Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport’s flight programme for the summer of 2021 is now just 17% short of that compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, operator VINCI has said, as airlines continue to add new flights to the Serbian capital. “In Serbia, the gradual easing of travel restrictions led to a rapid increase in passenger traffic at Belgrade Airport, which rose from down 67% at the end of April to down 36.1% at the end of June, principally buoyed by flights to and from Montenegro, Egypt and Turkey”, VINCI said. Hurghada saw the biggest growth in flights when compared to the summer of 2019, up 90%, with Air Serbia running up to nine daily flights to the Egyptian resort town on select days.
Numerous carriers have increased their operations to the Serbian capital in recent weeks, with some outstripping pre-pandemic levels. A number of new routes, launched this summer, are performing well. Among them, KLM, which recently announced it would add an additional five weekly rotations between Amsterdam and Belgrade for a total of twelve weekly flights, has further increased its services and will now run double daily operations on the route until August 29, with exception to July 25, 30, 31 and August 1, 7 and 8. On the other hand, Luxair, which launched services to the Serbian capital last month on a seasonal summer basis, has upgraded the route to year-round operations and will maintain flights throughout the winter. Tickets for the 2021/2022 winter season have now been put on sale. Furthermore, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, which also commenced services to Belgrade last month, will grow its frequencies from two to three weekly from the start of the winter season in late October.
A successful summer charter programme, which has exceeded 2019 levels, has also had a positive impact on the airport’s performance. Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways is the latest airline to commence a series of charter flights to Belgrade. Starting this evening, the carrier will be operating several weekly rotations from Kuwait City over the coming three-week period. “Belgrade airport’s positive momentum enjoys growing recognition from the aviation and tourism industry in Europe and from the Serbian government. As Europe prepares for the recovery of tourism, creating a smart and sustainable new airport hub in Belgrade will support Serbia’s perspectives ahead”, Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airport, said.
Nice to see. Especially KLM growing even more and Luxair extending flights.
ReplyDeleteAlso is this the first time we had tourist charters from Kuwait?
DeleteYes and last scheduled flights were back in 2005 or so when Jat flew to Dubai via Kuwait.
DeleteAnd during "difficult times of darkness behind the iron curtain" JAT operated Australia via Kuwait with B707. Then, when DC-10 joined the fleet, AUS stopover was switched to DXB, and Kuwait continued operating on scheduled bases twice weekly with B727 via Damascus. During those times of sadness, fear and poverty, Kuwait Airways as well operated scheduled Kuwait - Istanbul - Beograd weekly with B707. And then the light, freedom, fortune and happiness came.
DeleteNo iron curtain in YU. Tito was the co founder of the non aligned nations and split with Stalin in 1948.
DeleteIf I remember well SYD flts operated via KHI
@ JU520
DeleteI guess you didn't notice the sarcasm :D
The MEL & SYD flights throughout its operation had a different first 'port of call' before heading out to SIN, MEL and finally SYD. Usually it was DXB, but KHI and BOM was also used too.
Good old times. I remember travelling with my mum (she was JAT stewardes) BEG-DXB-SIN-MEL-SYD and back. I think the whole tour was 21 days?
DeleteLegend says the planes returned home full of yoghurt which was not available in Yugoslavia ...
Delete@JU520BEGLAX
DeleteI am sorry you of all people didn't get my message. After all, iron curtain in my post is under quotations. It is something done today on daily basis - forging history and placing Yugoslavia behind iron curtain where it had never been. That's why I wrote it. @JATBEGMEL already explained, and I will repeat and elaborate : fear, poverty, sadness, difficult times in Yugoslavia - all sarcasm, the same as light, freedom, fortune and happiness today. I really don't know how you couldn't get it, especially because this is not my first post in that style. And few days ago I told you Yugoslavia was 5 times better than all banana republics we have today. Also, Karachi was stopover on Australia flights for 2 years only, after that it was Kuwait for 4 years, than Baghdad for 1 year, and finally Dubai for long years, until the end, until everything went to p.m. Bombay was never regular stop on Australia service, however it did happen once or twice during irregularities caused by Gulf war.
@Prepelica
Any chance Mum's name is Dragica? Maybe you remember saying PGP RTB a lot on that flight? If not, my apologies.
@An.21.05
You always make my day with yoghurt remarks ☺👍
So do we know how many passengers BEG had in the first half of 2021?
ReplyDeleteI would also add Turkish Airlines which recently increased BEG from 12 to 14 starting from August and Air Serbia which will increase CDG to 14 from 31.07.
BEG had 922.000 passengers in H1.
