Skopje Airport is expected to see a sharp decline in passenger numbers during the first part of winter, due to reduced operations by its largest carrier Wizz Air when compared to the same period last year. Although airlines are still likely to make some adjustments to their winter networks, Skopje Airport is expected to see its capacity levels on scheduled services drop by 10.1% in November, 16.4% in December, and 17.6% in January, with growth resuming from February onwards.
Wizz Air is the main culprit for the decline in capacity, as it continues to deal with ongoing engine inspections that will ground over thirty of its aircraft in the coming period. During the winter, the low cost carrier will cut its capacity by 20.1% at Skopje Airport, resulting in the removal of over 168.000 seats. This winter, the airline is no longer operating from the Macedonian capital to Bremen, Copenhagen, and Stockholm Skavsta. It has also reduced frequencies on a range of routes. Skopje Airport, which has seen its passenger figures decline since April when Wizz Air began reducing its operations, has seen a return to growth this September and October, which is also linked to the low cost carrier briefly increasing its operations over the two months. Wizz Air will return to more meaningful growth in Skopje from next summer, with the carrier to introduce new routes to Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart.
Carriers which have added the most capacity out of Skopje this winter include Pegasus Airlines, with over 58.000 additional seats, followed by Croatia Airlines with an extra 10.000 seats and Air Serbia with an additional 5.600 seats. On the other hand, apart from Wizz Air, low cost carrier easyJet will pull out of the Macedonian market as it discontinues its flights between Geneva and Skopje this Friday. Other carriers that have reduced their capacity this winter season include Aegean Airlines with over 14.000 fewer seats, SunExpress with over 10.000 fewer seats and Lufthansa, with close to 8.000 fewer seats. As previously reported, the airports in Belgrade and Ljubljana are also expected to face challenges during this winter season.
Wow those are big declines in December and January
ReplyDeleteGood thing is that from February 2025 there will not be any passport problems like this year ans the engine issues will start getting better from April-May , so I expect SKP to see good numbers from late May.
Delete@9.12 lol
Delete@11.14 lol x2
DeleteYou dont know anything else to write except lol , so misserable
Deletepassport problems🤦
DeleteWhat is here for lol? The growing in SKP will slowly start from february , march,april and may will have charters , plus June is the summer season which normally is busy for every airport and that automaticly is higher numbers. But you brain know only to write lol ,because thats ur capacity ;)
Delete13:39 and 7 years viasco ur government did not move with finger and play football in the office !!
Deletebut now Nikolovski will do, lol
DeleteHah its not real place to speak for politic , but yes as u can see he open two tender and he is minister 4 months , the previous ones open one tender in 7 years 🤧
Delete2018, 2023 ... yes its totally their fault that there was an pandemic inbetween
DeleteWait, we heard that only BEG has Wizz cuts...
ReplyDeleteW6 for now put Stochkol and Copenhagen as seasonal fligts only for the summer from SKP.
Delete09:03
DeleteWho said that?
You can easiyl guess...
DeleteI can't, please enlighten us.
DeleteIdeally witha link.
Kind regards.
Guys, don't waste your time on a self-proclaimed wannabe aviation wizard
DeleteNostradamus :D :D :D
DeleteSo, you got already a reply 🤣
DeleteTotalni nonsens
DeleteThat anallyst is like tarot dude from 10 years ago..
Deletepuno premalo znanja i puno previse s,,nja... I eto analista
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteHow many planes does Wizz have based in SKP this winter?
ReplyDeleteAlso are they all A320s?
Delete4 A320
DeleteAt least new routes next summer
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what kind of a deal they made in Budapest with Varady for next year onwards, but Skopje is in decline and if they don't manage to turn the tide soon, it will keep on losing passengers. And the issue is not only with Wizz I think. The airport management I think is too comfortable, and they are not trying very hard to get new airlines, and along with the blurry political/economical situation in the country, high corruption and with all the blockades with the EU integrations, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for my country soon...
ReplyDeleteTAV is saying that final decision to open new routes is airline , and they saying they are doing their best to bring new airlines and routes. But I think they need to make bigger efforts and bring some more LLC companies in our market.
DeleteAirport operator has nothing to do with new airlines.
Delete^ of course, that why every airport has network development planners.
