Wizz and Adria in Ohrid expansion

New flights from Ohrid Airport next summer

Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport is soon expected to become a whole lot busier as local authorities have decided to provide subsidies to Wizz Air and Adria Airways to launch services to the lake side town next year. The Mayor of Ohrid, Nikola Bakračeski, says a total of 200.000 euros will be allocated for the subsidised services, with the nearby town of Struga also set to participate in funding the flights. Statistics show some 30% of passengers using Skopje Airport come from western Macedonia.

Wizz Air has identified northern Italy, Switzerland and Germany as potential destinations from Ohrid. Furthermore, the airline believes it could attract passengers from Albania as well due to the town’s close proximity to the Albanian border. The new flights from Ohrid mark yet another expansion for Wizz Air in the region and Macedonia which will base a second aircraft in Skopje next summer. Adria has also expressed its interest to launch services from Ljubljana to Ohrid. The Slovenian carrier once operated the flights on a seasonal summer basis before they were discontinued due to cost cutting measures. It has been confirmed that Air Serbia will maintain its seasonal summer flights to Ohrid next year.

Ohrid is currently served only on a seasonal summer basis by Jat Airways with flights from Belgrade, Jetairfly from Brussels and the Turkish-Dutch charter company Corendon Airlines which will operate flights from Amsterdam and Eindhoven to the town until at least 2015. The airport was once much busier when MAT Macedonian Airlines maintained year long scheduled flights, prior to its bankruptcy. In August 2013, Ohrid Airport handled 16.463 passengers.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:44

    I can't believe that Macedonia is able to give 12 million € to Wizz for Ohrid, and Serbia can't give any money to INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      because they give it to their own pockets! that's easier...

      Delete
    2. Nooo it's mistake, it's not 12M Euro it's 12M Denar (1e = 62d or 12M denar = 200.000e) hahahahahahha 12milion euro it's too much hahahah..... not have reason because Wizz from skopje flight take 5M for next 3 year icluding 2015. Also ADMIN correct the error.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:59

      Admin I am disappointed in you...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:02

      I agree with first Anonymous Nis also should consider sub. Wizz instead of Montenegro Airline, with 3 new routes from INI, they finally can become profitable airport.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous11:36

    I have a feeling that Wizz will start with Gothernburg/Malme, Venice/Milan, Zurich and Dortmund in Ohrid

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:54

      if adria and wizzair coninute that kind of regional expansion, air serbia will probably have some heavy problems to get passangers on regional flights. sure there are perhaps lower prices (which is in case of wizzair really hard to achive), but respectevly the real costs are always higher for two connected whlights (like Zurich-Belgrade-Ochrid), than for one single flight (Zurich-Ochrid): double airport taxes, two crews involved, two landings, two taking offs . . .

      Delete
  3. as always with interviews with YU-politicians, take this with caution ;)

    Wizz: the italian destinations (at SKP) are the only ones that will not see a frequency increase so i doubt there is need for more , but BASEL could easily work from OHD

    same for Adria , they could only jump in on the SKP/OHD - ZRH market (and DUS perhaps) , similar like they did in PRN . They have a good reputation in Macedonia, and could easily compete with Helvetic.
    Helvetic is charging 450€ for OHD-ZRH and >300€ for SKP-ZRH (thats big money in the game)

    oh i see JAt double daily SKP-BEG in S14 (A319 and A320)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might be wrong but I think Adria will get subsidies for Ohrid-Ljubljana flights, the same way they did back in Banja Luka.

      As for some mentioning that Air Serbia will struggle. I disagree, they might face more competition but looking at their summer timetable one can see that they have big plans for SKP.
      Let's not forget that one of their first A320 destinations was SKP. Furthermore, one advantage most legacy carriers in ex-YU have over Wizz Air is that they have higher frequency of flights towards the big European cities.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:37

      @ Nemjee

      I found it really difficult to follow you. A company, respectfully JU, may have A 320, A 330 or A 380, it doesn´t change the fact they have far more administrative (taxes) and real costs when taking passangers from Skoplje or Ohrid via Belgrade to Zurich, than Wizzair And Adria flying direclty form Skoplje or Ohrid to Zurich. The only solution would be for Air Serbia to start DIRECT flights from Skoplje or even Ohrid to Zurich and other destinations with Macedoninan immigrants.

