NEWS FLASH Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has been named among the top ten best in Eastern Europe at the 2024 Skytrax World Airport Awards held in Frankfurt this week. Belgrade Airport was placed ninth among Eastern Europe’s best airports. It marks the eighth consecutive year it has positioned within the top ten. On the other hand, it was the first time in the past ten years that no other airport from the former Yugoslavia has entered the top ten of any category. Furthermore, no airport in the region was among the top 100 best airports in the world, with Doha’s Hamad International Airport t ..read more

Air Transat plans to handle more than 10.000 additional passengers on its seasonal flights between Toronto and Zagreb this year. The carrier welcomed 26.473 travellers on the route on 49 flights in 2023, representing a year-on-year increase of 28.1%. This year it anticipates carrying some 37.000 travellers, an increase of 39.8%, which will correspond with the 40.8% increase in capacity. It will do so by resuming flights a full month earlier, on May 4, and progressively increasing frequencies throughout the season to up to four weekly from late June until early September. It will mark the fi ..read more

NEWS FLASH Air Serbia yesterday welcomed its eighth ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft in Belgrade. The jet, registered YU-ASF, is nine years old and was previously operated by Brazil’s Azul Airlines. “Our eighth ATR72-600 has just landed at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Its arrival represents a step forward in our continuous efforts to improve our regional fleet and network of destinations. With the introduction of this aircraft into service, we will contribute to even better connectivity between the countries in the Western Balkans region, providing passengers with more opportunities for fast ..read more

Croatia Airlines has concluded a wet-lease agreement for an Airbus A319 aircraft with the Croatian-registered Fly Air41 Airways, a subsidiary of Germany’s SundAir. It comes as a result of protracted maintenance on three of its own aircraft, most of which have now been out of service for over two months. This has resulted in the Croatian carrier cancelling select flights over past two weeks, as services ramp up with the onset of the summer season. The incoming A319 jet is expected to enter into service on behalf of Croatia Airlines towards the end of next week. The airline resumes a number o ..read more

NEWS FLASH Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has managed to reduce aircraft turnaround times by an average of six minutes in January and February. It comes after the airport started utilising software, which gathers objective data from every ground handling process, to optimise turnaround performance. Claus Grunow, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Digitalisation at airport operator Fraport, said, “We are optimising all our processes on the apron to shorten the time each aircraft needs to be on the ground, which benefits both our passengers and our airline partners. This is a common iss ..read more

NEWS FLASH Work on the overhaul of Ljubljana Airport’s taxiway A is advancing, with construction expected to be completed by the end of June, after which the lighting system will be installed. The project involves the resurfacing of some 21.000 square metres. In addition, new electrical and communication connections will be installed to enable the proper operation of the new taxiway. Following the overhaul of taxiway A, which is located between taxiways K and M, construction of a new exit taxiway J will begin, located 250 metres from the threshold of runway 12. Taxiway J will be 170 metres ..read more

Air Serbia plans to commence flights to Shanghai in either November or December of this year according to the airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek. Speaking to the Serbian President at the International Economy Fair in Mostar yesterday, Mr Marek said, when asked about flights to China’s largest city, “Shanghai will be launched in November or December, we will see. Miami will come next year. We are awaiting [wide-body] aircraft”. Shanghai is Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved long-haul route. On the other hand, the Serbian capital is Shanghai’s fifth busiest unserved destination in Europe based on ind ..read more

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport registered its busiest March figures by handling 558.183 passengers, representing an increase of 18.4% on the same month last year. Commercial aircraft movements were up 9.9%. During the first quarter of the year, the airport welcomed 1.609.305 travellers through its doors, an improvement of 22.5% on the same three-month period in 2023. The airport handled an additional  295.856 passengers. Belgrade’s largest airlines by scheduled seat capacity, March 2024 EX-YU Aviation News ..read more

NEWS FLASH Dubrovnik Airport aims to expand its offer of winter flights during the 2024/25 season and is working with airlines to provide additional connectivity outside of the busy summer months. Speaking at the recent ACI Europe 15th Regional Airports Conference, which was held in the coastal city, the airport’s Assistant Director General, Maro Lukšić, said, “To extend the season into winter, we are now coordinating with all local and national stakeholders, involving representatives of tourism boards, airlines, hotels, transport, restaurants and even cafés. Dubrovnik Airport is taking th ..read more

NEWS FLASH Air Serbia introduced a new three weekly service between Belgrade and Mostar yesterday, marking the resumption of flights between the two cities after almost 33 years and for the first time since the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. Although the inaugural flight was operated by an Airbus A319 aircraft to mark the special occasion, the service will be run by the 108-seat Embraer E190 aircraft. Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, was among the passengers on the inaugural service, travelling on a two-day state visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, was ..read more