DeleteTIA meteoric growth had definitely affected passenger numbers in SKP, OHD and PRN.
Delete@9:26 I have been told that by Fraport fanboys. And they are never wrong.
Delete@09:29 which airports does Fraport operates in Macedonia or Pristina?
DeleteADP operates SKP airport as part of TAV not Fraport.
DeleteClosest Fraport airport in SKP is SKG. So maybe we can blame them. 🤪
DeleteThere will be 4-5 new routes also in December , and from February we will see finally not cuttings and good numbers.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? What 4-5 new routes in December?
Delete4 to 5 new routes from the new call that will be opened this days , thats what they said. Not relates to this article just saying that there will be new routes becaude of the new call.
DeleteOk, they will have a public call but those routes won't launch in December
DeleteYes I meant 4 to 5 routes they will share in december not lanunching , for sure they will launch 2025.
DeleteQuite a lot of capacity removed. However, I am certain things will change in 2025.
ReplyDeleteYes but they also put some routes to everyday flights for 7 days like Dortmund in December.
DeleteWe can expect SKP good numbers from February-March and mostly from May and all the way through the summer
Delete09:17 Dortmund is already operating daily!!
Delete@9.17 You might have read in the article that they removed 160,000 seats. So daily Dortmund made no impact.
DeleteI didnt know Dortmund is already daily , thank you. No i didnt meant that Dortmund will change the game or cover the gaps , just saying that at least some routes are doing great and plus they are daily.
DeleteAlmost all routes of Wizz from SKP are doing great. In fact Dortmund was operated 10 times per week as od mid December last year until January this year when Wizz made cuts and flew two of their SKP based A321neos in Ostrava for storage. Memmingen was operating 9 times per week while Berlin, Cherleroi and Hamburg where operating daily. The big increase Wizz made in SKP last december when they brought the sixth jet here is why now we will have so much decline. From 6 to 4 jets plus all of them are A320 not A321s.
DeleteEvery route W6 having from SKP is always doing good , because they cover all the routes that our airport requires and there is demand. W6 very well know what we need and they launch the real routes.
DeletePity, but things will improve next year
ReplyDeleteThey will ;)
DeleteNow the question is will SKP manage to have more passengers this year than last (for the whole year)
ReplyDeleteNo it will finish 2.8 close to 2.9m , it will be a real surprise to reach 3m which I dont believe because there are still cuttings November and December
DeleteBut it says passenger numbers are up in September and October
Delete^ yes but not enough to cover november and december.
DeleteYes but september and octomber are close to 300k each month , which still not ne enough to reach 3m , and november and december will be less then 300k , so as I said we can expect 2.8 or 2.9 but not 3m ,just because of the last two months.
DeleteI wonder if the rapid growth of the Tirana airport has influenced negatively Skopje
ReplyDeleteNo there are other issues. First it was Covid,after passport problem , after W6 cuttings , the previous minister for transport never shown any interest for air traffic in our country and with couple years not doing anything this is the price now.
DeleteNot really. It is obviously related to Wizz Air. Since the airport depends on 60% of its traffic on Wizz Air, it will be impacted a lot when they reduce 20% of their Skopje capacity.
DeleteYes thats true for W6 , but what I want say is that in this scenario , they need to find solution , and that is bringing another low cost carrier to cover the gap.
DeleteI think W6 is blackmailing them into not allowing another LoCo opening a base there.
DeleteProbably I mean the same , and every government that comes are still in game with W6 ....
DeleteWhy have 90% of new routes from Skopje in the last 10 years been the result of subsidies? That's not normal.
ReplyDeleteIt was the only option.
DeleteIstanbul,Vienna,Zurich,Warsar,Belgrade,Zagreb and in summer Riga and Oslo are not subsided , the only routes that are subsided are W6 , why you are saying 90% of the market ?
Delete@9.58 not bored of repeating the same false claim eh?
DeleteHe is repeating this comment on almost every article , and he dont know the real status of the routes in SKP , just write non sense comments🤧
DeleteI'm sorry what is nonsense? Please list the routes which have been launched outside of the subsidy program in the last 10 years and then list the ones that have been laiuched as part of subsidy program.