      Delete
    3. I do not agree with you. If what you were saying was true then we would not have airlines such as Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot or the Persian Gulf giants. All of these are offering one stop flights interlinking almost all continents. For example, all Persian Gulf airlines are concentrated on the United Kingdom. A great share of their passengers are heading to the Indian subcontinent, a region which sees quite a few direct flights. Yet they manage to fill their planes... and some of them even make a profit while doing that. The key thing is to have a cost structure which will allow you to do that. Etihad did exactly that with Air Serbia. That is why they can offer competitive fares out of regional cities and still make money. Naturally, these fares will be higher when compared to those of Wizz Air but some people don't mind paying €50 to €100 more to fly on a legacy carrier and land at a decent airport and not in some remote airport in the middle of a random field.
      Also, don't you think that at one point the government in Skopje will get tired of cashing out millions of Denars to Wizz Air when it can actually support Air Serbia and other airlines which are ready to fly into SKP and OHD without any government assistance?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:20

      Lufthansa and Turkish are taking the transfer passangers for long distance flights, which is somethiong completely different. They fly the Belgrade-Frankfurt route with more costs than profit, but therefore make balance with 800 or 1200 euros tickets to overseas. And JU will have to take transit passangers from Skoplje to bring them to Belgrade and fly them over to Zurich for 100 euros.

      Sure enough, Lufthansa also takes passangers for Moscow or Paris or Brussels via Frankfurt - it´s always better to have SOME income, than to fly with empty seat. But what really makes the profit of Lufthansa and Turkish profitable are not the passangers flying for 120 from Belgrad via Frankfurt to Brussels. Profit is brought from the pasangers who book the intercontinental flights 4, 6, 12 months in advance. That´s why the cheapest seats by Lufthansa for Euroipean transfer flights are always sold 3 months before departure - it´s a golden time where almost all passangers intereted in intercontinetal transfer already have a ticket, and what stays is to sell the remaining seats in the airplane "poshto-poto".

      It´s just out of a rational business.

      Delete
    5. Well if Lufthansa's short to medium-haul routes were bleeding red ink, I am sure they would have transferred them all to Germanwings. I would like to remind you that all flights out of Munich and Frankfurt will still be operated by Lufthansa. The sheer fact they have not done it proves that things can't be so bad there.
      But here is another example where a regional airline is managing to make a profit. airBaltic has managed to record a profit this summer after successfully implementing restructuring measures. The airline is specialized in offering flights via its Riga hub to the Nordic region, the CIS and western Europe. They are the living proof that a rather small airline can actually make a profit if its business strategy is thought through. If they managed to do it then Air Serbia can do it too.

      Furthermore, one of the reasons why Air Serbia is placing the A320 to Skopje and Podgorica is because :
      1. they can fill it.
      2. the short distance does not make a difference when it comes to fuel burn (comparison between A319/A320), hence higher capacity reduces CASM.


      Finally, Air Serbia and Etihad know that Wizz Air will be around in both SKP and OHD as long as the government is cashing out. In other words, their market was artificially created and it remains to be seen how much longer the government will keep on paying them. What I am saying is that Wizz Air came into the country via politics and it can leave it the same way. Air Serbia can always strike a deal with the government, it's not like its unheard of.

      People who work for Etihad have created one of the most powerful airlines in the world. Do you really think they don't know what they are doing?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:19

      Don´t be offenden, but you are just putting some random concideration which in total makes absolutly no sense. You didn´t even read correclty what I was saying on Lufhtansa Belgrade-Frankfurt (and Belgrade-Munich) flights, or you just don´t show ability to understand it.

      Delete
    7. I understood what you were saying, it was just wrong. You stated that these airlines do not make a profit on shorter routes and that their profits are driven by their intercontinental network. What I did is that I provided you with an example, that is airBaltic, which offers intra-European connections via RIX and still makes money. Air Serbia will do the same and hopefully post profits as well.

      Furthermore, I am curious to see where you saw those €100 Euro flights offered by Jat? ;)

      I think you should write an e-mail to Etihad warning them about the mistake they are about to commit.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous20:05

      Nemjee is making some pretty significant assumptions about both legacy carriers for intra-European flights and Wizz. I'd agree with his view had his starting assumptions been correct.

      Unfortunately, they're not. Macedonia was simply a market which nobody approached in an efficient manner before Wizz Air. People were paying way too much for very short stagelengths cause all that survived was overpriced connecting traffic.

      I think any low cost airline that started the right flight would've made it. The subsidies just made it easier for Wizz to make the move. The subsidies will only last until the end of 2014, and Wizz are already putting a second aircraft in Skopje having taken that into account.

