Airlines snub Ohrid - London service

Carriers give Ohrid - London flights the cold shoulder

Not a single airline has applied to operate subsidised flights between the Macedonian lakeside city of Ohrid and London. Earlier last month, local authorities in Ohrid announced they would provide subsidies for a two weekly seasonal summer service from St. Paul the Apostle Airport to the British capital starting from 2014 through to 2016. A public tender was launched for airlines to apply for the new subsidised service, with the city Mayor regarding Wizz Air as a front runner at the time. However, local authorities were unavailable for comment to explain as to how the planned route failed to garner any interest from airlines.

Flights to the British capital were to run from June 15 to September 15. The Anti Corruption Commission gave the green light for the new service to be subsidised, on a similar basis as to the subsidised flights operating out of Skopje. Some 9.600 passengers were expected to use the service each year. However, authorities have been criticised for selecting to fund flights to London, out of all the possible destinations in Europe. There are few English tourists visiting Ohrid and a very small number of people from south-western Macedonia and eastern Albania reside in London. The tender also came late as any potential operator would have just over two weeks to put tickets on sale and promote the new service.

Tour agents in Ohrid believe grants should have been offered for more sustainable and profitable routes such as Istanbul. “It is a poor effort that Macedonia has been unable to open a single new route out of Ohrid for the past three years”, Dončo Taneski, the President of the Macedonian Hotel Association says. He adds that 70% of tourists visiting the lakeside city still use Skopje Airport. Authorities have said they will resume tender procedures soon, staying put with the Ohrid - Lodnon route.

Comments

  1. In my opinion, subsidizing BEG-OHD would be the best course of action. JU could do daily ATR flights, and Ohrid would be well connected to most cities in ex-yu as well as most of the largest cities in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Purger10:31

      Exactly!

      7 weeky ATR flights all year to BEG is something what is logic, the best option for OHD and should be subsidizing.

      Delete
    2. Purger10:42

      I suggest to Croatia Airlines in 2010 route ZAG-OMO-OHD (overnight) OHR-OMO-ZAG every day with Q400, and with JA code-share on OMO-OHD leg and OMO-ZAG leg. 15 pax OHD-ZAG + 2 pax OHD-OMO + 15 pax OMO-ZAG is break even on that flight on Q400 even for CTN unreal costs.

      Of course that option was on before Air Serbia. Now, with much more connection via BEG, possibility of nonstop flights, and dumping prices, that option is not real any more. But if they started with that in 2010, till today nonstop route in summer and via OMO in winter would be real today even in case of Air Serbia OHD-BEG flight. And for sure Air Serbia possibilities in that scenario would be much modest. But, as always Croatia Airlines did not utilize her chance.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:57

      Croatia Airlines didn't use many of the given opportunities, we're looking at the consequences!

      Delete
    4. I think JU has some important advantages right now that would increase the chance of success compared to OU a few years ago. ATR is a very good and economical plane for such a route (200 Nm is best sector length for ATR). I think BEG-OHD has more O&D than ZAG-OHD. Also JU can offer more connection from BEG right now than ZAG could offer in 2010.

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    5. Purger18:48

      As I said "Of course that option was on before Air Serbia. Now, with much more connection via BEG, possibility of nonstop flights, and dumping prices, that option is not real any more."

      For P2P pax for sure they are not important and most of pax via BEG or via ZAG are transfer passengers. For P2P passengers there are several thousand Macedonians in Croatia, and some businessmen from Slovenia and Croatia to have business in Ohrid and South Macedonia.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:18

    They were hoping that Wizz would lunch these flight but of course they don't want to do this because number of passengers in Skoplje will decrease

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  3. This disappointment is a great lesson, that needs to be learned and used for further steps.
    The money and the intention is there, so Ohrid needs to build on this experience.

    London is difficult for the visa reasons, Why would WIZZ fly to Ohrid when it has SKP is another question.

    People in charge of tourism development in Ohrid & Struga need to follow the interest of currently biggest tourist groups, Turkish and Serbian and focus on Istanbul or Belgrade to start with.

    Germany especially Dusseldorf / Cologne region would be more logical choice for Ohrid in my opinion.

    It is important not to give up and keep the intent. Ohrid has potential, and this will be soon materialized.



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  4. Anonymous10:26

    Almost everyone critized them for the London route... i think moscow, warsaw or other eastern european citys would have been a better choice

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  5. Slovenia has been unable to open and sustain a single new route from Maribor and Portorož for the past three decades (or more).

