All capital city airports from the former Yugoslavia are expected to see passenger growth during the final month of the year when compared to December in both 2022 and the pre-pandemic 2019, based on available scheduled seat capacity levels. On the other hand, Wizz Air will just stay on as the region's biggest airline ahead of Air Serbia.
Belgrade Airport has the most available seats on scheduled flights in December, standing at 888.112. The figure represents an increase of 40.9% on last year and up 58.3% on 2019. Air Serbia will continue to maintain its position as the largest carrier, holding 52.1% of all available scheduled capacity at the airport. Zagreb follows as the second largest airport with 381.576 available seats on scheduled flights during the month. It represents an increase of 15% on last year and is up 21.4% on 2019. Croatia Airlines will retain its position as the largest carrier at the airport, with 40% of available capacity. However, notably, the Croatian carrier is one of the only airlines with fewer capacity this December than the same month last year (down 1.1%), as well as 2019 (down 10.4%).
Skopje Airport boasts 322.162 seats in December, up 59.6% on last year and an improvement of 54.7% on 2019. Wizz Air will hold a 64.7% share of available seats at the airport. Pristina Airport will have 241.741 available seats, however, it has numerous flights sold exclusively through tour operators which are considered as charters. Therefore, these are not included in overall scheduled seat capacity. If only seats on scheduled flights are taken into account, the airport sees an increase of 24.9% in capacity on last year and 33.7% on 2019. Chair Airlines has the largest portion of scheduled seats, holding a 21.3% share.
Ljubljana Airport will also see capacity levels exceed pre-pandemic levels. It boasts 124.456 seats this December, up 9.1% on 2019. The figure is an improvement of 48.4% on last year. Ljubljana’s largest carrier by seats next month is Turkish Airlines with a 18.1% share as it prepares to deploy wide-bodies on some of its flights, ahead of Lufthansa, which will have 16.142 seats with a 13% share. Podgorica Airport has 121.802 seats on sale next month, up 15.3% and 16% on 2022 and 2019 respectively. Turkish Airlines is the largest carrier, with a 20% share, ahead of Air Serbia with 18.4% of the market and Air Montenegro with 12.8%. Finally, Sarajevo Airport has 106.521 seats available this December, which is up 10.1% on last and an improvement of 15.8% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Turkish Airlines will be its largest carrier with a 23.9% capacity share.
Largest carriers by scheduled seat capacity in the former Yugoslavia, December 2023
wow JU getting close to Wizz
ReplyDeleteWith charters, it could possibly be ahead of Wizz.
DeleteImpressive considering Wizz has bases in both BEG and SKP.
DeleteHow is that impressive when Air Serbia has 27 aircraft?
DeleteWizz Air operates larger aircraft in the region and operates numerous flights with non-stationed planes, not to mention that beside SKP and BEG they operate flights to Ljubljana, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla.
Deletethats stil far away from 27 aircrafts
DeleteYou are making a silly point in an attempt to spit and belittle, as you are comparing an airline with a single base with an airline with multiple bases operating high density planes.
DeleteThe plural of aircraft is AIRCRAFT not aircrafts. Please learn.
haha the high density expert is back!!! (keeping quiet on the new launched LJU flights hah?)
Deletewinter situation, no croatian coastal flights plus no Bosnia
DeleteComparing JU and W6 is like comparing apples to orange's, JU is hub and spoke airline so you need movements and capacity with a lot different aircrafts. While with W6 you wont capacity but with as least as possible aircraft so you can lower your cost base to rock bottom and fill up the seats and make money on ancillaries. ATR 72 and A321neo are different aircraft for different airline models.
Delete@10.15 I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. What new launched LJU flights? I simply stated that Wizz has high density planes, which it does. Check how many passengers its A321 seat. It's comparable to what many airlines seat in A330-200s.
DeleteDon't forget that JU had two rounds of frequency cuts this winter so their numbers would have been even better. CEO and CCO should think about this and why their sales team underperformed.
Deletepeople should know that wizz can operate planes in the YUG that arent stationed there. You do know they are not limited to only using the 4 which are based in BEG.
