Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled 1.904 million passengers in 2020, representing a decrease of 69.1% on the previous year, which is below the European industry average. It represents the slowest year for Serbia's capital city airport since 2003. After an improvement in passenger numbers in the third quarter, the rise in Covid-19 infections led to a gradual fall in traffic at the end of the year. The number of commercial flights stood at 33.622, down 52.2%. "This situation is the result of strong travel restrictions put in place across the world to combat the spread of Covid-19" airport operator VINCI said.
This January, Belgrade Airport has a total of 1.428 scheduled commercial flights (both inbound and outbound included), which represents a decrease of 66% on the same month last year. Unlike in January 2020, several carriers have suspended their operations to the Serbian capital, including LOT Polish Airlines, Alitalia, Aegean, TAROM, Air France and Transavia, while Etihad Airways and Mahan Air have terminated their services. On the other hand, Montenegro Airlines, which was the third largest carrier at the airport in terms of the number of operated flights last January, has been grounded. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Windrose Airlines represents a new arrival, which did not serve the city last year.
Top ten routes by frequency and capacity, January 2021
Top ten airlines by frequency and capacity, January 2021
Despite the ongoing crisis in the aviation sector, VINCI has reiterated its commitment to the ongoing multi million euro expansion of Belgrade Airport. "VINCI Airports is continuing its modernisation and expansion work with great strides to make this platform a future sustainable hub in Eastern Europe. By signing a 25-year concession contract with the Serbian government, VINCI Airports is committed to transforming the airport into a benchmark hub in South Eastern Europe: opening new routes, improving passenger flow, enhancing Serbian tourism and the deployment of an environmental policy". It added, "Investments over the duration of the concession will make it possible to renovate the airport, improve its capacity and operational efficiency and bring quality to the highest international standards, without forgetting to reduce its environmental footprint. As such, the airport has just unveiled the new central area of the passenger terminal, after five months of work: a comfortable, bright and connected relaxation area which offers travellers new “walk-through” shops, a bar-restaurant and a play area, in accordance with VINCI Airports quality standards. In addition, in 2020, a new waiting area for bus gates was completed, preparatory work began on the new inserted runway and taxiways, and construction of the new parking lot is nearing completion. On the environmental front, Belgrade Airport is investing heavily to reduce its carbon footprint, with the construction of a waste recycling plant and a photovoltaic park, thus joining the ACI carbon accreditation program by obtaining level one".
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| Belgrade Airport expansion continues to advance |
This year will lost much more. Same is expected for JU.
ReplyDeleteIt will still remain far the best airport based on passenger numbers in ex-YU
DeleteHow could you know that? Any information, facts, anything?
DeleteDo you really see any candidate that could be better than Belgrade? Second airport in ex-YU is PRN and has only about 50% of BEG traffic in this year.
DeleteAll the other are not even on 1 million passengers
compared to the size of the country and its population ... i doubt it.
DeleteCompared to the fact that EU members of ex-Yu do not have travel ban but only quarantine for the most of EU countries...More than clear
DeleteLet's see how the government's decision to introduce mandatory PCR tests for foreigners will affect arrivals in January.
DeleteWinter is here!
ReplyDeleteTaking in consideration all the circumstances this is very good result
ReplyDeleteYes it is fanstastic....
DeleteIt would be even better if Serbian passport holders could enter EU (even with quarantine) but under these very negative circumstances it is very good result
DeleteYes, but Russia was open so....
DeleteRussia opened for Serbian citizens in NOVEMBER (and only Moscow and only 4 weekly flights allowed). Stop trolling.
DeleteIgnore him. It's the guy that always comes along here to say how the EU bans have no affect on Serbia because Russia is the main market yet if you look at the table, Moscow is the 10th by capacity.
DeleteYM going bankrupt will certainly have an impact on BEG. AIR serbia can't cover all that capacity.
ReplyDeleteNow that PCR tests are no longer required between either country I assume travel will pick up.
DeleteNot bad all things conaidered.
ReplyDelete* considered
DeleteInteresting so Q4 performed worse than Q3.
ReplyDeleteThat's the case everywhere.
DeleteSecond wave started across Europe in Q4.
DeleteI'm glad they haven't downsized the project despite corona.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteLJU fanboys were cheering for the same last year :D
DeleteWell they haven't downsized LJU project either. ZAG was downsized but that was 7 years before corona.
DeleteLOOOL
DeleteCould have been worse.
