Belgrade Airport sees traffic rebound
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled just over 600.000 passengers during the January - May period, representing a decrease of 35.3% on the same period last year and 69.7% of the pre-pandemic 2019. The airport’s figures began to pick up in April, as its main customer, Air Serbia, started growing its operations, while foreign carriers restored both frequencies and capacity, and new routes were added. June is set to become the airport’s busiest since the start of the global health emergency with another three airlines resuming flights to the city, including Tunisair, TAROM and Vueling over the past ten days, as well as Air France, which will restore services next Wednesday.
Since the start of the year, Nordwind Airlines has commenced operations to the Serbian capital, from Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as Luxair from Luxembourg, KLM from Amsterdam, Wizz Air from Hamburg and Abu Dhabi, Air Montenegro from Podgorica and Tivat, as well as SkyUp from Kiev, while Air Serbia launched new routes to Geneva and Rostov-on Don. Out of those, Ukraine’s SkyUp Airlines has suspended its operations between Kiev and the Serbian capital due to poor demand, with the carrier unable to compete against Windrose Airlines on the route. In the coming period, Aeroflot will introduce flights from St Petersburg, Wizz Air from Sandefjord and Eurowings from Stuttgart, with new additions expected soon. Furthermore, a number of airlines have begun increasing frequencies and capacity on existing services, coinciding with the European Union’s decision to approve the lifting of entry requirements into the block for Serbian citizens. Among those adding more seats or flights are Air Serbia, Wizz Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Austrian and Qatar Airways.
Commenting on the latest developments, Belgrade Airport noted, “We remain optimistic that this summer season will be significantly better than last year, especially if we take into consideration the speed at which the vaccination process is taking place in our country and the region. The national carrier, Air Serbia, has over 800 charter flights planned from our airport to Turkey, Greece, Tunisia and Egypt during the summer. Furthermore, we have several new airlines and routes during the second quarter”. This month, the airport opened a testing facility in its terminal 1 building, enabling departing, arriving and connecting passengers to undertake both a Covid-19 antigen and PCR test. Furthermore, the airport’s 24-hour post office can issue those vaccinated against the virus in Serbia with a Digital Green Certificate, which holds information on Covid vaccinations, recovery and testing. The certificate is currently recognised by Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with the majority of the European Union set to follow suit on July 1.
The airport is continuing its full-scale expansion project despite the pandemic, recently opening its new E platform, which forms part the first phase of its apron extension project. The new platform, located across the general aviation parking, covers an area of almost 25.000 square metres and can handle three aircraft with a wingspan of up to 36 metres. The new apron allows for the upgrade and optimisation of aircraft handling capacities at remote stands, which is now becoming common due to the closure of a number of A pier gates due to their reconstruction and expansion.
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| Location of the new apron (in red) |
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