EX-YU airports lagging in connectivity
Countries from the former Yugoslavia offer among the fewest connections to passengers travelling by air, both direct and indirect, compared to their European counterparts, according to Airport Council International's (ACI) latest connectivity report for 2019. Data shows Bosnia and Herzegovina has the poorest airport connectivity on the continent out of 43 countries, followed closely by Macedonia. Although Bosnia has the lowest direct connectivity, it is ahead of Macedonia in terms of indirect and hub connectivity, the study shows. Macedonia itself is ranked 40th. It has seen significant passenger growth over the past decade, however, Wizz Air's dominance and it primarily serving secondary airports impacted on the country's overall ranking. Slovenia placed 39th, while Montenegro was 36th. Serbia was second in the former Yugoslavia on the connectivity scale, ranked 28th in Europe, with Croatia in front as the 22nd best connected market on the continent. Spain has the highest level of airport connectivity in Europe, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey.
2019 airport connectivity
| European rank (out of 43) | Country |
|---|---|
| 23 | Croatia |
| 29 | Serbia |
| 37 | Montenegro |
| 40 | Slovenia |
| 41 | Macedonia |
| 43 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
On the other hand, individual capital city airports from across the region have seen robust connectivity growth over the past decade. Between 2009 and 2019, Podgorica was the fastest-growing capital city airport within the former Yugoslavia in terms of connectivity, averaging growth of 284%. It is followed by Skopje at 119%, Sarajevo at 109%, Belgrade at 77%, Zagreb at 73.4% and Ljubljana, which grew 20.4%. Pristina was not included in the report. Once all airports in the region are taken into account, ACI reports that Niš saw the biggest overall connectivity growth in the last decade, standing at over 1000%. Belgrade had the best overall connectivity, followed by Zagreb.
Best connected airports and change 2019 vs 2009
| Airport | Change (%) |
|---|---|
| Belgrade | ▲ 77.7 |
| Zagreb | ▲ 73.4 |
| Split | ▲ 218.4 |
| Dubrovnik | ▲ 276 |
| Ljubljana | ▲ 20.4 |
| Skopje | ▲ 119.1 |
| Tivat | ▲ 352.7 |
| Podgorica | ▲ 284.8 |
| Sarajevo | ▲ 109.3 |
| Pula | ▲ 479.4 |
| Zadar | ▲ 341.2 |
| Rijeka | ▲ 228.4 |
| Niš | ▲ 1134.2 |
| Osijek | ▲ 926.7 |
| Ohrid | ▲ 289 |
Connectivity is the metric by which airports live - the more connected an airport is to the wider world, the more attractive it becomes to its users and the greater the value it provides to the community and local, regional or national economy it serves. The 2019 report looks at Europe's total airport connectivity (direct and indirect), onward connectivity from Europe and hub connectivity. In essence, the report defines the connectivity of an airport as the weighted number of weekly flights available from that airport to non-stop destinations and to one-stop destinations involving flights of the same airline or of two airlines in an alliance or codeshare.
ACI uses the report as an opportunity to stress the importance of public policy and regulation in facilitating and enhancing connectivity, which is closely linked to the economic wealth of countries. ACI has called for progress on issues such as airport capacity, the liberalisation of market access, the lowering of navigation charges and aviation taxes and lighter economic regulation for airports.
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