      Do you really believe anyone's leaving anywhere? I get that you're trying to convince yourself and others that Air Serbia is the bee's knees and that it must finally work this time around. I won't hold my breath though. Good luck with BEG-OTP and such, it will be quite a laugh.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous22:48

      "I understood what you were saying, it was just wrong. You stated that these airlines do not make a profit on shorter routes and that their profits are driven by their intercontinental network."

      No, that was not what I was saying. Read it again. And about the Air Baltic, it´s a company with supranational approach that tries to develope its brand as THE carrier for each and single passanger flying to the Balticum. A situation compeltely different in comparation with JU in the Balkans. A plus is also that their region is sepperated by the sea, so that peiople who are working in the Baltic region cannot choose train or car or they can but it lasts too much due to the ferries.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous22:56

      Hahahah you make SKP sound as if it is some major gateway or some important airport. There are like 16 departures scheduled for tomorrow. :D

      Balticum... Balticum... is not separated by the sea, Lithuania shares a land border with Poland buddy.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous22:57

      A €100 fare is a usual discount fare offered by Lufthansa and their sister airliners Austrian and Swiss for most destinations. Once again, they offer those prices in order to fill the empty cities within the transfer flights which are particulary lucrativ for the company because of over see connecting flights.

      And because you are not getting it, here is a simple comparation:

      Lufthansa Belgrade-Frankufrt flight, simplified:

      *there are 10 seats in total
      *5-6 are sold 6-18 months in advance with an intercontinetnal connection from Frankfurt, bringing ca. 1000 Euros each = 5000-6000 dollars.
      * there are 4-5 seats left, the statistical possibility that people will buy another interconitnental ticket less than 3-6 months prior to departure is small. So they offer those seats with cheap fears for European passangers. 4 seats are solld for 100-130 euros to passangers flying to Frankfurt and to Paris via Frankfurt. That gives 400-520 Europs extra income.
      *Which gives an income of ca. 5000-6500 euros in total.

      On the other hand there is Air Serbia:
      * 10 seats
      * even if we say that they manage to sell 9-10 seats without inter-continetal connection, in order to be competetive with Lufhtansa or Austrian they have to sell those tickets for 100-130 euros. If they manage to sell 10 seats, it gives 1000-1300 euros.

      So there is Lufthansa BEG-FRA flight bringing 6500 euros, and there is Air Serbia Skoplje-Belgrade flight bringing 1000-1300 euros...

      capito?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous22:58


      "Balticum... Balticum... is not separated by the sea, Lithuania shares a land border with Poland buddy."

      Than try to take a bike ride to Stockholm.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous23:03

      There are 1,000 ferries from the Baltic region to the Nordics. The same way there are bus and train connections to Russia, Poland, Germany and even the UK!

      Delete
    14. This is utterly hilarious :-) Thanks for cheering me up, guys.

      Anon@10:57
      You just added the calculation that is in line with what you wanted to prove and hoped no one will notice the bollocks there.

      If you are to compare those LH seats sold at 1000 EUR for long haul flight you should at least pretend to deduct the costs for those long haul flight or better yet, try to figure out which part of that sum is actually the price for the short haul segment... or compare segment-to-segment or something that actually makes sense. Those 5000-6500EUR is not an income for short haul flights your but for the entire flight, including the long haul.

      On the other notes, Skopje deserves a home airline, no doubt about that, however, in my mind Wizzair is not the one. Low-cost airlines are famous for their route cherry picking, and they will not invest in any route in the long run, sad as that may be, nor will they offer decent hub and spoke connections for any of their points. It is just not their thing. They cant afford it in the mid or long term.

      Subsidies are not the solution because then the MK taxpayers are paying the price for the selected few that actually flies. Ultra-short term incentives are okay but with the precise aim, goals and timeframe, nothing else.

      You should not be figting over what good people of Macedonia will or will not chose. They will have a choice, that is what matters the most! Far more choice than ever before.

      @Nemjee... Air Baltic was never actually profitable, were they? They are slimming the losses - yes, but achieving profitability - nooo, not yet. In 2012 they only managed not to lose 212 milion EUR like they did in 2011 and they lost only 27 milion EUR in 2012. One serious fuel price hike during the next 6 months because of for example war in Syria and Air Baltic might be wiped out.

      BR from NS.

      Delete
    15. @Anonymous at 10:56 PM
      "Balticum" is the word for the Baltic States (Балтичке државе) in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Not everyone here has all English words at hand and all times. We should avoid exposing anyone to ridicule because all of us will sooner or later end up as targets of the same practice.

