The former Yugoslavia’s 24 commercial airports handled 1.464.779 passengers during the first month of the year. Brač Airport was the only not have welcomed a single passenger, while a total of three handled under ten travellers. Two airports from the former Yugoslavia - Belgrade and Pristina - ranked within Europe’s top 100 busiest, placing 68th and 99th respectively, while Zagreb was just behind in 101st spot. The airports in Belgrade, Pristina, Zagreb, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banja Luka and Kraljevo, registered their busiest start to the year on record. All markets within the former Yugoslavia, with exception to Slovenia, saw their passenger numbers grow during the first month of the year when compared to the pre-pandemic era.
Passenger performance by airport, January 2023
Skopje Airport recorded its second busiest start to the year on record. Macedonia’s main gateway welcomed 152.753 passengers in January, up 0.3% on 2019 but down 6.9% on its record 2020 performance, just before the effects of the coronavirus pandemic began to be felt across Europe and the travel sector. Mostar Airport continued its disappointing run during the month, with no scheduled traffic. Its figure was down on 384 passengers handled in January 2020. On the other hand, Osijek Airport saw a major jump in traffic compared to 2020 levels, buoyed by Croatia Airlines’ year-round service to Munich. The airport’s passenger figures grew 254% on the same month three years ago.
European rank for former Yugoslav airports, January 2023
European rank for select airports in the region, January 2023
During January, the Slovenian market saw the biggest decline in passenger figures in percentage terms in Europe (excluding Ukraine) when compared to the pre-pandemic era, while Albania saw the fastest growth, according to Airports Council International Europe. Most markets in Western Europe are yet to overtake their pre-Covid figures, with the only exceptions being Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal. Notably, Russia handled more passengers in January 2023 than three years ago with 6.6% growth. Overall, Istanbul’s main airport was the busiest during the month, handling 5.6 million passengers. It was followed by London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Istanbul Sabiha Gocken, Rome and Lisbon.
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Nice... good result for BEG with 68th ranking in Europe. Hopefully February will be good so they can move even higher.
ReplyDeleteWow, Pristina's numbers keep to amaze me...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe most interesting thing is that the official population is not that big compared to the number of travelers. I guess the number of people from Kosovo abroad is very high...and they are visiting their homes more often now compared to before, plus they seems to prefer a plane compared to bus nowadays...
Delete^ yes, that is the reason.
DeleteNis and Banja Luka better than Split? wow!
DeleteThe fact that Nis has more passengers than Split clearly shows how big is the impact of Adriatic coast during the warmer yearly season.
DeletePractically during January Adriatic coast does not have any benefit for Split and it can be treated as continental airport during that time.
It shows how insane is to compare sea coast and non sea coast airports on yearly level.
@Anonymous09:50 Have you ever been to Split ??? At all, also I don't want to go about what a real city is, and dick measuring contest, suffice to say, city of Split is just inner part of the urban conglomeration, Split urban area has population of around 350 000, city itself is around 170 000, Podstrana (~10 000), Solin (40 000), Kastel (45000), Trogir (40 000) and so on constitutes urban area of the city, you can check it out on google maps and Wikipedia… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia, as to Split being deserted in winter months, sure, there are no tourist in winter months along Mediterranean cost, but city is still buzzing, it is after all 2nd largest city in Croatia and economically 3rd biggest in Croatia, and certainly bigger than BL and Nis, especially when it comes to economy, in fact I think, Split has bigger economy than Nis and BL combined. Croatia's economy in 2022 figures just released 517,5 billion kuna (€68,68bn or €17,700pha) of this Split generated 40.4 billion kuna (€5.36 billion) or roughly €15 300 per head of population. Nis (urban area 266 000) generated just over $2.6 billion and BL (urban 184 000) just over $1 billion. Now you can draw your own conclusions out of this.
DeleteWithdraw the billions from tourism in your account and you shall understand what the writer meant. Split is a dead city apart from summer months when the tourists come.
Delete@Anonymous17:57
Delete"what the writer meant" - you mean you??
Oh I see, so city lives only off tourism and nothing else??? Is that what you're saying??? It has no other industry, services or source of income???
