Skopje Airport set for busiest winter on record


Skopje Airport is expected to witness its busiest winter season to date, with three new routes to begin in the coming months. During the winter period, which begins on October 29 and runs until March 30, Skopje Airport has 1.592.254 seats on offer on 9.091 scheduled flights. It represents growth in capacity of over 60% on the pre-pandemic 2019. Fuelling the increase is Wizz Air, which will base its sixth aircraft in the Macedonian capital this December, introduce two new routes - Ljubljana and Luxembourg - and boost frequencies on nine existing services. Wizz Air will account for roughly 65% of Skopje Airport’s total capacity during the winter.

Lufthansa, which commenced ten weekly operations between Frankfurt and the Macedonian capital this summer will maintain the service over the winter as well and will be Skopje’s fourth largest carrier in terms of available seats. Another newcomer over the winter months is SunExpress, which is upgrading its seasonal summer flights from Antalya and Izmir to Skopje to year-round operations. The carrier plans to maintain two weekly services from Antalya with the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft and one weekly rotation from Izmir to the Macedonian capital with the B737-800 jet throughout the upcoming winter. Greece's national carrier Aegean Airlines will commence a three weekly service between Skopje and Sarajevo, to complement its six weekly flights from Athens.

Largest airline by capacity in Skopje during 2023/24 winter season


Skopje Airport is expected to continue its record passenger run achieved so far this year. During the January - July period, it welcomed 1.541.952 passengers, up 18.5% on the same period during the pre-pandemic 2019. “We are glad to see that the surge in air travel continues in 2023, and with consumer confidence in air travel back, combined with our excellence in airport service quality, we expect that this year will be one of reaching new milestones in passenger numbers for both of Macedonia’s airports”, the General Manager of operator TAV Macedonia, Nejat Kurt, said.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    wow who would have thought that Pegasus would be the second largest airline in SKP

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      Especially that they are bigger than TK in SKP!

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    2. Anonymous10:39

      wondering if they think of starting Ankara

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    3. Anonymous10:43

      Because Pegasus have two routes from Skopje

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    4. I was sure it was Croatia Airlines, hahahahahahahaha

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Excellent work. That's huge growth.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      Especially after you take into consideration the huge growth in TIA.
      It doesn't seem to have affected SKP traffic at all!

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    2. Anonymous09:34

      Shouldn`t TIA affect OHD more than SKP?

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  3. Anonymous09:06

    That's a massive share by Wizz

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  4. Anonymous09:07

    What happened with the two other destinations Wizz was supposed to introduce from SKP,? They won the subsidy tender with 4 routes

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      Yes Stuttgart and Salzburg. Wondering the same

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    2. Anonymous09:12

      They probably don't have enough planes and I would not be surprised if those don't stay until next summer.

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    3. Anonymous09:25

      Their staffing issues are far worst than their fleet issues.
      Sadly they are profitable again.

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    4. Anonymous09:41

      Why sadly that they v are profitable?

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    5. Anonymous10:23

      Because their business model is bad for all aviation jobs. They force domestic airlines out of business, demand airports to subsidize them and depress all wages.

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    6. Anonymous10:28

      Probably those two will be launched next summer. Yes there are not enough planes as all six jets from Skp will fly on three or four routes per day. Plus they have problems with cabin crew in skp cause many people are becoming cabin crew here with connections, those who really desreve the job are not qualified. And after two or three months, the ones who entered eith connections just because they though that they job is easy are quitting and there is lack of staff once again.

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    7. Anonymous10:41

      @9.07 good question but they might be issues with both airports (negotiations)

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  5. Anonymous09:09

    SKP should really not put all its eggs into one basket. Many European airlines have a healthy mix between LC carriers (W6/U2/FR), but relying on one airline for almost 70% of the traffic is just wild.

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  6. Anonymous09:11

    I noticed Aegean has finally put SKP-SJJ on sale!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      What are the fares like?

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    2. Anonymous09:22

      ^^^
      253€ return.

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    3. Anonymous09:41

      Expensive

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    4. Anonymous10:25

      Very much so but it is probably just the expensive booking classes that are being loaded to the system first.
      We should wait for a few days.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:15

    The demand for another European Hub (FRA) was always there-great that it was addressed but pity it took so long

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  8. Anonymous09:27

    How many airports in Europe can boast an 18,5% increase in traffic vs 2019?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      All the ones that didn’t have much of a traffic in 2019

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    2. Anonymous09:36

      Anon 09:34
      Unlike them SKP had a lot of traffic in 2019.

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    3. Anonymous09:43

      @9 27 TIA, BEG and PRN come to mind.

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  9. Anonymous10:07

    Unfortunately, none of the flights at the airport are from a local airline...
    I cannot understand why there is not a single airline in Macedonia.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      Cause everything is corrupted here.

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    2. Paloma maramica10:44

      @10.07 and @10.31 from Adria Airways with love

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:36

      Because they don't subsidise a national airline like most countries, instead they subsidise routes which works out much cheaper.

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    4. Real corruption would be in case having flag carrier. From Croatia Airlines with love 😃

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  10. Anonymous10:31

    Skopje Airport handled over 300k passengers in July and i think its the first time for skp, great numbers!

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  11. Anonymous10:34

    60%? wow

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  12. Anonymous10:53

    Skopje handles 300k in July , I think and thats record too, 2019 has 295k something like that ... Can't imagine how if will be when Doha ànd dubai come back agaim ....