Deleteare you unable to do that yourself? start with this airline blog, its everything here
DeleteOk when all the routes that I mentioned above were subsided since their launching ? Never , the 65% of the market is hold by W6 , thats the subsided routes , all othef 35% of the market never been subsided especially Istanbul,Vienna,Zurich,Warsaw,Belgrade,Zagreb , Ruga and Oslo never get any money from the country !!
DeletePlus Ajet,Pegasus,Sun express never get any money for serving from SKP I forgot to mentiom them.
Deletenot even 90% of W6 routes are results of sub to start with
DeleteRoutes of Wizz Air that got subsidies from Skopje:
DeleteRome Ciampino, Malta and Vaxjo launched when the fourth aircraft was based in 2017. The subsidies ended in 2020 and as we all know all of them continued to operate long after, with only Vaxjo discontinued now. FCO was operated five times per week last winter and MLA was four weekly this summer ( without subsidies ). Next, in 2014 when they deployed the second jet in SKP base they launched CRL, BVA and HHN with subsidies, all of them continue to operate now, 8 years after the subsidies ended. In 2015, when they deployed the third A320 and won the tender they launched Oslo, Hamburg, Barcelona, Nuremberg and Cologne, all of which continued to operate after the subsidies ended in 2018, only BCN was discontinued in 2022 due to the decreased tourism after the pandemic. In 2012 when they opened the base they got money for Malmo, Memmingen, Luton, Bergamo, Eindhoven and Basel, again, all of which continue to operate after the subsidies ended.
Routes with out subsidies:
Copenhagen, Berlin, Bratislava, Friedrichshafen, Hannover, Bologna, Treviso, Turin, Billund, Budapest, Gothenburg, Stockholm.
So, only half of the routes or 18-20 were with subsidies. Before saying that we pay for Wizz Air to have the base in SKP, think again. With all those tenders that we had in the past, we got new routes which are still operating now, ( most of them ). Those 7-10 euros per passenger is nothing when compared how big Wizz Air has become in SKP, thanks to those tenders. And if Wizz Air didnt make profit in SKP whey wouldnt have called the minister in Budapest just days before the public call is closed. All in All i cant say that more 30 million euros are spend on Wizz Air so far, which is nothing compared to what the government of Croatia is giving and of Slovenia was giving for example for their national carriers, one of which collapsed five years ago and the other one is still not making profit.
Again, it is not true that 90% of the routes are with subsidies, firstly because Wizz has 50% market share in SKP not 90% and second of all because not all routes of Wizz from SKP are subsidised. Maybe i am wrong for some of them above but still thats not true. Apart from them, we have Istanbul by Turkish, Sabiha by Pegasus and AJet, Izmir by Pegasus and SunExpress, Antalya by Pegasus and SunExpress, Athens by Aegean, Frankfurt by LH, VIE by OS, BEG by JU, ZAG by OU, Zurich by Chair and Edelweiss, RIX by Air Baltic, OSL by Norwegian, WAW by LOT, and we had DXB and DOH by FlyDubai and Qatar, SVO and LED by Nordwind Airlines all with out subsidies.
13:33 you are all right my friend , the best description evem , thanks for lettinf all the smartass with this info!
Delete^ Macedonia launched its 3 years subsidy program in 2012, not in 2017.
DeleteSubsidies awarded to Wizz Air in 2012 for launch of: Basel, Bergamo, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Malmo, Memmingen, Beauvais, Charleroi, Cologne, Gothenburg, Frankfurt Hahn and Stockholm
2014 tender (2015 launch) subsidies awarded to Wizz Air: Sandefjord, Barcelona, Lubeck Nuremberg
2018 tender (2019 launch) subsidies awarded to Wizz Air: Bremen, Karlsruhe, Turku, Larnaca,
2023 tender (2023/24 launch) subsidies awarded to Wizz Air and Lufthansa: Ljubljana, Stuttgart, Salzburg and Luxembourg (Wizz Air), Frankfurt (Lufthansa)
2024 tender (2025 launch) subsidies awarded to Wizz Air and Flydubai: Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart (Wizz Air), Dubai (flydubai)
So it is correct more than 90% of destinations launched by Wizz Air from Skopje were subsidized at some point.
