Most of the former Yugoslav capitals saw solid growth in flights to and from London in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023. British Airways drove passenger growth in Belgrade and Ljubljana, while Ryanair drove strong growth in Sarajevo.
London passenger performance in the first half of 2024
According to data provided by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Belgrade Overtaking Zagreb, the former Yugoslav capital became the most popular city to and from London, with 123,511 passengers. In addition to British Airways' entry into the market, Wizz Air also saw a 17% increase in traffic, while Air Serbia also increased flights on the London route. The British flag carrier will end operations to Belgrade in September, although Nikola Tesla Airport hopes that the airline will resume operations next summer. On the other hand, easyJet has been awarded the slot to start flights between London and Belgrade this winter, but it may choose to use the allocated time for another route.
Zagreb London-based flights from the London airport carried 120,867 passengers, 10.5% more than last year. Ryanair continued to drive the figures, with 66,732 passengers on its Stansted route, while Croatia Airlines and British Airways carried a combined 52,135 passengers on their Heathrow flights. Overall, Ryanair carried 18.2% more passengers on its Zagreb-London routes in the first half of 2024 compared to last year. Meanwhile, Heathrow services also saw a 1.7% increase.
Ljubljana The airport benefited from British Airways, which upgraded its seasonal flights between the two capitals to year-round services. Traffic on the London route grew by 11.7% in the first half of 2023, with 7,815 new passengers. British Airways and easyJet made up for the shortfall of Wizz Air, which stopped its Luton-Ljubljana route in February. EasyJet saw a 16.7% increase in passengers. From this winter, British Airways will downgrade the Ljubljana route to a summer seasonal route.
exist Pristinathe number of passengers travelling to and from Luton on Wizz Air was 50,993, a 20% drop. Wizz Air, the only airline on the London route, cut capacity between the two cities by 19.3%, Podgorica Overtaking Skopje, with passenger numbers up 8.5%. Despite London Gatwick’s seasonal service to the Montenegrin capital, Wizz Air outperformed Ryanair, which operates to both Stansted and Podgorica year-round, in the months when it flies to both airports (March to June).
Sarajevo The airport also surpassed Skopje, handling 31,384 passengers in the first half of the year, with strong growth thanks to Ryanair, which launched flights from London Stansted to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in April. In terms of performance, it beat Wizz Air, which handled 12,751 passengers in April-June compared to 8,915 for its low-cost rival. Finally, Wizz Air's figures on the Luton route fell by 1.5% – Skopje Capacity on the route remained largely unchanged, down 0.9% in the first half of 2024.
