Wizz Air plans new Skopje flights
Low cost airline, Wizz Air, will commence 2 weekly flights from Venice to Skopje to compliment its new service from London Luton. Wizz Air is set to commence flights to the Macedonian capital on June 20 with the inauguration of the London Luton route, which will initially operate 4 times per week, decreasing to 2 from September 15. The Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency has confirmed that Wizz will fly from Venice to Skopje 2 times per week, starting June 21 as flight W67751 and W67752. However, the airline is yet to officially confirm the new launch. Flights are set to operate every Tuesday and Saturday. The no frills airline will have competition from Belle Air Europe which is set to launch the same service from April 17, also twice per week. Furthermore, Mat Airways has announced that during the summer it will be operating flights from Skopje to Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Vienna and Zurich.
correction:
ReplyDeleteWizz is starting SKP-LTN with 4 weekly, and reducing it to 2 from middle of sept. on
As much as i know Wizz uses Ryanport = Treviso airport and not the main airport, Venice Marco Polo airport. Or is this due to closure of Treviso airport for a short period because some works will take place. Anyway, great news!
ReplyDeleteGreat news :-) so happy about this. wizzair is something really positive. Tickets reasobly priced and for LCC acceptable service, and most importantly 32kg luggage alowance is just great :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope we'll see more destinations from SKP & BEG, and also other Ex Yu airports. I think OHD could do seasonaly. INI, OMO, SJJ, etc. I think they are starting flights to DBV and SPU quite late, it could definitely start earlier.
and yes, Wizzair uses Treviso, and aboslutely nothing wrong with it, I flew from Treviso and to treviso, small airport, no problems at all. Small airports have their advantages.
ReplyDeleteGuys, check first and then post here please.
ReplyDeleteWizz is flying to both, Marco Polo and Treviso.
http://wizzair.com/ as simple as that
Great news , not sure if Venice is the best route at the moment , but anything new is great!
ReplyDeletei really think from BGY/BVA/NYO/ to OHD will work perfect in summer time!
waiting for more such news!
Regards and all the best to Wizz.
I am so happy because for the first time according to the timetable Skopje looks like an international airport.
ReplyDeleteBtw. MAT AIRWAYS operates flights to Dusseldorf, Zurich and Rome, and Berlin and Hamburg are yet to commence, joining the other new destinations AMS,BRU,VIE and CPH.
As for Belle Air I am not sure if they will come true.They planned them also in the Winter schedule but nothing happened.And you can not book these flights.
OHD gets also much more traffic this summer.New schedules are:
4 weekly flights to AMS
1 weekly to Helsinki
1 weekly to LJU
1 weekly to Moscow
4 weekly to BEG
@ SKP Wizzair and Ryanair are flying to/from Marco Polo only temporary, until the end of September while work is being done on runway etc. All flights will be switched to Treviso after that.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all congrats to Skopje. It's about time really. I'm actually surprised Wizz Air did not establish a base there.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I am sorry to go off topic but this is really great news.
IT IS CONFIRMED THAT DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM BELGRADE TO USA, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA WILL COMMENCE!!!!!
Bilateral agreements were signed by Australia, Serbia, USA, and Canada, allowing any airline to operate direct links between Belgrade and the destinations. As of now, only Ryan Air's flights are firmly set to take place, but there are rumors that Ryan or another airline (most likely Delta) will commence New York flights to Belgrade. Air Canada also hinted on re-starting permanent flights to Belgrade, and a carrier for Australia has not come forth yet, but according to sources, there are some interests. BRAZIL, INDIA, AND CHINA HAVE ALSO EXPRESSED WISHES TO START BELGRADE FLIGHTS AS WELL!!! Sources confirm that plans to begin flights to Brazil, India, and China are underway and a trans-ocean bilateral agreement will be signed by Serbia and those three countries! How cool is that! PLEASE EX-YU LOOK INTO THIS!!!!!!!
http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=99471
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=29&nav_id=73504
http://limun.hr/en/main.aspx?id=692747
http://www.allvoices.com/news/8617985-direct-flights-australia-canada-and-us-soon
@ last Anonymous
ReplyDeleteApart from yesterday`s statement of intentions, are there any other confirmation on the issue?
