Wizz Air overtakes easyJet to become Pristina’s busiest

Wizz Air was Pristina Airport’s busiest airline in 2022 as three major European low cost carriers handled the bulk of Kosovo’s passenger traffic. Wizz Air welcomed 414.478 passengers on its Pristina operations, notably improving its performance by 80.4% on the year before when it was the airport’s third busiest airline. The carrier also outperformed its pre-pandemic traffic levels by 63.6%, as it handled 253.282 passengers in 2019. Wizz Air maintains seven routes out of Pristina. easyJet was the second busiest airline with 411.688 travellers, up 45.8% on 2021, while Eurowings came fourth by handling 342.262 travellers.

Pristina Airport's ten busiest airlines in 2022

Low cost carriers and flights organised by tour operators again took a leading role at Pristina Airport, which saw its busiest year on record in 2022 and defied global trends as it kept growing for the better part of the slowdown in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Turkish Airlines was Pristina’s busiest legacy carrier, handling 199.906 passengers on its flights from Istanbul last year. It was followed by Austrian Airlines with 126.298 travellers and Swiss International Air Lines, which managed to carry 26.474 passengers on its service between Geneva and Pristina. LOT Polish Airlines, which launched seasonal flights from Warsaw last year, was the fourth busiest legacy carrier, accounting for 8.205 travellers, while British Airways, which does not plan to restore its seasonal flights from Heathrow managed 4.285 passengers.

Pristina Airport passenger traffic in 2022

During 2022, Wizz Air’s President, Robert Carey, said, “We will handle over 600.000 Kosovo passengers next year, which will make us the largest airline here. We will maintain services to the likes of Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. It is very important for us that travellers from Kosovo, but also those from nearby markets, fly with Wizz Air when they need to”. He added, “Part of our job is to add as many new destinations as possible. We hope to build a base here in the future”. Switzerland continues to hold its position as the busiest market out of Pristina, with 36% of all passengers either departing or arriving from the country. It was closely followed by Germany with a 32% share, then Turkey (15%), Austria (7%), the United Kingdom (4%) and Sweden (2%).