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  6. Nikola12:16

    well, if you ask me, this is what they should've offered for subsides:
    OHD-BEG
    OHD-INI (summer only)
    OHD-VIE
    OHD-EIN (summer only)
    OHD-ZRH
    OHD-SAW
    OHD-HHN
    OHD-CGN
    OHD-CPH

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  7. the tender was not very professional and sort of "last minute" ( launched in April (!) if im correct ) . the airlines had all made their plans by then for this summer season ( even months ago perhaps). The income should not be a big surprise to us all

    lesson learned , i hope ( Basically, they expected an airline to start OHD flights within 1-2months. Zajebali se amateri )

    since numbers of Turkish tourists in Macedonia are increasing and increasing i expect some Ohrid-Istanbul flights in the future ( on Pegasus perhaps )

    I was very surprised that OHD lost its BEG-flights ( wasnt the LF one of the strongest last year )

    P.S Wizz is generally interested in launching OHD flights

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous14:05

    66 posto rasta u broju putnika - ukupno 364.924 putnika
    47 posto rasta prihoda
    na putu ka pozitivnoj nuli u 2014.
    mreža linija proširena na 31 grad posle uvođenja dve nove destinacije
    još tri uskotrupna aviona pristigla u flotu
    46 posto više prevezenog tereta – ukupno 175 tona


    http://www.airserbia.com/system/home/newsplus/viewsingle/_params/newsplus_news_id/136442.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=porast&utm_content=vest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:57

      ex-YU reported this a few months ago

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:32

      Imas na b92 danas Kondicevu izjavu (plus slikica u drustvu sa Njegovim Carskim Kraljevskim Visocanstvom Prepodobnim Aleksom Najvecim Prvovencanim) da je Er Srbija, za period do kraja ove kalendarske godine, citiram :"Na putu prema pozitivnoj nuli"
      Svaki dalji komentar je suvisan.
      Pozdrav svim sns botovima kojih ovde ne nedostaje

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:57

      Zasto ne kazes majstore da je 66 posto rasta u broju putnika ostvareno na 90 posto vise ostavrenih letova i ponudjenih sedista?

      Zasto ne kazes majstore da je ostvareno 47 posto rasta prihoda ali i preko 100% rasta rashoda

      Zasto ne kazes majstore da ce prema upravo navedenom finansiski rezultat Er Srbije za 2014 god. biti DEBELI MINUS, za sta se u politicko-mafijaskom zargonu kaze "put ka pozitivnoj nuli"

      Hoces da ti odgovorim majstore zasro to sev ne kazes i ne napises : Zato sto si sns bot i nisi ovde zbog vazduhoplovstva nego zbog politike

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:01

      100% rast rashoda? Vi DS botovi niste išli na časove matematike? Kako smanjenje overhead troškova i uvodjenje efikasnijih aviona uz ovoliko povećanje ponudjenih sedišta duplira troškove? Ne ide ti sabiranje baš?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:10

      Tako sto su avioni kojih vise (uglavnom) nema bili u vlasnistvu a za ove se PLACA LIZING, sto je najveci trosak svake kompanije. Hoces jos : polovni lizovani avioni uopste nisu efikasniji od dosadasnjih, strani piloti i njihov smestaj je znacajan rashod kojeg do sada nije bilo, onda drasticno veci izdaci za ketering, duplo vise potrosenog goriva, duplo vise placenih aerodromskih i taksi za prelete, troskovi nevidjene propagande????
      Treba li jos?

      Sto se tice DS-a, nikada ih nisam cak ni glasao, kamoli nesto drugo. Ovde sam iskljucivo zbog avijacije a ako vi sns botovi svakoga ko misli drugacije od vas proglasavate neprijateljem i pripadnikom DS, to je vec vas problem u koji necu ulaziti

      Delete
    6. Nebih se bas slozio sa tobom jer u svakoj analizi koju sam ikada citao gorivo je daleko najveći trošak svake avio kompanije.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:20

      Onda nisi citao ozbiljne analize ili si citao analize za kompanije koje imaju svoje avione a ne lizovane. Najcesce je trosak goriva na drugom ili cak trecem mestu

      Delete
    8. Hmmm nebi bas rekao, google aurline cost structure i naci ces puno analiza izmedju ostalih od IATA (rekao bih ozbiljna organizacija).Dao bih ti link ali neide sa telefona lako nažalost. Ako imas linm za nekj koja kaze drugacije podjeli molim te, volio bih da vidim.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:39

      ДС ботови нису ишли ни на часове српског,
      "...upravo navedenom finansiski rezultat Er Srbije za 2014 god. biti DEBELI MINUS..."
      каже се финансиЈски

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:14

      sns botovi u nedostatku argumenata o temi, omasku u pisanju proglasavaju dokazom da je neko bot suprotne strane : neprocenjivo :)