FYI, Split isn't even that busy when it comes to tourist, sure city's population goes up by a half, but compared to other cities in Croatia it is paltry. No Split has loads of industry, commerce and high tech agro economy. Tourism is important as it generates a quarter of income in summer months, but city is a transport hub, major port and has a strong digital economy including services. 6th largest bank in Croatia is based there and city has strong fishing industry which exports 90% of its produce each year. The region’s largest international defence show is held in the city every year.
"Anonymous09:37
DeleteNis and Banja Luka better than Split? wow!"
You know what that means? If expected growth continues same as in Split and Banja Luka and Nis can maintain their lead, at the end of this year, they’ll have more than 3 million passengers, each. Wow, isn’t that something???
You know it's winter when Banja Luka and Nis are in the top 10 :D
ReplyDeleteNiš alone registered 50% more than all Croatian airports combined, excl ZAG and SPU!
DeleteNis is better than Split!
DeleteTivat ahead of Dubrovnik is also a surprise for me.
DeleteAnonymous 09:44 - Dubrovnik is dead during all winters, but this winter is particulary bad. On the other hand there is so many Russians and Ukrainians that have moved to Montenegro recently that it doesn't surprise me Tivat is ahead of Dubrovnik.
Delete"Anonymous09:10
DeleteNiš alone registered 50% more than all Croatian airports combined, excl ZAG and SPU!"
And you know what that means??? It means, Nis Airport will handle more than 5 million pax in 2023 if that continues, last year Croatian airports handled nearly 10 million, sorry don't have an actual figure, but around that figure. And if by your logic all goes well for Nis airport which handled more than all airports in Croatia combined, excluding Split and Zagreb, and if we assume all of Croatia’s airports replicate last year’s figures or slightly more, Nis will handle around 5 million pax, yippee…
Osijek alone registered 120% more than all Serbian airports combined, excl BEG and Nis, lol!
DeleteI was expecting Dubrovnik to be performing a bit better. Aren't there charters being operated to European cities this winter?
ReplyDeleteI think that was last winter, not this one.
DeleteThe winter charters started a few weeks ago, there weren't any in January. Overall, a horrible winter for Dubrovnik, the sadest thing is that the city seems to have come to terms with being a half-city (living just for half a year) and is not even trying anymore to live a full year.
DeleteIsn't that just a sign how Croatian tourism industry is disfunctional?
DeleteOff season performance is irrelevant. Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar catch up in June and over perform others 6n July and August. After all, you are not who we compete with. Hence your name, ex...
DeleteCroatian tourism industry disfuncional? ! LOL? It is seasonal, meaning it depends on the weather mostly, but also kids school breaks, and lots 8f other stuff. For one to simply declare an industry which yields EUR 15 bill year disfuncional is completely insane!!
DeleteI'm saying it has so much potential, but it is selflimiting. It is easy to rely on sunshine and school break. They can pull so much more if they rollup the sleeves and work a bit.
DeleteWhy the hell do or work more unless you have to?! We are not Americans or Germans to work all the time! We work to live, not the other way around!
DeleteSofia-Belgrade-Tirana is an interesting triangle to follow. Good for the region!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! SKG will most likely see the same. Meanwhile yesterday SOF announced their 1 millionth passenger in February. Seems February was quite busy. TIA has no official figures yet for January.
DeleteTIA had 413,569 in January.
DeleteTIA really has good results taking in consideration they were behind ZAG before pandemic and now they are on 92% of BEG traffic.
DeleteHowever it is expected the gap between BEG and TIA to be increased as JU will have massive expansion this year in BEG + new destinations (KWI + RIX) + frequency increasing from foreign airlines + 4th Wizz plane with its base in BEG.
Kraljevo's result is actually is not that bad. They had 8 flights to Istanbul (and returning) operated by ATR72 in January
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAnd this shows how insignificant is the ex-yu market . Only ATH handled 1.5 million passengers during january .
ReplyDeleteMy thought too. 1.5 million is really low for a 24 airports combined.
DeleteMy very first thought as well.
DeleteWell let's not forget that continental Greece has two airports: ATH and SKG.
DeleteThese two are 500 km apart. In other words, if you are flying into Athens, Peloponnese or central Greece then you have no choice but to fly into ATH.
For years now ATH has successfully killed all attempts to active a second airport in Athens. Years ago there were plans to turn a military airport into an LCC one but naturally, this idea was killed.