Deleteit is good to see how much JU has grown, but the other interesting change to see will be next year. because something like 45 planes of the Wizz fleet will be grounded due to engine inspections.
so it will be interesting to see how this will impact their operation and their position in the YUG. Ryan air is also struggling to get their new planes in on time from boeing. so wonder how it will effect the prices of their flights and will they reduce the service pushing passangers to the flag carriers.
Argument about 27 planes was mentioned in another interview by PV, a former Jat manager. Not understanding the difference in seat capacity between ATR72 and high density A321 explains his spectacular failures.
DeleteWizz je uzeo u zakup avione za vreme prizemljenosti tih 45 aviona. Ne pratis sva desavanja ocigledno.
Delete"However, notably, the Croatian carrier is one of the only airlines with fewer capacity this December than the same month last year (down 1.1%), as well as 2019 (down 10.4%)."
ReplyDeleteSays everything you need to know about Croatia Airlines
Crazy that in December 2023 they are still unable to reach prepandemic levels.
DeleteForget prepandemic, they are unable to reach last year's levels!
DeleteMind OU, what is going on with Croatian aviation in general? Basically no new announcements for next year, no new carriers, new routes... Quite strange for a country with so many tourists.
DeleteOU is doing their best and trying to make money similarly to majority of European carriers by lowering seat capacity and inflating their yields.
DeleteTourist numbers in Croatia will propably go down next year. Westerners can't afford the sky high prices and many won't return next year, they'll look for better value for money alternatives instead such as Spain and Turkey. Even Bosnian citizens went on vacation to Montenegro or Albania instead of Croatia in 2023 due to the rip off prices.
DeleteDo you think Emirates will ever come back to ZAG? I think BEG has a better chance.
Delete@10:23 Bulgaria Air was in a very similair position to OU. and with a similair plan to OU in leasing the new A220. But it seems the FB plan has worked out better. they decided to add the A220 to their fleet instead of getting rid of their other aircraft, and they are actually expanding next year as a result.
Deleteso yes OU is trying to make money and improve but doesnt seem to be making the best decisons compared to others in similair position.
@anon 10:26
DeleteTrue. Even Croats are very angry and looking for summer hollydays abroad.
Anonymous09:38
DeleteMind OU, what is going on with Croatian aviation in general? Basically no new announcements for next year, no new carriers, new routes... Quite strange for a country with so many tourists.
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Don't worry for croatian aviation market. No need to worry for biggest aviation market in ex Yu.......
He's not worried, he's curious. There is a difference and it's fine he's asking that on an aviation forum. It's the biggest for now because of 5 months per year when foreign airlines and tourists boost numbers, not Croats and OU.
DeleteAlso you can't compare Bulgaria Air and OU since SOF is double the size of ZAG.
Croatia has less capacity? How can that be? Anyone knows?
DeleteBecause the airline is run by clowns which generated a record 15 million loss during the most profitable summer in the aviation in recent history. They covered it up and presented as a profit by selling Airbus planes but in their report clearly state they included the sale into their profits.
Delete@15:12
DeleteThat's an inappropriate comparison of OU and FB to limit them to their capital cities.
Croatia which OU serves as a whole has a larger aviation market than Bulgaria.
And they were both in similar positions where their markets are dominated by LCC and they had a similar size fleet.
They can be compared and can see one making slightly better improvements
He's not worried, he's curious. There is a difference and it's fine he's asking that on an aviation forum. It's the biggest for now because of 5 months per year when foreign airlines and tourists boost numbers, not Croats and OU.
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As I said, don't worry for croatian airports next year. Zagreb will reach 3,9-4,0 mil pax, Split maybe 3,5 mil ( Split airport has insufficient infrastructure for peak summer time), Dubrovnik 2,6 mil, Zadar 1,5 mil or little above. Pula, Rijeka and Osijek is a tragedy airports, but with them overall is aprox. 12,3-12,4 mil pax. Not bad for 3 and half million country.....
I know many people giving Croatia a big swerve due to the crazy prices charged. Spain and Italy offer so much better value.
DeleteAnonymous @21.46 I completely agree. The prices being charged in Croatia this summer were completely over the top. It will put many people off visiting next year.
DeleteWe want less people who can afford those prices. It's a completely legitimate strategy. If you can't afford coming to Croatia go some place else.
Delete@8.40 haha prestige?