last anonymous, i hope that happens... we all do! i didnt see it on any serb news stations though i watch from my satellite here in USA? i cannot wait for day where trans-oceanic flights commence again from belgrade.. i will be on one of first ones from usa i can say that xD everyone needs to be hopeful... and damn thats a LOT of airports Srbija will be opening... lets hope it goes well
ReplyDeletenot to mention Beograd, Nis, and Kraljevo which shoud have flights in 2011 they say, these airports should be going to be repaired and everything:
Batajnica (near Belgrade), Užice (central Serbia), Vrsac (northeastern Serbia), and Bor (eastern Serbia)
I must say first of all, congrats to Skopje, as this is well deserved. I too am not sure why Wizz Air chose Belgrade over Skopje, but I am sure that after the first few flights, more flights will commence!
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Serbia's news, it is a very big news indeed. Serbia has the opportunity to directly challenge Budapest and Vienna for regional leader (not just Ex-Yu leader). I am curious as to who is planning to start all these flights because these agreements would not have been signed had it not been for interested carriers. Ryan will operate charters from Toronto and Chicago (with the possibility of them becoming permanent flights too), Ryan or Delta have expressed interest in NYC flights apparently, and I have also heard that Air Canada is "seriously considering" flights from Toronto as well. I do not know who would fly the Belgrade-Australia route, but I am sure there are airlines who would take on the China-Belgrade and India-Belgrade route. Very good news indeed.
This does however diminish Zagreb's plans no matter how you try to look at it. The competition between the two is slipping even further away now. But Dubrovnik might have a chance of attracting international flights to USA. After all, it is soon going to hit its peak, and if it doesn't get flights by then, I cannot see them any time later.
Be sure to pay attention to European Regionalization. Even though this affects air traffic controls only, it will be interesting to see whether they will try to regionalize the Balkans in regards to airports. After all, competition will become very fierce if these Belgrade flights happen. Be sure to keep one eye on this issue.
But it's about time that people begin to come back to BEG. It's been a really long time. Finally, the water is going out of their ears, and they are coming back to reality. Congrats to Belgrade. Congrats to Serbia.
P.S I do not know whether Serbia should have more than 3 airports. It is not as big as Yugoslavia and it does not need so many. What they need are highways and high-speed rail to connect cities to the airport. If that happens, we would have one of the most elite infrastructure in the Balkans.
For those who think that Vienna and Budapest are going to be challenged by Belgrade... let's look at the numbers for 2010:
ReplyDeleteVienna: 19,691,206 pax
Budapest: 8,190,089 pax
And some other airports in the region:
Athens: 15,411,952 pax
Bucharest OTP: 4,917,952 pax
Sofia: 3,296,936 pax
Belgrade: 2,698,730 pax
People may have wishful thoughts, but let's face it, there are no premium (high-fare paying) passengers in Belgrade, there is little O&D traffic compared to other airports, and Serbia doesn't have a reliable airline which can be a good partner to Belgrade airport and which can build traffic.
Even Austrian is facing problems back home from the competition of the Gulf carriers (Emirates just introduced a second daily flight to Vienna)... Austrian is even considering on abandoning some flagship long-haul routes such as Bangkok because of this.
Guys, grow up... it's ok to dream, but someone also needs to work and make things happen. Wishful thinking is not enough.
PS. Didn't Serbia sign bilateral air agreements with some Gulf countries, so where are those flights? Where's Emirates, where's Etihad? FYI, the agreement was signed back in October 2009, and two years later, nothing is happening yet (http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-uae-sign-open-skies-agreement )
Oh, and btw... it's ridiculous that anyone would even mention Australia as a destination. That some serious ROFL material :)))
ReplyDeleteSomeone correct me if I am wrong, but there are only TWO (2) cities in EUROPE with direct flights to Australia and that's London and Frankfurt. And they are not even non-stop flights...
