The Serbian government has criticised VINCI as the operator of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport over a series of flight delays over the past two weeks caused by technical issues with its computer software. Since he start of the month, the airport has experienced technical issues with its check-in software on three separate occasions, the latest being over the past weekend. While the issue did not result in flight cancellations, it produced significant delays, most notably impacting Air Serbia. The airport maintains the problems were caused by global outages experienced by its software provider Collins Aerospace and has impacted others across the world too. The Serbian government will now hold talks with the airport’s French-led management next week. It comes following a number of issues with the airport’s aircraft handling last year, which has since been outsourced.
The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, said, VINCI, as Belgrade Airport’s concessionaire needs to “get its act together and ensure a back-up solution in such cases”. Mr Vesić noted, "If the software issues hadn't occurred, we could say that, unlike last year when there were problems with baggage handling, the situation at Belgrade Airport this year has gone smoothly. We have repeatedly requested an explanation from VINCI regarding the recent issues. It is unacceptable for this to occur, as they are required to have a backup system that functions when the main one fails. VINCI must normalise its operations, as they are obligated to do so under their concession contract”. He added, “This problem was not caused by an increase in the number of flights. There have been almost no new Air Serbia routes this year, with exception to Mostar, because its expansion and positioning on the market took place over the past two years, so that is certainly not an excuse”.
Verica Ječmenica, the Assistant to the Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, said, “It is unacceptable that almost every other day there is a software outage at Belgrade Airport. It is irresponsible, first of all towards the passengers who do not deserve such treatment, but also towards the state with which the company VINCI signed the concession agreement”. The software issues, which the airport says have now been remedied, follow a series of issues with ground handling last year, a mix-up of departing and transfer passengers earlier this year, which required for the entire airport to be emptied, as well as certain infrastructure problems which have also caused delays on several occasions over the past year.
VINCI began its 25-years concession of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in December 2018, with the French company beating rivals Zurich Airport and Incheon International Corporation in their bid to manage the airport. VINCI paid a one-time instalment of over half a billion euros to the government for the concession, on top of the annual concession fee. It has taken on the obligation to expand the airport’s infrastructure and build a new inserted runway. Earlier this year, VINCI secured an additional year and a half on its concession of the airport, as part of force majeure compensation resulting from operations which were severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ultimately it is the government's responsibility for awarding the concession to VINCI. Perhaps better due diligence should have been done.
ReplyDeleteVINCI runs over 200 airports across the world. I think they have proven themselves as an airport operator.
DeleteShould get Fraport, much better company.
DeleteVINCI was never the first choice for the concession, they only got it after Macron visited Serbia. In fact French have received all major infrastructure projects in the country.
DeleteFreepprr is exactly the same or worse airport operator .
Deleteit was most likely a political decision for better relations with the French. they should have picked the Koreans instead but then again the people working at the airport probably wouldn't fit so well with the working culture and management of the Koreans
DeleteThe Zurich Airport consortium would have been much better for Belgrade Airport. Nothing like Swiss efficiency.
DeleteYes, the Korean “working culture and management” have done wonders for Czech Airlines.
Delete@An9:07 you are joking. Fraport is a desaster. I frequently fly between FRA and BEG and the bigger issues always appear in Frankfurt, especially T2
Delete^ I believe he was being sarcastic. But you are right. Thanks to recent report we now know that there are even rats running around the terminal. Really shocking.
Delete@9.43 there is no need to go as far as Czech Republic. In Serbia, South Koreans run a few factories. Workers are literally forced to wear diapers so they don't loose time on going to the toilet.
DeleteMajority of BEG staff needs to be disciplined, not to that extend but definitely they need a kick up the backside.
DeleteThose comments about how bad it is with the korean companies. I know, thats what i was talking about. it doesnt mix well with the Slavic/ eastern eurpopean nations
DeleteOh, really, we still have those diapers comments and people believing it's true?!
DeletePlease, you can do much better than that.
Has the new CEO taken over at BEG? They said he would come later this summer. Who is running the show until he comes?
ReplyDeleteOld CEO is now running BUD now.
