Turkish low cost airline Onur Air will commence services between Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and Ohrid this summer season, following talks with the Macedonian government last October. The carrier will maintain a one weekly seasonal service from April 15 until October 7 and is the latest in a string of carriers to announce new flights to the lake-side city this year, joining Brussels Airlines (Brussels), TUIfly (Eindhoven), Corendon Dutch Airlines (Maastricht), Nordica (Tallinn) and Wizz Air (Vienna). Tickets for Onur Air's new Ohrid service can currently be purchased through Turkish tour operators Tatil Budur and BTB tour, although the airline is considering putting tickets directly on sale if there is sufficient demand.
The Macedonian government has outlined it aim to attract more low cost carriers to Ohrid. "We, as a government, have an obligation to do our outmost to develop air traffic, and, in that sense, we will support any airline that wishes to fly to Macedonia. St Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid has untapped potential and we are focusing on shifting traffic to that airport and providing the public with many destinations operated by low cost airlines", the Macedonian Minister for Transport and Communication, Goran Sugareski, said recently. Ohrid Airport handled a record 159.072 passengers in 2017, representing an increase of 9.7% on the previous year. Apart from the new routes being launched this year, Ohrid is also served by Arkia Israeli Airlines from Tel Aviv, Germania Flug and Helvetic Airways from Zurich, Small Planet Airlines from Katowice and TUIfly from Amsterdam.
Onur Air boasts a fleet of 24 aircraft operating to almost forty destinations, including a comprehensive domestic network. Within Europe, it runs scheduled flights to Russia, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Currently, Turkish Airlines and Pegasus operate scheduled flights between Istanbul and Skopje. The Turkish city is the busiest route to and from Macedonia, accounting for 12.3% of all passengers in 2017, while Turkish Airlines is the second busiest carrier in the country behind Wizz Air, which maintains a base in Skopje. A total of 129.708 Turkish tourists visited Macedonia in 2017, representing an increase of 22.7% on the year before. Most visitors arriving in Macedonia are from Turkey.
Further details for Onur Air's new Istanbul - Ohrid service can be found here.
Great news coming from Macedonia this year with new routes from Ohrid and Skopje. It's impressive for a relatively small market but it's definitely growing. Good work.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFrom Skopje we have new LOT and Aegean flights. Wizz Air will probably launch new routes after subsidy tender.
From Ohrid Nordica, Brussels Airlines, Tui, Onur Air...
Good year
Good to see the Macedonian government trying to secure new flights.
DeleteEvery airline they talked to last year has announced flights to Macedonia. Only waiting for Arkia to start Skopje.
DeleteI have been to Ohrid a few times but never to the airport. So if someone knows, what are the facilities like? Is it large/small, is there a duty free?
ReplyDeleteIt's small, but it's quite OK, you can compare the size with facilities in Nis.
DeleteTAV did some renovations when they took over.
Delete^Yes they changed the sign on the airport roof :D
DeleteHaha Anon 10:06 good one :)
DeleteThis is mostly for tourists but it's still good news especially since the flights are almost for the entire summer season.
ReplyDeleteOhrid may very well double its numbers this year. It could reach 300,000.
ReplyDelete2018-19 winter growth will be huge because of Wizz Air Vienna flights on A321.
DeleteYes but remember too that there won't be Air Serbia 4 weekly flights.
DeleteThe biggest disadvantage with that is that we loose connections which would go via BEG. I assume those passengers will now fly from/to SKP.
DeleteBut it only operated from June until mid September and only with an ATR72 so it's not that huge of a loss.
DeleteWe will see. Most of the new routes are just one weekly. At least this was constant for several months with a higher frequency.
DeleteOf course Wizz air with Vienna is an exception but that starts at the end of the year.
DeleteJU's half-filled ATR-72s didn't have big impact on the numbers anyway
DeleteI wish the market was stronger so that JU did not have to fly half empty Atrs.
DeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteNever head of this airline. But they seem legit.
ReplyDeleteThey are the third biggest airline in Turkey.
DeleteThey have been around for 25 years.
DeleteThat is great for OHD. There are a lot of turkish tourists visiting so it should increase tourism even more.
ReplyDeleteMacedonia has 130000 Turkish visitors, Croatia 34000, you'd think it would be the other way around. lol
ReplyDeleteCongrats Macedonia on tourist numbers, perhaps this year 150 000 Turks visit Macedonia.
Around 20% of all tourists in Macedonia are from Turkey.
DeleteWhat are the other main tourists in Macedonia?
Delete1. Turkish
Delete2. Serbian
3. Greek
4. Bulgarian
5. Dutch
6. Albanian
7. Kosovo
8. German
9. Croatian
10. Polish
well Turks (now) need visas for Croatia... what was the number before introducing visas?
DeleteI think that Bulgarians are far more than Greek. I'm not sure the statistic is very proper.
DeleteIt is the official statistics from Macedonia Statistical office. You can check it on their website.
Deleteand the Polish are more then Croatian. let me check
Delete@AnonymousFebruary 16, 2018 at 10:39 AM
DeleteNever over 30 000, Turkish visitors never visit Croatia, it is too expensive for them.