Sorry to burst your bubble but signing bilateral air agreements doesn’t mean that flights are going to start up between those countries. Serbia has these agreements with South Korea and Venezuela as well but you don’t see flights between the two. And these agreements with US, Canada, Australia haven’t even been signed. The notion that someone would fly between Belgrade and Australia is ludicrous. The only 2 cities in Europe connected with Australia with direct flights are London Heathrow and Frankfurt and Qantas is looking at scaling back both. It’s simply too expensive to fly these routes. If there were to be a European city to see flights to Aus it would be Paris, Rome or even Madrid but definitely not Belgrade. BTW this is coming from a Serb living in Australia.
ReplyDeleteCome on guys, there will be flights from Belgrade to Australia. You may need to change in 1, 2 or 3 airports but you will still be able to fly.
ReplyDeleteBREAKING NEWS!!!!!
Also, you'll be able to fly to South Africa, Argentina, Burma ... you name it. All you need is to purchase an air ticket.
People what's with the posts about Belgrade, I thought this article is about flights to Macedonia???
ReplyDeleteI am still hoping for a connection between Eindhoven in the Netherlands to Skopje with WizzAir.
ReplyDeleteMatAirways with Amsterdam - Skopje is way too expensive, it costs twice more than WizzAir with a similar service.
The fact that Wizzair started flights to/from Macedonia, Macedonians in London and England are delighted they can finally fly to their country directly(not only fo reasonble prices). Very, very positive thing.I think Wizz should definitely add OHD from any destination seasonaly, and few more to/from SKP(Rome, Stockholm, any German destination, etc)
ReplyDeleteSo when is WizzAir comming to Sarajevo? :(
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (listed new flights to OHD)
ReplyDeleteWho is operating the supposed:
1 Weekly : Ohrid - Moscow services?
Also which airport DME, VKO, SVO?
This is the first I've heard of flights from Moscow to Macedonia, ever since SU stopped Skopje 5<6 years back.
Man, you guys need to OPEN your minds.... your comparing other airports to Belgrade in 2010, which have reached their peak.... Belgrade has NOT! They are gaining about 15-20% more passengers each month compared to the same month a year ago. Chilllll.... hey, JAT used to have flights all over world, and YES it was Yugo back then but hey. Who said it can't happen? And yes bilateral agreements were signed with other countries which they have NO INTEREST or little one to commence flights to Beograd... USA, Canada, and possible we will eventually see other countries over oceans WILL commence to Beograd... the Serb diaspora in Serbia and Canada most likely will be first to be connected, its a MATTER OF TIME....
ReplyDeleteSo all of you saying it will 100% , it wont 100% ...chill out, yes it MOST LIKELY will but that is not now, JAT WILL be re-establishing itself, either with many new aircraft or NEW airline... Serbia will have strong national carrier.
4th last anonymous, I have lot of family in Australia. They fly a lot there and say there is large amount of Serbs wanting to fly to Australia. Is it large enough for at least once weekly flight? I would say yes, but we dont know. So yeah, you do not know what they are planning..??? Can you tell the future? haha and neither do i..
Congrats to Skopje... good to hear, last summer there were bout 10 people on my JAT plane from Beograd - London who said they were changing plans in Beograd from Skopje ..
SRBIJA!!! Hope for best, Beograd has outstanding numbers and will rise again after bombing and break up of Yugo... We will hopefully be transit point again in Europe... intercontinental flights, we have been waiting for long time.. and will come once again :)
btw, ^ with that...
ReplyDeleteimagine Belgrades numbers after growth for years, new terminal, a better JAT, and intercontinental flights!!
It appears something needs to be cleared up.
ReplyDelete1) Serbia has signed bilateral agreements with USA, Canada, and Australia and is going to sign with China, India, and Brazil.
2) Someone said that Serbia signed an agreement with Gulf countries. Yes that is true, but that was open-sky agreement, which allows unlimited air travel between the countries, not necessarily flights between the two countries. And Emirates has been struggling financially apparently and claims it will look into Belgrade once they have the resources.