      Delete
    16. Contrails,

      Thank you for pointing out the flaws in his argument, it made my life easier. Furthermore, another thing he forgot to add is costs. It is exactly the cost which can determine if either one of these airlines will make it. Air Serbia's advantage is that its Unions are not (I guess they are not allowed to) complaining. They are accepting all the changes presented to them. With Lufthansa this is not the case. They moved a huge number of their staff to Germanwings but unfortunately for them the court said that it was an illegal move. What I am trying to say is that €1,000 for Lufthansa might represent a loss while for Air Serbia, on a similar sector, it might represent a profit. Hence why Air Serbia might be more successful to Skopje than Lufthansa to Belgrade. It all boils down to how successfully you organize your cost structure and that is what the gentleman from above neglected... among other things.
      In my opinion comparing Lufthansa to Air Serbia is like comparing apples to oranges. That's why I gave the example of airBaltic.

      Regarding airBaltic, prior to Gauss' arrival they underwent a major crisis as there was no agreement between the CEO and the Latvian government. Gauss introduced cost cutting measures as well as some other measures aimed at improving BT's image throughout Europe. This summer, for the first time in a long time, they managed to post a profit. Though their yearly financial statements might still be in the red, at least now they have three to four months when they can actually make money. This is very important for them as they are currently under EC investigation, just like Adria. Naturally, we will have to wait and see how this reformed airBaltic responds to the winter season, maybe they can come close to breaking-even. Naturally, this is not easy for them since they have to compete with Wizz Air and Ryanair. Not to mention that the lease of two B757-200 really hurt them. But the fact that they keep on receiving new Dash-8s and that they are expanding, additional frequencies and the launch of Aberdeen flights, show that they are optimistic about their future.

      Finally, though airBaltic might, in theory, serve all of the Baltic region, it has no flights from other cities. All passengers are funnelled via Riga. Actually, its base in Vilnius was a disaster as it was highly unprofitable.

      Regards.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous10:11

      "If you are to compare those LH seats sold at 1000 EUR for long haul flight you should at least pretend to deduct the costs for those long haul flight or better yet, try to figure out which part of that sum is actually the price for the short haul segment... or compare segment-to-segment or something that actually makes sense. Those 5000-6500EUR is not an income for short haul flights your but for the entire flight, including the long haul."

      Actually, you are quit wrong. The differences are so big, that there is no need to put additional calculation on the long flight cost. If you buy a BEG-FRA-PAR ticket for 100 euros, about 80-85 are taxes! So there is like 15-20 euros left as real company´s income. If you buy a 1000 euros ticket BEG-FRA-NYC, taxes are still like 80-120 euros, which means that there is 900 euros income - 45 times more than for BEG-FRA-PAR flight. 45 TIMES!

      I´m really glad that we put up this discussion, because it shows the logic that is constantly run out here.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous10:14

      "Balticum is the word for the Baltic States (Балтичке државе) in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Not everyone here has all English words at hand and all times. We should avoid exposing anyone to ridicule because all of us will sooner or later end up as targets of the same practice."

      Balticum or Baltic as a noun is the name of the sea in the same way Adria is the name of the sea. Baltic region also includes Sweden, Finland, St. Petersburg ...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_region

      Delete
    19. 'If you buy a 1000 euros ticket BEG-FRA-NYC, taxes are still like 80-120 euros, which means that there is 900 euros income - 45 times more than for BEG-FRA-PAR flight. 45 TIMES! '

      Yes, but your argument is really not valid here because one can easily find fares for €750 to north America (New York, Chicago...) and the taxes are around €430, not €80/100 as you wrote.

      Let's take New York as an examples since that's the most popular north American destination from Europe.
      Lufthansa charges this December 78,361 RSD to fly you there. Out of these 46,470 RSD are taxes while 31,891 is what the airline takes. In other words Lufthansa gets €283 for both segments, there and back. Do you actually believe that they are making money with this?

      Naturally, you assume that most flights from Belgrade to North America are €1,000 and above. On the other hand, we can assume that Lufthansa sells their Paris flights for €300 (as they do anyway) which would make their margin look better... proving you wrong.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous11:37

      I´m really not getting why do you have a problem to follow the discussion. The New York was an example for all over sea flights. If you fly to Sydney you will pay 1200-1400 euros. So 1000 euros was an avarage fare for all inter-cont. flgihts.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous11:39

      If you buy a ticket at propper timeyou will get the BEG-PAR ticket within Lufhtansa for 100 euros - which is the only price that can be compared with 500-700 euros tickets to NYC. if you put a 300 euros ticket for BEG-PAR, than the proper NYC comparation would be some 1200-1400 euros.

