Skopje’s new multi million Euro terminal should open its doors to passengers in just over a year from now, on October 20, 2011. Currently, the airport’s new fire department headquarters are under construction and land has been cleared for the runway to be extended by 500 square metres. At a recent press conference, TAV’s (the airport’s owner) Chief Operations Officer, Murat Ornekol, said that the October 20 deadline will be met. “Although there have been some delays due to legal and administrative procedures, I can promise that construction work will be complete on time”, Ornekol said.The new terminal will stretch over two levels and 40.100 square metres. It will have six air bridges and the ability to handle 6 million passengers per year. The airport’s administrative building will be complete by March 2011. Following the opening of Skopje’s new terminal, the current terminal building will be demolished.
In the first nine months of 2010, Skopje Alexander the Great Airport recorded an impressive passenger increase of 12.6%, while Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle saw numbers surge by 9.3%. TAV is actively trying to attract and encourage airlines to begin services to Skopje. Recently, Borajet commenced flights from Bursa to the Macedonian capital, while an agreement is close for Corendon Airlines to inaugurate flights to Skopje from Antalya. TAV is also hoping to set up talks with Wizz Air, Ryanair and Lufthansa.
Good news, waiting this new terminal,same as waiting the talks with Wizz Air and Ryanair :)
ReplyDeletekeep it this way SKP and OHD ,i hope by end of the year results will be even more impressive :)
good luck!
I don't believe Ryanair or Wizzair will commence flights from SKP. I can see AB in near future, if they have interest to come to SKP. Lufthansa would be good, but I think Austrian is covering them with the flights to Vienna. I am eagerly waiting for the 'name issue' to get resolved, that way OA or A3 can start flights to ATH and SKG, which I believe will be very popular.
ReplyDeletegood news but i guess we will wait and see
ReplyDeleteAnd be able to handle 6m pax!
ReplyDeleteWow - they'd better get moving then to get more flights into the place to pay for the redevelopment!
I am happy for Skopje no doubt...but honestly this terminal is overdimensioned. 2, max. 3 airbridges would have been enough and a terminal with max. capacity of 2,5 - 3 million pax.
ReplyDeleteThis building would have been much better suited for Zagreb.
I guess it's politics behind it. Everybody knows that Turkey wants to impress and play a much bigger role in the Balkans these days....
@Laziale
ReplyDeleteSince OA and A3 will become one carrier flights from SGK to SKP would do ok as a shuttle with a Q400 from OA but the cities are quite close. ATH-SKP would do well with either A319 or Q400's daily for connections and so forth. Now all the nation needs is an actual national carrier!
@ Airkoryo,
ReplyDeleteWouldn't Macedonia gaining a proper national airline and OA or A3 starting flights to Macedonia be in conflict with each other?
I don't see much of a market for Athens apart from the summer months.
I think it was Olympic or Aegean which had flights to Macedonia back in 2002 or so, but they were discontinued.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteSo what you're saying is that competition is not a good thing for Macedonia and that a new national carrier should have a 100% monopoly out of the two cities? That makes no sense since such a scenario would see the ticketing prices sky-rocket and so on.
Olympic did offer services to SKP before they were suspended due to political reasoning. The flights would do well all year around. Due to many reasons like tourisim and business.
Tourism from Skopje to Athens all year round? Athens is not exactly a tourist destination for Macedonians, i think they prefer the islands, as most other people.
ReplyDeleteMost Macedonians would fly to Athens only to get onto connections to other cities, most likely Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
If a national carrier was established, why would someone waste their time flying to Athens and then connecting onto a flight to western europe when they could easily fly to Paris, Rome or Brussels if a national carrier began flights there.
i think the case of flights catering for the business market would be the only viable factor causing an airline to enter the market. possibly 2 or 3 flights a week on a 40 seater A/C. however daily flights, i find it hard to see the route to be financially viable all year round.
also, why are there no charter flights from Macedonia to Greece during the summer months organised by Greek carriers or travel agents?
Because before the end of last year all Macedonian (in regards to Z3- reg) were banned from entering Hellenic Air Space or maybe just landing at a Greek airport one of the two I'm not 100%.
ReplyDeleteThere is demand for Macedonian tourists from Skopje to Athens even in winter there are quite a few Macedonians living in Greece and in Athens. Business between the two nations is quite big in the private sector that is, there are many large Greek compaines operating in Skopje and all over Macedonia! Greek companies are major investors in the country don'f forget that. They wouldn't need to connect to Western Europe but to other vantage points like New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Newark, Toronto, Montreal, Johannesburg, Cairo, Alexandria, Beruit, Damascus, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain, Tashkent, Larnace, Paphos, Bangkok, Singapore etc. You get the point.
I think the exclusion only relates to aircraft which have the title 'Macedonia' on their fuselage.
ReplyDeleteI guess we will just have to wait until the flights are re-introduced to see who is correct here. Considering no direct flights have been established in almost a decade, i think the carriers from the south know the route is not viable.
And Jo-Burg and Tashkent as connections for Macedonians, hahaha. You may aswell have included the Cayman Islands and Burkina Faso in your top list of vantage points.
People comeon wake up and move on ,we dont really need A3 or OA !
ReplyDeletewe need Wizz Air and Ryanair in Macedonia!
then with them we get Paris/London/Milan/Rome/Stockholm/Oslo/Berlin/Madrid/ and much more!
and all these for only 10-20 Euros :)
then you will see that Macedonians like to travel a lot!
Bravo Aleksandar!
ReplyDeleteEurope watch out, the Macedonians are about to invade!
