NEWS FLASH
Wizz Air has confirmed it is terminating flights out of Skopje to both Barcelona and Larnaca. Ticket sales for the two routes have been discontinued for some time. Flights to Spain’s second largest city had been suspended in the past, as they were not operational during the 2018/2019 winter season but were later maintained throughout 2019 up until the outbreak of Covid-19. Services were restored following the global lockdowns and maintained on an off and on basis until December 2021. On the other hand, flights to Larnaca were suspended at the start of the pandemic and have not been restored since. Wizz Air plans to introduce a new service between Skopje and Turin on March 3.
And the non gasto routes are gone :(
ReplyDeleteWhich ones?
DeleteBarcelona and Larnaca
DeleteI have never heard of a Macedonian diaspora in Spain or Cyprus, tbh.
DeleteWell that's what he says "And the NON gasto routes are gone".
DeleteWell dears, it's the end of the ride for BCN. I hope you all enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to you now to make things happen. Godspeed.
I don't understand this comment. If there's no market, then there's no market. No shame in trying new markets and pulling the plug if they are not profitable. Nobody needs "to make things happen."
DeleteYeah, the route hung on for almost seven years so there definitely is a market - of course, it wasn't launched on a whim, I can tell you this from first hand experience. Nothing special to talk about, Covid killed this route and until normality is established I don't see it coming back.
DeleteNow, once normality is actually established, hopefully one of those that do get the comment will do something about it. There's other airlines who'd be keen to get into SKP and, unlike prior to 2012 (2015 for BCN), now they also have the historical data.
Oh and re-reading your comment, I do have to reflect on something about it.
DeleteThis is the exact type of mentality 99.9% of the people have and had back in the day. Even more so on this blog where people look down on SKP as a rule. If that sentiment had prevailed nothing would have ever happened with Wizz. Luckily somebody was there to *make it happen* (hello) so now we have this amazing history behind us. It took years and years to get things moving due to almost no history. Jo Varadi once asked me over dinner 'Do you think this move merits a whole based plane?' almost as things were ready to get signed.. and when the 5th based plane was announced a few years later I could only smile.
So yeah. Sometimes you need the right people to make things happen, especially the things that are not as obvious to everyone.
don't get me wrong, but skp-bcn was a subsidised route during the whole time....there are quite a few of smaller capitals in europe with no flights in winter to bcn...
DeleteTranquilis, what are you talking about dude? Why would you need to justify the performance? Make what happen? Do you think Wizzair relies on history and not money? The government has been paying them sweet subsidies during the last years and they will never say no. Do you honestly think that routes to Turku, Vaxjo, Baden Baden or Turin prevail without some extra money?
DeleteHow come a much bigger city such as BEG have seasonal flights to BCN with Vueling and year-round with SKP?
Lets see Ohrid: year-round flights to London? Hmmm...
^ BEG has year round flights to Barcelona...
DeleteTranquilis means some other airline should try Barcelona. That could mean two things, charter or seasonal.
DeleteCharter could be done with two options. For example established charter airline starting a flight or as a second option airline such as Trade Air, ETF Airways working with local tourist agencies to start seasonal charters.
The other thing is airline such as Vueling starting regular seasonal flights to SKP with some incentives from the airport.
18:36
DeleteOn a good day I would've tried and explain. Not today. You're out of your depth. Get out of here.
If the route was subsidised, then why Wizz Air sent Airbus A321s on this route? They could only sent A320 as there is no demand??
DeleteThere is diaspora in Spain, and not only that, but also spain economy is based on tourism. SKP-BCN was the only direct flight to Spain from Macedonia, and the flight was never empty.
DeleteSpeaking of W6 dropping BCN and LCA what happened with Israir from TLV? I don't see their new flights starting 20.05.2022 neither on their website nor on search engines. Does somebody know what happened? Are they dropping them due to lack of demand as well?
ReplyDeleteThe tickets were never put on sale, so they cant be removed. I think that the carrier is yet to put them.
DeleteWhat about flight Malta-Skopje?
ReplyDeleteThis route will be resumed in late March, thankfully it is not terminated and it wont be as there is macedonian diaspora living in malta.
DeleteIs it coming back this route skp to bcn?
ReplyDeleteI wanted to go to Cyprus
ReplyDelete