DeleteIt's not about prestige and not but crazy over tourism which is destroying local communities in addition to messing up experience for everybody.
DeleteIt has gotten to the point where infrastructure cannot handle that type of mass tourism.
Also, not all of Croatia is equally as expensive as Dubrovnik or Hvar.
I'm shocked Podgorica has just a 3,000 less seats than Ljubljana!
ReplyDeletePodgorica was ahead of Ljubljana for years. So don't know why you are surprised.
DeleteYes sadly, but LJU will boost up those numbers with charters
DeleteNice to see LJU recovering
DeleteThe Wizz share in Skopje :D
ReplyDeleteThe growth in Skopje and Belgrade is huge
ReplyDeleteMost of them have really impressed a lot this year
DeleteAir Montenegro only third in Podgorica...
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Chair is 9th airline even though they only fly from SKP and PRN.
ReplyDeleteThey also fly from Zurich to Ohrid.
DeleteThey are unknown outside of the Albanian gasto markets.
DeleteIt's owned by Albanians and is marketed for the Albanian diaspora, so no surprise.
DeleteBut they fly to Egypt
Delete51% in Chair Airlines AG is owned by Albanian founders of the company, 49% is owned by Enter Air, a Polish airline, who also has an option to purchase the remaining shares.
DeleteI am also surprised by the number of seats they offer on the Swiss market.
"Enter Air shelves buying majority stake in Chair Airlines"
DeleteEnter Air is not in any hurry to get to a majority stake in Chair. Chair is still on the brink of profitability. Enter Air is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. If they purchase majority of shares in Chair, they will have to fully consolidate the results of Chair into their own results and that will bring their overall results down and will not be liked by their investors. So they prefer to show the results of their very profitable charter EU business and just a smaller share of Chair. Enter Air flies 28 Boing 737 (NG and Max) plus some wet-leases from other airlines. Chair in turn flies Airbus.
DeleteInteresting how LCCs drop off in the region in the winter months. It shows how seasonal all the markets in the region are.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good mix between legacy and LCC.
DeleteIt's the same case in most markets in Europe.
Delete@9.13 its the croatian coastal airports
DeleteTurkish is really pulling ahead of Lufthansa in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting info. Based on this we can conclude passenger numbers for next month.
ReplyDeleteVery good growth for all of them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stats.
ReplyDeleteit can actually give you a good sense of what the growth will be at the airports.
DeleteNow it will be interesting to see how big of a load factor each airport has on its flights.
ReplyDeleteBig Wizz share in SKP.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what it is on an annual basis.
DeleteAround 60%
DeleteVery interesting stats. Cuple of points here:
ReplyDelete1. OU with a market share of 40% is actually a good thing as the airport is not that dependant on 1 airline, say compared to the staggering 65% of Wizzair in Skopje. With a 3rd player, ZAG can find a good and healthy competition. Good examples are Tallinn, Vilnius, Sofia - where there are 3 larger players and lower market shares.
2. Ryanair being really huge in many countries has a very low presence in ex-YU. Still puzzled why they never entered BEG being a large, European capital.
3. Wizzair have infact decreased their presence quite a lot in the region: they cut LJU routes, SJJ was affected, they are very passive on the Croatian coast and let alone ZAG. When you compare their presence in Albania for instance, there is no room for comparision.
4. Ljubljana has a conservative growth, which is not bad. Definitely more flights out of Europe are needed such as Doha, Abu Dhabi and maybe more Egypt and Tunis charters. Tunis charter packages from Bulgaria for instance are dirty cheap and sell like cakes with European Air Charter and BH Air especially with Jordan and Israel region tension. No wonder why Djerba and Enfidha are already being packed. Ljubljana should definitely consider more leisure and charters. This is why the local tour operators in Slovenia should be very active and also work with charter airlines and they can use whichever within the EU if it wishes. In conclusion: Ljubljana needs "exotic" destinations and more charters not only during summer but year-round. Do not think flights to Spain will work very well, as Croatia is much more famous for Spaniards (because of the Mediterranean).
Additionally, UK and Ireland flights are needed as well. That being said, Dubai was a huge success for LJU and will not be surprised seeing them add a second daily flight on some days in 2024 similar to SJJ.
