Commercial airports across the former Yugoslavia handled a combined total of 5.093.079 passengers during the first quarter of the year, with 1.81 million travellers in March alone. Among them, during the third month of the year, three airports stood out for their high growth rate. They include Pristina with a year-on-year increase in March of 29.7%, Ljubljana with 22.7% growth, and Belgrade, which had a 18.4% boost in numbers. All three have previously seen their busiest March in 2023. On the other hand, several regional airports underperformed during the month, including Tuzla, which saw a 72.2% slide in figures, Banja Luka, which had 30.7% fewer passengers than in March 2023, and Dubrovnik, which shed 15.5% of its travellers year-on-year. A number of other airports also saw their figures decline compared to last year, among which are Zadar, Niš, Split, and Ohrid.
Passenger performance by airport, March 2024
During the first quarter of the year, Belgrade Airport ranked as the 70th busiest on the continent, just behind Toulouse, Fuerteventura, and Basel, but ahead of Malta, Cologne, and Reykjavik. Pristina positioned itself as the 102nd busiest, behind Newcastle, Stavanger in Norway and Pisa but in front of Hannover and Zagreb. The airport in the Croatian capital itself took 104th place. It was just ahead of Cagliari, Wroclaw, and London City. Skopje ranked 122nd, with the Macedonian capital behind Memmingen, Salzburg, and Chisinau but outperforming Cork, East Midlands, and Verona. During the first three months of the year, the Macedonian market was the fourth-fastest growing in Europe, increasing its overall figures by 29.9%. It was behind only Albania, Georgia and the Czech Republic. In contrast, the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the biggest year-on-year decline in Europe, contracting 21.9%. Elsewhere, the market in Kosovo grew 29.2%, Slovenia 28%, Serbia 20.1%, Croatia 9.6%, and Montenegro 4.8%.
Passenger performance by airport, Q1 2024
European rank of select regional airports by passenger numbers
The majority of European markets saw year-on-year growth during the first quarter of the year. In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the exceptions were Russia (-16.1%) and Armenia (-0.2%). London Heathrow was once again Europe’s busiest airport over the three-month period, with 18.533.614 passengers, while Istanbul’s main gateway was second with 17.684.091 travellers. The pair saw growth of 9.5% and 7.9% on 2023 respectively. They were followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle with 15.059.671 passengers, Madrid with 14.839.396, Amsterdam with 14.396.947 travellers, Frankfurt with 12.531.304, Barcelona with 11.433.501, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen with 9.452.485, Rome Fiumicino with 9.390.526 and London Gatwick with 8.337.491 passengers. Out of Europe’s top ten busiest, four are still below their pre-pandemic 2019 records. They include Paris Charles de Gaulle (-8.6%), Amsterdam (-7.0%), Frankfurt (-15.3%), and London Gatwick (-13.8%).
Largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity across the former Yugoslavia, March 2024
