Turkish delight

Macedonia eyes Turkish Airlines
According to the Macedonian newspaper “Utrinski Vesnik”, TAV, the Turkish operator of Macedonia’s airports, is lobbying for Turkish Airlines to become the national carrier of Macedonia. TAV has said that Macedonia urgently needs a national carrier in order for its airports to become competitive in the region. TAV representatives in Macedonia did not wish to comment on the news. The Macedonian Civil Aviation Directorate told the newspaper that they would be pleased if Turkish Airlines were to apply for a national carrier permit. They believe that Turkish Airlines would easily receive it.

Zoran Kristevski, the director of the Directorate said that, “Turkish Airlines would have to apply for a permit. They would have to submit a business plan and choose whether they would want to be a charter or scheduled carrier. Turkish already operates services to Macedonia and is a renowned world carrier. They have a strong presence in the region as well”. Kristevski also said that if Turkish Airlines were to apply for national carrier status, the Directorate would follow European Union regulations and procedures. He added that changes to the Macedonian aviation law will see the enforcement of the open sky policy. It would also allow the Government to subsidise routes and as a result entice airlines to operate flights to both Skopje and Ohrid. The law could also introduce relaxed rules on airline ownership which would pave the way for Turkish Airlines to become Macedonia’s national carrier.

Turkish Airlines owns a 49% stake in B&H Airlines. It is currently holding talks with Jat Airways about possible future ownership. Last year, rumours circulated that Turkish Airlines was close to becoming the national carrier of Macedonian. However, in the end, the carrier itself denied these rumours.

Meanwhile, TAV announced that the main construction work at Skopje and Ohrid Airport will commence in a month and a half.

Comments

  1. smederevac11:30

    Do we want the Turks back in the Balkans? Would there not be some sort of conflict of interest atleast from a national point of view having your airports and national carrier owned by an overseas company?

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ smederevac,

    Prvi srpski ustanak iz over. This is 21st century. I don't care, and neither should you, which country is behind the airline for as long as your country will benefit from it. Some countries have their national airlines owned by foreign countries, and they don't seem to have issues with it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hah, TK is now with B&H Airlines plus potential owner of JAT and national carrier of Macedonia. If only it would buy Olympic Airlines it could easily become worlds' biggest carrier in Balkan. :)
    Imagine B&H, FYRoM, Serbia and Turkey together in one single airline. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for the region. Belgrade could be main regional hub with some new routes and of course with fleet renewal. ;))

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why would you want Turkish airlines in either FYRO Macedonia or as the buyer of Jat?

    How much have they done for BH airlines??????

    ReplyDelete
  5. JU520 BEGLAX15:23

    I welcome TK in the former Yugoslavia. Very good airline, smart managers has given them good success lately.
    IST the gateway to Afria, Middle East, Asia and one day to Australia

    Don t see why this should not be good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Macedonian15:34

    I hope that this wont will be bad for the Macedonians... and a plea to the novelist of exyuavation.blogspot.com

    the macedonians allready have a ariline... it called skywings!
    http://www.skywings.info/?lang=en

    ReplyDelete
  7. Macedonia15:55

    Could at least our former Yugoslav brothers refrain from labeling us the most insulting Former Yugoslav abbreviation for our country? Imagine if I call Croatia Former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia or Former Yugoslav Republic of Serbia...Yes if fact it is correct but it's not pleasant!

    It's understandable to get such treatment from our enemies - Greece, but to get that name calling from a Croat or a Serb that we both had a mutual history and a Republic until 20 years ago?! It's starting to be insulting.

    PLease author don't delete my post I hope Q400 will change his mind.

    Bratski pozdrav od bratskata Makedonija.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous16:02

    I think whoever deleted my post (for suggesting a Kosova Airlines be launched, as a result of JU500's remark to Macedonia) as unacceptable. The name is Macedonia, if my post got deleted then whoever wrongly labels my country and insults it should have their post deleted too. Play FAIR!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Aham, OK. I got the point.
    Sorry for that, I wasn't aware of what I wrote. I didn't mean anything racisistic and I didn't want anyone to insult. I wrote it just because I wanted to use an abbreviation. It was an honest mistake and it won't happen again.

