The coronavirus pandemic has shifted the balance of power among the busiest transfer carriers in Skopje. With the country’s largest operator, Wizz Air, having no connecting traffic, network airlines are competing to attract a large portion of the market. Turkish Airlines, as the busiest legacy carrier Skopje, maintained the largest share of Macedonian transfer passengers, both in 2019 and 2020, with a 21% and 23% share respectively. In 2019, it was followed by Austrian, Qatar Airways, Pegasus Airlines and Croatia Airlines, with Air Serbia coming behind its regional counterpart. However, with many airlines suspending flights in 2020, passenger flow shifted. Turkish and Austrian kept their leading positions, but Pegasus moved ahead of Qatar Airways, while Air Serbia overtook both Qatar and Croatia Airlines to position itself as the fourth largest transfer airline. The Qatari national carrier still performed well considering its transfer traffic was solely concentrated in the first three months of the year, after which it discontinued operations to Skopje.
Based on OAG data, in 2019, New York was Turkish Airlines’ busiest feeder route in and out of Skopje. Points in Turkey also fared well, with holidaymakers utilising the carrier to reach cities on the Turkish coast. Notably, the airline was also used for flights between a number of European cities and Skopje, as Wizz Air operates primarily to secondary airports on the continent. Similar to Turkish Airlines, passengers flying with its Austrian counterpart utilised the carrier on services between the United States and Skopje, with New York again being the top destination. Austrian was also heavily used for transfers between Canada and Macedonia, as well as several points in Europe, primarily in Scandinavia. During 2019, Qatar Airways was most used for faraway destinations, particularly by the sizable Macedonian diaspora in Australia. Sydney was the top feeder destination, followed by Melbourne, Singapore, Perth and Bangkok.'
Top transfer carriers and share of transfer passengers in Skopje in 2019
In 2020, Pegasus Airlines positioned itself as the third busiest connecting airline in Skopje for the first time. Whereas the carrier relied on notable transfer traffic from the Middle East to the Macedonian capital prior to the pandemic, thanks to its affordable fares and convenient schedule, in 2020 it was primarily shuttling Macedonian holidaymakers to Turkish coastal cities, including Izmir, Antalya and Bodrum. The entry ban for the majority of Macedonian nationals into the European Union forced many wishing to go on holiday to do so in Turkey. Similarly, many Turkish nationals opted for a city break in Macedonia due to entry bans, with Pegasus also transferring notable traffic from Ankara, Adana and Kayseri.
Top transfer carriers and share of transfer passengers in Skopje in 2020
Last year, Air Serbia became the fourth busiest transfer airline. Despite passenger numbers being significantly reduced, the airline was one of the first to restore operations to the Macedonian capital following the global lockdowns and the airport’s reopening in June. Furthermore, its overall share of transfer passengers among carriers flying to and from Skopje stood at 10% last year compared to 6% the year before, overtaking its regional counterpart Croatia Airlines in the process. Last year, Ljubljana emerged as the top feeder destination on the Skopje route. It was followed by New York, Zurich, Amsterdam and Paris.
Not surprised by TK and OS to be honest. They really dominate the market after Wizz.
ReplyDeleteList shows how dominant Star Alliance is at Skopje.
ReplyDeleteStar is dominant at all ex-Yu airports more or less.
DeleteIt helps that the main diaspora centres of ex-Yu are in the three main Lufthansa group airlines - Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
DeleteSo what's JU's top transfer destination out of SKP? LJU or JFK?
ReplyDeleteIt says Ljubljana, then JFK.
DeleteThank you! Interesting that so many people are flying via BEG to LJU in stead of going on OU and then driving. Maybe the proximity of the two airports is overrated.
DeleteProbably because it would be more expensive and involve someone renting a car, or leaving their car at a long stay car park in Zagreb.
DeleteGood thing is that JU can offer a lot of flexibility to LJU and SKP as they have split schedule to both destinations.
DeleteAdria was quite strong on this part, as they did transfers to fra and more.
DeleteVery interesting. Surprised flyDubai isn't on the list for 2019.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people here are mistaken to think FZ carries huge amounts of transfer passengers. It may be true for some markets but for the ones in the Balkans it is mostly point to point.
DeleteIt's not just that. Flydubai operated Skopje from their own (horrible) terminal in Dubai which requires you then to transfer to the Emirates terminal. It is not very convenient. Simpler just to use QR.
Delete^True!
DeleteQR especially captured all transfers from Australia. Same happened in BEG too. They just have great fares and are an excellent airline service wise.