DeleteBrilliant so BEG is ahead of SKG and BUD and I think tied with SOF.
DeleteLOL the BUD comparing guy is back.
DeleteIs what he wrote factually wrong?
DeleteNo, it is not.
DeleteIt just disturbs some people here who want to see Belgrade in the situation as it was in 1993.
True
DeleteBEG will never reach BUD levels. Come on, let's be realistic. Even Slovenia with its smaller airport had 5 million visitors in 2019.
DeleteAt the time Yugoslavia existed BUD was far behind BEG, so never say never again...
DeleteFYI - BEG not only reached BUD level in this year , but it is ahead of it.
It's really sad to see so many on here cheer for BEG not to overtake BUD, an airport that just expanded in the last 7 to 8 years. Like someone wrote the other day the airport is about to be renationalized becasue its finances are so bad.
DeleteNo, it's really sad to claim that BEG "overtook" BUD when we all know that the Hungarian borders were closed. Vinci said that they were expecting 12 million by 2035, numbers which are easily achieved by BUD.
Delete6 mil in 2019 and 12 mil in 2035. It is just their conservative estimation.
DeleteBEG will have much more than that even if you wish so badly to see BEG down on its knees.
Using a crystal ball, everything is possible.
DeleteI'm really interested to see what the July performance will be like.
ReplyDeleteIndian charters will also help.
DeleteActually there won't be any more, they are finished. Indigo BOM-BEG via IST was the final one. There are no more listed on beg.aero
DeleteDo you know why ?
DeleteThere will actually be more. They are just not listed. In any case these flights are temporary and never meant to run for a long period of time. Doha has now reopened to vaccinated Indians and I assume many will do their quarantine there.
DeleteSpeaking of Qatat, great to see then operating daily A321 flights to Belgrade.
*qatar
DeleteCovid party.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I see that passport booths at the end are not working. Of course, why should police work full capacity at the height of the summer season.
^ You can't see that. The passport booths are not the one straight in front on the second photo (that is the detention and police center). The passport control is on the right.
ReplyDeleteGreat that Luxair has had success on the route. Who would have thought
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that passport control will be expanded and that the third level of the airport is being built quickly
ReplyDeletehttps://abload.de/img/6d35add2-7515-4ce2-a1sjm3.jpeg
I think BEG airport management and Vinci had totally underestimated number of passengers this summer, people now have to wait almost an hour for passport control when entering Serbia. Reconstructions in various parts of building, gate shortage, dirty toilets and hallways, simply chaotic.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand it looks like BEG will pass more than 3 million passengers this year which is amazing !
True. Few days ago I arrived on Wizz Air flight. We parked at the new apron next to Austrian and Lufthansa. Luggage took a good 40 minutes to arrive to the terminal.
DeleteI agree. I think they did underestimate this summer completely and in my opinion should have done some upgrades to the A7-A10 gates before using them intensely as they are now. Another problem I found is that the area they are reconstructing at the moment A1-A4 has no air-conditioning so the hallway next to it is boiling.
DeleteVinci is also understaffed, don't forget about that. Salaries aren't that great and many people got fired last year when covid started. Not many people want to work for 40.000 via Omladinska zadruga.
DeleteIt's not just BEG. Two days ago I waited 45 min at ATH to get my luggage from the short hop for JNX.
Delete+1000
DeleteI would have rather landed in KVO [it's completely empty] and then drive for an hour to BEG on the new highway. Plus I'd be able to stop on the way to Mrcajevci for some pecenje and rakija.
DeleteI can tell you're a big fan of rakija if you think the drive between BEG and KVO takes an hour. You'd be looking at two hours minimum in case of zero traffic.
DeleteI does not take 2hrs my friend, I go from Beg to V. banja often and it takes me 2:15-2:20h. So from KVO airport it takes less then 2hr but definitely more then 1hr as our rakija friend said:))
DeleteTo Trg Republike from Morava Airport it takes 1:55 minutes with no traffic.
Delete(gmaps)
Looks good. Will fit nicely with the new part of the airport.
ReplyDeleteWhat the crisis can show is which destinations are more resilient in terms of travel demand and airlines have acted accordingly.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt also helps that there have not been any draconian entry requirements into Serbia. And also considering that cases are rising across the world no matter what sort of measures you have, it also shows they are completely useless.
DeleteIt goes to show there is a lot of organic local demand which is always good.
DeleteAnyone know why there was a Plus Ultra Airlines A340 arriving from Sao Paolo a week ago?
ReplyDeleteBrazilian Olympic athletes. They have a base camp in Belgrade before going to Tokyo.
