Two EX-YU airports among the 80 busiest in Europe
Two airports from the former Yugoslavia were ranked among the 80 busiest on the continent this August, and according to data from the Airports Council International Europe (ACI), also among the 100 best this year. With a total of 717,050 passengers in August, Belgrade Airport ranked 68th, ahead of Malta, Tirana and Sofia, but just behind Lyon, Krakow and Thessaloniki. With 625,622 passengers, Split Airport ranked 77th busiest. It was ahead of Toulouse, Santorini and Turin, but just behind Bordeaux, Eindhoven and Nantes. Dubrovnik, Priština and Zagreb followed close behind, occupying 103rd, 109th and 112th place respectively on the continent.
August performance
In August, three markets from the former Yugoslavia surpassed their pre-Covid passenger figures, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, which saw a 31.2% increase compared to August 2019, Kosovo with a 22.7% increase and Macedonia with 1, 2% passenger growth. In terms of recovery in 2019, Slovenia still lags behind almost all European markets, it was overtaken only by Belarus, which cannot maintain any flights to European countries, except Russia, due to extensive sanctions. In the period from January to August, only Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo recorded a better number of travelers in the region than before the global health emergency.
August performance by market |
In the first eight months of the year, with 3,572,011 passengers transported, the Belgrade airport maintained its position as the busiest airport in the former Yugoslavia and thus ranked 77th in Europe. It was ahead of Riga, Tirana and Belfast, but just behind Thessaloniki, Larnaca and Malta. Split Airport has just entered the top 100, receiving 2,147,203 passengers. This year, Istanbul’s main airport was the busiest in Europe, handling more than 41 million passengers. London’s Heathrow, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Madrid followed. However, none of the major airports have reached pre-Covid numbers, with Istanbul coming closest with a 9.7% drop over the same period three years ago. The first major airport to surpass pre-pandemic results is Sochi, which recorded a 79% growth compared to 2019, handling 8.5 million passengers.
Execution January – August