      Delete
    11. Anon 6:20. Ovo je vrlo zanimljiva i cesto fluidna tema. sta je naveci trosak za neku kompniju zavisi od mnogo faktora. u 2002oj nafta he bila na $40 i u tom momentu nije bila tolikoi faktor. Danas kad se vrti na 2-3 puta vecoj cjeni definitivno jeste. Evo jedna analiza z 2012 koja ti mozda moze dati ideju goo.gl/7dFzrQ. Opet kazem, nije ovo deifinitivno jer zavisi od puno faktora. Ako stvarno imas puno puno vremena i spava ti se IATA je izdala dobru analizu u 2005: http://goo.gl/GCwlpA koja je jos uvijek vrlo aktuelna pogotovo ako uzmes u obzir neke novo nastale argumente (povecanu cjenu goriva, povecane kamatne stope poslje 2008 itd.)

      Jos jednu stvar bih da dodam ovdje a to je da u svakom intervijuu koji sam ikada procitao sa nekim airline executive ono zbog cega ne spavaju u toku noci su samo dvije stvari: cjena goriva i promjene kursa valute. Ova dva faktora imaju jako veliki uticaj na njihove rezultate, cesto u isto vrijeme a oni nemaju nikakvog uticaja na njih i promjene u zadnje vrijeme su velike (pogotovo gorivo)

      Delete
    12. I jos nesto, ja nisam ni DS ni SNS bot nego samo neko ko je aviacioni entuziasta tako da me prepucavanje te vrste ne interesuje. Drugacije misljenje je dobro doslo sve dok je koliko toliko argumentovano i bez uvreda naravno

      Delete
    13. Не дај боже да неко каже нешто позитивно за Ер Сербију. ;)

      Delete
    14. Kiza22:21

      @ AnonymousMay 29, 2014 at 5:57 PM
      Dečko, ti si analize o vazduhoplovstvu čitao samo u Politikinom zabavniku!

      Delete
    15. Anonymous00:00

      sns botovi - majstori manipulacije i izbegavanje teme - kako ne shvatate da se sa gorivom kaoje je najskuplja stavka u rashodima samo jos dublje zakopavate - pa ako imate 90 % letova vise sa starim avionima koji trose isto ili neznatno manje kao i oni ranije, znace trose cca 90% goriva vise i pritom prevezu 66 posto vise putnika, mnogo njih po strasno malim promotivnim cenama, uz ogromne druge povecane troskove objasnite mi onda ako je vec ranije kompanija bila u gubitku kako sada moze biti bar na "pozitivnoj nuli". Hajde molim vas to mi objasnite i odmah cu se uclaniti u sns. A sto se analiza tice, nisam ih citao u politikinom nego u Mikijevom zabavniku

      Delete
    16. Anonymous02:13

      Boze, odakle se stvoriste ovde i jedni i drugi botovi... ili sta ste vec? ljudi koji ovde dolaze godinama su zaljubljenici .u avijaciju, ne zanimaju ih vase politicke prepirke... Enough is enough!

      Delete
    17. @anon 12:00
      Sve sto si rekao je tacno tu nema govora. Istina ima tu jos varijabli koje moramo uzeti u obzir, a koje tesko da mogu biti pozitivne u ovom trenutku.Mi neznamo kakva je njihova struktura troskova. Laicki gledano sa obzirom na ponudu i servis nebih rekao da je ispod prosjeka (cak stavise) tako da ni sa te strane nebih rekao da vodi ka pozitivnom. Ako gledamo na prihod tj. profit po putniku - sobzirom na sve promocije koje vidimo i koje obicno idu sa otvaranjem novih linija i taj dio cisto sumnjam da ih trenutno vodi prema pozitivnom. Jos jedna stvar koju mi neznamo a to je kolika je korist imaju od kooperacije sa Etihadom i drugima (tzv. sinergies). Dali je to sve dovoljno da se ide ka pozitivnoj nuli pred kraj godine cisto sumnjam iskreno receno, ali opet vidjecemo u aprilu sledece godine. Kad bi nekad sredinom sledece godine, npr Q2 ili Q3 2015 bili oko nule za mene bi to bilo super. Nesto prije toga bi bio veliki uspjeh (za mene opet kazem).

      Kad CEO neke firme i kaze ovo sto je on rekao nadam se da ne lupa glupost nego da stvarno ima dobre razloge za to. S'obzirom da covjek dolazi sa zapada gdje se do toga ipak drzi imam tenednciju da mu vjerujem (jos uvijek). Isto tako se nadam da ne provodi previse vremena sa nasim politicarima megalomanima (Mrka & Co.) i da nije od njih puno poprimio.

