the worst?
DeleteWhile its nice that the airports are improving its a bit sad that airports like Catania, Bologna, Lanzarote and Eindhoven all have more traffic than any in ex-YU.
ReplyDeleteThat's the reality.
DeleteThis is a poor and undeveloped region. What do you expect?
DeleteTheir local customers have 4-5-6 times the available income that most of our airports customers do though.
DeleteAnd even this sloghter growth is too much it should go down. Especially in Europe were distances are so small and many many routes could easily be done over land without losing more time than you do flying.
ReplyDeleteWhy should it go down?
DeleteTo save the environment probably.
DeleteInteresting list. Thank you
ReplyDeleteLet's hope Ljubljana is in the top 150 next year.
ReplyDelete