Croatian prices are almost on par with Germany now. Number of Macedonians in Croatia is also low, 34000 in 2017. Best ever result was in 2001 I think, 64000 Macedonians visited Croatia.
From ex-YU/Region, best guests or most numerous in Croatia are Slovenian visitors, 1.45 million visitors from Slovenia, they also generated 10.5 million nights.
Top 20 in Croatia in 2017.
Germany: 2.84 million
Slovenia: 1.45 million
Austria: 1.43 million
Italy: 1.15 million
Poland: 1.0 million
Czech R: 825 000
United Kingdom: 810 000
France: 575 000
Netherlands: 475 000
USA: 475 000
Hungary: 470 000
Slovakia: 454 000
S. Korea: 445 000
Bosnia: 434 000
Sweden: 325 000
Switzerland: 275 000
Belgium: 255 000
Spain: 228 000
Australia: 225 000
Norway: 220 000
From the region:
Slovenia: 1.45 million
Bosnia: 434 000
Serbia: 156 000
Macedonia: 34 000
Montenegro: 20 000
Kosovo: 12 000
Slight growth in number of arrivals, Slovenia being exception where numbers are always good, from year to year.
What a condescending comment regarding Turkish holidaymakers especially after you look at the list you provided us with on which there are a lot of people from Bosnia. If Croatia was that expensive most of them would go to Montenegro or Bulgaria.
DeleteTurks, especially those from the big cities, are rich enough to travel to exclusive tourist destinations. If they are not going to Croatia in big numbers probably means that they didn't like it as much or that there is no value for money they pay. I mean most Czechs, Polish, Germans, Austrians or Dutch go to Croatia by car or bus.
im not surprised with the low nrs of macedonian tourists in HR: bit expensive for their standard and its quiet a hassle to reach the coast by bus, a decent flight connection is missing too (SPU or PUY)
Delete@AnonymousFebruary 17, 2018 at 7:41 AM
DeleteWell, I didn't mean to sound like Turks are poor, however can't explain why more of them aren't coming to Croatia. 30-35 000 is most that ever visited Croatia.
Perhaps, Croatia is of little interest to them.
As to Germans, the Dutch, Austrians... Mostly use bus or car, hm not Bus, definitely not bus.
Yes many of 16.5 million foreign visitors to Croatia in 2017 came with a car or a train. Train is very popular for Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs and Poles.
but with onset of Low cost carriers, many now choose that option.
The reason why we see massive swing and growth in air passengers in Croatia.
Links with Turkey are terrible, only Zagreb having direct link with Istanbul, and this is only reason why most Turkish visitors visit Zagreb and perhaps if they stay longer than 72 hours they visit Plitivice, Zadar or Split.
in 2017 35 000 Turks visited Zagreb, generating 60 000 nights, overall Turkish visitors generated 108 000 nights in Croatia in 2017.
Turkish Airlines service to Zagreb carried 140 000 passengers in 2017,half of these were Turkish visitors to Zagreb and Croatia.
I can see there's a good chance this route could generate even more visitors in near future. Potential for 200 000 passengers on Istanbul - Zagreb service by 2020, is great. Time will tell how well Turkish airlines does on the route.
So Macedonian airports could have around 2.5 million passengers this year?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it will be possible to add half a million passengers this year.
DeleteDepends on Skopje and whether Wizz Air opens more routes.
DeleteSkopje should have around 2.1 million passengers and Ohrid I doubt more than 210,000 so 2.5 million is not realistic.
DeleteAnd of course this if no other airline drops flights.
DeleteNo one will drop flights. Quite the opposite. Adria and Croatia Airlines are both increasing frequencies to SKP.
DeleteThe more the better :)
ReplyDeleteI would have preferred for Pegasus to have opened this route but this is not bad either. I hope they do put tickets on sale on their website.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with all the flights from the Netherlands to Ohrid? o.O
ReplyDeleteTourists.
DeleteMany many years ago Transavia had flights to Ohrid :)
DeleteThat was before Yugoslavia broke apart :D
DeleteI think there will be up to x10 weekly flights from NL to OHD this summer (AMS,EIN,MAA)
DeleteAsk A. den Doolaard about that :)
DeleteI hope that a Russian airline like Pobeda will consider starting flights to OHD.
ReplyDeletePobeda would be great for Skopje too
DeleteI doubt we will see them launch any new flights to ex-Yu this year. They will start Podgorica in the summer. They have more aircraft on order so maybe soon they will consider more routes.
DeleteThey were very close to starting flights to Ohrid in 2015 but I can't remember what happened. I think a tour operator pulled out and it never materialized.
DeleteNis has also been trying to get Pobeda to fly there. In the end they will probably choose between SKP/OHD and INI. We will see who gets them.
DeleteHow many year round routes from OHD?
ReplyDelete1 - Basel by Wizz but it will increase to 2 with Vienna route.
DeleteShame they dropped London year round.
Delete^Visas.
DeleteI really do wonder if those flights are used by tourists or diaspora. In both cases I don't see any of them needing visas.
