Skopje maintains momentum over Pristina


Skopje Alexander the Great Airport has kept up its momentum over Piristina, handling more passengers than its traditionally busier rival for a second month running. On the other hand, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport recorded its third consecutive month of declining numbers.

Skopje Airport handled 142.332 passengers in June, an impressive increase of 20.5% compared to the same month last year. As a result, the airport managed to welcome 1.153 travellers more than Pristina. During the first half of the year, Skopje Airport improved its figures by 24.6%, for a total of 757.850 passengers, which is still some 18.650 travellers behind Pristina during the same period, although the gap is narrowing. Last year, Skopje overtook Ljubljana Airport to position itself as the sixth busiest in the former Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, Macedonia's second international airport, Ohrid, welcomed 17.811 passengers in June, up 33.5%. Combined, the two saw 1.508 aircraft movements, an increase of 13% on last year.

Skopje Airport has positioned itself as a star performer in the former Yugoslavia this year, with the highest growth rate of any capital city airport. Over the past six months, Wizz Air launched three new routes from the Macedonian capital and replaced its service to Lubeck with Hamburg. Furthermore, Czech Airlines introduced flights from Prague. Meanwhile, Wizz Air recently applied for Hungarian-backed subsidies to operate flights from Budapest to the Macedonian capital later this year, while Croatia Airlines has announced plans to open a base in Skopje in 2017. In addition, Qatar Airways plans to launch flights from Doha early next year. Services were initially to commence this October but were pushed back due to an ongoing fleet shortage. All eyes will be on Skopje's performance this July, with airlines to offer just a 1% increase in capacity from the city compared to last year.

SKOPJE AIRPORT
MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN109.097 23.6
FEB102.178 27.6
MAR120.668 26.4
APR135.013 23.3
MAY148.562 26.9
JUN142.332 20.5

On the other hand, Ljubljana Airport has recorded its third consecutive month of declining figures. It handled 135.757 passengers this June, a decrease of 9.2% compared to last year. The number of aircraft movements stood at 3.228, down 3.1%. The results come despite Aegean Airlines launching new flights from Athens to the Slovenian capital during the month. The decline in figures is attributed to Adria Airways which has discontinued two routes from Ljubljana since the start of the year, as well as softer demand for leisure flights over security concerns, which has had an impact on airports across Europe. During the first half of the year, Ljubljana Airport handled 598.271 passengers, down 4.5% on 2015.

LJUBLJANA AIRPORT
MonthPAXChange (%)
JAN73.567 0.6
FEB77.976 7.9
MAR93.923 3.3
APR100.549 10.5
MAY116.499 9.3
JUN135.757 9.2

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Well done Skopje. Amazing growth there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    So much for people saying how growth would slow in July.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      * I mean June.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      No one said growth would slow in June, everyone said growth will slow in July. Like it says in the article capacity will be up just 1%. And no one said it was a sure thing it was just mentioned that it will be interesting to see how the airport performs in July when we can finally compare year on year without new Wizz Air routes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:40

      No no, Anonymous 9:03 is right, everyone say - in Juni Skp collapses

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:59

      Ok no one said it would "collapse" but we will see in July.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:08

    sorry for OT, but:
    3 widebodies incoming to DBV the next 20 minutes: Thomson's 787-8 and 767-300, Titan's 767-300 G-POWD (operating for Norwegian).
    Somebody know if there ever were 3 heavies at once?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Nice. Is there room for all three or is it crazy at the airport?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:22

      No in 80s Dubrovnik had 4-5 wide body aircraft landing at the same time, PanAm era. Zagreb had few widebody landing at the same time last month, might happen a lot more in coming years, with Korean Air, Jal,Canadian, Chinese and US carriers all starting or continuing the service to Zagreb. Wouldn't be surprised to see 3-4 A330/B777s at Zagreb soon enough.

      Delete
    3. A330 departed Split today sometime around 1:30 pm. No idea what airline.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:05

      Was it one of the DY Norwegian wet leases?

      As SPU is well capable of handling B767 and A330 are they also certified for 340 and 777 ops? Are there any restrictions for the really large birds (payload for ex.)?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:06

      Hifly operating Stockholm-SPU vv. for Norwegian

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:11

      re 80s @ DBV: which heavies?
      JAT DC10 and ..?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:10

    The numbers in Ljubljana are becoming really concerning. Can't believe two suspended routes from Adria could have such an impact.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    Something is seriously wrong at Ljubljana Airport. Is this consolidation or just plain lack of leadership skills?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      LJU had a strong charter traffic but looks like that JP is no longer interested into this

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      now in main season is charter traffic

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:59

      Decline in demand for charters has affected a lot of airports. Believe me, even Frankfurt reported that charter traffic is significantly down this year. Reason is the situation in Turkey and people being generally scared of traveling, using airports and planes.