DeleteOnly some of the W6 routes are subsides , all other routes SKP having never recieve any money.
DeleteOnly 'some'. More like 27...
DeleteOk and the airport have 40 routes
Delete@14:03 Maybe read more next time before commenting the same thing that i wrote.
Delete@14.03 2012 tender was for 6 routes only what are you talking about
Delete@14:16 Oh so now u are adding “at some point”. Yes now your comment makes sense. Of course they were subsidised at some point but since then they have been increased and are still in operation. Meanwhile in LJU for example they get money and operate the same number of flights, even reduce them.
Deletegosh somebody is obsessed with SKP, imagine me hanging on a ZAG or BEG topic all day
DeleteImagine being able to accept any sort of criticism?
Delete@17.29 Not true. You can find the full list of routes they got subsidies for and that is the full list of routes.
Delete@17.34 you gonna teach us ???
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2012/06/skopje-to-become-wizz-airs-17th-base.html
most embarassing ever
Stockholm launched by themselves
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2013/03/wizz-air-to-launch-stockholm-skopje.html
At least the not low cost routes are not subsided and they are 10 ;)
DeletePathetic after geting caught in a lie
DeleteI dont get it. I named the full list of routes which got subsidies from the government at some time. First answer the question what is wrong with giving subsidies? LJU, SJJ, OMO, BNX, TZL are all doing the same even ZAG reduced the costs for FR. SOF is also doing something in their favor same with TIA. Wizz Air can open those routes from SKP even with out subsidies, u think those 8 euros per passenger will make the flight profitable if it flies half empty most of the time? Stupidity. All i can see is jelaousy here and idk why, because of the success of those tenders and the growth of pax numbers? I just dont get it. Will u be happier tonight if we all say that u are right about the subsidies or what? This scheme is clearing working for the govenment and W6, thats the only important thing. Way better then having a national carrier and injecting milions of euros every year to cover their losses. Air Serbia also got state aid in 2013 when they were transitioning their fleet and network. So now we should say that if Serbia didnt pay money to them they wouldnt have planes to fly with today? Honey if CRL, EIN, MMX, GOT, TRF, BVA, LTN, HAM, BER, BRE, CGN, DTM, FMM, FDH, NUE, FKB, HHN, BSL, LJU, BTS, SZG, TSF, MXP, BLQ, FCO, MLA, BUD didnt work for them, they would have been discontinued till now just like VXO, TKU, BLL, TRN was. U are commenting about how funny it is to hang on this blog all day for this argument but u are the one who always brings it on the table with no sense.
DeleteLufthansa had good year in SKP , I dont know why they are down with 8k ... plus they were operating the flights with 319,320,321 ...its not that bed but still down 8k
ReplyDeletehow do you know
DeleteLufthansa also has planes grounded over engine inspections.
DeleteBecause I use this route often and It is very well used and the load factor is good , espeacilly in summer the planes were full both ways.
Delete11:18 probably that is the reason ;)
Delete@11.19 german data are online ... proveriv i pazi sto pisuvas
DeletePa kazi togas cim si proveril? Jas kazuvam od moe iskustvo koga letam so niv ednas do dva pati mesecno understand ?
Deleteproveri sam, understand?
DeleteLufthansa had good year in SKP , I dont know why they are down with 8k ... plus they were operating the flights with 319,320,321 ...its not that bed but still down 8k
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't blame Wizz directly for the issue with the engines, this shows that the airports need to attract different carriers
ReplyDeleteThats what we need , at least one low cost carrier.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteWe have been used to lots of growth from Wizz so this is unfortunate. Hope they manage to navigate this crisis and come back stronger.
ReplyDeleteThey will of course , just need time my friend , summer 2025 everything will start coming back slowly but sure.
DeleteWith less capacity ticket prices will go up.
ReplyDeleteWhich shows that the demand is here, if they are sure they will fill up the plane anyway, of course the prices will be up. Only Vaxjo was empty.
Deletethis was the perfect timing for Ryanair to attack Wizzair at SKP. Unfortunately, they never came.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will ever come to SKP
DeleteWhy?
DeleteBecause every our government in Macedonia is having close relations to W6 and Hungary us country , especially VMRO now , our closest friend country after Serbia and Turkey is Hungary....
