Germany's Lufthansa will commence operations between Frankfurt and Skopje next summer, connecting the two cities with a scheduled air service after more than a decade. Flights will commence on April 23 and operate up to two times per day for a total of ten weekly rotations. The new service opens up numerous connections via Frankfurt. Aircraft operating three of the weekly evening flights to Skopje will stay overnight in the Macedonian capital in order to provide an early morning departure to Frankfurt. Lufthansa will become the second new carrier to enter the Macedonian market next summer after Norwegian Air Shuttle. Further flight details for the new Frankfurt - Skopje service can be found here.
Lufthansa will maintain operations between the two cities with its 126-seat Airbus A319 aircraft. In a statement, the carrier said, "Lufthansa is offering Skopje for the first time from April 23 and will connect the capital of Northern Macedonia up to two twice a day. The flights with the numbers LH1540 and LH1542 are scheduled to be attractive for both business travellers and tourists. Lufthansa is strengthening its position in Eastern Europe by adding Skopje". Lufthansa faces no direct competition on the route. However, low cost carrier Wizz Air maintains operations from Skopje to Hahn, some 125 kilometres from the German city's main airport.
Frankfurt is one of Skopje Airport's busiest unserved routes in Europe for point to point travel, eclipsed only by the likes of Amsterdam and Brussels. Up until now, Lufthansa has been present on the Macedonian market through its group partner Austrian Airlines, which is Skopje's second busiest carrier for transfers after Turkish Airlines. Despite plans for Lufthansa's low cost subsidiary Eurowings to launch operations from Munich to the Macedonian capital in 2017, ticket sales were suspended several months prior to the route's launch due to "unfulfilled economic efficiency". With the addition of Skopje to Lufthansa's network, the German carrier will now serve six former Yugoslav markets with its own flights.
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This won't work out. They are either going to be destroyed by Wizz or they are going to kill OS
ReplyDeleteDestroyed by Wizz that flies from Hahn in the middle of nowhere? Lol
Delete@13.44 lol
DeleteI would imagine they're going after transit passengers. Wizz isn't their competition, it's Austrian.
DeleteAustrian is the same company as LH. Austrian had the best summer season since flying to SKP. We always said LH will step in when OS's double daily will not be enough
DeleteLH can't be killing OS or vice versa, their destination portfolio is totally different, also, you’re forgetting the fact that they’re often offering flights within the group, so you can go with OS and return with LH.
DeleteIMHO, a very good thing for SKP and it’s travellers.
It's not gonna impact Wizzair much. A Macedonian for example living in Dusseldorf has 4 airports closer to him than Frankfurt that have direct flights to Skopje Dordmund,Colonge,Eindhoven and Chaerloi. Frankfurt Hahn is not that popular for Macedonians in Frankfurt because it's a 2 hour drive. A lot of them connect via OS. But this will defenitly impact OS,LOT,JU,OU and a bit TK.
Deleteexactly@14.22 what would impact Wizz is for example if FR launched Weeze which im struggling to understand why its not being launched but thats another topic
Delete14.30 it is gonna impact Wizz if FR starts Weeze. Becasue Dordmund,Colonge and Eindhoven are very close to Weeze. There live Macedonians in that area but less than for example Dordmund area and Colonge area. At the moment there are next summer 17 weekly flights from Northrijn west falen area(Dordmund,Eindhoven and Colonge) to Skopje so there is demand and it would be maybe possible for FR to start SKP however with so much competition from Wizz is not appealing to start flights to SKP. And besides that the Macedonian government and TAV rejected FR multipule times so small change that will happen.
DeleteLufthansa is relying on transfer passengers.
DeleteComing from Detroit with final destination of Skopje, this is very exciting! I am basically no other 1-stop options
DeleteFinally!!
ReplyDeleteYEAH!
ReplyDeleteWillkommen Lufthansa
ReplyDeleteFRA-SKP
ReplyDeleteI just love it
major news for ExYu region. Congrats
ReplyDeleteDid LH fly to Skopje in the 90s?
ReplyDeleteI believe they did from Munich but not 100% sure.
DeleteCirrus Airlines flew the FRA-SKP route on behalf of Lufthansa sometime in the mid-2000s with an E-175 or E-190 (wiki says they only had the E-175 out of these). However I doubt that the frequencies were this many and the aircraft was obviously much smaller.
