Belgrade tops Europe

The good times roll

According to analysis conducted by the web portal “Anna Aero”, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has attracted the most new carriers during the past 12 months (from August 2009 to August 2010) in Europe, leaving Marseille Airport in France in second place. Belgrade took charge by attracting 10 new airlines, among which are 5 flag carrier and 3 low cost airlines. The following have commenced flights to the Serbian capital since August 2009: Cimber Sterling (2X per week from Copenhagen), airBaltic (4X from Riga), Spanair (3X from Barcelona and 2X from Madrid), TAROM Romanian (5X from Bucharest), Niki (6X from Vienna), B&H Airlines (6X from Sarajevo), Adria Airways (6X from Ljubljana), Malev Hungarian (daily from Budapest), Aegean Airlines (daily from Athens) and Wizz Air (3X per week from Dortmund and 4X per week from London Luton). Both B&H Airlines and Wizz Air are yet to begin flights to Belgrade, although Wizz Air has bought its London Luton service forward by a month and increased the initial frequency of 3 weekly flights to 4. The good times keep rolling for the airport after it recorded a 16 million Euro profit in 2009.

“Who would have predicted this? Belgrade Airport in Serbia attracts more new carriers than any other airport”, the UK based portal reports. It sites the end of EU visa restrictions for Serbian citizens as a plausible explanation for such high interest, although, the country’s recent implementation of the open skies policy should also be noted. There have also been milestones with the new arrivals. Adria returned to Belgrade for the first time in 20 years, scheduled flights to Spain were resumed after 20 years and scheduled flights to Riga commenced, connecting the two cities via the air for the first time.