Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport will surpass its 1987 passenger record in the coming days, rounding off a successful year for the busiest airport in the former Yugoslavia. However, the airport is also anticipating a strong 2013 with new airlines expected to launch flights. “This year we will handle more passengers than Zagreb and Ljubljana combined. Next year we will make it our goal to handle more passengers than Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo combined”, the CEO of Belgrade Airport, Velimir Radosavljević, said recently. He added that the airport is in talks with several airlines to launch flights to the Serbian capital but could not reveal any details, so as not to hinder the negotiation process. Next year Pegasus Airlines will launch services from Istanbul to Belgrade. Furthermore, Wizz Air will base its second aircraft in the city and inaugurate flights to Oslo Torp, Beauvais, Rhodes and Corfu. Other airlines, which already operate flights to the airport, have announced their plans with Aeroflot introducing a second daily flight from Moscow while Alitalia will also launch an additional daily service from Rome. Aeroflot’s new flight will operate as a red eye service to the Russian capital. In contrast, Alitalia’s new flights will leave the Italian capital at 22.00 and will depart from Belgrade at 05.35 the following morning. The additional frequencies will come into effect from March 31, 2013. Croatia Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines will resume their seasonal flights from Split and Warsaw respectively. Azerbaijan’s national carrier, AZAL, is also on the cards as a potential new arrival with talks over a possible Baku – Belgrade – New York service held throughout the year.
On the other hand, Belgrade will bid farewell to both Air France and Niki next year with both suspending their respective routes as part of wide ranging cost cutting measures. Jat Airways will replace Air France on the Paris service, with the Serbian carrier progressively increasing frequencies from daily to double daily starting March 31. During next year work will begin on the construction of an additional new floor stretching over 4.900 square metres, to be built above the current terminal two building. Early in 2013 the airport will replace its terminal one air bridges and work will continue on the refurbishment of the terminal two departures area.
Source Balkans