      Delete
    4. JU520 BEGLAX10:04

      JP was doing losses with some charter flights, thats why the new mgt cut them
      I think in LJU we see quite a real and healthy picture, where the environmeht in SKP seems more inflated thru the government subsidies. Still demand for travel in SKP seems to be continuing

      Delete
    5. Tranquilis10:17

      SKP picture is as real as can be. Despite constant explanations as to the actual incentives for incremental traffic which have phased out for some time now for ~90% of the traffic, you still persist with this skeptical view. I'll refrain from being cynical, but this discussion needs to progress, don't you think?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:18

      One part is restucturing of JP the other one is cut of charters...correct me if I am wrong. There were no charter flights to Egypt and as well to Turky and Tunis

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:51

      But REALLY, would you STOP ALREADY with this never ending story about goverment subsidies in SKP!??

      Delete
    8. JU520 BEGLAX13:59

      U can call your subsidies the way you want, it stays taxpayers money and is an artificial interference in a free market system
      EU has defined some state aid as legal and and even though personally i hve mixed fellings with state interfering into free markets, i m happy that people to from SKP have increasing possibilities for affordable air travel

      Re JP, yep TUN Egypt and Turkey had impact too. Usually it would be absorbed by more charters to Italy Spain France. But seems that on one hand JP and tour operators came not to further deals on the other hand, I know Slovenians are very happy with HR Jadran coast, so most probably an increased figure with private car travel SLO to Jadran is being recorded

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:44

      oh dear what about BEG and JU?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:38

      Ann1:51 ... go to the market and sell yourself

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:18

    I hope Ryan will come to Skopje. It's more important than Croatian or Qatar!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:55

      I Agree. Ryan or Easyjet!!!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:23

    Seems Skopje is eating into Pristina's passenger base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Skopje is better positioned to take pax from Kosovo than Pristina is to take pax from Macedonia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:05

      u can see lots of albanian passports too

      Delete
  8. Anonymous10:04

    As an albanian, I must say were lucky to have Skp as a competitor. If Prn alone maintained the flight monopoly, Id still be paying 5-600EUR return flights to Pristina!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tranquilis10:12

      +1'000

      Amen brother. The sooner PRN takes a more active approach the better. And I don't mean complaining to the EU, I mean effective measures to incentivize incremental traffic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:28

      @10:04 What monopoly in PRN are you talking about? EU carriers enjoy unlimited traffic rights between PRN and any airport in EU and you can fly on LCC like easyJet, for example, which is expanding rapidly its route network to/from PRN. Despite the illegal state aid provided by MK GOV to Wizz, Prishtina is doing well with its modest incentive program, offered to all airlines.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:59

      illegal? LOLZ

      Delete
  9. Anonymous11:00

    I am surprised a bit. Did not expect Skopje to be doing so well. Congratulations. Good management.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:25

      Management it's not good, TAV are poor, but numbers are excellent

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:01

    People are also forgetting Ohrid which is also doing great. If they could maintain a few more lines during winter it would be fantastic. What is interesting that Ohrid growth does not affect Skopje. Probably different passengers using the airports.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12

      Ohrid must get a lot of pax from Albania

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:58

      Ohrid is a leisure airport, meaning, charters from various countries bring tourists to the area and flying them back. There are Government incentives for the tour agencies for this. So, it's not something special about Ohrid, albeit Wizz flights which are the only "regular" ones (plus AirSerbia) are always full. And that with pax from Albania, Bulgaria and less than Macedonia. Go figure. :)

      Source - I work in the tourism sector on the Ohrid Lake shore.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:39

    OT
    Zanimljive Vesti DY je svoju porudzbinu od 30 A 320 Neo zamenio za 30 A321 LR bice zanimljivo gde ih sve slati . I konfiguracija ce biti 220 sedista.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:17

    Fantastic results. Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous13:12

    Ljubljana is having the same scenario as in 2009 :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:19

      Result of over relayenece on one airline. They didn't learn the lesson in 2009 so here they go again.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:23

      I thought that new Aegean flights and additional Easy Jet and Turkish frequencies would help in June. Unfortunately they didn't.