Deletethere are visas for those flying from Skopje too but the line works. I think it was just too much capacity from Macedonia to London so modifying the route to seasonal flights was the right decision.
DeleteOHD-LTN was never going to work year-round.
DeleteOHD - LTN gets probably the biggest share of tourists on Wizz flights to MK
DeleteOHD-LTN was the biggest joke from Wizzair. What a waste. Had they opened OHD-MMX, or OHD-FCO, they could have maintained that year-round
DeleteLTN was launched for tourists not for gastos? capito?
DeleteLF in summer is great
It was performing so well, it was quickly downgraded from year-round to seasonal. Fantastic development there
Deletea seasonal flight to London is more valuable for the tourist destination Ohrid then a year round gastarbajters flight from which nobody in Ohrid will get benefit of.
DeleteThis flight is for attracting tourist and is sponsored by the city of Ohrid! Koga ke sfatis veke ednas
Wizz will increase Ohrid to 4 per week around New Year period. Same with Nis.
ReplyDeleteFor the gastos. Nice.
DeleteWould be nice to see Swiss launch Ohrid perhaps. If they can make it in Nis I don't see why not in Ohrid.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? They couldn't make it in Skopje and you think they will in Ohrid...
DeleteWell just saying since two airlines are currently flying from Zurich - Germania and Helvetic. They could also serve the Albanian community with these flights since Ohrid is better positioned.
DeleteI'm sure they will come if they see potential.
DeleteThe Germania flights are for the Albanian community you talk about. They are chartered by Air Prishtina.
DeleteSO OHD will lose JU but gain Onur Air, nice!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad for Macedonia lately. Kudos for the great job their government is doing. I am secretly hoping for flights to neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria. The country might even join EU before the rest.
Bravo OHD! Bravo MK!
+1
Delete+1000
DeleteOHD-SOF would definitely work, even year round
DeleteAccording to the EUs new Western Balkan accession plan which was adopted last week Montenegro and Serbia will join first in 2025.
DeleteThey could join EU in 2025 (earliest possible date, probably not even then)...
DeleteEus has a total debt of 10 trillion euro
DeleteSorru but im against eu il.stay in style of norway
Ohrid has a lot of potential and the tourism is still not developed to its full potential. So I think we will only see flights grow more and more in the future. Nice to see Onur Air starting up this route.
ReplyDeleteAgree. It really is a special place there.
DeleteNice to see. There are still a few airline which could start flights to Ohrid. Would be nice if they attracted Adria back. I think 2 weekly with their Saabs would work perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThere should also be new flights from Warsaw to Ohrid this year too.
ReplyDeleteDo you know which airline?
DeleteLOT kind of semi-confirmed OHD a while back, but no official announcement (yet)
Deletekako pa da ne LOT .....
Deleteits small Planet, its a charter flight for package tourists
Well I was hoping for LOT but they will obviously fly only to Skopje. I think it is Small Planet.
DeleteIt would be a good route for Wizz Air.
DeleteGreat news for Ohrid. I hope they maintain a sustainable tourism agenda.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately all of these new routes are subsidised because tour operators get a certain amount of money for each tourist they bring.
ReplyDeletePretty much the same scenario as Wizz Air and SKP
DeleteSo two new routes to the east - Istanbul and Tallinn. Not bad. Like someone said we are missing Moscow.
ReplyDeleteWill the subsidies the Macedonian government gives through tender only apply for flights to Skopje or will it also be offered for flights to Ohrid as well?
ReplyDeleteI think it applies to Macedonia in general, no matter of the airport. Since in the article it says the government is focusing on LCC flights to Ohrid, it is likely they will push for Wizz to start more flights from there.
DeleteOHD is quietly and slowly might end up stealing some traffic from SKP.
ReplyDeleteoh poor Air Serbia ...
ReplyDeletewondering if JP can fill the Saab to OHD
If they offer good connections and advertise OHD as a destination properly, it can definitely work at least as a seasonal destination
DeleteSOF-OHD is a another candidate, seasonal flights can work but WIZZ is not keen on launching seasonal flights...
ReplyDeleteIm not sure if this route would work year-round
I think it can work even year-round.
DeleteOHD is a very popular destination in Bulgaria but sadly, people use ground transport as it is quite close.
DeleteMaybe in winter they could transfer to Skopje. Same way Flydubai transferred from Tivat to Podgorica.
ReplyDeleteThey wouldn't stand a chance against Turkish and Pegasus.
Deletethey would be the only LCC offering flights to Ataturk so you never know.
DeletePlus the demand for Turkey is constantly growing as the numbers indicate.
DeleteBravo Makedonia!
ReplyDeleteNot surprised. Ohrid really is Macedonia's biggest selling point. It really is a spectacular place. I just hope it's natural beauty is preserved.
ReplyDeleteI hope Ohrid gets more charter flights and even some regular lines either summer basis or even year long round hopefully for another 3 lines in the next 1 or 2 years. Ohrid may not have a big catchment area but I believe there is definitely room for expansion
Delete