Onur Air to launch Ohrid flights


Turkish low cost airline Onur Air will commence services between Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and Ohrid this summer season, following talks with the Macedonian government last October. The carrier will maintain a one weekly seasonal service from April 15 until October 7 and is the latest in a string of carriers to announce new flights to the lake-side city this year, joining Brussels Airlines (Brussels), TUIfly (Eindhoven), Corendon Dutch Airlines (Maastricht), Nordica (Tallinn) and Wizz Air (Vienna). Tickets for Onur Air's new Ohrid service can currently be purchased through Turkish tour operators Tatil Budur and BTB tour, although the airline is considering putting tickets directly on sale if there is sufficient demand.

The Macedonian government has outlined it aim to attract more low cost carriers to Ohrid. "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. St Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid has untapped potential and we are focusing on shifting traffic to that airport and providing the public with many destinations operated by low cost airlines", the Macedonian Minister for Transport and Communication, Goran Sugareski, said recently. Ohrid Airport handled a record 159.072 passengers in 2017, representing an increase of 9.7% on the previous year. Apart from the new routes being launched this year, Ohrid is also served by Arkia Israeli Airlines from Tel Aviv, Germania Flug and Helvetic Airways from Zurich, Small Planet Airlines from Katowice and TUIfly from Amsterdam.

Onur Air boasts a fleet of 24 aircraft operating to 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, accounting for 12.3% of all passengers in 2017, while Turkish Airlines is the second busiest carrier in the country behind Wizz Air, which maintains a base in Skopje. A total of 129.708 Turkish tourists visited Macedonia in 2017, representing an increase of 22.7% on the year before. Most visitors arriving in Macedonia are from Turkey.

Further details for Onur Air's new Istanbul - Ohrid service can be found here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Great news coming from Macedonia this year with new routes from Ohrid and Skopje. It's impressive for a relatively small market but it's definitely growing. Good work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      +1
      From Skopje we have new LOT and Aegean flights. Wizz Air will probably launch new routes after subsidy tender.

      From Ohrid Nordica, Brussels Airlines, Tui, Onur Air...

      Good year

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

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

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      Every airline they talked to last year has announced flights to Macedonia. Only waiting for Arkia to start Skopje.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    I have been to Ohrid a few times but never to the airport. So if someone knows, what are the facilities like? Is it large/small, is there a duty free?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      It's small, but it's quite OK, you can compare the size with facilities in Nis.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      TAV did some renovations when they took over.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      ^Yes they changed the sign on the airport roof :D

      Delete
    4. Haha Anon 10:06 good one :)

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    This is mostly for tourists but it's still good news especially since the flights are almost for the entire summer season.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:07

    Ohrid may very well double its numbers this year. It could reach 300,000.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      2018-19 winter growth will be huge because of Wizz Air Vienna flights on A321.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      Yes but remember too that there won't be Air Serbia 4 weekly flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:16

      The biggest disadvantage with that is that we loose connections which would go via BEG. I assume those passengers will now fly from/to SKP.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:22

      But it only operated from June until mid September and only with an ATR72 so it's not that huge of a loss.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:31

      We will see. Most of the new routes are just one weekly. At least this was constant for several months with a higher frequency.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:31

      Of course Wizz air with Vienna is an exception but that starts at the end of the year.

      Delete
    7. JU's half-filled ATR-72s didn't have big impact on the numbers anyway

      Delete
    8. Anonymous15:12

      I wish the market was stronger so that JU did not have to fly half empty Atrs.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    Great news

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    Never head of this airline. But they seem legit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      They are the third biggest airline in Turkey.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:37

      They have been around for 25 years.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    That is great for OHD. There are a lot of turkish tourists visiting so it should increase tourism even more.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    Macedonia has 130000 Turkish visitors, Croatia 34000, you'd think it would be the other way around. lol

    Congrats Macedonia on tourist numbers, perhaps this year 150 000 Turks visit Macedonia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Around 20% of all tourists in Macedonia are from Turkey.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:12

      What are the other main tourists in Macedonia?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:30

      1. Turkish
      2. Serbian
      3. Greek
      4. Bulgarian
      5. Dutch
      6. Albanian
      7. Kosovo
      8. German
      9. Croatian
      10. Polish

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:39

      well Turks (now) need visas for Croatia... what was the number before introducing visas?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:51

      I think that Bulgarians are far more than Greek. I'm not sure the statistic is very proper.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:03

      It is the official statistics from Macedonia Statistical office. You can check it on their website.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:07

      and the Polish are more then Croatian. let me check

      Delete
    8. Anonymous03:45

      @AnonymousFebruary 16, 2018 at 10:39 AM

      Never over 30 000, Turkish visitors never visit Croatia, it is too expensive for them.

      Croatian prices are almost on par with Germany now. Number of Macedonians in Croatia is also low, 34000 in 2017. Best ever result was in 2001 I think, 64000 Macedonians visited Croatia.

      From ex-YU/Region, best guests or most numerous in Croatia are Slovenian visitors, 1.45 million visitors from Slovenia, they also generated 10.5 million nights.

      Top 20 in Croatia in 2017.