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:08

      no in 2019 was 260k

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    2. Anonymous11:11

      Great numbers indeed. Even with lower pax numbers it gets crowded at the airport sometimes. Must say, glad I didn`t have to take a flight from/to SKP this July.
      Fingers crossed for return of at least 1 of the middle-east carriers (preferably QR)
      Pity they aren`t around to capture the diaspora traffic from Australia this summer.

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    3. Anonymous11:18

      11:08 ops wow thats a big difference then , and now its more then 300k ...
      11:11 Well I think in near future there must be expanding of the terminal building , and I think that will happen soon ...the airport has so much potential and its shows that .. Qatar and flydubai will come back next year , they want to see numbers recovering and growing and thats what is happening right now.

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    4. Anonymous11:35

      ''Can't imagine how if will be when Doha ànd dubai come back agaim ....'' You can not imagine? Even in the unlikely scenario that they actually resume operations in SKP, it's literally just 2 more routes.

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    5. Anonymous11:43

      They will come back one day thats for sure , those 2 routes are pretty much important not only for the Australian diaspora also connection to Asia , and I can see Macedonian tourist agencies offer Dubai in all year round program and its succesfull , now all that people go Sofia or beg . SKP will have more routes , you will see that scenario!!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:49

      Sure thing buddy 😊 I'm rooting for you guys, keep working hard

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:21

    Admin do you know will Wizz launch Stuttgart and Salzburg this winter ?

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  14. Anonymous11:24

    cant believe there is not a single route from Eurowings, Ryanair and only one from Easyjet

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  15. Anonymous11:28

    Aegean finally tapping into the West Europe transfer market

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:05

      Do we know if the second new route out of SKP will be launched and where?

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    2. Anonymous16:45

      no

      Delete
  16. Anonymous12:13

    Bravo. Svaka pohvala za Makedoniju. Ni sanjao nisam da Skoplje moze ovakav napredak da napravi, mia colpa :-)))Samo napred !

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  17. Anonymous12:39

    Very impressive given the Australian diaspora relied on Qatar and Emirates/flydubai, surely at least one middle eastern airline will return for next summer and boost numbers further.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous13:05

    Would be great to see connections to DXB and DOH again. The demand is there.
    Also maybe Eurowings might think again about introducing flight to MUC as they habe planned couple of years ago. Transavia would be a great addition too with flights from AMS to SKP and seasonal OHD.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:10

      Nah, only DUS is an option for Eurowings. STR too but not sure now with Wizz having it "reserved" for them or not

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    2. Anonymous13:22

      Transavia from ORY would be great too

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  19. Anonymous13:36

    I think more realistic scenario is to see in future Lufthansa with Munich flights , and Wizz with Dusseldorf ..

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  20. Anonymous13:38

    Easyjet , Transavia , Ryaniar , Eurowings should consider launching new routes from SKP , its is huge demand of routes and the airports has great potential too

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:10

      Vueling, Volotea

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    2. Anonymous18:49

      18:10 Yes I forgot to mention that airlines , it looks like all of them are afraid from Wizz to enter the market ...

      Delete
  21. Anonymous13:48

    Amazing for SKP, but what about OHD? Seems like nothing's happening down there. No new routes, even existing ones are being downgraded for the winter season. Can't book flights to BEG nor MMX and MLH for the upcoming winter season. Sadly, seems like there will be very few flights from Ohrid this winter, bearing in mind there IS a potential for the airport and the region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:54

      OHD is doing pretty much good this summer season , the city is full with tourists from around the world , have more flights from UK and Netherlands , also BEG , I think next summer will have more routes. But will see how it will be for the winter.

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    2. Anonymous14:22

      "pretty much" is debatable ... and flights from the Netherlands are not even halve of what they were (due to dutch airport issues , must add). Overall they should change the approach for Ohrid, they are stuck with this idea of year round flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:14

      Flights from UK and NL are charter if I am not wrong, though the airport needs regular flights. Air Serbia is a fantastic addition as it provides amazing connections to Europe and even USA via BEG, but needs to run year - round. Also, there is demand for at least one aircraft based there from a low - cost carrier, either Wizz Air or Ryanair, for sure.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:18

      Says who?

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    5. Anonymous17:18

      UK flights aren't charter, they're a regular schedule. Macedonia is actually being marketed by tourism companies in the UK because of these flights.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:34

      @17.18 correct and MAN is going two weekly

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    7. Anonymous18:45

      If for you flights from London , Manchester ,Amsterdam , Maastricht , Warsaw , Katowice , Belgrade is not enough for city of just 50k population then I dont know what you expect. And there is plus Vienna , Zurich , mulhouse , memingen ,Malmo , dortmund . And next year there will be more routes, plus plan of new terminal building ...

      Delete
    8. Anonymous19:07

      They should really get some Zadar-style support scheme for seasonal flights. Destinations like Charleroi, Eindhoven, Götteborg, Berlin, Hahn and Rome have enough diaspora to make them work plus tourists. Add two polish routes (Warszaw and Krakow) and one exyu route ZAG and there you go. I would even spend the rest of the tender-budget only on summer routes to Ohrid

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:38

      Thats nice opinion and I completly agree with you , thats why I say OHD has potential and I think in near future there will be more new routes summer and regular. I think government will invest more and more on this airport , for next year there is talks with many new airlines to enter. Will see how it will go

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:00

    SKP more then 300k pax in July and Ohrid 50k in july , Macedonia keeps winning :)))

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:18

      no. its 40 for Ohrid

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:10

    too dependant on Wizz IMHO. How to diversify?

    ReplyDelete

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