DeleteI believe that FZ is going to come back to SKP if QR doesn’t, coz people might want to go on a holiday in Dubai, since the Middle East is a very hot holiday destination this year....
DeleteSince New York is top US transfer route I think that there is more space for Air Serbia at Macedonian market, and also for EU transfers. Just to be more proactive, and go double daily
ReplyDeleteWell JU was proactive and that is why its share jumped. JFK is their second most popular destination from SKP.
DeleteThey positioned themselves well after the March lockdowns. They started flying early and have been consistent with the flights. For example OU didn't resume flights for a while, then they switched around frequencies, cancelled flights etc.
DeleteThat's where JU see ATR's true majesty. it's cheap to operate on such short flights (55 minutes in this case) so there aren't many risks.
DeleteSpeaking of JU and SKP, why are there two flights from Belgrade to Skopje within ten minutes of each other tomorrow?
DeleteJU 216 00:20
JU 166 00:30
Both on ATRs.
Because of increased demand.
DeleteGreat
Delete@10,10
DeleteMust be glitch. JU216 is the flight number for TIA.
@10,33
Do you feel better when you make things up? Whats the deal with it?
Have no idea what actually happened, but as a possibility, might have happened TIA was closed for bad weather or some other issue when JU was supposed to land, and plane was rerouted to alternation which likely is SKP
Delete@pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteIt was a glitch on the BEG website which has been fixed. They often have glitches with the flight information pages.
TIA is operating as normal. Weather in Tirana is good.
LATI 311850Z 14003KT 110V170 CAVOK 10/06 Q1017 NOSIG
Visibility over 10km.
Ok, thanks. Even better. For pax and the crew I mean 😃
DeleteCrazy to think that OS carries less than double what JU does despite being 4 to 5 times large in size. Seems like people in SKP are responding well to what JU has to offer.
ReplyDeleteCovid changed a lot of things.
DeleteAustrian's network mostly collapsed last year. They weren't flying long haul and they have had a lot of problems this year too. They cancelled hundreds of flights for this month.
DeleteAnother element in choosing Air Serbia or Turkish on flights from Skopje to the U.S. was likely the Executive Order of President Trump, as reissued by President Biden, restricting entry into the U.S. from the Schengen zone. Paradoxically, during the entire pandemic, a passenger with a Macedonian passport could fly from N. Macedonia to the U.S. via Belgrade or Istanbul, but could not if they lived anywhere in the Schengen zone (plus U.K. and Ireland). This in spite of the fact that Macedonians do need a visa to enter U.S. territory whereas most European nations do not. Covid 'miracles'!
DeleteI suppose most passengers on this route are actually US citizens or Green Card holders. It's just that because of the ban many western European carriers considerably reduced their flights to the US so JU and TK were more convenient.
DeleteI was hoping to see TK restore their double daily ops to SKP but they still maintain only one flight per day. Pre covid they were planning third mid day optuon as well...
ReplyDeleteSurprising that it hasn't.
DeleteTime for Wizz to launch LJU-SKP.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope not as JU needs those passengers.
DeleteDoes Wizz has ATR or plans to fly half empty?
Deleteuntil they get payed they will fly anything
DeleteSo, QR with 3 weekly is almost equivalent to JU. Just shows how the closure of Australia has affected SKP.
ReplyDeleteWell probably 98% of passengers on QR's Skopje flights were transfers and not heading to Doha. So they operated 3 weekly flights all with transfer passengers whereas JU probably has a big share of point to point passengers too.
DeleteLet’s hope they come back!
DeleteA few years ago there was an idea of TK operating some long haul flights from Skopje - to the US and Canada. Shame it never happened.
ReplyDeleteThat was a long shot. It was initiated by TAV but when TK calculated the numbers, it just didn't make sense.
DeleteTK are killing it with transfers to the US from ex-Yu. I guess cheap prices and great connections are the reason. They fly to so many US cities with double daily frequnecies.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see this info for all airports in our region
ReplyDeleteSame! :)
DeleteI wonder to which airline the majority of passengers who used Adria for transfers migrated to
ReplyDeleteProbably JU
DeleteSo TK is killing with US exyu transfers, NYC is the biggest unserved market from both SKP and TGD, half of BIH emigrated to North America, Greek carrier without direct service, Albanian diaspora in the US huge and rich as well, US tourists coming to Croatia in hundreds of thousands, croatian diaspora one of the most tied with home country, no special training needed for 330 as for CCQ, tons of 330 available for lease for lowest prices ever, JU beats all records on JFK, SJJ considering direct services, Croatia has 4 North American carriers already, and OU has 50 %LF, loses transfers in SKP and not only in SKP, and doing nothing. Speechless.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told OU didn't fly to Skopje most of the time from March 2020 until the end of the year so it's no surprised they slipped behind.