Ajde site na kafe vo Milan. :)
we definitely need_SKP-ATH, SKG and TIR
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Skopje did have ATH and it was discontinued not due political reasons, none of that, but because very low demand.And back to the 2002 OA flew directly to JFK and there were transit pax.Nowadays OA is much weaker.ATH may be only profitable if there is a direct flight ATH-SYD or other non-stop connections to Australia.
ReplyDeleteWhat SKP needs is Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London,Milan, Paris, Munich, and respectively LH,BA,AF,KL.
As for the size of the airport it is not overdimensioned because when you build an airport you plan it for the next 20-30 years.This was not done in the past in the ex-yu and because of that all airports across these countries are cramped.Look only at Lju Airport at peak times or SKP nowadays with 2 gates and 10 morning flights!
You people don't see the point here, Athens is a better connection point from Asia, Middle East and Australia than tranisting through Germany, Austria or France! It's basic geography! Olympic Airways no longer exists and I can say the modern Olympic Air IS infact much stronger than its predecesor thats for sure in terms of economics and product.
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ReplyDeleteOK. Back to aviation.
ReplyDeleteAirlift Service has announced that will start flights SKP-BGY from 23 October one way 99 EUR.
ReplyDeleteflights to be operated every wednesday and saturday.
Good news, intresting why they choose BGY ...
Does the airline have a actual schedule?
ReplyDeleteIts something well long and overdue for Skopje Airport to be upgraded to current standards and the use of airbridges. In terms of flights to SKP - minimal markets to utilise. BA lost money on LGW-SKP route but pulled out during the conflict in 2001 along with LH flying out from MUC-SKP. Austrian has the monopoly of the flights alongside with JAT main transit point is VIE and ZRH for people flying in from per say SYD, MEL, ORD, JFK, EWR and YYZ. The only way Macedonia would consider having a national carrier is to have somewhat of a Private Public Partnership involved. Richard Branson's Virgin Blue model is a good example. Aeromak, MAT Airways are typical recycled re-announcements to be carriers of Macedonia. Airlift or Skywings International as its known focuses on charter schedules running 2 Boeing 737-300 aircraft. What the government should do is tie up with Virgin Holdings and do something that Virgin Blue did with Samoan Government setup a Polynesian Blue Airline 51 percent owned by Virgin and 49 percent owned by the Government. There is no risk or loss, or the alternative is JAT setting up a second hub base at Skopje and Ohrid and fly out to various destinations. As for Ohrid Airport - alot more LCC carriers should be focusing flights given the emergence of Ohrid being a cost effective tourist destination and hitting various media and target markets throughout the world. Air fees that were dropped have been mere standards but PRN has been baiting more traffic than SKP due to its location and activities in Kosovo let alone in Macedonia. Having said this - Skopje Airport shpuld attract airlines and re-entice them back in the market example - Aeroflot, SAS Scandanavian or Norweigan Air Shuttle covering East and Scandanavian areas. Alitalia should re-enter the market with flights out of FCO or MXP to Skopje. Charter Skyservice flights out of YYZ is another feasible option due to the larger catchment of Macedonian migrants residing in Toronto as similar to flights to BEG and ZAG. Air Berlin has flown a few times to SKP/OHD and not much interest as you saw with Germanwings pulling out of Skopje more so recently. They need to embark on a very strong campaign to entice airlines to come to Skopje and provide a much more proper incentive to keep carriers flying in and out.
ReplyDeleteIts something well long and overdue for Skopje Airport to be upgraded to current standards and the use of airbridges. In terms of flights to SKP - minimal markets to utilise. BA lost money on LGW-SKP route but pulled out during the conflict in 2001 along with LH flying out from MUC-SKP. Austrian has the monopoly of the flights alongside with JAT main transit point is VIE and ZRH for people flying in from per say SYD, MEL, ORD, JFK, EWR and YYZ. The only way Macedonia would consider having a national carrier is to have somewhat of a Private Public Partnership involved. Richard Branson's Virgin Blue model is a good example. Aeromak, MAT Airways are typical recycled re-announcements to be carriers of Macedonia. Airlift or Skywings International as its known focuses on charter schedules running 2 Boeing 737-300 aircraft. What the government should do is tie up with Virgin Holdings and do something that Virgin Blue did with Samoan Government setup a Polynesian Blue Airline 51 percent owned by Virgin and 49 percent owned by the Government. There is no risk or loss, or the alternative is JAT setting up a second hub base at Skopje and Ohrid and fly out to various destinations. As for Ohrid Airport - alot more LCC carriers should be focusing flights given the emergence of Ohrid being a cost effective tourist destination and hitting various media and target markets throughout the world. Air fees that were dropped have been mere standards but PRN has been baiting more traffic than SKP due to its location and activities in Kosovo let alone in Macedonia. Having said this - Skopje Airport shpuld attract airlines and re-entice them back in the market example - Aeroflot, SAS Scandanavian or Norweigan Air Shuttle covering East and Scandanavian areas. Alitalia should re-enter the market with flights out of FCO or MXP to Skopje. Charter Skyservice flights out of YYZ is another feasible option due to the larger catchment of Macedonian migrants residing in Toronto as similar to flights to BEG and ZAG. Air Berlin has flown a few times to SKP/OHD and not much interest as you saw with Germanwings pulling out of Skopje more so recently. They need to embark on a very strong campaign to entice airlines to come to Skopje and provide a much more proper incentive to keep carriers flying in and out.
ReplyDeleteVery disappointing to see that Turkish TAV Airports have completely changed the originally proposed design of the terminal building - which they actually won the tender with!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out the original renders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKWEDE40GY
The Macedonian governement should intervene and insist on the original modern design, not this industrial-like hangar. There should be some accountability and due-diligence.
Some additional fly-throughs and renders of the original TAV design for the new Skopje terminal. Is this now scrapped?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyLRFmSZ9Zc