Soon in Skopje
Air Sweden will launch flights from Copenhagen to Skopje Alexander the Great Airport this March. The airline, which suspended all services in 2009, will resume operations in the coming months with Skopje to be one of its first destinations. Air Sweden will hope to capitalise on the success Wizz Air has had on its Skopje - Malmo service. The two cities are only forty minutes apart by car. Wizz Air handled some 2.802 passengers in the first month since launching flights between the two cities. Air Sweden will operate services between the Danish capital and Skopje twice per week using its Airbus A320. Further details can be found here. Tickets are already on sale and available for purchase via the airline’s website.
Skopje Airport closed off 2012 with 67.193 passengers handled in December, an improvement of 5% compared to 2011. As was the case with most airports in the former Yugoslavia in the last month of the year, the number of operated flights slumped by 9%. This is despite the fact that Wizz Air recently launched six new destinations from the Macedonian capital.
Overall, Austrian was the busiest airline in Skopje in 2012 and is most popular with business travellers, followed by Turkish Airlines and Wizz Air. Jat Airways was the busiest EX-YU airline flying out of the Macedonian capital followed by Croatia Airlines while Adria came third. Zurich, Istanbul and Vienna are the destination of choice amongst passengers flying out of Skopje. Despite several new airlines launching services to Alexander the Great Airport, its passenger figures rose by approximately 9% in 2012. The airport’s busiest year was 2000 when it handled 1.019.905 passengers due to the crisis in Kosovo and a major influx of refugees. Since then, the airport has been closest to that figure last year but is still some way off from breaking the million passenger mark. Air Sweden and B&H Airlines are the first two airlines to announce new services to Skopje in 2013.
It is Nordic Air Sweden!
ReplyDeleteOne way tickets starting from EUR 175, rt from 350?
ReplyDeleteColor me unimpressed.
350 for rt? who'll pay for that with WZZ operating to MMX? they're going to cancel it before it even starts
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, Copenhagen airport had SKP as its second most popular destination without direct service. Apparently there are roughly 70 daily passengers.
ReplyDeleteProbably those figures are from before MMX got introduced.
DeleteThat is a good reason for Scandinavian Airlines to open CPH-SKP route. With additional connections to ARN primarly, but also to North America and the rest of Northern Europe they could easily get about 100-110 pax/day.
DeleteI honestly doubt that the option of connecting in CPH to North America would be attractive to many. The feeder flight would be rather long, and the prices are usually lower on LH group and especially TK, both of which have a better overall product.
DeleteActually they would, especially if they are from Oslo. Most flights travel over Greenland on their way to north America. Flying via CPH or OSL would not be a detour.
DeleteSeriously?
DeleteWe're talking about a new company, yet to be introduced in any GDS or connected with an alliance. This type of airlines are a dime a dozen - they come and go like the wind. I don't see their competitive advantage, i.e. the reason why anyone would trust buying tickets with them.
"...passenger figures rose by approximately 5% in 2012." So, what is the final 2012 pax figure for SKP?
ReplyDeleteIf Malmo and Copehagen are only 40min by car, and some airline already flies to Malmo, what is the logic to introduce another flight to Skopje from an airport thats just 40 min away from the first one?
ReplyDeleteThis is what we call concurrence.
DeleteMain airport / convenient schedule / capturing a catchment with more potential or less sensitive to pricing.
DeleteIf Wizz Air add frequencies - and it's more of a 'when' than 'if' - I don't expect them to keep CPHSKP floating.
Wizz Air will increase MMX-SKP to 3 weekly in summer timetable.
ReplyDeleteVery very expensive! Reminds me of INI-ZRH/GVA or PRN-LON for e.g. also BEG-IST...
ReplyDeleteWhat Website booking? I cant see any booking engine on their website airsweden.aero/airsweden.net.
ReplyDeleteOr is there another?
Ok, i see now: flyswedish.se
DeleteI have no idea why they arent using theit other websites or are relinking them to the new? Strange carrier.
Beautiful livery this Air Sweden has.
ReplyDeleteI think their flights will fall under the category charter because tickets will be probably sold by
tour operators.