DeleteThe questions then are : Was it only OU that didn't fly to SKP in that period because of covid scam "pandemic"?I believe the others haven't flown as well. If the others somehow did fly to SKP which was closed, or even immediately after it was reopened, how come OU did not, and from the only airport in the region which was opened - ZAG? Trying to advocate them you just proved my point.
DeleteIs it me or did OU also reduce CPH from 7 to 5 weekly?
DeleteYou had all the information here
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/10/croatia-airlines-sees-signs-as-recovery.html
@pozz, again with the covid scam reference.
DeleteSo sorry if it bothers you but that's how I see it and what I feel about it. Perfectly acceptable with me some people don't see it and feel it as I do, but opposite, and I would never deny their right to make their conclusions, and write and publish them
DeleteJust one more off topic. Are you anti-vaxxer?
DeleteDouble vaccinated with Pfizer. Will have booster dose beginning of next year. Have all teeth in good condition ☺Pretty sure didn't get any chip with the vaccine ☺And aware that the virus exists and circulate. The other story is the virus being misused for material and social benefits by certain categories. Globally. In accordance with the New World Order, or prevailance of the model of the Ultraliberal capitalism, if you prefer to call it that way. That is the scam I talk about. As simple as that.
DeleteAppreciate your reply. Better wording would be; Uber capitalism abusing covid crisis for corporate gain. There i jave no argument.
DeleteIt's fascinating that the largest airline in Macedonia (Wizz), which is bigger in terms of operations than some other regional national carriers basically has no transfer passengers.
ReplyDeleteAirlines like Wizz don't go after transfer pax, neither are main hubs their primary destinations. They also don't do codeshares or interline agreements, just O&D pax. The large Wizz presence in North Macedonia also means that it is amongst the worst connected countries in Europe.
DeleteSKP needs a national carrier similar to Slowenija, something like Palair. Speaking of which, there was a video launched yesterday of flight 301 in the 90s:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK9mH3WNVro
MAT, Palair, Aeromak. Time for a new airline to be born.
+1000
DeleteActually Macedonia and Slovenia should form one together.
Actually entire ex-yu should form one together. Which will of course not happen because forces which led to decomposition of Yugoslavia together with its brilliant flag carrier and creation of individual "superpowers" which collect breadcrumbs from the aviation market table, will not let it happen.
DeleteJU 3 times expressed interest in the North Macedonian market, first with MAT, later Aeromak and finally MAT Airways. MAT in fact used to lease various aircraft from JAT. Nothing ever came of all 3.
DeleteThe former MAT B735 was flown to BEG, livery changed and for a while was operating charters for Aviogenex before they stopped operating. The aircraft was parked in BEG before making its way to South Africa.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/MAT-Airways-Kon-Tiki-Sky/Boeing-737-529/1751489?qsp=eJwljU0OgjAQhe/y1l0gBA3s5AK68AKT6ahNkDbTIZEQ7m6F3cv73s8KjpPJ1x5LEvTIQspvOCRS%2BmT0KygoKz1toBz4iNVN17rSnCfTBX3Tdg5jZLIQp0Lrqro45Kg2FApPJldmSSYeh39TL/pHknk/e5XVUxGi912jORffh5xG2jfEKIzYth%2BPnjnf
Over a decade ago there was talk of the ex-YU carriers forming an alliance, not as a single carrier, yet only JU and YM agreed, OU declined, JA apparently wasn't invited while JP expressed interest however wanted full control of the alliance.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2012/04/united-in-air.html?m=1
Oh, of course Kon Tiki Sky! I totally forgot about them....I think MAT did not have a clear strategy and Palair had a more logic structure. If it weren't for the crash in 90s, this airline could've survived easily.
DeleteThe problem is, North Macedonia never stuck to a clear plan when it comes to a national carrier and when it was all too late, then came Wizzair to step in and take 85% of the market. The biggest problem with SKP is the lack of connections to basic important cities such as Amsterdam or Paris CDG and even Frankfurt Main.
The rise in Pegsasus' transfer share is very impressive.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Pegasus is ahead of JU on transfers out of SKP tells me that JU is dropping the ball. They may have improved from before, but there's lots of room for improvement.
ReplyDeletetrue dat.
Delete