Delete^ Yes, I know but French-Cambodian CEO is taking over,
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/06/belgrade-airport-names-new-ceo.html
Probably on holiday. All French stop working in August.
DeleteHopefully there will be some changes with the new CEO but I'm not holding my breath.
DeleteHonestly. CEO means very little. Vinci kept entire BEG airport local team in place and they are running the show. Many of them should not be in managerial positions especially the ones in their 30s who got there god knows how.
DeleteHow come JU had the biggest delays, but the other airlines hadn’t.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that JU has other reasons for delays on top of this one, but they’re playing again ping pong with Vinci on who is responsible…
They had the biggest delay because they have the most flights. Similar to Wizz Air which has the second largest number of flights, and had the second longest delays. You do understand when the system fails you have to do the check in manually? So it is not the same if you have to do it for 1 flight with 180 passengers and you have to do it with 80 flights.
DeleteUse some common sense @anon 9.04 before throwing accusations around.
DeleteLet’s just not pretend that JU would be punctual if there wasn’t a software malfunction.
Delete^ You posted a complete fabrication as your original post so there is no point in arguing with you. You have already decided who to blame irrespective of the facts.
DeleteOmg yes how did you know
DeleteFunny thing is the government has a company called Aerodrom Beograd AD whose only job is to monitor the concession. Its CEO is the former CEO of Belgrade Airport (and Jat Airways) and he and his team have huge wages. What exactly have they been doing all these years?
ReplyDeleteHe is doing his job. He is not managing the airport, he is there to oversee the operation and report any issues to minister of transport. Exactly what he dod in the past 2 weeks . Great report by him and fast reaction by Serbian gouvermant.
DeleteHe had a great track record with Jat Airways!
Delete@Anonymous09:21 he did absolutely nothing. He is in Banja Luka selling the story that VINCi is interested in taking them over even though they are not,
DeleteNo one expected them to do their job but we all expected Vinci to be more professional.
DeleteIt is just a company formed so that the former airport management can continue getting paid huge amounts of money without doing anything.
DeleteWith exception to these three isolated incidents, there have been very few delays this summer. Much better than last year.
ReplyDeleteAnd no more rows and rows of lost luggage.
DeleteFantastic success (both of you above), let's celebrate !
Delete@09:12 You must be joking!? What about rainy days like 26th June when JU schedule got completely messed up? There were many more days with heavy delays than you counted.
DeleteNo I'm not joking. If you compare to last year, there have been much fewer delays. And in regards to "rainy days" its not about rain it's about a storm when refueling has to be stopped by law. Or would you rather they disregard the law? But then you would complain that they are putting people lives at risk and that only in Serbia something like that could be allowed. You know that full well but it is easier to share disinformation.
DeleteAlso people constantly complaining about delays obviously fly very little, which is evident since they have time to sit on flightradar website all day and calculate how many minutes each flight was late. Flew Belgrade-Barcelona on Wizz Air 2 nights ago. Boarding was completed 10 minutes prior to departure, captain came on the PA to inform us that we are ready to go but that we would be delayed half an hour because of traffic congestion in European airspace.
@12.57 I don't need to celebrate. I said for a fact that there are fewer delays than last year. You seem to be very angry and agitated by that, for reasons only known to you. I have also used the airport at least 10 times this year and my flight was delayed once, as mentioned above. And yes, there are no more rows of luggage. If you actually travelled, you would have seen that in the arrivals hall.
That rows of luggage was not JU or BEG mistake, but from third parties (air companies or airports) that delivered it to BEG later than passengers
DeleteHow convenient that all the luggage all seemed to have built up at BEG but nowhere else!
Delete^ You should travel more, or get informed
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBdjl2St6E
Here is one more for you
Deletehttps://x.com/prettydamocles/status/1542845368576217088
Oh and another
https://www.businessinsider.com/frankfurt-airport-boss-blames-travel-chaos-black-suitcases-luggage-2022-7
I wish the title of the article was just a hit different: slovenian government tells FRAPORT to “get its act together”
ReplyDeleteDidn't you read yesterday how Fraport brought 5 airlines in just one year? And not because of subsidies, those are insignificant compared to huge discounts Fraport gives.