DeleteYes Lufthansa operated flights from Frankfurt to Skopje in the past. Avioimpex, the best Macedonian carrier of all times also flew a few times a week to FRA.
DeleteI flew with FRA-SKP with Cirrus, sometime in the early 2000s, and I am pretty sure it was A320.
DeleteThe other thing I remember: it wasn't possible to book tickets online at the time (perhaps because online ticketing was generally in its early stages). I had to go to the Airport where Cirrus had a booth and buy the ticket there.
star alliance is capturing SKP. Most transfer options are from the SA-group. Not bad actually. Transfers with SA plus el cheapo on the other side with Wizz although theyre not so cheap anymore
ReplyDeleteI don't mind- one more option to collect miles
DeleteLufthansa is strengthening its position in Eastern Europe by displacing ineffective Austrian Airlines, or using them as a leverage where needed.
ReplyDeleteFantastic news. Finally a legacy carrier with many transfer possibilities
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWas looking for this comment. With 2 daily flights it is clearly going to clearly hurt JU and OU now that FRA is also adding many new destinations in 2023.
ReplyDeleteBoth can offer cheaper tickets than LH
ReplyDeleteIs SKP now connected directly to all of the largest airports in Europe - CDG, LHR, AMS, MAD, FCO
ReplyDeleteHow? It has flights to none of those.
Delete@anon 14:46 Actually Wizzair connects SKP to FCO.
DeleteBut no longer connects SKP to BCN
DeleteWizz Air connects SKP to MXP, FCO, VCE, HAM, BER, CGN, GOT, CPH, not so bad..
Deletenot bad, so you don't need FRA at all, let alone LHR, CDG, AMS
DeleteAwesome !! Finally a new legacy carrier I love it
ReplyDeleteThis will be used heavily by passengers from USA and Canada.
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteI have a feeling people from Kosovo will also use these LH flights.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's likely to attract some passenger from that market.
DeleteNo, I don’t think so, because Eurowings low-cost carrier fly nonstop FRA-PRN cheaper than Lufthansa and passengers won’t waste time and money to travel via Skopje.
DeleteTAV has finally woken up.
ReplyDeleteThey realized they can no longer rely on Wizz for growth.
Deletewould like to believe you ... if they only started offering a similar incentives scheme as in ZAG
DeleteWell done !
ReplyDeleteIt could hurt LOT and its Canada transfers much more.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy with the high number og frequencies they are starting off with.
ReplyDelete*of
DeleteAnd with an A319, not sonething like CRJ900 which is great.
DeleteIf sales are good they will increase to double daily for sure
DeleteIs LH now the only airline with over night stop in Skopje?
ReplyDeleteNope druze. Austrian and the two exyu airlines do the same
DeleteBut they are turnarounds no? Don't they depart shortly after arriving
Deletedont know. Austrian arrives at 0.10 and departs at 4.30. Croatia arrives at 23.25 dep at 5.50. JU 1.40 - 4.10
DeleteFor JU it is a turnaround. Pretty sure it's the same for others. Lufthansa crew will have a mini layover in Skopje. The crew arriving on the night flights in SKP will do the afternoon flight from Skopje the following day.
Delete@Anon 16:16 Did LH crew did same in (for example) Belgrade,I mean mini layover?Because LH1407 (afternoon flight to Frankfurt),is very late like every day now,and they are only airline with very loong tournaround in Belgrade (much longer than scheduled).
DeleteYes, the LH crew has a layover in Belgrade. But I don't know exactly which crew does which flights because they mix them between Munich and Frankfurt. Austrian, Lufthansa, KLM, Hainan, and Qatar are the airlines with layovers in BEG. Flydubai has the layover but only for pilots, the crew goes straight back.
DeleteAdria crews had a layover in SKP. cant imagine OU crew sitting 7 hours in the plane at SKP during the night
DeleteThanks @16:49.A bit surprised about FZ and KL (for KLM now),but I remember LX overnights.
