Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled over two million passengers by the end of August, positioning itself within the top 55 busiest in Europe, as it continues to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In August itself, it welcomed some 578.000 travellers, down 23.7% on the same month in the pre-pandemic 2019. Commercial aircraft movements declined 16.1%. Air Serbia was the largest carrier, with a passenger share of 52%, an increase of nine points compared to the same period two years ago. Outside summer charters, the most frequent routes to and from Belgrade Airport in August were Tivat, Zurich, Podgorica, Vienna, Istanbul, and Paris.
During the January – August period, Belgrade Airport welcomed over 2.044.000 travellers. As a result, the airport has achieved 49.6% of its pre-pandemic traffic, which is in line with its target for this year. The airport anticipates handling some 2.9 million passengers in 2021, or around 50% of its pre-pandemic traffic. Based on its estimates and modelling, the airport should welcome five million travellers through its doors in 2022 and will be operating at 2019 levels in 2023, when it expects to handle 6.1 million passengers. The airport estimates figures should grow to 6.9 million in 2024, 7.3 million in 2025 and 7.7 million travellers by the end of 2026. The airport’s record year remains 2019 when it registered 6.158.897 passengers, of which 2.733.304 were carried by Air Serbia and 3.425.552 by foreign airlines. In the pandemic-stricken 2020, the airport welcomed 1.903.540 passengers, of which 865.121 were handled by the national carrier and 1.038.399 by the rest.
During the eight-month period of this year, Belgrade Airport was in the top 55 busiest on the continent, outperforming the likes of Sofia, Budapest, Helsinki, Venice, Riga and Manchester. Commercial aircraft movements decreased 35.1% on the same period in 2019. Air Serbia offered the most capacity from the airport so far this year, with a 55.2% share. It was followed by Wizz Air with 12.4% of all seats, Lufthansa with 6.1%, Turkish Airlines with 4.7% and Swiss with a 4% capacity share. Belgrade Airport has several new routes lined up in the coming months including Nordwind’s service from Rostov-on-Don, commencing today, as well as new Wizz Air operations to Hahn, Billund, Barcelona and Vaxjo. Furthermore, KLM is set to introduce an additional five weekly rotations from Amsterdam over the winter for a total of twelve weekly flights, while Flydubai will double its operations to two daily services. Qatar Airways is also mulling the possibility of adding an extra three weekly flights for a total of ten, if existing strong demand continues.
I think BEG was ahead of BUD for most of the year.
ReplyDeleteIt is still.
DeleteAnd the busiest ones were?
ReplyDeleteIST and SVO are currently busiest. Then SAW and DME.
Delete1 Istanbul IST
Delete2 Moscow SVO
3 Moscow DME
4 Istanbul SAW
5 Moscow VKO
6 Paris CDG
7 Saint Petersburg LED
8 Frankfurt FRA
9 Madrid MAD
10 Amsterdam AMS
Wow crazy. Airports in Moscow and istanbul in top 5!
DeleteWell, IST (and SAW) isn't really in Europe but anyway.
DeleteIST is really in Europe, SAW is not.
DeletePeople who still don't get that "Europe" does not exactly mean where continent plate ends. Vladivostok is considered a European airport even though it is in far east Asia.
DeleteSome people find it difficult to realize that a country can be in two continents.
DeleteTurkey is in two continents, same for Russia. Moskva is in Europe, Vladivostok is in Asia.
But all airports in Russia and Turkey are considered to be European. That's how it is classified by Eurocontrol, ACI and other revenant institutions. Eurocontrol considers Turkish Airlines to be a European airline, not Asian. Same as Aeroflot.
DeleteTurkey is Middle-East.
DeleteIt is not categorised as the Middle East by any aviation institution.
DeleteGreat results. Had DCV not blocked Anadolujet, S7, Ural Airlines there would have been even more passengers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTrue. Unfortunately a very destructive decision.
DeleteWho knows how many airlines they rejected
DeleteVery good. The demand for summer charters plus the influx of Indian passengers surely helped.
ReplyDeleteFirst flight from Amritsar took place last night.
DeleteThe Indian charters were a nice addition but Indian pax in general were a blessing in my opinion. They filled up a lot of airlines and also generated charters to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman...
DeleteThey helped in rebuilding the network out of Belgrade after the collapse.
DeleteDefinitely. For now Indian arrivals should continue. Canada, US and many Gulf states still closed for Indians before prior quarantine.