3) USA flights and Canada flights will take place by Ryan Int'l. That is a fact. Ryan and Delta have also expressed interest in starting NYC-BEG flights too. China has said it wants to start flights to BEG during Tadic's visit recently and as for Brazil and India, I'm sure that there are companies hat want to restart BEG flights (especially India due to their investments in tech parks).
4) Belgrade cannot be compared to Vienna and Budapest just yet. It can be in the future, especially if flights to Australia start. Belgrade will definitely overtake Bucharest and Sofia and possibly Budapest in the next 5-8 years, but not Vienna. Its numbers are still too low but are drastically rising as someone pointed out.
5) Belgrade is becoming well-known. Thanks to good marketing and word of mouth, and is visibly receiving more tourists and businessmen. Besides, Serbia in general is at the lowest point it can be right now, and it has huge amounts of economic potential that others are beginning to see. It is only a matter of time before high-rollers visit Belgrade. After all, rich people such as the USSteel executive, Robert DeNiro, Jhonny Depp, etc. just started coming and will surely come in more numbers. In a Forbes magazine, Belgrade was on the top 50 cities to invest in the future. Only one from the Balkans by the way.
Conclusion: Belgrade is still not comparable to Vienna, Budapest, Sofia, etc. but it will surely be in the future. These recent agreements were made because there were interests in all parties to start such flights. There is a great probability that flights to all parties (except Australia) will begin within the next 3 years. Belgrade is becoming popular and is trying to establish itself in the region as a hub. As of now, it is really heading in the right direction blowing away all ex-Yu competition. I would not be surprised if in 5 years the Balkans use Belgrade to go to other continents for cheaper flights. Once again the cheap ticket cost is the only thing that can make BEG work.
To AirKoryo:
ReplyDeleteMoscow (DME probably) should be flown by some russian airline called Yamal Airlines-never heard of them but they have a fleet of 55aircraft!
However these flights are charters for russian tourists in Ohrid and tickets are only sold via tour operators.
And btw. last 2 years Ohrid was also connected with DME once weekly during july/august.
SU stopped flying good 10 years ago!
And about Ohrid-I checked this evening
MAT AIRWAYS has scheduled
1 weekly to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion (begins 06.06)
1 weekly to ZAG (20.06)
1 weekly to BEG (20.06)
1 weekly to DUS (20.06)
Jeebusman,
ReplyDeleteyou are 100% correct... Serbia has so much un-tapped potential, people are ignoring the growth of the country - airports..
A little help with the calculus:
ReplyDeleteIf the pax numbers grow 10 percent annualy they should double in 7 years.You divide the growth rate with 70.
70/10=7
So you can expect 5.2 million pax in 7 years in BEG if it continues to grow with 10 percent annualy.
If it is 15 percent per year then numbers shoud double in less then 5years!!Check it!
That is the amazing thing of the compounding effect.
Dont understimate it!Absolute numbers does not say anything when there is growth.And BEG has the growth potential and contrary VIE and other airports grow less than 3-4 percent max. or even less.
But I can not say anything about regional leadership of BEG-it is questionable
Unfortunatelly,
ReplyDeleteBEG will see no Ryan Intl to USA this summer. See>
http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=31&nav_id=503030
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYamal Airlines yes it is a decent carrier, they are from the North of Russia in the Yamalo-Nenets region. It is strange for them to operate this route they usually fly Nadym and Salekhard to Greece etc.
I think flights to Ohrid will be operated weekly by 737-500 if the route will go ahead. Not many people tend to travel to Macedonia. Aeroflot flew into SKP weekly 7<8 years ago prior to the flights being via Sofia.
@Aero
ReplyDeleteNothing in the English media. I certainly hope this is not the case, although this might be because Delta is planning on launching the routes. I do believe that some Delta executive was interested in launching Belgrade flights.
If so, then this makes perfect sense. Delta launched flights to Budapest from NYC but so did American Airlines. With Belgrade flights to Chicago and NYC, Delta could still make a nice profit in the region. Hopefully Air Canada is still interested in launching Toronto-BEG route.
Great news. I would like to see some connections to BUD or PRG by wizzair from ex-yu cities. SJJ, TIV, or TGD would be nice.
ReplyDelete