      Delete
    3. LDLT13:25

      Ljubljana handled 1.67 mil passengers 2008.
      2000 they handled 0.99 mil passengers. This year has an outlook of 1.35 mil.
      To put that into perspective in 2000 Zagreb handled only about 15% more passengers, and Ljubljana had more than Split and Dubrovnik combined. They are by far the worst performer among the mayor and larger airports in ex-yu, for the last 15 years.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:28

      Well they were also impacted a lot by the opening up of ex-yu countries. Remember Adria use to be a transfer airline for most ex-yu countries.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:32

      Couldnt it just be that their market is already more mature, thus gaining less passengers over the years?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:38

      Slovenian aviation is 100% privatised...this is the main issue. No more subventions or subsidies or state money. Pure capitalism

      Delete
    7. JU520 BEGLAX13:43

      LJU is in car driving distance to Italy Germany Austria Czech Rep, even Switzerland and Benelux, where PRN SKP are another LJU-FRA trip away fm LJU. And LCC with their cheap rates make air travel nowadays much for affordable for PRN SKP passengers

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:45

      No offence but it wasn't as if the Slovenian aviation sector was pushing daisies the last few years while it was still in state hands.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:16

      JU520 BEGLAXJuly 14, 2016 at 1:43 PM
      FYI:
      LJU-FRA is aprox. 800km (at least 8h 30min by car)
      LJU-PRG is approx. 650km (at least 7h 30min)
      LJU-ZRH is 700km (7h 30 min by car)
      if YOU would like to drive this distance go ahead- I would prefer to fly

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:24

      AnonymousJuly 14, 2016 at 1:32 PM:
      what does your comment even mean??
      the market is "mature" as in it doesn't go to night Clubs anymore but prefers the opera...or it doesn't want to full around but would like to settle down and have children??

      Delete
    11. Anonymous15:07

      AnonymousJuly 14, 2016 at 1:38 PM
      Most of the Airports (if not all) in the EU are privatised and work under conditions of "pure capitalism" and they still record Pax. growth- whereas LJU does not.

      Delete
    12. JU520 BEGLAX15:29

      Anonym 0216h
      Prefer flying too. But small slo company which needs to meet German counterpart and 2 mgrs need to go, probl prefers the car over JP airfares

      Delete
  14. Anonymous13:38

    Good job, Makedonija is booming and is fastest growing economy in Europe + Skopje has a great renovated centar -> go visit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:42

      srkaj dalje voda od Dojransko

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:41

      ke srkam, ke srkam i jas :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:02

      @1:38 Trolas ili seriozen si?

      Delete
  15. Anonymous16:39

    OT - BEG to get a PEK link according to SRB PM... B92

    ''Mogu to sad da vam najavim, počeli su razgovori juče, uskoro dolazi kineski avio-prevoznik da građani mogu direktno da idu u Peking”, rekao je Vučić novinarima u Vladi Srbije.

    Prema njegovim rečima, taj let bi trebalo da se realizuje pre najavljenog leta Peking-Zagreb.

    “Mislim da ćemo i po tom pitanju biti prvi u regionu, pre najavljenog leta Peking-Zagreb. To je naravno moja nada i moja želja i boriću se za to”, rekao je Vučić.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:23

      Awesome! The stakes are high.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:29

      Znači ništa od toga da leti Er Srbija kao što se pričalo. Dakle od sledećeg leta Air China za PEK, Air Serbia za JFK i ORD a možda i Kanađani za YYZ. Bravo Beograd!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:30

      Which Chinese company could it be? I am guessing Air China or Hainan since both are known to launch routes like Budapest or Minsk.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:04

      Belgrade airport would have to build C concourse extension or renovate old A gates in 8-10 months to handle all those planes. They are not capable of doing it.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:05

      HU 788, return to E Europe, indirect flight (1 stop) via BUD (resumption of services) as an extension with traffic rights and code-share with JU... as I was told...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:06

      Bravo Srbijo !

      Delete
    7. Since you mentioned QR, does anyone know how is QR doing in BEG and ZAG lately? A few months ago there was even talk that QR might send B787 to ZAG next year.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous19:34

      Not again via f****ing BUD...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:02

      QR has been reaching LF well over 70% lately.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous17:38

    OT: Qatar bought 49% of Meridiana. It's official.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous20:38

    Correction: 1153 travellers more than Pristina and not 2153

    ReplyDelete

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