DeleteI think their estimates are quiet conservative and will be handling more than they think. I definitely think this summer caught them by surprise.
ReplyDeleteI think their number are very realistic. Next year should be better but I think we will still be very much influenced by the pandemic. 2023 should finally be a clean slate I believe.
DeleteI believe there will be some exciting times ahead for BEG next year. They will open the new expanded part of the terminal, I believe Air Serbia will get second A330 and Wizz should open more new routes after basing third plane in December.
ReplyDeleteGreat result for BEG!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for them to finish the expanion
ReplyDeleteThe work at the airport is really progressing well. Was flying out recently.
DeleteI'm glad they haven't downsized the project despite corona.
DeleteC7-C12 should open in 4 months.
DeleteCan someone explain to me the concept of the A1-A4 gates. They are being reconstructed and a new floor is being added but how will they be able to use these gates until a second floor is added for all gates at the airport.
DeleteSimple, the second floor won't be used until it is completely built but the reconstructed gates can be used. People will keep arriving and departing from the same floor until it is completed.
DeleteThanks man.
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteIt goes to show there is also a lot of organic local demand which is always good.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how many passengers we can expect this year at BEG?
ReplyDeleteShould be 3 million.
DeleteIt's very hard to predict how things will pan out in this sort of environment and with the Delta variant making problems.
Delete3 million would be around 50% of 2019 levels
DeleteAccording to Eurocontrol, air traffic not expected to return to pre-Covid levels in Europe until 2025.
DeleteI think it is difficult to make any long term predictions.
DeleteOctober lockdown now very likelly across the EU, due to delta and merging lambda variant. lambda variant is more deadlier than Delta variant and is spreading fast. I expect there'll be lockdown from mid october to mid december across the EU, UK, Norway, Switzerland.
DeleteNice to see demand coming back. Good to see Eurowings' new Stuttgart flights are year round too.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised. I flew out of BEG yesterday on Aegean and the airport was extremely busy. Every gate out there was full.
ReplyDeleteEven Aegean arrived with 158 passengers.
Those are good numbers. Aegean has very affordable fares. I booked with them weekend in Athens from next Friday until Monday. Ticket was just 100 euros.
DeleteAbsolutely and they offer very good value for money. I noticed that they extended 5 weekly until the end of summer so bookings must be good.
DeleteYesterday on my flight there was a couple who was connecting to TLL. Found it very exotic.
Interesting, surprising they didn't go with LOT.
DeleteWho knows, I guess Aegean was cheaper or maybe they preferred an afternoon departure from Belgrade
DeleteKLM seems to be doing extremely well. They started flights with the Embraer 190 but are now flying B737-700,-800 and -900 every day. Their last Embraer flight was on 20 August.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder they are adding more flights in winter.
DeleteAlso QR operating all flights with A321.
DeleteIt's also nice to see that SU will be sending the A330 until November.
DeleteAnd they will probably extend it after that too. Last year they started using it in December I think.
DeleteI would say this is a very good result and quite unexpected.
ReplyDeleteAny possibility of a second low cost company making BEG its new base?
ReplyDeleteDoubt it
DeleteMaybe Ryanair in a few years, after they consolidate and stabilize ZAG.
DeleteEasyjet could fly from all their bases to Belgrade.
DeleteThese bases are all in the top list of Belgrades most unserved destinations.
JU turning GVA into a summer seasonal operation will encourage easyJet to expand more in Belgrade. I expect Orly to be announced soon.
DeleteConsidering the situation having so many new routes this year is quite an achievement.
ReplyDeleteThere have been 20 new routes to BEG this year.
Delete- Abu Dhabi, Hamburg, Sandefjord, Heraklion, Santorini, Hahn, Billund, Barcelona, Vaxjo (Wizz Air)
- Moscow, St Petersburg, Rostov (Nordiwnd)
- Rostov, Geneva (Air Serbia)
- Podgorica, Tivat (Air Montenegro)
- St Petersburg (Aeroflot)
- Amsterdam (KLM)
- Luxembourg (Luxair)
- Stuttgart (Eurowings)
Impressive.
DeleteGood mix of legacy and low cost, east and west.
DeleteHow many airlines are currently flying to BEG?