DeleteI expect huge growth in summer 2025.
ReplyDeleteWe all expect that , thats also what they announce everytime :))
DeleteSo SKP-LUX completely cancelled? Not coming back at all?
ReplyDeleteNo some of the routes will come back but after March-April , W6 will slowly return the routes from spring 2035 , but of course they will first return the ones they think are in higher demand.
DeleteSpring 2025*
DeleteLUX is gone entirely from Wizz network
DeleteI also think that there is no real demand for LUX and instead of that we should get another route.
DeleteFraport well at work!
ReplyDeleteWow not such a good winter at ex-Yu airport
ReplyDelete*airports
DeleteWe all know this since the engine issues start , It could be even worse ...
DeleteActually for Bosnian and Croatian airports is very good.
DeleteOf course it's good in Bosnia. All new routes are paid by taxpayers in Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla
DeleteEven its good for them Bosnian airports still did not reach Macedonian numbers , they are not even close.
Deleteits good when you start from zero
DeleteOf course👍
Deletethe only exception is ZAG
DeleteWell ZAG's growth is based on subsidies to Ryanair. Otherwise passenger numbers would still be below 2019 levels. Same as DBV.
DeleteOtherwise otherwise...
DeleteGreat to see Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia in top 3 for capacity growth.
ReplyDeletewhat had we all to read about Croatia Airlines at SKP
DeleteEspecially Croatia is doing amazing job in SKP , you can notice that witn sending A220 and A319 on almost every flight :D
DeleteBased on their load factor on Skopje route during the first half of thee year if is far from amazing. But maybe their yields are good.
DeleteFrom May until Octomber they are doing amazing ...
DeleteYou cant assume that they are doing amazing based on the aircraft they are using om the route. We all know how good OU is managed. They use A319/320 in summer and Q400 in winter for some years now in SKP. There was an article here about their pax numbers on SKP flights and they are not good. Also, i assume u are the same guy who commented about LH. Yes in September we had many A321s of LH in SKP but that doesnt mean that they are doing great the whole
Deleteyear. Maybe when they are sending the A319 they are half empty? How do u know that?
No I am saying based on the info that we see here for this route , not only for the planes they send , as we know this route from year to year groews and grows . I would say they send A220 emptu for no reason also 319 , when they send them thry are occupied thats for sure.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/09/intra-ex-yu-routes-see-strong-passenger.html
DeleteTheir growth is just 1% and still down on 2019
that is for H1
DeleteQ* sorry
DeleteWhat are Croatia Airlines' top transfer destinations for SKP passengers?
DeleteLike they fly to many routes from ZAG so there are top.
DeleteThat Aegean number cannot be right? 14k mean 304 flights aka 60 flights less a month?
ReplyDeleteFigure is correct. Last winter 12 weekly operations from SKP. This year just 6 and smaller capacity plane.
Delete@11.24 your math is incorrect.
Delete14k/46 = 304 flights (1 flight = 46 seats)
DeleteYour first issue being that last winter almost all flights operated with ATR72.
DeleteThe figure is correct. During 2023/24 winter season Aegean Airlines had a total of 312 Skopje operations of which 37 were on the ATR42 and 275 on ATR72. That's compared to 158 operations this winter, all of which are scheduled on ATR42. The difference in operations is 154 and difference in capacity 14.234.
Deletea mix of ATR72/42 but that could be it
DeleteDo A3 numbers for last year include the SKP-SJJ route or just the SKP-ATH one?
DeleteBoth. It is the same airline operating out of Skopje.
Deleteon what is based the better numbers in Feb? Wizz?
ReplyDeleteIts based on the statistic from this year. Last December and this January Wizz had massive growth in SKP with 6 planes, and as od February this year they reduced it on 4 A320s which will be the same case in February 2025, thats why there wont be decreases, but its still going to be bad.
DeleteSo from february will not starting to be better with W6? Or from the summer ?
DeleteThe growth will come mainly from other airlines. In February, Wizz Air's capacity will be down just 0.4% year-on-year and in March it will increase 0.5%
DeleteSo that means the other airline also with the new charters will mainly bring the increase , at least something is positive.
DeleteAdmin can we expect W6 to be better in summer or its still early ?