      BTW jel mi moze neko reci sta je to BOT o odakle ta rijec potice. Hvala unaprjed, znam otprilike ali me zanima sta je to tacno.

      Delete
    18. AnonymousMay 30, 2014 at 2:13 AM

      +1, ja bih tim prepirkama dodao i "Srbi protiv Hrvata" prepirke, dojadi vise.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous08:24

      pa BOT ti je softverski robot koji uglavnom stavlja reklame i spam po forumima, komentarima na raznim sajtovima, mejlovima i ostalim vidovima elektronske komunikacije.
      u našem slučaju, partijski botovi (SNS bot, DS bot i ostali) su plaćenici koji na istim mestima veličaju "svoju" partiju (tj. onu koju ih plaća) i njene poteze i uvek pljuje po onoj drugoj strani.
      slično, imaš i Srbobotove i Hrvobotove, koji to isto rade, samo što nisu plaćeni, i koji su ovde mnogo aktivniji nego partijski botovi

      Delete
  9. Anonymous14:41

    tako kaze kristalna kugla i tarot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:04

      Jebote te kristalna kugla :D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:00

      A visak ??? :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:02

      Pa pasulj, plecka, gledanje u solju ???
      Sto si zapeo samo za kristalnu kuglu i tarot, ima u avijaciji (uglavnom na Balkan, retko sire) i drugih nacina predvidjanja...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:17

      Evo recimo ja sam siguran da je Kondic onu "pozitivnu nulu" video u pasulju. Jer, recimo ja sam gledao na visak i meni kaze visak: gubitak, cca 40 milioncica. A svi dobro znaju da sa viskom nema sale, jedino plecka moze da je konkurencija, ali nikako svinjska, jagnjeca obavezno...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous01:18

    First of all, I thought this was an article about Ohrid Airport, but not sure after reading the second half of the comments :)

    On topic, this was the last shameful step by the Municipality of Ohrid and the Ministry of transport.High level amateurism.
    For God's sake why London when even a regular man can notice that if we are expecting some success it will be more or less on this routes>
    - TSF (nr.1!)
    - BSL
    - DTM / CGN
    - LNZ
    - EIN / RTM
    - MMO / GSE / RYG or 2/3 of them
    - BGY / LIN
    - CRL
    - BLQ
    - IST / SAW
    . and MAYBE BRQ/PRG
    I think the subsidies are for direct flights only and prefferably Western Europe.
    Another not so clear thing is - altough the authorities are "trying to work something out" for OHD, I guess they are not trying so hard as they claim, most of all because more than 1/3 of SKP's passengers are from the southeast region and SKP's numbers would go down in some level.Maybe that's why they suddenly chose London (not so popular destination + visas) and in bad time for airlines.Typical ex-you style (BEG vs.INI/KVO, ZAG vs.SPU/DBV, LJU vs.MBX)...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree that London is a bad choice as the number of English tourists are low. Ohrid should stick to their strong source markets. However, I think that the reduction of passengers to Skopje will not be significant. Ohrid wants a 3 month seasonal connection. Skopje is stronger in business travel and for Macedonians working abroad returning home during the summer. Ohrid is purely leisure destination. Of course there will be some overlap, but not a significant one.

      Delete
  11. Milijardu dolara za modernizaciju aerodroma "Nikola Tesla"
    Tanjug, Novosti | 30. 05. 2014. - 07:15h izmena vesti 07:11h

    Milijardu dolara biće uloženo u radove na proširenju i modernizaciji beogradskog aerodroma "Nikola Tesla", a razgovori sa potencijalnim koncesionarima iz Ujedinjenih Arapskih Emirata vodiće se sledeće nedelje u Beogradu, pišu današnje "Večernje novosti".

    Plan je da se po modelu javno-privatnog partnerstva izgradi treći terminal samo za potrebe nacionalne avio-kompanije, rekonstruiše Terminal I, sagradi druga pista, najveći kargo centar u regionu, kao i novi hotel, a za ovaj projekat postoji veliko interesovanje, saznaju "Novosti".

    Među zainteresovanima su dve kompanije iz Emirata, od kojih je jedna, "Arabtek", poznata javnosti iz najave premijera Vlade Srbije Aleksandra Vučića, da će učestvovati u izgradnji jeftinih stanova u Srbiji.

    Kompanija "Arabtek" trenutno na aerodromu u Abu Dabiju gradi jedan od najvećih i najmodernijih terminala na svetu, kapaciteta 30 miliona putnika godišnje.

    Među potencijalnim koncesionarima su još i kompanije iz Francuske, Austrije i Rusije.

    ReplyDelete

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