DeleteBy my count 23
DeleteAegean, Aeroflot, Air Cairo, Air France, Air Montenegro, Air Serbia, Austrian, easyJet, Eurowings, Flydubai, KLM, LOT, Lufthansa, Luxair, Nordwind, Norwegian, Qatar, Swiss, TAROM, Tunsiair, Vueling, Windrose, Wizz Air
You forgot Turkish.
DeleteTrue, my bad. Turkish Airlines too.
Deletesome optimistic signs
ReplyDeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers did BEG have last year?
ReplyDeleteIt says in the article: "In the pandemic-stricken 2020, the airport welcomed 1.903.540 passengers, of which 865.121 were handled by the national carrier and 1.038.399 by the rest."
DeleteI really hope some airline will launch BEG-LIS.
ReplyDeleteTAP was in BEG but they left.
DeleteWizzair planned last year with their 3rd plane but it did not happen.
Hopefully it will happen. LIS is sexy destination.
Would be nice. And it's a VINCI airport too.
DeleteWonder if Vinci offers extra incentives when two of their airports are involved for potential direct flights.
DeleteI believe Wizz Air was freed of all charges for one season to operate Lyon-Belgrade. But as soon as that discount ended they stopped the flights.
DeleteIssue with LYS is that you have GVA in the same catchment area which offers more flights and more flexibility.
DeleteI think LYS can only work with JU which would carry some transfers as well.
I wonder if Tirana and Priština are among top 100 in Europe?
ReplyDeletePRN yes
DeleteIf PRN is, then TIA is too
Delete95% of thes listed "outperformed" airports are in the EU.
ReplyDeleteThere were and still are Corona restrictions.
We all know why VCE and BUD have such low figures. But, you can celebrate the event :)
So? Why is this a problem? Until June, Serbian people could not travel to 98% of Europe for non essential reasons. Of course it should be celebrated. Because the airport managed to offset the lack of European traffic by attracting airlines from the east. Others sat, did nothing and waited for government loans and support.
DeleteLol. And BEG had it super easy with most of Serbian citizens being banned from most of the EU for the most of the year. Shoo, go back to your troll den.
DeleteBEG relied on Egypt, Turkey and Montenegro. You know that VCE has way too higher figures and not to mention BUD or HEL. Please....
DeleteWell now they don't, no matter how much that pains you.
DeleteBoo hoo, those other airports don't have flights to Egypt, Turkey and Montenegro? Should we go and help them establish connections to airports in those countries?
Deletehelp them establish connections...Ahahahahaha
DeleteLOOL
:)
I have a feeling for many on here where BEG is today is pretty much as good as it gets. Lol
DeleteThese numbers are great and they show how fast the market is recovering due to its untapped potential. The best is yet to come.
We have a feeling that we know why those figures are like this. When Venice has lower figures, we are suddenly the king of the village LOL
DeleteБоље први у селу него последњи у граду.
DeleteI am from Greece and I used to travel to Belgrade 2 times a year. Now because of the coronavirus it has been a long time to come and see some very good friends. I just want to ask if there is going to be an indoor and an outdoor museum at the airport. Thanks a lot!
ReplyDelete^ Yes,there is a museum of aviation at the airport.
DeleteJust ask someone for the direction.
Its just a two minute walk from the terminal.
I remember some years ago when Air Serbia was struggling to enter top 100 airports in Europe. Now is is at circa 55. Ok, because of Covid these numbers may not be long lasting, but is still a great result, outperforming many Balkan airports.
ReplyDeleteShows that BEG has great potential in the long term.
Surprised by SOFs slow recovery.
DeleteAnd Budapest. Probably because neither has a real national airline.
DeleteAre we seriously celebrating being in the top 55? It's great that they are ahead of BUD but let's not get carried away.
ReplyDeleteI don't see anyone particularly celebrating it. The article dedicates a sentence to it.
DeleteI hope that next year Flynas and Jazeera Airways will start scheduled flights to Riyadh and Kuwait.
ReplyDeleteTheir summer charters seemed to perform well.
They should be able to offer connecting flights/
DeleteIf these are scheduled they ofc will offer connections.
DeleteActually these two have a fairly good offer.
What happened wih EL AL ?
ReplyDeletethey started flights this summer and after just two flights they disappeared .
Nee Covid restrictions in Isreal.
DeleteNew airlines, destinations, charters, increased frequencies. No one mentions elephant in the room: in the long haul column Belgrade is exactly the same as five years ago: only JFK.
ReplyDeleteBig sad my friend
Delete