DeleteDon't know about that one but another A340 flew the Serbian Olympic team to Tokyo, Plus Ultra that is.
DeleteThat was this week :) last week was the one from Sao Paolo. Plane then returned empty to Madrid where it is based.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V3SXGJesB4
DeleteYou can see in the second pic, in the upper right corner are the last booths ad they are empty.
ReplyDeleteNice to see the airport returning to life.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I didn't expect such a strong summer. Yes, it is still not at 2019 levels but I didn't expect it to be so close.
ReplyDeleteHad EU entry ban been lifted earlier, I'm sure we would be at 2019 level, traffic wise at least.
DeleteAnd there are markets where the ban still isn't lifted, such as Italy. I can't imagine the numbers if travel was totally free.
DeleteAre there really still limitations on flights to Italy? What kind of limitations?
DeletePCR test or entry ban?
Serbian citizens cannot enter Italy at all (unless they have an EU/EEA work visa or are visiting for imperative family reasons).
DeleteHorrible.
DeleteIt is really strange Italy still keeps that ban taking in consideration that EU put Serbia on its green list.
Even more considering Italy is the reason we had COVID in Europe.
DeleteYou can technicaly enter Italy, but you need to do an antigen test in Belgrade, another once you arrive in Rome, go into quarantine for between 6-14 days (depends on who you ask), and do one more final antigen test when out of quarantine.
DeleteCurrently the steps are antigen test before departure -> 10 days of quarantine -> another antigen test. But all of this applies only if you have a valid reason to enter, so no tourist entry for Serbian citizens.
DeleteThe number of charters this year has been crazy
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how many passengers we can expect this year at BEG?
ReplyDeleteIt's very hard to predict how things will pan out in this sort of environment and with the Delta variant making problems.
DeleteNice to see demand coming back
ReplyDeleteHoping Wizz will finally base a third plane.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI would really like to see all these announced flights with 3rd plane especially Finland and Portugal.
They made mistake last summer announcing it too early and made a new one by not introducing these flights for summer 2021. As we see based on BEG numbers this summer it would have been much better if they had done it now.
Oh I'm sure it's going to happen next year. BEG seems to be performing so well for them. They have quite a decent presence even with all the competition.
DeleteWizzair in Belgrade never seems to do anything right.
DeleteI wouldnt bet on them next year either...
Sure they can't. They just launched five new routes from BEG this year and increased capacity by 40%. Ahh the Wizz hater who thinks only one airline should fly from Belgrade is back.
DeleteAir Serbia should erect Wizz a grandiose memorial for being such little competition.
DeleteHad Wizz got its act together JU would aready be history for years.
If you're thinking of *alliance i thinking there should be more diversity.
DeleteAnon 11:32 To be fair, Wizz should erect a grandiose memorial to Serbian DCV for allowing Wizz to base aircraft in Belgrade without AOC.
DeleteGreat to see Wizz Air AUH doing well with A321 and adding third flight.
ReplyDeleteYes great news :) EY made a mistake by pullling out.
DeleteSeems like those new Ural Airlines flights will go ahead as planned this weekend. Flights are still on sale.
ReplyDeleteHopefully.
DeleteI believe it only when i see it .
DeleteAs soon as covid is over (or brought to manageable levels) BEG will explode. AS has like 10 new routes in various stages of planning. Charters are on fire. New foreign airlines seem to be coming every week. Existing airlines are increasing frequencies all the time. Plus future new long haul flights.
ReplyDeleteBEG is really becoming a regional hub. Imagine where it will be in 2-3 years!
If JU ever starts ORD & YYZ BEG will really take off with all those additional transfer flights.
DeleteFrequencies are increasing, that's important factor. BEG is under serious reno. When done no more crowded passport control and other areas will see major improvment.
DeleteHurghada at 43C. Yey!
ReplyDeleteThis is normally off-season, however they found a way to fill the beds. :-)
Well people want to go and enjoy summer with nice sea, friendly locals, good hotels and without being ripped off. I don't see an issue
DeleteThere are some weird one off flights these last few days. Yesterday AZAL from Baku. Today there is a flights from Almaty.
ReplyDeleteAlmaty?
DeleteWhich airline and which aircraft?
Enter Air B737-800.
DeleteIt's a charter flight for Red Star Belgrade that is playing a game in Almaty.
DeleteThanks!
DeleteThe Azal flight was a vaccine donation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. They flew via Belgrade.
DeleteFinally we have those Jazeera flights!
ReplyDeleteEvery serious airport has to diversify its range of destinations.
Attracting charters from outside is an important step forward.