ReplyDeleteIndeed as we can see in Ljubljana
DeleteBEG-CRL and BEG-LIS are 2 routes which are so unlucky in Belgrade. TAP launched flights and very shortly suspended them in 2014:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2014/12/tap-portugal-to-suspend-belgrade-flights.html
And now comes Corona and LIS is never launched.
I would add GVA too.
DeleteJU already three times announced flying there and every time it was cancelled before beginning of flying and LX and Etihad Regional were also flying this route but not for a long time.
Only U2 remained.
It's not the same since Geneva is still aerved.
Delete*served
DeleteThey aren't "unlucky", they are just unsustainable from a profitability point of view. End of story.
DeleteThat is exactly what I wrote
Delete"Only U2 remained".
It would have been much beter if they had competition on that route.
Exactly, as much as many of us personally love Lisbon, let's face it - that route cannot be sustainable.
DeleteWow @ Flydubai being fifth by capacity.
ReplyDeleteDubai is where people can travel with a negative corona test. No surprise.
DeleteAlso transfers to Zanzibar and Maldives.
DeleteThey will go 10 weekly in summer.
DeleteHope so
DeleteMakes sense now that Etihad is gone
DeleteDecline of 69% is not that bad at all considering the results other airports in Europe had.
ReplyDeleteHad EU opened it borders decline would probably have been 55% instead of 69%.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the situation in the EU at the moment, better that they don't reopen them.
DeleteIt is of paramount importance for BEG to increase its connections with the rest of the world while EU remains closed.
DeleteMost of the world is closed as well, so I don't see the point.
DeleteHope things start improving
ReplyDeleteThe number of airlines flying to BEG isn't that bad actually.
ReplyDeleteHow many are there in total?
Delete15 at the moment
DeleteAir Serbia, Austrian, Lufthansa, Swiss, Wizz Air, Easy jet, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, Tunis Air, Flydubai, Qatar Airways, Air Cairo, Belavia, Windrose and Aeroflot.
DeleteAnd from next week Nordwind starts flights as well. So there will be 16 by the end of January.
DeleteDo you maybe have the list of airlines flying to other ex-Yu capitals?
DeleteBelgrade: Air Serbia, Austrian, Lufthansa, Swiss, Wizz Air, Easy jet, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, Tunis Air, Flydubai, Qatar Airways, Air Cairo, Belavia, Windrose, Aeroflot.
DeletePristina: Eurowings, Easyjet, Wizz Air, Edelweiss, Austrian, Pegasus, Turkish Airlines, Swiss, TUI.
Zagreb: Croatia Airlines, KLM, Trade Air, Turkish Airlines, Eurowings, Air Serbia, Air France, Windrose, Qatar Airways.
Skopje: Wizz Air, Air Serbia, Turkish, Austrian, Pegsaus, Windrose, Croatia Airlines.
Sarajevo: Turkish Airlines, Austrian, Flydubai, Air Serbia, Pegasus, Croatia Airlines
Ljubljana: Lufthansa, Air Serbia, Turkish Airlines
Podgorica: Air Serbia, Turkish, Windrose, Austrian, Wizz Air.
Interesting thank you.
DeletePoor LJU.
DeleteTo be honest, I was expecting much worse numbers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIn September I guessed they would have around 1.8 million so this is a bit over. But let's see how this year performs without a strong January and February it had in 2020.
ReplyDeleteYou won't have a strong January and February but there will be a stronger April and May than last year when the airport was closed to commercial flights.
DeleteAny idea how many passengers could be handled this year?
ReplyDeleteIf 2020 has taught us anything is that we should not make long term predictions.
DeleteIt will depend on the EU limitations and it's just extremely early to predict what's going to happen. This will also depend on the gastos and whether or not they are considering visiting their home countries. This will also mean people will prefer to make transfers and stick to a direct, non-stop flight if they can.
DeleteMeanwhile top 10 airport for international travel in 2020
ReplyDeletehttps://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E22AQG1_tusLp-M3w/feedshare-shrink_1280-alternative/0/1610443144359?e=1613606400&v=beta&t=xMbXMx6KHHZrfVj2k6FyG_CRYUyhr014QS-ytm9ac6Y
Wow Doha has done amazingly well. I mean just a 52% decline is quite an achievement for the high volume of passengers the airport usually has.
DeleteAnd also interesting is Madrid being in top ten considering the city was one of the global epicentres of Covid during the first wave.