5. Turkish are most likely to become more agressive in the region. After all, they recently announced their plan to expand to a staggering 435 aircraft. Will not be surprised to see them expand in secondary ex-YU cities: INI, BHX or more cities on the Croatian coast.
6. PRN will most likely just stick to the "ad-hoc" Swiss, German and Swedish destinations. Will be very interesting to see how Air Baltic performs there next year.
Good points
DeleteI think on Ryanair, it’s probably a mixture of the delay in planes and yield. I agree be great to see them at Belgrade and hopefully it’s something we see in the future. Until then would be good to see them add more destinations from Nis.
Delete1. OU in ZAG and W6 in SKP can't be compared. OU is a national carrier that will never leave ZAG (unless they go belly up) but W6 could leave SKP tomorrow or in any moment they judge that airport or Government is not playing the game that they want to see. So, having only 40% of OU market share in ZAG is a terrible thing especially as their percentage is lower than it was last year and especially significantly lower than in 2019!
Delete2. FR has been making terrible mistake by not coming to BEG stubborny expecting that BEG will lower its fees only for them. We all know that with the current results BEG will never do it so FR is actually only losing big porton of BEG cake and letting it go to the competition, mostly W6.
3. Despite the fact that W6 lowered its presence in the region they still offer the most seats. It just shows how strong player they were and still are in ex Yu.
4. 6 and 6. Agree.
Wizz at SKP has more capacity than OU in ZAG
DeleteI am saying that for ages. Maybe we dont have national carrier but at least the one airline we have is doing more then enough.
DeleteWizzair is already 11 years in Skopje they survived corona crisis and economically tough periods so they are not gonna leave that easy.
DeleteThey are not goona leave as SKP is one of their better bases. Just like SOF, MXP, Iasi, Cluj, Gdansk…
DeleteSelf proclaimed analyst always wonders why Ryan doesn't operate to Belgrade but always fails to ask why Wizz doesn't operate to Zagreb.
DeleteIs Wizz still getting a subvention at SKP?
DeleteYes. They just had a tender for new routes this year and Wizz won again.
Delete^ Wizz won again along with Lufthansa, even though it had already launched its route months before the tender.
Deleteonly for new routes. thats 4 routes in total of which only one started yet. That is nothing
DeleteNo, it is 5 routes. 2 of them started - Ljubljana and Frankfurt.
DeleteFRA is not by Wizz
DeleteCapacity in Belgrade is wild. It could possibly go 3 times more than ZG next year. Moreover, I am a bit surprised Turkish is so strong in Podgorica.
ReplyDeleteTurkish increased TGD this year
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/turkish-airlines-to-boost-montenegro.html
Few reasons for that
1. Turks don't need visa to enter Montenegro
2. Turks have brought up a lot of property from Russians in Montenegro (this is actually key)
3. Russians also using this route
BEG will definitely have over 1 million capacity on some months next year.
Delete^ they had this in August already
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/07/belgrade-to-surpass-one-million-seat.html
Ufortunatelly, les than 1M. There was 930536 pax.
DeleteSKP in december will have the numbers of pax that Pristina has in summer period :D :D showing that its not summer airport instead it's all year round!! Great job !!!
ReplyDeleteDo you realize that charters are not counted for PRN?
DeleteSkopje is getting closer and closer to Zagreb. Only 60k seats difference, i wonder what the numbers will be.
DeleteThis was meant to be a comment, nore replay to the comment above, sorry.
Delete@10:35 He said that the numbers of pax PRN handled for example in June ( around 300k i believe ) SKP will offer in December. But that does not mean that every single offered seat will be sold. I expect 260k pax.
Delete10:35 I wanted to say that the pax numbers that PRS has for summer , SKP will have in Decembe. How many charters that are not count for PRS , it is 20k pax , it is not definitly 300k . The reality is that SKP is all year round airport and lives all year not only for the summer peak , now Understand ?
DeletePristina has its most of power in summer peak , for instead SKP is all year round , and if SKP reaches 300k in December then its definitly what I am saying !
DeletePRN is most definitely a year round airport. And which airport doesn't handle more passengers in summer? 🤣
DeleteYes we can see in winter is it year round by the numbers 🤣🤣
DeleteAre you being serious? Is BEG also a seasonal airport because it handles less passengers in winter than in summer?
