Commercial airports across the former Yugoslavia handled a combined total of 3.293.864 passengers during the first two months of the year, with 1.55 million travellers in February alone. Among them, during the second and shortest month of the year, three airports stood out for their high growth rate. They include Belgrade with a year-on-year increase in February of 21.2% , Pristina with 37.5% growth, and Skopje, which had a 31.3% boost in numbers. All three have previously seen their busiest February in 2023. On the other hand, three regional airports underperformed during the month, including Niš, which saw a 19.1% slide in figures, as well as a 10.4% decrease on the pre-pandemic 2019, Banja Luka, which had 34.4% fewer passengers than in February 2023, and Tuzla, which shed 64.5% of its travellers year-on-year. The trio has been hit by a decline in flights and capacity by low cost carriers, particularly Tuzla which is no longer a base for Wizz Air.
During the first two months of the year, Belgrade Airport ranked 67th busiest on the continent, just behind Tirana, Bristol, and Sofia, but ahead of Reykjavik, Malta, and Stuttgart. Pristina positioned itself as the 98th busiest, behind Luxembourg, Tbilisi and Vilnius but in front of Stavanger in Norway and Newcastle. Zagreb took 103rd place. It was behind the likes of Pisa, and Cagliari, but ahead of Wroclaw and Hannover. Skopje ranked 114th, with the Macedonian capital behind Ibiza, Treviso, and Cluj but outperforming Salzburg, Memmingen and Chisinau. During the first two months of the year, the Macedonian market was the second-fastest growing in Europe, increasing its overall figures by 39.5%. It was behind only Albania with 59.4% growth. In contrast, the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the biggest year-on-year decline in Europe, contracting 19.6%. Elsewhere, the market in Kosovo grew 28.9%, Slovenia 22.8%, Serbia 22%, Croatia 12.1%, and Montenegro 5.5%.
The majority of European markets saw year-on-year growth during the first two months of the year. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the exceptions were Russia (-15.4%), Moldova (-2.4%), and Armenia (-0.8%). London Heathrow was once again Europe’s busiest airport over the two-month period, with 11.807.060 passengers, however, Istanbul’s main gateway is hot on its heels with 11.775.071 travellers. Both saw growth of 10.5% on 2023. They were followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle with 9.611.141 passengers, Madrid with 9.499.466, Amsterdam with 9.170.818 travellers, Frankfurt with 7.921.971, Barcelona with 7.155.251, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen with 6.337.536, Rome Fiumicino with 5.857.647 and London Gatwick with 5.144.380 passengers. Out of Europe’s top ten busiest, four are still below their pre-pandemic 2019 records. They include Paris Charles de Gaulle (-8.1%), Amsterdam (-6.9%), Frankfurt (-13.9%), and London Gatwick (-15%), Ex Yu Aviation writes.