Good recovery but unfortunately new lockdowns are coming ahead. Next week Holland is closing again and imposing restrictions. Kuwait is already in the red list, so not sure how good those charters will be. Greece most probably will close again. Cyprus is again in red list. :(
ReplyDeleteGreece will most definitely not go into lockdown again.
DeleteVaccinated people can enter Greece and Cyprus.
DeleteBravo Belgrade and glad to see that living standard is on the rise, so more and more people can afford tourism abroad such as Hurghada. 8 daily flight is a lot, not even ZRH has that many
ReplyDeleteIn terms of charters, today 3 flights to Antalya (on some days there are 7), 2 to Bodrum, one to Rhodes and one to Chania. I think Hurghada record was set on the weekend. There were 10 in one day. 9 by Air Serbia and one by Air Cairo (although Air Cairo is normal flight that operates every day).
DeleteExactly.
DeleteAnd HRG has nothing to do with diaspora.
I have no idea why people believe BEG depends on the (infamous) diaspora. BEG's main pillars are JU's transfers and outbound tourism.
DeleteI would not say it is due to living standard on the rise but more has to to do with that tourist have found great value in AI packages to Turkey & Egypt this season.
DeleteGreat Hurgada value was there in 2019 but there wasn't 9 daily charters. Try again.
DeleteTraffic is on 87% and employees are on 50% pre pandemic
ReplyDeleteExcellent comparison!
DeleteAdd in the fact that salaires are cut as well but work is just as crazy as pre pandemic
that is Capitalism baby :)
DeleteJoking aside it is confusion what to expect in the fall and how to handle current demand and it is not only in BEG.
BEG managment is cheap, cutting corners and cost everywhere. AC is mediocre, workforce poorly paid, cleaninless a la French. Spolja gladac iznutra jadac.
DeleteFlight info online has technical difficulties on daily basis, monitors in terminal often broken, my son yesterday missed his flight to BSP because of lack of info snd delayed flight ( of course there is his fault too for not being attentive!)
DeleteLol the kid should know why he's at the airport - to catch a flight :D BSP? It appears to be some airport in India.
DeleteKiev Borispol is in India ?
DeleteYou always learn something new ...
The last booth is labled for those requiring a visa for entering Serbia. The area around passport control on arrivals is not very big and quickly can become congested.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't help that the only smart gate is often not working, or when working is very slow. Judging by the picture it looks as if it isn't working.
Perhaps arrivals can be made into a park since the officers in passport control like to throw you your passport back to you like a frizby.
Wake up people. BEG is back. And it has little to do with the Serbian diaspora.
ReplyDeleteThe Serbian diaspora still awaits the long promised new Wizzair destinations....
Deletelots of it has to do with good deals for AI packages in Turkey and Egypt for secondary markets due to lack of tourists from main European markets Germany, Russia in these Med countries.
DeleteWhere do they recruit passport control officers ?
ReplyDeleteThese are the worst and most despicable type of humans possible-
not alone in Ex Yu but also in the US(JFK!)...
It's not the airport that recruits them, it's the police.
ReplyDeleteWorst custom officer I've every been in contact with was on USA-Canada land border at Detroit. Guy was spiting his chewing tobacco as we spoke, disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI regularly travel to the USA and I can confirm that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are in most cases extremely rude.
ReplyDeleteFriend of mine used to work as a customs officer at YYZ. He was telling me that their attitude is intentional and something they actively practice. It's used as a means to intimidate people and see who cracks under pressure.
ReplyDeleteThere are some nice guys but this is one place where you are not going to be greeted with a smile for sure.
BEG numbers are good but it's a shame no one is mentioning that INITIALLY new C gates will have mixed arriving/departing passengers. Separation will only occur later.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that a concern for you that "no one is mentioning that INITIALLY new C gates will have mixed arriving/departing passengers"?
DeleteIt has been discussed many times.
First time I hear about it. They are mixed now, so what difference does it make if they will be mixed or not?
DeleteIt has to do with the flow of passengers, security, and certification for certain destinations. Mostly to be able to streamline certain levels of security controls.
DeleteNovak left from BEG today going to Olympics, arriving on LH716 D-ABYU B748 FRA-HND in first class.
ReplyDeleteI wish him success !!!
DeleteWow! Unbelievable.
DeleteIt's great to see BEG performing very well. I have a question though. JU has not been flying to Cairo since the pandemic started. I however noticed that they loaded the schedule for W21 3 times weekly. Will JU resume CAI in W21 or they haven't updated the schedule yet? As for Air Cairo from HRG, their booking is unavailable for November and I plan to visit Serbia in November.
ReplyDelete