DeleteI speak only abouth pristina because you make them they are the best in the world , but actually they are not , you dont want to see the reality .
DeletePristina most powerful airport in the world!
Deleteto be fair PRN has its peaks in holiday seasons
Deletebecause people go to work in Germany. Where is Norwegian now with flights from Oslo and Helsinki? Where are the flights to Malmo, Vaxjo and Gothenburg now? I dont see them. This is the reallity. No one is using the flights to or from Pristina for something elee other then going to work in Europe. So stop being dramatic.
Delete13:40 No one even mentioned PRN or even claimed that it is better than SKP. The fact you are so obssessed with it and bragging about SKP being better as if it's some grand achievement only shows SKP's mediocrity. And the irony is that PRN still handles more passengers than SKP, despite all your stupid excuses that you're making up.
Delete@16.12 you sound obsessed as well
Delete16:12 when pristina handles more pax then skopje ? In summer yes , what is the difference in winter ? Why you dont mentioned that?
DeletePRN has 16 flights today and Skopje has 30. They have more pax during the summer because their people go to work in Europe illegaly of course. Please dont compare Skopje Airport with an airport such as PRN, please dont.
Delete@18:53 I don't at all, I compare it with ZAG because they actually have quite similar numbers, little SKP is way below.
Delete''They have more pax during the summer because their people go to work in Europe illegaly of course'' Stupidity of some fellas here knows no limit. A bit sad actually
If all the charter seats are included (as it should be) PRN is ahead of SKP and has been for many years now.
Delete16 flights today with the charters.
DeleteDefinitely PRN will witness a significant boost in the traffic and the gap between SKP and PRN will widen.
DeleteOne thing I find very interesting is that capacity levels in Belgrade do not differ that much from month to month anymore. In August it had less than 200,000 seats more compared to December which is not that lot. Seasonality is being reduced big time.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
DeleteCapacity in July and August is about a million, and in slow months it is about half a million but imprtant fact is that slow season capacity grows more than season.
Delete^ how is it half a million in slow months when you have the exact number in this article?
DeleteAnyone know FR's share in ZAG?
ReplyDeleteIn December, Ryanair's capacity share is 26.7%
DeleteNOV 821.414
ReplyDeleteDEC 888.112
JAN-OCT 6.698.353
So BEG based on available capacity in the last two months can handle 8.4 million. Since flights are generally empty at that time it is obvious BEG will handle around 7.4 million. Still it's not a bad result.
Math problems? With Nov+Dec capacity at just 60% LF, BEG will easily go over 7.7M. Knowing second part of Dec is pretty busy, more likely over 7.8M for the year.
DeleteSo Belgrade can reach 8 million this year. I really hope it happens guys!
Delete"since flights are generaly empty at that time..." you are person one would like to talk about aviation, for sure.
DeleteYes. They will reach 8M if LF is 76% or more.
DeleteSo everyone is UP In capacity! From Ljubljana to Skopje. Good.
ReplyDeleteOnly difference is in degrees!
Its just matter that mobility and energy is tilting towards East!
Thats all!
Indeed it's good and we are finally seeing first moves by Wizz Air in Belgrade for the summer. They are increasing rural Bergamo from 5 to 7.
DeleteBergamo is not rural at all.
DeletePractically a suburb of Milano and also a very wealthy community.
Outbound is extremely strong.
The Bergamo rural comment is just stupid.
DeleteThe comment is just wrong. The author is just stupid.
DeleteGuys it's rural because it's an hour away in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Linate is the only urban airport. JU will be crushed in MXP because no one wants to fly to the middle of nowhere for a lot of money.
DeleteMXP (Malpensa) and Bergamo are two different airports ..
DeleteWhen Pristina will have more flights with WIZZAIR? Basel- Pristina ???
ReplyDeleteNEVER
DeleteThey will, the moment PRN learns to hand out incentives to Wizz, like other surrounding countries do.
DeleteWon't happen because there are like 5 destinations Wizz can serve from Slatina. Barely enough for one plane.
DeleteInteresing: BEG usually has more capacity and pax in October than December. Same is for JU, but this December capacity for JU is more than in October. Reference: https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/11/belgrade-airport-registers-busiest.html?sc=1699990369378&m=1#google_vignette
ReplyDelete