Airports in former Yugoslavia among Europe’s busiest
Three airports in the former Yugoslavia have placed among the top 100 busiest on the continent this March, as well as during the first quarter of the year, according to Airports Council International Europe (ACI). With a total of 292.924 passengers last month, Belgrade Airport ranked 82nd ahead of the likes of Larnaca, Vilnius and Luxembourg, but just behind Thessaloniki, Riga and Tirana. After several months, Zagreb Airport faired better than Pristina, welcoming 196.280 travellers. It positioned itself as the 95th busiest, ahead of Billund, Tbilisi and Yerevan but behind Newcastle, Tromso in Norway and Treviso. Just behind was Pristina, ranking into the top 100 by placing 96th with 195.241 passengers.
March performance
Q1 performance
During the first quarter, Belgrade, Pristina and Zagreb were among Europe’s 100 busiest airports, while Skopje was the closest among others from the former Yugoslav region to making the list, ranking 110th. It was just ahead of Aberdeen, East Midlands and Paphos in Cyprus. Sarajevo Airport was 130th on the continent, surpassing Alghero, Bremen and Rovaniemi in Finland. On the other hand, Ljubljana ranked 150th, in between Olbia and Chania. Out of all the European markets, only four in Europe have surpassed their 2019 pre-pandemic passenger performance during the first quarter - Albania, with the largest growth in Europe exceeding 38%, followed by Kosovo with 15% growth, Bosnia and Herzegovina with an increase of 3.5% and Armenia with marginal 0.3% growth. With exception to Ukraine, which is in the midst of war, as well as Moldova, which reopened part of its airspace on March 22, Slovenia saw the slowest recovery on the continent.
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| Traffic performance change March 2022 vs March 2019 for select markets |
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| Traffic performance change Q1 2022 vs Q1 2019 |
During the month, the effects of the war in Ukraine were felt, albeit they have been mostly limited to European countries bordering the two states. “In addition to the collapse of passenger traffic at Ukrainian airports and the loss of most international passenger traffic at Russian airports, for some other airports these risks are immediate. This is the case for those in the vicinity of Russia and Ukraine, or which are generally reliant upon inbound traffic from these countries - such as airports in Cyprus, the Baltics and along the Bulgarian coast”, Olivier Jankovec, the Director General of ACI Europe, said. He added, “But for most of Europe’s airports, these downside traffic risks remain much less acute for now, as they essentially relate to the inflationary pressures accelerated by the conflict. This is about the extent to which increasing oil and other commodity prices might lead airlines to increase their fares, reduce disposable income for households and affect both consumer and business confidence”. During the first quarter, Istanbul, London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle were the busiest airports in Europe.
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| Top ten airports by traffic volume Q1 2022 |
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