Surprised to see PRN ahead of ZAG again. Will the trend continue this year?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. PRN has elevated numbers in months like January due to huge number of diaspora visiting for holidays.
DeleteThey were ahead in 2021 but that is because diaspora was less affected by covid restrictions and could keep flying to PRN. Will be interesting to see how February performed for both.
DeleteTuzla is so close to having more passengers than Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteWill LJU be able to improve its numbers? I find the figures depressing for an EU capital. Even with SJJ not benefiting from this and having more airports in BiH, it still managed to improve its figures.
ReplyDeleteThings should improve this summer. They expect to handle 1,3 million passengers this year. I agree that the situation is not ideal but things could change quickly if an LCC start flights or if a national airline is established.
Delete1,3 million is realistic considering frequency increases on all routes and also comeback of Aegean and Finnair.
Deletethey have 50% growth this year Jan-Jan
DeleteNice to see Osijek with a bit more passengers than usual. Not huge but still an imporvement.
ReplyDeleteThat's the effect of the Munich flight.
DeleteWell at least Mostar didn't loose any passengers compared to January 2022 when they also had 5 passengers :D
ReplyDeleteFantastic result lol
DeleteI wonder is Kraljevo airport management trying to get new flights, or are they solely relying on JU and subsidized routes by the government?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they can do much until the runway is dealt with. Not a lot of turboprop operators willing to start flights. But I also doubt they are trying hard to attract anyone either.
DeleteIs there any update on the runway? They are planning on building a new one right?
DeleteAerodrom Morava tiho je usla u ovu godinu. Nema vesti o projektovanom razvoju dogradnje. Vlada se ne oglasava. Mediji nisu zainteesovani za ovaj aerodrom.
DeletePosle uspesne akcije vlasnika dedovine i djedovine, ostala je Vlada Srbije da placa par letova nedeljno.
Bez gradnje nove piste, mogucnosti letova mlaznih aviona Morva ostaje "tuzan sirak bez igde ikoga".
Menadzment Aerodromi Srbije, kao ni Menadjment
Kraljevacke Morave nemaju mnogo mogucnosti da pokrenu ozbiljan posao. Bar sto se tice ovog aerodroma u Centralnoj Srbiji sa veoma lepim putnickim terminalom. Vera i nada zadnje umiru.
Da li ce se razvedriti nad Moravom sto se tice perspektive, ostaje da se oglase nadlezni.
It should be noted that SKP was closed for almost a week in the height of the January holiday season due to fog. I am sure it would have achieved growth hadn’t been this the case.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I don't remember SKP being closed due to fog that often. Is it a common occurrence in winter? Does the airport not have CAT III?
DeleteThere is no CAT III at Skopje airport because of the position of the runways , during the winter that places is hit by big fog's that stay with days and its impossible to land and take off , it was not closed at all but all the flights was landing in Pristina airport and some in Ohrid.
DeleteDisaster tbh
ReplyDeleteCertainly better than last January.
DeleteI'm hoping Tivat will manage to somehow recover this year. 2022 was really bad for them.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a bit better than last year but not expecting them to reach 2019 levels in 2023.
DeleteLoss of Russian, Ukranian and Belarus market is not easy to cover within one year. And it was an unexpected loss too.
DeleteNot unexpected .
DeleteWhen EU banned Belarus flights i already guessed that Russia will be next ..
Does anyone know numbers for Vienna and Istanbul?
ReplyDeleteIST- 5,637,182
DeleteSAW - 2,798,091
VIE- 1,669,566
Who are these people flying to Portorož when there are no scheduled flights?
ReplyDeletePrivate jets and other private planes, mostly from Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia
DeleteI think from Serbia as well.
DeleteI hope Niš traffic still pick up once the new terminal is completed. I say that because I believe they are building that terminal due to planned increase in traffic.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if the new high speed rail between Belgrade and Niš will impact INI. It is likely more people will be willing to travel to BEG to catch their flight.
DeleteOr the opposite may happen and more people from Belgrade will be willing to fly from Nis.
DeleteThe fast rail will take a few years to complete. The EU gave a grant just yesterday for it.
DeleteThe high speed rail will definitely provide a big boost to Nis economy and that should have a positive impact on the airport too.