DeleteMAD is logical due to the massive domestic network. You'd see the same for i.e. MXP if Italy hadn't banned travel between regions.
DeleteMAD also has a the biggest network coverage to Latin America and Mexico and will always be more important than BCN, which relies on massive tourism.
DeleteIt's a real shame Wizz has pretty much cancelled its summer expansion. It would have helped the airport's recovery significantly.
ReplyDeleteAny guessing about data for January?
ReplyDeleteWell from the text we know that the number of flights is down 66%
DeleteTaking all facts into consideration, not bad numbers at all. But really, at all...
ReplyDeleteJU performed well at all times, keeping JFK flights was great decision and also Turkey opening really fast after initial lockdown helped BEG numbers.
To be honest, Istanbul and Dubai will be the main "summer vacation" destinations for non-agency vacationers this year. Even Istanbul has great beaches approachable with subway (close to Aquarium) so I won't be surprised if IST flights keep being the most intensive route in 2021.
Wizz air shelving routes is expected. JU will also have to rearrange network a bit if restrictions continue through summer/autumn period, but in genera, not bad at all.
However, I think that JU is not really proactive with ad-hoc routes - look, if you see that you have a country (for example - Maldives...) where you have a LOT OF SERBS going for vacation during winter, arrange with tour agencies direct charters. Or any other destination.
What does it mean many Serbs? Can you fill 254 seats to MALE every two weeks at decent prices?
DeleteWizz must open beg to varna, burgas and ohrid this summer
DeleteThis summer many countries will require either a negative test or vaccination in order to enter. Those vaccinated will have an upper hand, because they will not have to spend time and money to do the test each time they travel, as well as they will not be at a risk of a test being actually positive and disrupting their travel arrangements.
ReplyDeleteCountries with higher % of vaccinations will therefore see much more traffic, including by air. The same with airlines serving such countries. So I expect to see a growth of traffic to/from the UK, Israel, some EU countries. That is my forecast.
Still it will be too early to get herd immunity by summer.
Most likely scenario indeed. Those who want to travel this summer without issues should accept the vaccine. Those who refuse the vaccine and wait for herd immunity might have to wait until at least 2022.
DeleteDemand is so limited
ReplyDeleteHope things turn for the better this year.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that some new routes will launch in next few month.
ReplyDeleteIf they launch
DeleteI'm pretty sure Nordwind and Skyup will. We will see about Eurowings.
DeleteAlso good chance Wizz will launch those two routes they left.
DeleteOuch
ReplyDeleteIt could have been a great year if it were not for corona.
ReplyDeleteThe best!
DeleteKakav biser 😄
DeleteIt would have been a record year without doubt with another 6 routes launched by Air Serbia.
DeleteSo it turns out that the gap difference between PRN and BEG is around 1 million, who would've expected such a result in 2020, when it usually used to be at least 4 times more. Crazy times we live in.
ReplyDeleteOr that BEG would have more than double passengers ZAG had in 2020. Crazy times indeed.
DeleteThe power of diaspora. Less than a million people left in Kosovo and it's hard to reach via road.
Delete@17:58 - Wow! Since when is that? That's a lot for a country(region) its size!
DeleteEntry requirements had a lot to do with passengers numbers so flights between PRN and Swiss destinations were not affected as much as others. On the other hand tourist destinations suffered the most. For example BEG had only 2.2 times larger passenger traffic in 2019 than DBV, but in 2020 BEG had 5.8 times more than DBV due to significant drop in tourst arrivals to DBV.
DeleteBEG, for passenger figures, dominates again over other airports in ex-Yu. Second one (PRN) had 42% less passengers than BEG, third one (ZAG) had 51% less.
DeleteIstanbul well over 14.000 seats when SAW is included. Interesting. Where is all the demand coming from?
ReplyDeleteMy question to? I mean there is a lockdown in Turkey too. Although tourists are able to come and the lockdown does not apply to them but still.
DeleteTable shows importance of national carrier. Air Serbia has over 90,000 seats while second place Wizz has just over 21,000
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought that Tirana would be the second busiest regional route from Belgrade in terms of flights
ReplyDeleteLots of transfer traffic.
DeleteEspecially to JFK.
DeleteOslo as well, 15 to 20 passengers on some flights.
DeleteGood luck to BEG and VINCI in 2021.
ReplyDeleteIstanbul (IST+SAW) seat capacity almost doubles the second position (Frankfurt). Wow.
ReplyDelete