Macedonian airports grow as Skopje hit by bird drama
Macedonia’s two international airports managed to see their passenger numbers increase slightly in August. Both Skopje and Ohrid handled a combined total of 109.589 passengers, an increase of 4% compared to the same month last year. In contrast to previous months growth has slowed after Skopje saw its number dip slightly in July. During August the number of operated flights saw a big slide of 11%. However, airport operator TAV is anticipating that Skopje’s numbers will soar in the coming period with the arrival of Flydubai and the opening of Wizz Air’s base in the Macedonian capital.In the first eight months of the year Skopje Alexander the Great and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport have welcomed 627.156 passengers, an impressive increase of 12% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, several days ago, Skopje Airport saw two mid air emergencies. An XL Airways jet departing to Dusseldorf was hit by a flock of birds upon take off and was forced to return back to Skopje shortly after. Fifteen minutes later a Wizz Air Airbus A320 arriving from London, carrying 131 passengers, was also hit by birds. As a result, Croatia Airlines delayed the departure of its jet to Zagreb around the time the incidents occurred.
Away from the drama, the Macedonian and Dutch aviation authorities have signed a memorandum for the implementation of a multilateral agreement on the establishment of a European Common Aviation Area. This memorandum establishes the legal framework for an open skies agreement between Macedonia and the Netherlands. In addition, the memorandum aims to promote international air traffic between the two countries, attract new airlines, increase competition and lower prices.
Damn skopje, but when Zagreb gets built
ReplyDeleteWhat? SKP's success is because it made operations affordable by reducing prices. I doubt Zagreb will do that.
DeleteReducing prices or paying to the airlines to fly out of there hm hm?
DeleteIf Croatian government wasn't so corrupt perhaps you'd have had a brand new airport like Skopje- Alexander the Great! Your primitivism and jealousy only proves the above stated. With the tourist potential of Croatia you should have had flights to all over the world, instead OU can bearly stay competitive.
DeleteIf I remember correctly SKP had a few bird strikes last year as well. It’s obviously an ongoing problem. Anyway good numbers.
ReplyDeleteBirdstrikes happen across Europe on regular basis, as do a number of other low profile incidents.
ReplyDeleteLocal media is giving it disproportionate attention due to lack of sufficient air traffic so far, thus a proportionately number of occurences.
In other words, not newsworthy. Move along.
Maybe they don't have a good bird-control system in place.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.birdbusters.com/airport_bird_scare_1.html
My home city's airport has an around-the-clock anti-bird patrol team that uses firecrackers, dogs, various pyrotechnics and, finally, shotguns, to stop the birds flying into planes.
OT: According to AUKN (Slovenian Agency for Capital Assets Management) there are more then 10 potential interested parties for ~75% of Adria Airways. The names are not known yet due to possible speculations. Anyway, this is more then excellent news!
ReplyDeleteNext week is a big one for SKP, wizz starts 12 new weekly flights to 6 destinations.
ReplyDeleteA week to celebrate.