Uneven recovery as EX-YU airports handle 3.4 million passengers
Airports across the former Yugoslavia are continuing to claw back their passenger numbers at an uneven pace with 3.367.502 travellers handled during the first half of the year. The majority of airports began to see their figures improve during the second quarter as most European markets began scaling back pandemic-related restrictions and started easing curbs on non-essential travel. Pristina continues to be one of the best performers in the former Yugoslavia so far this year as it was closest to its pre-pandemic results during the first half, by handling 32.4% fewer passengers than during the January - June period in 2019. It has also registered a strong start to July.
The former Yugoslavia's busiest airport during H1 2021
On the other hand, Ljubljana Airport continues to struggle and fell out of the top ten busiest in the former Yugoslavia. The airport is at just 8.9% of its pre-pandemic traffic, with Slovenia being one of the most affected markets in Europe. The airport was outperformed by Tuzla, which, with a single airline and significant travel restrictions, handled 19.315 passengers more than its Slovenian counterpart. Commenting on the slow pace of recovery during the first half of the year, Ljubljana Airport noted, “Statistics and analysis must be put into context. Air traffic in Slovenia is exclusively international in nature (there are no domestic flights). We are among the countries that had the longest and strictest lockdowns and Slovenia does not have traffic generated by expatriates, nor can it rely on mass tourism”.
Among the smaller airports in the region, Mostar Airport has seen almost no traffic this year and is lacking any scheduled flights. It was dealt a further blow recently as Eurowings cancelled plans to restore operations from Dusseldorf, which were planned to run once per week this summer. The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly shifted passenger flow in the region and completely altered the balance among the former Yugoslavia’s busiest airports. During the first half of the pre-pandemic 2019, Belgrade Airport was the busiest, followed by Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Skopje, Pristina, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Sarajevo and Tivat.
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