Onur Air plans Macedonia flights


Turkish low cost airline, Onur Air, intends to launch flights from its hub at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport to Macedonia. The airline outlined its plans at a meeting with the Macedonian Minister for Transport and Communication, Goran Sugareski, as well as the operator of the country's two international airports, TAV. "I had a fruitful meeting with representatives of Onur Air. They explained to me in more detail their plans to expand their network into Macedonia by establishing new flights. We, as a government, have an obligation to do our outmost to develop air traffic, and, in that sense, we will support any airline that wishes to fly to Macedonia", Mr Sugareski said.

In line with the government's strategy of attracting more low cost carriers to Ohrid, the minister outlined to Onur Air the benefits of flying to the city. The airline boasts a fleet of 24 aircraft and almost forty destinations, including a comprehensive domestic network. Within Europe, it runs scheduled flights to Russia, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Currently, Turkish Airlines and Pegasus operate scheduled flights between Istanbul and Skopje. The Turkish city is the busiest route to and from Macedonia, holding a 12.4% passenger share during the first three quarters of this year, while Turkish Airlines is the second busiest carrier in the country behind Wizz Air, which maintains a base in Skopje.

Earlier this week, Aegean Airlines announced it would launch services between Athens and the Macedonian capital next year, while both Nordica and Brussels Airlines have announced seasonal flights to Ohrid for the 2018 summer season. Furthermore, Mr Sugareski has held talks with the Israeli Ambassador to Macedonia, where the two discussed the establishment of flights between Tel Aviv and Skopje. The minister briefed the Ambassador about the necessary conditions and procedures that must be finalised prior to the service launch. Arkia Israeli Airlines currently maintains seasonal flights from Tel Aviv to Ohrid, however, there is no service between Skopje and the Israeli city.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Great news

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    I've never heard of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      They are not that unknown actually.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:56

      They have been around for 25 years and they also own Zagrosjet in Iraq.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Why does SKP think that just because there is a flight to OHD there has to be to SKP as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Where do they think that?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      Look at the Israel flights. Oh OHD has them so let's make sure we have them as well. Same with some other ones like AMS and so on. They don't understand that the markets are different.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:15

      Maybe the Israrlis want to establish flights to Skopje. No one is forcing them.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:17

    Good to see the Macedonian government trying to secure new flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      +!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      And people were worried that they would scrap the Wizz Air deal. Obviously not.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:17

      who was worried? (only the bots from the ex-ruling party) and why would they??

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:23

    What kind of service do they have?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      Udjes, sjednes, dodjes, ustanes i izadjes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:05

      Are the fares reasonable or are they like Eurowings?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:16

      Beautiful service.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:33

    Would be nice if they tried to attract easy Jet and make some competition for Wizz Air.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:20

      Would be nice but I doubt Wizz Air would allow it. Remember when Ryanair wanted to start flights?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:37

      Especially now that Wizz is getting more and more expensive, another LCC would be more than welcome in Macedonia - Norwegian, easy or Ryan.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:59

      Norwegian will definitely expand significantly as they have a large order of planes, which they will need to fill. Apart from p2p, they also offer long-haul. They should challenge Star Alliance dominance on US/Canada flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:11

      Let's see if Norwegian actually expands in ex-YU. So far their supposed massive expansion became only one extra frequency from CPH to ZAG. LOL

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:34

      If we trust Ryanair then Norwegian won't survive the winter.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:01

      Wizz getting more and more expensive?? where does that come from?

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:45

    We already have multiple flights and options to IST. Maybe anther route.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:01

    That is great if it is from OHD. Recently I have seen many turkish tourists there so I assume it will boost tourism even more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10:12

    SKP will have over 2 million passeghers next yeae.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:21

      That will be at least for 2018..
      This year both SKP and OHD will handle over 2 mio.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      Impressive

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:01

      In 2015 Skopje surpassed Ljubljana and this year I believe they will overtake Pristina.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:06

      nope, but they will come very close. PRN has a strong December that will help him in the end.

      PRN_SKP_LJU so close, its going to be cosy

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:23

    Nice but I would prefer if SKP would try and attract some European legacies like Air France, KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa that can offer good onward connections. We already have so many flights to Istanbul.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:11

      lol. because there is demand for IST, kapiraj vec jednom.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:24

    They recently held talks with LOT too so I think they will be coming soon as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:39

      I really hope these materialize. Like someone said, it is important for Skopje to have more legacy carriers and LOT would be excellent.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:00

      We don't know if they will come to Skopje. They could launch seasonal flights to Ohrid.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:58

      after Aegean and if LOT materializes, only TAP and SAS will be missing so every possible Star Alliance member from Europe would has flights to SKP/OHD
      on the bright side: good for Miles&More members

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:25

    The more the better, even if it is a route which is already served. There is demand.

    Does someone know how Qatar Airways is performing to SKP? What are the loads?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:02

      Around 70%.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:11

      That's not that bad.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:02

      lol, source? could have written any other number too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:07

      I am also curious what the loads are for FZ- someone keeps on writing here that they are not doing that well.
      On the other hand they recently increased their frequency but as somebody also mentioned it may be a strategic move against QR, so, any numbers for FZ loads to SKP?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:26

    20% of the tourists in Macedonia are from Turkey. I think there is space for a 3rd airline, and even better from Ohrid which sees no direct flights to Istanbul (could be a good niche market for Onur)

    I would preferred Pegasus to open this route though along resuming seasonal SKP-Izmir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:49

      It's interesting how Turks come in large numbers both to Serbia and to SKP/OHD. I think Turks are number one tourists in Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:50

      It's not a big surprise since they do not need visas for any these two countries and its relatively close.

      Delete
    3. this will connect 50k potential resident from ohrid struga dbar kicevo bitola korca pogradec wich will conect with istanbull to come from new york to ohrid,,,wow nice

      Delete
  14. Anonymous11:36

    Good job, Skopie!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous12:34

    "We, as a government, have an obligation to do our outmost to develop air traffic, and, in that sense, we will support any airline that wishes to fly to Macedonia"

    More subsidies coming right up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous13:00

    SKP will soon have to expand its terminal with such big passenger growth and new airlines constantly announcing flights.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous13:03

    This would be great for either SKP or OHD.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous13:45

    Well done MK!

    On the other hand, LJU seems to be on fire!

    Sep 2017: 180380 +18%
    YTD: 1,297,877

    Really impressive meaning gap vs SKP is getting narrower and narrower.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous15:28

    What is A320 YU-APH doing in Sochi (AER)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:42

      Don't know, but A330 YU-ARA is back flying to JFK now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:28

      World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi.
      150 passengers BEG-AER

      Delete
  20. Anonymous15:37

    Does SKP needs more flights to IST?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:44

      They would not be starting flights just for the fun of it. There must be demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:08

      Even OTP don't have 3 airlines flying to it from IST

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:08

      Maybe they want a share of the market for themselves? It doesn't necessarily mean there is enough demand for more flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:09

      Anon 04.08

      So what? BEG handles much less passengers than OTP but it has three airlines from Istnabul: Turkish, Pegasus and Atlasjet.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:52

      Both Serbia and Macedonia receive large numbers of Turkish tourists.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee08:32

      I think Serbia had 78.000 Turkish tourists in the first 9 months of 2017 followed by Germans (around 54.000).

      Delete
  21. Anonymous00:34

    Great news for Macedonia.

    ReplyDelete

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