Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is likely to end its passenger growth streak in November, continuing into December and January of next year, due to reduced operations by its two largest carriers, Air Serbia and Wizz Air, when compared to the same period last year. Although airlines are still likely to make adjustments to their winter networks, Belgrade Airport is expected to see its capacity levels on scheduled services drop by 7.9% in November, 11.2% in December, and 4.7% in January, with growth resuming from February onwards.
Last winter, Air Serbia operated an ambitious schedule for the first three months before suspending several routes and reducing frequencies. This winter, the airline plans a more modest schedule, which will be below levels recorded during the first part of last winter, but above those registered in the second half of the previous winter season. As a result, Air Serbia’s November - January capacity will be reduced by 4.7%. However, it will grow 12.8% in February and March 2025 when compared to 2024. Overall, its existing capacity for the duration of the entire winter season is down 21.000 seats, or some 1.3%.
The majority of the reduced capacity at Belgrade Airport will come from Wizz Air, which continues to deal with ongoing engine inspections that will ground over thirty of its aircraft in the coming period. During the winter, the low cost carrier will cut its capacity by 20% at Belgrade Airport, resulting in the removal of over 146.000 seats.
Last winter season, Belgrade Airport was served by British Airways from London Heathrow, which has since ended its operations to the Serbian capital, as well as Arkia from Tel Aviv, which has not scheduled flights for the coming months. On the other hand, the airport boasts new carriers including Sun d’Or from Tel Aviv and China Southern Airlines from Guangzhou. Foreign carriers with the largest growth in seat capacity for the 2024/25 winter season include Air Cairo, with an additional 10.572 seats, LOT Polish Airlines, with an extra 6.070 seats, as well as Aegean Airlines with an additional 4.524 seats.
Network changes for the upcoming winter season are still likely and may impact overall capacity levels. The information in the article is correct at the time of publication.
Is there any info on when W6 will restore its capacity in BEG?
ReplyDeleteHave they published their summer 2025 schedule yet?
They haven't even finalised their winter schedule for many places, let alone summer
DeleteYes, on Friday Wizz Air announced the reopening of its base in Chisinau in December with a couple of new routes. So they haven't even completed winter timetable.
DeleteThey said a few months ago they would return to growth at BEG in summer 2025.
DeleteWhat happened to Air Serbia's planned "surprises" for winter that were announced by its CEO?
ReplyDeleteWell, we can say that reduced capacity is kind of a surprise. 😜
DeleteAir Serbia commonly makes changes to schedule. They scheduled Nice 3 weeks before it launched. I would not be surprised if the surprises happen early next year.
DeleteLots of promises as usual
DeleteWell, the president so far has promised flights to CAI and NRT.
DeleteWell, what does the president have to do with it? Ups... forgot that he runs everything!
DeleteYou are tight. He also said JU would fly to Cairo and Baku and it happened.
DeleteOh, wait...
Let's wait an see. There were predictions of doom and gloom for this summer too but then they ended up with growth.
ReplyDeleteActually on this site there was an article that growth would slow which it has. Not that it is doom and gloom.
DeleteI don't think the Admin is lying and is posting wrong numbers about scheduling capacity for winter.
DeleteI didn't say the numbers are wrong or that the admin predicted doom. I'm just saying that it is possible that Wizz adds some flights, Air Serbia too. We will see.
DeleteAnd to think they had 20%+ growth in the first few months of the year.
ReplyDeleteThe reduced growth rates corresponds directly with when Wizz reduced flights.
DeleteToo much dependence on Wizz.
DeleteTwo few airlines serve BEG year round.
DeleteSo when the two largest operators reduce flights the airport suffers.
How come so much growth from Air Cairo?
ReplyDeleteLast winter I think they just flew 1 weekly while this winter it is 3 weekly.
DeleteThanks
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteWinter is coming.
ReplyDeleteI guess not hitting 9 million this year.
ReplyDeleteThat was unachievable even if capacity was not down in the last two months.
Delete8,1 by 31 Dec 2024.
DeleteBEG goes on 8,3-8,4 mil.this year
DeleteOne thing I'm sure is that once the engine saga is over Wizz will come out with big growth
ReplyDeleteBEG should do more to attract new airlines. And I don't mean just because of this situation but in general.
ReplyDeleteThey have actually attracted quite a few in the last couple of years - Luxair, KLM, Hainan, Air Baltic, China Southern... Air France and British Airways too although they left. Transavia coming next summer.
DeleteNow when I look at it, they attracted mostly European legacy carriers.
DeleteThey don't want to step on JU's toes too much because they depend on them. That's why they are not too proactive.
DeleteThat won't last forever, eventually they will go out and attract new airlines.
DeleteAttracting low cost airlines to BEG will greatly increase traffic but at the same time it will put pressure on JU.