Deletelufthansa posada mora uvek imate najmanje 8 sati spavanja u hotelu. zato se zna desiti da imaju cak celi dan slobodno u beogradu , zagrebu ili sarajevu pa tek onda treci dan ujutro lete nazad .letove iz beograda za minhen leti iskljucivo posada koja je bazirana u minhenu a za frankfurt posada koja je bazirana u frankfurtu. isto tako ce biti sa skopjem.
DeleteThey took their time. Finally.
ReplyDeleteagree
ReplyDeleteThe question now is will LH overtake TK as Skopje's no. 1 transfer airline
ReplyDeleteThey first need to match Turkish's frequencies.
Deletesure but Turkish has a good O&D dont forget that
Delete^ Fair point.
DeleteYAAAAAAY, Finaly good transfers
ReplyDeletethey didnt even wait for the tender lol. Great news! Cestitki!
ReplyDeleteWhat are JU numbers between Belgrade and Skopje?
ReplyDeletesolid since they became the only reasonable transfer option to LJU
DeleteI'm glad to see this new tender working well and not relying on one and same airline. I hope more airlines will join the tender and SKP will finally be a totally different airport not only depending on Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteAir France, you're the next one ! :p
But the tender hasn't even started.
DeleteAir France in SKP? Hahahaha
Delete@17.05 calm down you said the same for LH
DeleteTHANK GOD! I'm almost crying out of happiness.
ReplyDelete- A frequent traveller from and to Skopje.
I know. major news for SKP
DeleteThis is a year round route right?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteAbout time. Don't know what they have been waiting for so long.
ReplyDeleteYes, LOT could be a casualty. Not just because of Canada. I remember reading here that LOT is actually one of the main airlines for flights transfers to Northern Europe but also places like Amsterdam. I have a feeling LH will take all of them over. But let's see. Hopefully the market will sustain both.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! When was the last time a legacy airline started flights to SKP? I think it has been a while.
ReplyDeleteLOT
DeleteWow. They started flights in 2018. So it will be 6 long years.
DeleteAegean started flights to SKP after LOT. Also, technically, Israir announced SKP - TLV in Jan 2020, but flights never materialised because of the pandemic.
Deletenow all eyes again on SKP-LJU route lol
ReplyDeleteI';m verry happy for Skopje. I just don't get why so few legacy airlines fly to Skopje. I mean what's the deal?
ReplyDeleteThis is really important for SKP. Not just because Lufthansa finally starts flights (long long overdue) but because of what could happen with the competition. It will be interesting to follow the developments now.
ReplyDeleteThe schedule allows for good transfer options.
ReplyDeleteone can wonder why LH allows Swiss to be overperformed by the likes of Chair on the SKP-ZRH route
ReplyDeleteIf I remember Swiss tried Skopje a few years ago didn't they? It was around the same time they failed in a number of ex-Yu cities. Zagreb included.
DeleteSwiss didn't fly Zurich-Skopje, they launched Geneva-Skopje which was discontinued.
DeleteWonder if next year they also start flights from Muncih.
ReplyDeleteMeant Munich*
DeleteIn Sarajevo they substituted Munich for Frankfurt. I think, for at least the next year or two the Skopje flights will only be operated from Frankfurt.
DeleteI think a one weekly summer seasonal to Ohrid from FRA is more likely
DeleteYes, that's a possibility, like their flights to Tivat.
Deleteexactly
DeleteSkopje airport is insolvent, it is kept alive by the Kosovar diaspora and this is because Pristina airport has the highest airport taxes in the region.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA
Deletewondering who could try the in the artcle mentioned Brussels and Amsterdam. Transavia to Schiphol maybe
ReplyDeleteGood news! I hope they will further expand, because the Balkan region certainly has potential, like in Sofia where they have daily 3x MUC; and up to 4x FRA operations.
ReplyDeleteThey also fly seasonally to MUC as LH and FRA from VAR as Eurowings Discover, which can only be booked on LH website and not Eurowings. Strange logic.
DeleteThis move hopefully will encourage other major airlines to give it a try in SKP. I'm referring to KLM, Air France and British Airways...
ReplyDeleteIt's a bold move to launch with double daily flights, I wish them good luck
Some comments show concern for Air Serbia. With myriad of new destinations Air Serbia will still have price, convenience and scheduling advantage over LH to many destinations. It makes more sense to connect via BEG to LJU or TGD/TIV than with via FRA. Long haul will certainly be cheaper with JU and some destinations like Russia won't be available on LH at all.