    Sorry again and cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Macedonia

    Don't worry. We still love you guys regardless of how they name your country :)

    @ JU500

    Tebe bas lako zanese u Engleskom :) Dodao sam te na MSN ali nigdje te nema ili ti vec spavas kad sam ja gore :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous18:44

    We all celebrated when THY came to BHAirlines. What happened ? They rented one of their old crap of plane to BhAirlines to operate one more service to Istanbul !?
    To Macedonian friends... there is nothing you can get from the Turks, so don't let capitalist to takeover your airline.
    I'm Bosniak btw...

    ReplyDelete
  12. :)))
    People, this is an aviation blog, lets not make a big scene here. We are all together here for one purpose and we should stick to it, OK? Lets put the awful history behind us and lets forget the politics and politicians and everything that is not about airplanes, airlines, routes etc. :)

    @Sam
    I replied to you via MSN ;)

    p.s. Now I have one question to all of you :D does anyone know something about CSA OK9034 and Lufthansa LH7448S flights listed on beg.aero? They appear in the flight schedule but they never seem to arrive or depart BEG airport.

    p.p.s. Tomorrow is the day when Spanair is finally making it's first BCN-BEG-BCN flight! I can't wait! :)))
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. @ JU500

    Will check when I get home. Working till 6 p.m. today

    I am so happy about BEG-BCN flights and will be even more when BEG-MAD commences. Visited Madrid 2 years ago and almost stayed to live there :)

    Anyone flying there soon?

    ReplyDelete
  14. JU520 BEGLAX19:46

    @JU 500

    these are trucks operated by the airlines for their aircargo.

    All the cargo which does not fit into their bellies, is moved via trucks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. JU520 BEGLAX19:55

    @Sam

    the first flights of JP to BCN and MAD are well booked..

    22APR for example (first flight)

    LJU-BCN 142 Y 000 C - A320
    BCN-LJU 009 Y 000 C - A320

    25APR

    LJU-BCN 064 Y 000 C - A320
    BCN-LJU 136 Y 000 C - A320
    LJU-MAD 173 Y 001 C - A320
    MAD-LJU 038 Y 000 C - A320

    29APR

    LJU-BCN 160 Y 000 C - A319
    BCN-LJU 030 Y 002 C - A319
    LJU-MAD 033 Y 000 C - CRJ9
    MAD-LJU 103 Y 000 C - CRJ9

    A320 has 162 seats total
    A319 has 135 seats total
    CRJ9 has 086 seats total

    ReplyDelete
  16. @ JU520

    Seems as some flights are overbooked again, unless they use A319 + CRJ200.

    Spain is experiencing a deep recesion. I guess they must have some great vacation deals.

    ReplyDelete
  17. JU520 BEGLAX21:33

    @Sam

    yep you are right. As soon we get closer to the departure dates will recheck if any double flight ops is planned.

    Right now I don t see anything.

    Hopefully the Spanair flights ex BEG and ZAG will be that succesful too....

    bytheway tonight ex LJU to IST there is a double operation:

    2 CRJ900 are flying LJU-IST

    Have a good afternoon

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:31

    Should Turkish Airlines be granted to be Macedonia's national Airline, will this mean that TK will be establishing a new airline in Macedonia?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous13:28

    btw

    Bulgaria Air launch Macedonia service from Jun 10

    http://airlineroute.net/2010/04/15/fb-sofskp/

    ReplyDelete
  20. number of passengers at Macedonian airports in February has increased compared to the same period last year.
    A total of 36,153 passengers were recorded last month both at the Skopje and Ohrid airports, which is a 3,6% increase compared to February 2009, when 34,883 passengers were transported, the Ministry of Transport and Communications informs. A total of 36,153 passengers were recorded last month both at the Skopje and Ohrid airports, which is a 3,6% increase compared to February 2009, when 34,883 passengers were transported, the Ministry of Transport and Communications informs.

    34,481 passengers were recorded last month at "Alexander the Great" airport in Skopje, which is a 1,7% increase in relations to February 2009. 34,481 passengers were recorded last month at "Alexander the Great" airport in Skopje, which is a 1,7% increase in relations to February 2009. The number of charter flights has also gone up by 61,7%. The number of charter flights has also gone up by 61,7%.

    In February, the "St. Paul The Apostle" airport in Ohrid registered 1,672 passengers - a 70,6% increase than the same period in 2009. In February, the "St. Paul The Apostle" airport in Ohrid registered 1,672 passengers - a 70,6% increase than the same period in 2009

    Very poor figures but that is life :)

    ReplyDelete

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