DeleteI think the LCC offer is rather decent. Wizz Air (base), easyJet, Norwegian, Pegasus, AJet, Transavia from next year....
Delete* Eurowings too
Delete"easyJet, Norwegian, Pegasus, AJet, Transavia" with each airline serving what, one route? LOL!
DeleteAJet flies 3 routes - Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul SAW
DeleteOff course that LCC offer on BEG is not decent, but quite poor, comparing to any airport of the capital city in Europe..and that lack of competition is not good for Air Serbia, because that's the best motivation to be better, as well as not good for pax, because less people can fly and visit other places in the world, apart of their own country Serbia..Young people across Europe fly out every couple of months, 75% of youngsters bellow 24 never left Serbia, according to one research.
DeleteI don`t quite beleive that research and that it has been updated.
DeleteIf nothing all youngsters have been in Greece or some other holiday destination, so the research is absolutely outdated and false.
DeleteBut, falsi is the statement that everyone other capital airport has bigger offer of LCCs, which is not true. What is true is that there are alternative airports that costs less and offer cheaper service, so in that senses Serbia is way behind, but we should not expect things to happen overnight.
I think we shouldn't forget charter traffic. I don't now if it will be up or down on last year.
ReplyDeletewhat charter traffic is there in November or even December? There are maybe a few charters around New Year but it is negligible.
Delete@09:43 Some people are choosing to pit on their rose tinted glasses instead of accepting reality.
DeleteProbably annual growth will be around 5%.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot expect 20-30% growth every year!. BEG will have Around 8 Mio passengers in 2024, and that's good.
ReplyDeleteBut we should not expect shrinking numbers either.
DeleteYear on year its not shrinking.
DeleteAll 2025 will be in negative rates
ReplyDeleteIf you read the article, you will see that February and March have double digit growth.
DeleteHe hasn't read it. It is "too pink" for him.
Deleteprobably an admirer of Analiticar xD
DeleteWhat is the third largest airline in BEG? After Air Serbia and Wizz
ReplyDeleteLufthansa probably
DeleteIf you mean by Luft group, yes, if LH solely as company no. Turkish has more flights.
DeleteThis summer we saw organic growth in passenger numbers and demand, rather than growth resulting from capacity growth.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air reducing anything is often felt much more than some other airline because they have very high load factors on all route as LCC.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNow it's ideal opportunity for Vinci to start construction of 3 new gates before we see capacity growth again.
ReplyDeleteProbably not gonna happen. Too lazy to think of it :)
DeleteBut I would love if they would start a work on it.
They need the third big player to boost capacity and that could only be Ryan, like it or not. Otherwise we will have modest growth at best with JU dreaming of Tokyo but constantly cutting WTT and Wizz with it's God knows when capacity return.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I don't know how Air Serbia is "constantly cutting" winter considering last winter was their busiest on record.
DeleteAlso, seeking Ryanair in this region has usually been a desperate measure by airports which, had they not done it would still be shrinking. That's why Zagreb and Dubrovnik reached out to Ryanair.
Finally. JU said Tokyo was in their long term plans. Considering they fly to New York, Chicago, Tianjin, Guangzhou and soon Shanghai, I would not say it is just "dreams".
"Wizz with it's God knows when capacity return." - It is returning next year sweetheart.
DeleteAnd maybe that growth by Wizz is diverted at least partially to Niš?
DeleteWe`ve been told that recently.
No, you haven't been told hat. You made it up.
Delete@10:14
DeleteYou would put your money on Wizz honey?
@Anon 10:23
DeleteListen, pal, nothing had I made up, but His Excellency A. V. said that on July 23rd, at Niš constantine Int. AP:
- Nek daju 30 miliona, 40 miliona subvencija za low cost kompanije da dolaze da voze iz Niša a ne Beograda. Naše kompanije moraju da budu tržišne, Er Srbija nije gubitaš kao Jat. Er Srbija pravi profit, ne pravi gubitak. Minimalno im se mešam, bez obzira što smo vlasnici skoro 100%. Suština je u tome da u Nišu obezbedimo da ljudi mogu da putuju, da koriste aerodrom.
And he also said Air Serbia would fly to Cairo and Baku. You can't ban an EU airline to fly to one of your airports.
DeleteNo, but you can pay them enough so that they are better off flying to Niš then to Belgrade.
DeleteAnd you really think people from Vojvodina will go to Nis as they go to BEG?
DeleteAll of them will switch to BUD, and then bye bye Wizz from Serbia..
What a dream it would be for you.
DeleteBEG is sleeping due to JU's strong growth. This is a reminder not to keep all eggs in one basket. New carriers are a must and I guess more LCC are needed.