ReplyDeletemaybe they can be price competitive but convenience? (ancient ATR on SKP-BEG) and scheduling? (all the new destinations are few weekly). Are you really comparing the networks of LH with JU?
DeleteAncient ATR 72-600??? Ok.
Deletecome on you prefere to fly in a turbotrop or jet?
DeleteTransatlantic conections with AirSerbia from SKP are not good, layovers 6-12 hours. If they adjust the timing it will be nice, especialy with ORD flights, but as og now LH is where I am going. 😀
DeleteThe ORD schedule is already published and there good connections to SKP
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-chicago.html
I do know that is published and this ia what is says,
DeleteORD-BEG-SKP on a best day total time 18:55
ORD-FRA-SKP total time 12:45 or 15:05 depends what flight you want to take out of ORD.
So to me FRA sounds like way better connectioN than BEG, I am not sayg that its better for everybody else, just for me 😀
LOL it's like experts comparing Porsche 911 to VW Tiguan! 911 is sooooo much better! Until you compare the prices and realize both will take you in comfort from point A to point B.
DeleteAs evident by the number of SKP passengers flying on W6 without any upgrades, price is the king. Air Serbia will beat Lufthansa on some routes just like it already does from other destinations already serverd by both LH and JU.
Nobody compare apples to oranges here, the thing that was compared was the time.
DeleteWhen AirSerbia scheduled ORD i did commented that the layover to SKP it's to long and they should work on improving the regional network, sonthey can get all of the ex-yu pax on-board. Cause we already had Austrian with 2h, and LOT with 1h layover.
Honestly if I need to wait 9 h in beg to catch 45 min flight to SKP it doesn't make any sence to me.
Speaking of tiket prices, the price ia what the market is, supply vs demand, July-Aug prices are crazy, rest of the year are Cheap.
AirSerbia is 100-200$ cheaper that LH, OS, LOT.
If I have option to get somewhere faster for money I'll do it amd I am not saying everybody else will.
To me 6 extra hours in BEG and another 6 on the way back Total of 12 hours wasted. If I work 12h instead of wait somewhere I get 480$ so That's my Math. But not everybody else has the same math.
Talking about Wizz, this route has nothing to donwith Wizz, It's targeting 99% different market. So Comparing SKP-FRA route on LH with SKP to amy v8llage with flat area where Wizz can land it dosn't make aense, and yes, you are comparing Porsche to VW.
Anyway I'll will uae one Stop DTW-FRA-SKP becauae I am just sonhappy that after all this years aince MAT went bankropt finally we are having one stop optons drom DTW to SKP, cause it wass pain in the B*t traveling all these years with 2-3 stops or driving to ORD or YYZ
Besides there are daily flights between FRA-ORD which makes you as passenger more flexible.
DeleteThey didnt beat Austrian and Turkish which dominate teh transfer market let alone Lufthansa
DeleteDiaspora from Detroit obviously interested for DTW-XXX-SKP only. Glad for you that FRA is finally an option but pointless talking about other Air Serbia connectivity from SKP via BEG.
DeleteLufthansa its worst airline they are desperate as they're not doing so well. Me peeosnaly will not give a penny to that German company. Rather will pay more than use them. That's my personal choice. Their service it's mediocra and if you tramsvering via Frankfurt you have better chances to connect via Tasmania.
ReplyDeletethey are the first airline to return the Corona state help
DeleteFinally something good , and also finally we Macedonians are now connected with the world. This is great option to travel anywhere in the world and most North America where most of our diaspora living , and also the rest of us who want to go either North America or Asia. I am sure that this will be crowded route especially during summer period with tourists and also diaspora people returning home. Now we expect Doha and Dubai to return for our Australian diaspora and we are on good way. Istanbul , Vienna and Warsaw is not always a good option for our transit , and also Zagreb and Belgrade , I rather pay expensive direct flight to Frankfurt and connect to the rest of world , better then go and wait in Zagreb and Belgrade with hours.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that LH intentionally launched not 1, but 2 daily flights is obviously to take a market share. If it goes well, they might consider 1 daily MUC. Although the number of connections in FRA is quite large obviously compared to MUC.