DeleteFraport was ineligible because LJU was too close to BEG. Less than 500km
Delete@09:13:
DeleteI think the proper headline would be more like: Slovenian government tells Fraport "Pejte se solit".
Even if Fraport does make any effort, no results are seen. Not even a single new route since 2019, with exception to DXB and RIX, but Fraport had no role in this process. No new routes negotiated, less capacity, worse schedules, less flights. Core business is being run extremely poorly. Ancillary business is not being run any better, check their business lounge- it looks a bit like Ikea exhibition place but worse. Always dirty, tables are left uncleaned for hours, food does not get refilled, coffee machine regularly out of service. PATHETIC.
DeleteAnyone know which days Air Serbia has the most dense scheduled waves? I know it is three or four times per week. Anyone know the days?
ReplyDeleteMondays and Fridays have the most flights in their schedule. Over 80 JU departures on Mondays from BEG and over 100 on Fridays.
DeleteThank you. That's a lot!
DeleteCan't the operator be penalized financially?
ReplyDeleteThat's up to the airlines to pursue not the Government.
DeleteI assume they will because passengers will file complaints with airlines for something the airlines are not responsible for.
DeleteI think that would depend on the concession contract and the penalties agreed, but the government of Serbia would need to prove the concessionaire was solely guilty for the negative circumstances defined as breaching the contract.
DeleteGood. They really do need to get their act together.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo unfortunate that Zurich Airport didn't win the tender...
ReplyDeleteThis was their plan for Belgrade
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pqx5VLH3C8&t=1s
Interestingly they planned to demolish the old control tower and extend the terminal. They also planned second runway.
I don't think it's any better than the VINCI plan, especially since their first phase does not deal with capacity constraints. So they would have had a mess too.
DeleteAgree. They probably would have done a better job.
DeleteZurich is really well run. What a shame. They really should have made all the tender offers public.
DeleteHave any other Governments accused their airport operator for Cloudstrike's outage instead of Cloudstrike and Collins Aerospace?
ReplyDeleteGovernment did not accused Vinci for software issues itself, they accused them for not having a good backup system/procedure
DeleteWhy no other airport in the world had a backup system for airlines to use?
DeleteAnd who would have created that system, the same company that gave us the Cloudstrike meltdown?
As the old Serbian saying goes: "Rugala se šerpa loncu..."
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt's sad how these foreign companies which are respected around the world stoop down to the level of the government as soon as they come to do business in this region.
DeleteAh yes, Mr Vesić, the expert on everything.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd like to ask him what's the cause of all the other JU delays which occur every day?
So, Belgrade Airport and the VINCI management have done an outstanding job and no one should dare criticize them. I mean especially since they are western European. That's a big NO NO for some.
DeleteWhat?
ReplyDeletehuh?
Delete"It is irresponsible, first of all towards the passengers who do not deserve such treatment, but also towards the state with which the company VINCI signed the concession agreement”
ReplyDeleteSo, get full agreement to public. What are you waiting for??
Bingo!
DeleteVINCI and Serbian government are a match made in heaven.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteAt the start of concession they said they would bring new long haul operators to Belgrade. With exception of Hainan that switched from flying via Prague to going direct to Belgrade, they have not yet delivered on this. China Southern will be the first one in almost six years of concession.
ReplyDeleteThey said new long haul routes. There was one when they came now there are 4, soon there will be 6. There was also a global pandemic for 3 years.
DeleteLong haul development is just fine. Better to get several routes every few years and let them develop and become profitable than get all sorts of flights which will be discontinued afterwards. Keep in mind that also as a market Serbia can't support long haul from wherever.
Delete@14:57 You make it sound like it was all VINCI effort that resulted in Air Serbia launching Chicago and Tianjin routes. Very funny.
Delete@16:03 "Keep in mind that also as a market Serbia can't support long haul from wherever."
DeleteI am keeping in mind you didn''t provide any evidence for this. Until then it's just another disinformation.
17.11 no, they were told Air Serbia would expand long haul within their 5 year plan and you think they were told to go out and get new airlines so Air Serbia could have as much competition as possible?
Delete@17.12 you must be one of those people that writes how flights to Lago should be launched, or Perth Australia.
