Wizz Air plans further growth in Skopje and Ohrid in 2025

Wizz Air anticipates expanding its operations from both Skopje and Ohrid, building on its recently announced new routes from the country. The low cost carrier will introduce services from the Macedonian capital to Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart, along with a new route from Ohrid to Basel after securing state subsidies for their launch. Wizz Air’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi, who visited Skopje last week, said, “We have been in Macedonia for some time now and essentially what you are now seeing in the country is largely what we have established and delivered in terms of travel infrastructure for the Macedonian people and for those who want to come and visit Macedonia. I think the government can make different choices as to how they want to support airline development and how they want to contribute to stimulating the market. We are happy with whichever way the government chooses to do that. I think our objective here in Macedonia is to make sure that we continue to develop airline infrastructure and make travel accessible to people”.

Mr Varadi acknowledged that the carrier's network cuts have affected the Macedonian market but emphasised that Wizz Air plans to rebound by restoring frequencies and routes starting next year. “We have been in a very particular situation in the current year because some of our engines have been recalled by the engine manufacturers for inspection and, as a result, we have a significant portion of our fleet on the ground. Around 20% our fleet is non-operational. So, out of the 225 aircraft that we have in our fleet, 45 aircraft are not operating because of these engine inspections now. They will come back over time but, at the moment, they are not operating. As a result, we had to make some cancellations, not only in Macedonia but across our entire network. This engine situation will stabilise. We are at the tipping point as we speak”. He added, “In 2025 we are expecting the business to grow 15 - 20% which is significant because right now we are carrying 63 million passengers a year. We would be looking at almost 75 million passengers to be carried next year so that will create opportunities for growth in Macedonia adding back some of the routes that have been cut and also looking at new routes to be added to the to the system”.

The CEO highlighted that in addition to cities in the European Union, Wizz Air sees value in expanding from Macedonia to other parts of the continent and beyond, however, he noted the airline is restricted due to bilateral air agreements. “We want to be a good citizen and create value for Macedonia. The problem we are facing here is that Macedonia has an agreement with the European Union with regard to European Open Skies so it is unlimited to fly between the Europe Union and Macedonia, but when you try to enter other geographies then those destinations remain subject to regulatory approvals, and they may become difficult because the system works very differently from the Open Sky. That's why our focus has been on developing our European network from Macedonia but, of course, if there are other opportunities we could consider we would be looking at those opportunities too”.