Wizz Air readies for Macedonia expansion

Wizz Air is preparing for the launch of its first of eight new destinations from Macedonia in just over a week with the airline also upping capacity and upgrading certain routes. All eight of the new services will run on a year-round basis. Seasonal flights from Skopje to Barcelona, as well as from Ohrid to London Luton, which are set to resume this summer following a five-month hiatus, will once again operate throughout the year, with two weekly flights planned on both routes for the 2019/2020 winter. Furthermore, the low cost airline has increased capacity on its upcoming new service between Skopje and Larnaca, which is due to launch on July 3. Flights will now be maintained by the larger 230-seat Airbus A321 aircraft, instead of the initially planned 180-seat A320. Services between the Macedonian capital and the Cypriot city will run twice per week, each Wednesday and Sunday.

As previously reported, Wizz Air is also increasing frequencies on its existing services. The airline will add an additional weekly flight from Skopje to Gothenmburg, Hamburg, Cologne and Malta, while operations to Basel will be increased by an additional three weekly services for a total of ten per week. The network growth will come as the airline allocates its fifth aircraft, an A320, to its Skopje base this summer. “Further expanding our Macedonian operations means that Wizz Air can provide even more opportunities for Macedonian customers to travel across Europe at the lowest prices. We are confident that our customers will appreciate our new connections and that these routes will be as popular as the other thirty in our Macedonian network", Wizz Air's Chief Commercial Officer, George Michalopoulos, said.

The eight new routes being launched by the low cost carrier from Macedonia this summer will bring an additional 200.000 seats onto the market. As a result, Wizz Air has over 1.9 million seats on sale from and to the country this year. "We will continue to further expand our network footprint and provide truly affordable prices, as well as stimulate the local economy of the communities we serve", Mr Michalopoulos noted. Wizz Air handled just over 1.4 million passengers on its Macedonia flights in 2018, representing year-on-year growth of 14.4%. The airline held a market share of 62%, while it accounted for 85% of all passengers travelling on low cost carriers to Macedonia in 2018.

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