DeleteFor example: BEG layover is 8hours if you travel ORD-SKP:
E
DURATION
FLIGHT AMENITIES:
Prices are in USD and ONE WAY (per passenger).
12:40
ORD
14:35
SKP
+1 day
18 hrs 55 mins
1 Stop
(BEG)
+1
(Amenities may vary per flight)
Air Serbia
JU 507
Airbus A330-200
Operated by Air Serbia
Air Serbia
JU 162
ATR 72
Operated by Air Serbia
See Economy cabin offers. Prices:
From
USD
531
.
00
per passenger
See Business cabin offers. Prices:
From
USD
1,839
.
00
per passenger
DETAILS
14 Jun, 12:40
Chicago
ORDChicago Ohare, Chicago O'Hare International, Ilinois, United States
Air SerbiaJU 507Operated by Air Serbia
Type of transport:Airbus A330-200
Travel time:9 hrs 50 minsNight transport
Departure terminal5
Arrival terminal2
Transportation arrives the next day
15 Jun, 05:30
Belgrade
BEGBelgrade, Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia
7 hrs 55 mins layover
Non alcoholic drink
Headset
In-flight hardware (screens)
Snack
110V plug
15 Jun, 13:25
Belgrade
BEGBelgrade, Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia
Air SerbiaJU 162Operated by Air Serbia
Type of transport:ATR 72
Travel time:1 hr 10 mins
Departure terminal2
15 Jun, 14:35
Skopje
SKPSkopje, Skopje International Airport, North Macedonia
With ORD Edelweiss is already incorporated in their fares so you have options via FRA,, VIE and ZRH hence layover is much shorter obviously.
Normal people compare prices above all.
DeletePrice sensitive people compare prices above all
Deleteps
whatever "normal people" means
Yes thats what I say it will be busy route for connections , and also there is alot Macedonians living in Frankfurt , student programs , Kosova citizens ..
DeleteThis is JU backyard, I expect them to hit back hard.
ReplyDeletebackyard maybe only geographically because airlines like Pegasus and Chair are bigger then JU at SKP (Before Corona even OU as well). The "hit back hard" means to finally wake up and send something bigger then the ATR
DeleteI don't remember that any other post about SKP or Macedonia had this many comments. So, I will say This is a BIG DEAL 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks God.
ReplyDeleteWas about the time.
Although LH has lost much of its old charm, still FRA is FRA.
Excellent news for SKP.
KLM c'mon - what are you waiting for.
AMS @ 3 times per week with e170 will be packed guarantee.
I use this route very frequently and this is a great news. So far I mainly used the connection through Vienna/ Zagreb or Belgrade and only few times Wizz via Hahn. I can say this will be very convenient option even knowing the prices might be slightly high. However the time you save and/ or the additional costs of traveling to Hahn will pay off. Definitely will not take another option that this one, once established. Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteWow this is amazing news, well done Lufthansa and Skopje Airport. As a frequent flier from Brussels to Skopje, I am already a fan of the double daily, A319-operated schedule. Hopefully this is staying permanent and increasing, given the dynamic economy of N Macedonia (and the region) and the ongoing EU membership negotiations
ReplyDeleteLufthansa did operate flights from Munich to Skopje 6 times a week with a CRJ up until 2001 circa when the conflict occurred. Prior to that Palair Macedonian, MAT Macedonian Airlines and Avioimpex had flights to Frankfurt in the 1990's post independence.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to fly on both Palair and Avioimpex to and from Frankfurt to Skopje vice versa. Cirrus came along later on behalf of Lufthansa to fly into Skopje and Ohrid as a feeder for transfer passengers part of an alliance arrangement.
Lufthansa's move into Skopje is unexpected considering Eurowings or Germanwings operated LCC routes into both Skopje and Ohrid. It is more to do with O and D plus also to mitigate the overflow of Austrian missing passengers.
In all of this it is to neutralise any flights to and from LJU from Skopje as you would be aware Adria did carry a bulk of P2P traffic to Frankfurt from Skopje via LJU. In addition to neutralise Air Serbia from ramping up further expansions of transfer traffic.
I am a long time reader and a first time poster. I do come from Rodney Marinkovic Land from down under. Best wishes thanks for reading my post.