ReplyDeleteAgree, managment do nothing to attract new carrires. They slowing down BEG growth. In their eyes higher profit depends from higher taxes, not more passangers
DeleteJust to say something, as i passenger, i dont care for air serbia, i want cheap options to fly from Belgrade, and now it's more expensive than before, we neeed cheap flights to European cities, like Zagreb, Sofia and others, passengers are the most important things.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia is literally the cheap option to fly out for many destinations
DeleteAir Serbia is decently cheap for many destinations, comparing to many legacy carriers, but its not cheap LCC which we need on BEG, because Wizzair doesn't have LCC prices out from BEG, like other airports have
DeleteIt is rather evident to me that the government`s solution for that is to offer cheap flights from Niš. And that is no good for Belgrade region, for its economy, tourism, etc.
DeleteA second grade strategy.
Belgrade region needs cheap flights (maybe Morava airport might be called Belgrade south, if it could cater for lowcost flights, and it cannot).
Cheap, it's not cheap compared to LLC, and as government is protecting air serbia, we need to pay more to fly (ok yes, we have direct flighyts to NYC, Chicago etc), BUT the thing is, regular people dont care, they just want cheeply to fly somewhere (especially in europe).
ReplyDeleteBuecase of air serbia, you would need to pay 2x/3x time more than compared to LCC which would fill this position.
So i just want healthy competition, everyone can enter, everyone can try, everyone can compete.
And yes, we might see some stagnation if air serbia is not expaiding
DeleteBut everyone can enter, everyone can try and everyone can compete. No EU based carrier can be rejected to open a new route or base from Belgrade. That does not mean that the airport should pay Ryanair to fly from Belgrade. Some of you people are detached from reality.
DeletePlease stop talking BS.
DeleteJU does not have very expensive prices if you plan your flight months in adavance. Very often it is even cheaper than W6.
The problem is that people want to fly tomorrow and not to pay more than 100 eur.
Of course they do not look at W6 prices at that time (which are also very high) but remember what neighbour Pera said about their prices 6 months ago.
Hey, i am talking BS?
ReplyDeleteLook, most of people want to travel for small price (yes, less than 100 eur) and that is what LCC are offering, yes i am saying, even the wizz is more expensive NOW, BECAUSE there is no competion, you smart boy.
Do you understand that or not?
That is why, i recent few times, i use the Budapest airport.
i dont' care what is going on, i want cheap flights like you have now mostly from Zagreb, Sofia or Budapest.
So yes, even the Wizz air is now more expensive from Belgrade.
End of the story
Just compare with Budapest, 100% more cheaper flights from there (less than 10k) compared to Belgrade.
DeleteAnd in Belgrade, those with less than 10k (5/6/7) are always only wizz, never air Serbia, so that is the point.
Because of protection for the air serbia, we need to pay more in Belgrade, and the end, for you enthusiast here, it will also show on numbers of passengers in log term, stagnation or people using other airporst, or not flying that often as they would.
Not to say how many tourits LLC are bringing, people see 50eur return tickets, they buy it istantly for new city (i do that often), and when people see 150eur eur, they will think 3 times, and maybe choose anothe destination (yes, people in 20/30s, working population, even IT guys, average people, which is most of Europe)>
First of all can you try posting under the correct thread of comments? This is the 3rd or 4th post you are randomly posting.
DeleteSecondly, no matter how many times you say it, no one can protect or ban anyone from flying. You might find Budapest Airport is cheaper because it is a European tourist mecca that many people want to visit, it has no national carrier, meaning there is less competition for foreign airlines, and the standard of living is Hungary is significantly higher than in Serbia, meaning more people can travel. This all leads to more airlines and seats which leads to lower fares.
You can keep repeating ad nauseum that someone is protecting someone but at the end of the day no one is banning any airline from flying to Belgrade or establishing flights to Belgrade. Any LCC with a European AOC can launch flights from Belgrade or open a base in Belgrade.
Yes, you are talking BS.
DeleteIt is not possible anywhere to buy few days before flight ticket for 100 eur except maybe to BNX. So, your dreams sre not realistic.
Air Serbia has great offers during the year giving big discounts on their flight but mice who critize then hide in their holes waiting for new opportunity to critisize.
Whose fault is that there is no more competion to W6 in BEG? Airport? Certainly not. They do not want to take off their panties like ZAG did and to lose huge profit in order FR would come to blackmail them in BEG.
Neither BUD nor ZAG and SOF have strong national carriers.
It was already once explained to you that nobody stops EU airlines to fly to NEG but it seems you still do not get it
Quite sad.
It should be noted that even with the existing cuts, Wizz Air is offering double the capacity this coming winter season out of Belgrade than it did during the 2019/20 winter season (comparing November - February to avoid Covid impact). Overall in 2019 Belgrade had 1.2 million seats on LCC carriers, while in 2024 it has 2 million. Flydubai has been excluded from both cases due to its hybrid nature. Therefore, the LCC offer from Belgrade has actually grown considerably over the past few years.
Delete