Air Berlin pulls out of Priština

Germanwings to replace rival on key routes

Priština will become the causality of Air Berlin’s network reductions in face of mounting losses. The airline, which operates flights from Hamburg and Dusseldorf to Priština will suspend the flights on October 15 and October 30 respectively, as the summer season comes to an end. Germany is the biggest market served out of Priština. There are dozens of weekly flights out of Priština to a handful of German cities.



The airport’s management won’t be too worried about Air Berlin’s exit. One of the airline’s biggest rivals, Lufthansa’s Germanwings, will fill in the void left by Air Berlin and commence new flights from Cologne, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich to Priština. As a result, Germaniwngs will become the airline with the largest network out of the city. These new flights will accompany Germanwigs’ already existing flights to Priština from Berlin, Hanover and Stuttgart. The new flights begin on November 2 and 5. They will compete with Adria Airways which offers direct services from Priština to Frankfurt and Munich. Details for the new flights can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section.



Priština Airport has had a strong start to the year. The airport has seen an average passenger increase of 11% in the first half of 2011. Furthermore, the construction of its new terminal has begun. In 2011 Priština Airport handled 1.305.533 passengers. It is now more than certain that it will surpass Ljubljana to become the third busiest airport in the former Yugoslavia by the end of the year.