Belgrade Airport closes in on eight million passengers

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is close to handling eight million passengers within a single year. Regardless of whether the milestone is achieved, it will add over 1.5 passengers in 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, marking the first time it has managed to increase its number of travellers by a similar amount year-on-year since 2014 (excluding the pandemic-impacted years of 2021/2022). Similar to nine years ago, the growth was driven in large part due to Air Serbia, which in 2023 increased its Belgrade capacity by 50.2%. Another airline which played an important role in Belgrade’s growth is Wizz Air, which based a fourth aircraft in the Serbian capital during the year and increased its overall capacity by 132.8% on 2019.

Other carriers to have grown their capacity levels this year include Turkish Airlines, Swiss, Austrian, Flydubai, Pegasus Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Aegean Airlines and Air Cairo, while airlines that maintained services to Belgrade this year but were not present in 2019 include KLM, Hainan Airlines, Eurowings, AnadoluJet, airBaltic, British Airways, Luxair, Nouvelair, and Jazeera Airways. On the other hand, several carriers that maintained operations in 2019 no longer fly to Belgrade. These include several airlines from Russia, Belavia, Etihad Airways, Alitalia, which has since declared bankruptcy and been replaced by ITA Airways, Croatia Airlines, Air France, and Tunisair.

Commenting on its results, Belgrade Airport’s General Manager, Francois Berisot, said, “This result has been achieved, in large part, due to Air Serbia, which is also breaking records in terms of passengers carried and destinations launched, as well as the significant contribution by other airline partners. The dynamic traffic recovery and constant work on the expansion, modernisation and capacity growth show that we are on the right path for our airport to become a key regional hub”. The airport is continuing its expansion and modernisation drive, with key infrastructure projects scheduled to be completed during the first quarter of 2024.

Looking ahead, Belgrade Airport anticipates more new routes and the continuing development of its long-haul network. It previously noted, “We observe how the market is developing, as well as customer demand, in order to grow the destination network and connectivity. Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is already well connected to major European hubs with several large legacy companies present. We are in regular contact with other carriers and are open for cooperation. Still, it comes down to the airline’s decision whether to introduce flights, based on their business plans”. It added, “Air Serbia’s hub strategy is aligned with Belgrade Airport’s efforts to support long-haul traffic. Of course, we are in constant talks with all the companies that could potentially serve the existing demand for intercontinental flights. Major infrastructure works at the airport are aimed at supporting traffic growth and our expansion program is adding both landside and airside capacity. VINCI Airports is pursuing its proactive policy to boost traffic and to meet passengers’ expectations by accelerating further improvements at Nikola Tesla Airport”.