DeleteHow?
DeleteHow so these Ohrid results compare to 2020/2019? Good or bad?
ReplyDeleteGood! It is actually up 55% on 2019.
DeleteWhat led to such increase?
DeleteThey are good because the Skopje flights landed in Ohrid.
DeleteLies
DeleteAnon @10.18, no need to spread fake news
DeletePristina is again better than Zagreb? Amazing.
ReplyDeleteTaking in consideration that no new destinations have been announced from MZLZ (actually ZAG has -1 comparing to 2022) PRN might finish this year on 2nd place in ex Yu ahead of all Croatian airports.
I'm really happy that we can get the data for all airports in ex-Yu each month. Appreciate it!
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteMaribor must have had a sport charter to have that number.
ReplyDeleteSkopje need to find better solutions for the fog in the winter period , it is very heavy to land and take off during the fog period that stays with days in January and February.
ReplyDeleteAnd all the flights landed in Pristina and few in Ohrid , thats why Pristina had this passenger numbers in January and also Ohrid because all the Skopje flights landed there. I think now in March will be also fog and Skopje losts passengers , from April there will be no fog.
Its tradition that in winter days Skopje has problem with the fog and they are send to land in Pristina. Its happening every year. And they still not taking any solutions for this issues. Skopje need new runway separate then the exiciting one if they wamt to avoid this fog problems.
DeleteExactly, SKP has historically had fog diversions, there's nothing different about this year. But saying how PRN and OHD only had such numbers because they got 5 diverted Wizz from SKP is beyond ridiculous
DeleteNo I didnt say that Pristina take the numbers , I just say there was diverting flights like any year before on that 2 airports. Skopje has not so strong January as many years before , the boom is expecting from May until Octomber. But definitly they need to work out for the fog problems in future.
DeleteAs I know the airport terrain is not capable for implementing CAT III , and they must find solutions for this winter problem , instead we are diverting our flights to other airports and countries , why , because we are not finding any relevant solution for this issue , like all the airports in the world find. TAV must work more serious fot this.
DeleteIn January there were in SKP 41 planes that did not depart due to fog(90% cancelled and 10% diverted) and 47 planes that didn't land due to fog (80% cancelled and 20% diverted) so SKP missed between 10k-12k passengers this. As a frequently SKP user I admit that both OHD and PRN didn't get more than 2000 pax each. If diverted passengers are even counted.
DeleteYou want to say that even if plane is diverted at other airport , the pax are still counted in the original airport ?? I didnt know this to be honest.
DeleteEvery year its fact that SKP losing passengers for fog , maybe not alot, but probably around between 10.000 and 20.000 which is still not a small number.
There were few bomb fake calls for SKP airport is there were cancelled routes that day or just delays but still departed ?
Well, most of the departing pax would have still left with other flights in the later days. As for inbound flights I highly doubt there that many pax onboard as in that period all gastos are leaving SKP not returning. 10k-20k seems grossly exaggerated and even if true still pathetic numbers to justify PRN's growth
DeleteI don't know but if a plane is diverted the airline is responsible to organise buses to the original destanation. However if they can count these passengers is for me a uncertainty.
DeleteNobody is justify Pristima growth all the their population live and work abroad thats why the number is high , because to be honest the tourist numbers there are quite low so thats all people who work in EU.
DeleteYes the airline takes them with buses , but I dont know where they are counted , for me is not logic to be counted in SKP and landed in Pristina
Yes only in Pristina people are working abroad, in SKP every passenger is elite tourist, business traveller and rich Macedonians holidaying in Europe. Which is very clearly indicated by the large number of legacy and premium airlines and routes that SKP boasts
Delete12:44 +10000
DeleteAs usual the SKP experts and now with this fog theory and flights being diverted is surreal. Even so, the difference between PRN and SKP is quite high now compared to previous years where they used to be neck to neck. PRN may reach 1 million by May.
@12.44 they have lot more legacies then PRN from what I can observe.
Deleteand none of the famous familia Reisebüros but thats another discussion
Both are heavy gasto airports, no one is claiming one is better than the other
DeleteThe fog in SKP is same every year , its fact , and there will be new routes and airlines , more main airports and better connections , the best results for SKP are yet to come !!! You will see that in the end of the year. And from the next will have more better routes.The fog will not destroy the success of SKP , its same every year in winter. SKP achieve 3 milion pax before the Covid , and it will achieve more then that this and next year!