      Delete
    22. Anonymous11:45

      For a BEG-FRA-NYC flights "taxes" are 46,470 RSD, but 30 300 RSD are fuel-additional costs, not real taxes.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous14:42

    Great news for OHD it will now bring also some many tourits to this beautiful lake side but i think skopje will lose many passangers... OHD should only get destinations which are not connected with skopje... except for istanbul, amsterdam/eindhoven and zurich/basel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:24

      That´s a really old "Yugoslav Tourist Board" way of thinking.. The habits and needs of tourists have changed during the last 20 years in so many ways..

      Delete
  5. OHD not summer season route is only Zurich x 1 or many time - dependent from the mounst and from april to end of september season rout is : Amsterdam x7, Brussels x 2, Zurich x 3, Belgrade x 5, and some other 3-4 charter weekly lines...... It's not too bad for this airpor and this reagion and country.,....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous17:25

    If Ohrid pays subsidies to Adria and Wizz they also have to pay them to Air Serbia,Jetairfly and Corendon!
    Imagine Air Serbia flying daily in summer but getting no cent while the others get money...
    Air Serbia,Jetairfly and Corendon could threat to stop flying there!
    Then only subsidized airlines are left and they also blackmail the Macedonian taxpayers.
    Either subsidies for them all or no subsidies at all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:13

      lol is someone jealous ?

      Delete
    2. zoki20:21

      Maybe Air Serbia will also get subsidies for flying there...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous17:43

    @ADMIN BLOG


    re: Will Garuda Indonesia purchase a stake in Croatia Airlines?

    Can you please stop misleading punters in regards to Garuda taking over OU, there was no mention of Garuda taking over or even buying a steak in OU, there was just interest shown by Garuda to become a strategic partner of OU, and it was all hypothetical and no concrete offers were ever made and will never be made!!!

    Garuda won't be buying share in OU, nor anyone has ever said its gonna happen! Plz remove that poll as it is misleading and false.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:50

      Please stop crying!

      Delete
    2. “The Indonesian market is developing rapidly and Indonesians are travelling more and more which is why we are looking to expand our business into Central Europe, in a country which has solid connections to the rest of the European Union. This is why Croatia and Croatia Airlines are a logical choice for us”, Garuda President and CEO Emirsyah Satar

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:03

      @EX-YU AviationSeptember 22, 2013 at 6:09 PM

      This was just a comment, there are no plans and Garuda made no offers for OU, they might they might not make an offer.

      OU held with several airlines from the region, doesn't mean that all of them will buy 49% steak in OU, until it is a fact you can't make assumptions about OU or Garuda.

      And same chairman might have said other things, doesn't mean they came to anything.
      Us Croats prefer to look at every offer with an skeptical eye and do not believe rumors.

      No one in Croatia believes that Garuda will buy in to OU.


      Delete
    4. Anonymous00:20

      Who do you think will buy it? Asking just out of curiosity..

      Delete
    5. Then you can vote accordingly. The poll is there for you to express your oppinion.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:17

      @AnonymousSeptember 23, 2013 at 12:20 AM

      I have no idea, could be anyone or could be no one, totally irrelevant, the fact is from this poll you'd think its a done deal, no one in Croatia is saying this is a done deal or that there is a deal to be made.

      Until its done, it should not be given any credence, as it is a rumor and nothing else.

      Croats do not like to boast about things, we are relaxed laid back easy going nation with laissez faire approach to things.

      We don't believe something until it is certain.


      Delete
    7. If it were a done deal the question would be irrelevant. The poll asks whether you think Garuda will buy a stake in Croatia Airlines based on the interest expressed so far.

      Delete
  8. DLDTWSKP07:38

    Much rather see legacy carriers than low cost who bail after the river of subsidizing dries up.

    Off topic, can anyone help with seat availability for 24 sep SKPBEG-BEGAMS on JU? Trying to get on with a staff pass?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:15

      AMS-BEG is open but SKP-BEG is full for tomorrow at the moment

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:16

      I meant BEG-AMS is open

      Delete
  9. DLDTWSKP07:38

    Much rather see legacy carriers than low cost who bail after the river of subsidizing dries up.

    Off topic, can anyone help with seat availability for 24 sep SKPBEG-BEGAMS on JU? Trying to get on with a staff pass?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:15

    This is realy good news, because there are a lot imigration abroad from that part of Macedonia especialy Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. When Adria was flying even it was very expensive it was always full.

    ReplyDelete

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