Delete@17:20 They could have worked hard to reach out to other airlines with targeted subsidies for top unserved destinations Air Serbia clearly not interested in, like Los Angeles and Toronto.
DeleteNo one is interested in flying from Los Angeles to Belgrade and there are much larger less seasonal European markets, that are large tourist destinations that don't have flights from LA because the costs of operating such long flights are high meaning they need to make money straight away.
Delete@17:20 Ten years ago mention of Belgrade direct flights to Tianjin and Guangzhou would be laughed at. Nowadays (geo)politics have more influence on destination selection than passenger demand. Serbian market can support long haul from destinations with high demand like Hong Kong and Toronto but there is no political backing for them at the moment.
Delete@18:20 "No one is interested in flying from Los Angeles to Belgrade"
DeleteLook at passenger demand before talking nonsense.
First of all there were discussions about flights to China 10 years ago. Second, Hong Kong is 130 kilonetres from Guangzhou. It is 43 minutes by train.
Delete@18.23 I did and it is nowhere near enough. On such a long route like that you can't have one directional high seasonality waves which all US-Serbia routes have but a long flight like this can't sustain it.
DeleteIf LAX demand is nowhere near enough then somewhat shorter service to MIA must be out of consideration. Some please tell Air Serbia.
DeleteDiscussions about China 10 years ago were about Beijing and Shanghai, not TSN and CAN. Despite proximity to CAN, indirect passenger demand on BEG-HKG is higher than to CAN and TSN.
You realise Miami is much closer to Belgrade than LA, quite a lot. You realise high season for travel to Miami is from October to April, making the seasonality much more flat. You realise there is a huge Russian diaspora in the Miami Dade area, which Air Serbia can capitalise on considering it is the only Euroepan airline flying to Russia? You do realise that the further away a destination is the more expensive it gets, meaning your yields need to be nuch higher no?
DeleteAs for Guangzhou, you don't think that some passengers ftom Guangzhou/Shenzhen area used Hong Kong because it had much better connectivity to Belgrade? You don't think that now some passengers from Hong Kong will use Guangzhou instead? You don't think that Air Serbia opted for Guangzhou because it is a less expensive airpprt to fly into? Think a bit before you write.
As for Tianjin, it is a 1 weekly service launched because Beijing could not be launched at the time.
Topic of the day is VINCI. In the light of long haul development at Belgrade since 2018, they didn't do much.
DeleteNow that Air Serbia placed their bets on PVG, MIA, ICN and TYO, VINCI should take a look at other top unserved long haul destinations and at least break a sweat trying to bring one or two new airlines from those destinations.
Better connect to SIN than ICN or TYO.
Deletehighly recommend fraport as alternative just like in LJU🤣
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that there were no flight cancellations unlike what we saw at most airports a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteSo is there any word on what caused the outages?
ReplyDeleteif it happened 3 times in 10 days my guess is that they could be under a hacker attack.
DeleteThey would have said if it was a hacker attack. Why would they hide it?
DeleteWho knows. They only revealed it was in issue with Collins Aerospace when it happened for a third time.
DeleteI am not sild by BEG's explanations that it is Collins Aerospace fault and that it impacted other airports. I didn't find any information or any article from anywhere else in the world that the same happened.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't find anything because no one other than in Serbia made a huge drama out of it. These things happen. It is hardly the airport's fault no matter what the government of JU say. It would be like blaming JU if Sabre had an outage and you could not buy tickets on their website.
DeleteI'm not so sure either.
DeleteI just noticed that Swiss added a 22nd weekly flight on 3rd July and these will operate until 28.08. Crazy amount of capacity.
ReplyDeleteDo you realize that you will have 9M pax this year! Please renegotiate concession with VINCI and develop another (~15M pax) brand new terminal (but not new airport!) and runway behind the museum. Connect it with closed underground railway designed just for the airport.
ReplyDeleteThey should have done a new terminal from the start.
Delete100%. The new terminal should have been built where the current antiquated and old cargo terminal is now.
DeleteAbout time
ReplyDeleteIt makes much more sense to privatize the airline and keep the airport in public hands than vice versa
ReplyDelete