Delete13:27 - the maximum passengers were recorded in 2019 when SKP made 2,36 million passengers. How do you expect to add 700,000 more in 1 year when you have airlines like Flydubai, Qatar Airways still not flying and Wizzair having cancelled various routes? Even with the Lufthansa 10 weekly service we are yet to see how the route develops especially in winter. You cannot have a crystal ball and predict what will happen next year.
DeleteBare in mind that Trade Air, GP Aviation & Enter Air and now even Alba Air are quite active in PRN , this is the reason why it is quite ahead of SKP. We need to focus on the the present.
SKP also has witnessed various fake bomb signals leading to its closure so the fog is not the only problem.
Wizz air will return some of its old routes , and few others ,so expectations are that this year and next SKP to come close to 3m pax. It will happend , the Australiam diaspora is coming back from another cities not Dubai and Doha , they found solutions. Also there will be large amount of people using Frankfurt , Macedonian diaspora is strong in Germany , also Kosovo citizens will use this route. I am sure that this year SKP will come close to 3 m pax. There is alot of possible scenarios.
DeleteYes the fake bombs and the fog were not good start but all that will ne fixed during the period from May to Octomber. And plus here is the new tender we will see which company will entry our market and what they offer.
"the Australiam diaspora is coming back from another cities not Dubai and Doha , they found solutions" - you need to back your theory with facts. Solutions how? Dubai and Doha have one of the shortest and best connections from Australia to the world. The diaspora will need to make 2 stops via SIN, BKK or KUL to and Lufthansa does not offer cheap flights from/to Australia. Travel time is around 1day and 10 hours (check the LH website yourself) and the prices are around 2000 AUD.
DeleteAnonymous12:40 There is really no need to spread lies and propaganda here. SKP numbers are low because of SKP alone, not cuz of PRN. Instead of making stuff up like "all of Kosovo works abroad" you'd be more productive if you analyzed what has SKP management done to improve these numbers. By the way, Kosovo and Macedonia diaspora is pretty similar in numbers. In fact, until a few years back SKP used to have more passengers than PRN, using your logic, does this mean that "all of Macedonia worked abroad" than? Stop being jealous and be happy that your neighbours are doing this good. Best of luck to you.
DeleteThe Australian diaspora is coming to Dubai and Doha and then to Istanbil and some Vienna. SKP will have good results this year. Will finish it with 3m pax thats fact. But they must work better to connect with main airport and thats their wish too. i think with Lufthansa entering our market that will giwe strength to other airlines to come here.
DeleteAt the moment the Amadeus-GDS is showing only 4 weekly flights during summer high season between Ljubljana and Dubai:
ReplyDeleteFZ1790 3567 LJU DXB 1515 2305 0 30JUN23 25OCT23 7M8 5:50
and only 3 weekly flights in May, June:
FZ1790 357 LJU DXB 1515 2305 0 10MAY23 21JUN23 7M8 5:50
where can one see this GDS data? They had it on their website years ago
DeletePodgorica was performing well last January. Do you agree? Why so many pax?
ReplyDeletereally good it has the best population/passengers ratio and considering that Montenegro is a country that is dependant on tourism it's really good to see that in a slow month as January they still manage to achieve good passenger numbers.
DeleteGlad to see BNX at #9. Banja Luk has huge potential. I hope they will soon expand terminal buliding and ad more stores as coffee and food shops, duty free. When 3 aircrafts land at the same time passengers need to wait otside of terminal for pass control. If you are „lucky“ and it rains it is such a bad image for airport and country itself. They doesnt need huge budget to improve few things. If they do not expand terminal building they wont develop as they planned. Terminl building is ancient. Toilets are embarassing for an international airports, doors looks ancient, departing gate with just few sits, arrival gate also to small. All in all expansion of terminal building needs to be urgent done. I love BNX and with better organisation it could be perfect regional airport
ReplyDeletepotential as long as Ryanair can exploit the local politicians elite. under normal terms im not so sure
Deletethx for this table! it'll be nice to see results for every month for all airports...
ReplyDelete