Preparing for passengers ... and taxis

Busy times ahead for Belgrade Airport

The largest airport in the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade Nikola Tesla, is preparing itself for a large scale passenger increase as European visa travel is abolished and Serbia’s sky becomes liberated.

In December the airport will have 2 new customers – Romania’s TAROM and Hungary’s Malev. The two companies will operate a total of 10 new weekly flights from the airport. In February, the low cost Nikki will bring in new competition on the Vienna – Belgrade service while from May next year Croatia Airlines is expected to touch down with scheduled flights from Zagreb. As a result of these newcomers, and more that are expected, the airport is quickly polishing itself. Terminal 1 will, after 2 years, once again be used by airlines. From January 1, 2010 all passengers flying with Norwegian Air Shuttle, Germanwings, Jat Airways (on charter destinations), Nouvelair, KoralBlue Airlines and Nikki, from February, will check in at terminal 1. At this terminal the passenger taxes will be cheaper by 2 Euros and this way the airport hopes to establish terminal 1 as a low budget terminal.

Other development at the airport includes the expansion of the terminal 2 gates area as well as a planned business lounge renovation. Over the summer the airport renovated its arrivals hall. The airport welcomed recent news from its largest customer, Jat Airways, that it will introduce a free taxi service for all its passengers in Belgrade with a return ticket. However, the airport says that this will be a logistical nightmare. It is expected that there will be a total of 4.000 – 6.000 daily taxi commutes only as a result of this service. The airport says it will not be up to them to regulate traffic at the airport, instead, Jat Airways, the City of Belgrade and the taxi companies involved will be running the project.

Belgrade Airport is reporting a reduction in passenger numbers this year but hopes that with new customers soon arriving it will have large scale increases next year. Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has the capacity to handle 5 million passengers per annum.