Last year, the Serbian capital Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport experienced particularly strong growth, partly because of the abolishment of visa requirements for Serbian nationals travelling to the Schengen Area, which makes out the majority of European countries. However, the 13% surge in traffic in 2010 seems not to have been enough. So far this year, the airport’s passenger numbers are up by an additional 16% on last year, meaning that the airport will report record figures two consecutive years.
The boost is partly generated by Wizz Air, which set up a single-aircraft base at the airport at the start of the last summer season and now ranks as the second-largest airline at the airport, operating nine routes with both based aircraft and equipment stationed at other bases.
Other low-cost growth will come from flydubai, which only began serving Belgrade four times weekly last month as part of its European expansion. Jat Airways has also announced the resumption of its Dubai services from the start of the next summer season, however, the airline does not have aircraft with sufficient range for the route and the three weekly flights will therefore make a technical stop en-route in Larnaca in Cyprus.
Jat Airways has shrunk its available seat capacity by almost 15% since last year; however, this reduction is more than compensated for by Wizz Air’s growth alone. Lufthansa’s capacity reduction is also more than offset by the strong growth of its sister airlines Austrian and Swiss (+48% and +58% respectively), giving an overall capacity increase of 10% across Lufthansa Group. Considerable growth also comes from airberlin’s Austrian sister airline niki, which increasingly focuses on south-eastern Europe and has grown in Belgrade by 27% on last year.
The Vienna route is the biggest out of Belgrade, with three operators; Austrian, Jat and Niki. Among the other top 10 routes, only Rome Fiumicino has three operators; Alitalia, Jat and Wizz Air. At the other end of the spectrum, Munich stands out as a top destination for only having one operator; Lufthansa.
Although the Serbian government has decided to set up a new company to take over the assets of the troubled state carrier Jat Airways, it seems the government will struggle in finding a private partner to invest in the new carrier. Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot have previously been discussed, but the tender period is soon coming to an end and, reportedly, the only company to have purchased the tender documentation is Baltic Aviation Systems, whose owner Vladimir Antonov recently was arrested accused of bank fraud. Unless a partner is found, it remains to see if the new airline can reverse the current airline’s fortunes and successfully compete in the market, or if the days of a Serbian national carrier are coming to an end.
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Airport, Airport Grows