Air Serbia recommits to hub strategy at Belgrade Airport

On two previous occasions CAPA has examined the prospects of Belgrade Airport, where the management, supported by the government, have aspired to turn it into a regional hub facility. Latterly that intention has been heightened since VINCI won an operating concession there.

Those examinations were inconclusive, but traffic growth was strong before the pandemic. It is pertinent to do so again in light of two recent declarations.

The first is by the airport, which has said that a new runway, of 3.5km, should be ready before the end of 2022. Then Air Serbia said it was recommitting to its principle of building Belgrade into a regional hub airport.

The conclusion now is that there are grounds for believing this strategy is correct and should reap rewards, but that a number of caveats still remain.