      Germany: 2.84 million
      Slovenia: 1.45 million
      Austria: 1.43 million
      Italy: 1.15 million
      Poland: 1.0 million
      Czech R: 825 000
      United Kingdom: 810 000
      France: 575 000
      Netherlands: 475 000
      USA: 475 000
      Hungary: 470 000
      Slovakia: 454 000
      S. Korea: 445 000
      Bosnia: 434 000
      Sweden: 325 000
      Switzerland: 275 000
      Belgium: 255 000
      Spain: 228 000
      Australia: 225 000
      Norway: 220 000

      From the region:

      Slovenia: 1.45 million
      Bosnia: 434 000
      Serbia: 156 000
      Macedonia: 34 000
      Montenegro: 20 000
      Kosovo: 12 000

      Slight growth in number of arrivals, Slovenia being exception where numbers are always good, from year to year.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous07:41

      What a condescending comment regarding Turkish holidaymakers especially after you look at the list you provided us with on which there are a lot of people from Bosnia. If Croatia was that expensive most of them would go to Montenegro or Bulgaria.

      Turks, especially those from the big cities, are rich enough to travel to exclusive tourist destinations. If they are not going to Croatia in big numbers probably means that they didn't like it as much or that there is no value for money they pay. I mean most Czechs, Polish, Germans, Austrians or Dutch go to Croatia by car or bus.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:58

      im not surprised with the low nrs of macedonian tourists in HR: bit expensive for their standard and its quiet a hassle to reach the coast by bus, a decent flight connection is missing too (SPU or PUY)

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:39

      @AnonymousFebruary 17, 2018 at 7:41 AM

      Well, I didn't mean to sound like Turks are poor, however can't explain why more of them aren't coming to Croatia. 30-35 000 is most that ever visited Croatia.

      Perhaps, Croatia is of little interest to them.

      As to Germans, the Dutch, Austrians... Mostly use bus or car, hm not Bus, definitely not bus.

      Yes many of 16.5 million foreign visitors to Croatia in 2017 came with a car or a train. Train is very popular for Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs and Poles.

      but with onset of Low cost carriers, many now choose that option.

      The reason why we see massive swing and growth in air passengers in Croatia.

      Links with Turkey are terrible, only Zagreb having direct link with Istanbul, and this is only reason why most Turkish visitors visit Zagreb and perhaps if they stay longer than 72 hours they visit Plitivice, Zadar or Split.


      in 2017 35 000 Turks visited Zagreb, generating 60 000 nights, overall Turkish visitors generated 108 000 nights in Croatia in 2017.

      Turkish Airlines service to Zagreb carried 140 000 passengers in 2017,half of these were Turkish visitors to Zagreb and Croatia.

      I can see there's a good chance this route could generate even more visitors in near future. Potential for 200 000 passengers on Istanbul - Zagreb service by 2020, is great. Time will tell how well Turkish airlines does on the route.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    So Macedonian airports could have around 2.5 million passengers this year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      I'm not sure it will be possible to add half a million passengers this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      Depends on Skopje and whether Wizz Air opens more routes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:35

      Skopje should have around 2.1 million passengers and Ohrid I doubt more than 210,000 so 2.5 million is not realistic.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:52

      And of course this if no other airline drops flights.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      No one will drop flights. Quite the opposite. Adria and Croatia Airlines are both increasing frequencies to SKP.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    The more the better :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    I would have preferred for Pegasus to have opened this route but this is not bad either. I hope they do put tickets on sale on their website.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:23

    What's with all the flights from the Netherlands to Ohrid? o.O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Tourists.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      Many many years ago Transavia had flights to Ohrid :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:02

      That was before Yugoslavia broke apart :D

      Delete
    4. I think there will be up to x10 weekly flights from NL to OHD this summer (AMS,EIN,MAA)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:08

      Ask A. den Doolaard about that :)

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:27

    I hope that a Russian airline like Pobeda will consider starting flights to OHD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Pobeda would be great for Skopje too

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      I doubt we will see them launch any new flights to ex-Yu this year. They will start Podgorica in the summer. They have more aircraft on order so maybe soon they will consider more routes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:41

      They were very close to starting flights to Ohrid in 2015 but I can't remember what happened. I think a tour operator pulled out and it never materialized.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:52

      Nis has also been trying to get Pobeda to fly there. In the end they will probably choose between SKP/OHD and INI. We will see who gets them.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:30

    How many year round routes from OHD?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      1 - Basel by Wizz but it will increase to 2 with Vienna route.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      Shame they dropped London year round.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:44

      ^Visas.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:02

      I really do wonder if those flights are used by tourists or diaspora. In both cases I don't see any of them needing visas.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:06

      there are visas for those flying from Skopje too but the line works. I think it was just too much capacity from Macedonia to London so modifying the route to seasonal flights was the right decision.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:26

      OHD-LTN was never going to work year-round.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:35

      OHD - LTN gets probably the biggest share of tourists on Wizz flights to MK

      Delete
    8. OHD-LTN was the biggest joke from Wizzair. What a waste. Had they opened OHD-MMX, or OHD-FCO, they could have maintained that year-round

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:06

      LTN was launched for tourists not for gastos? capito?

      LF in summer is great

      Delete
    10. It was performing so well, it was quickly downgraded from year-round to seasonal. Fantastic development there

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:32

      a seasonal flight to London is more valuable for the tourist destination Ohrid then a year round gastarbajters flight from which nobody in Ohrid will get benefit of.

      This flight is for attracting tourist and is sponsored by the city of Ohrid! Koga ke sfatis veke ednas

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:32

    Wizz will increase Ohrid to 4 per week around New Year period. Same with Nis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      For the gastos. Nice.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:41

    Would be nice to see Swiss launch Ohrid perhaps. If they can make it in Nis I don't see why not in Ohrid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      Seriously? They couldn't make it in Skopje and you think they will in Ohrid...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:56

      Well just saying since two airlines are currently flying from Zurich - Germania and Helvetic. They could also serve the Albanian community with these flights since Ohrid is better positioned.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:23

      I'm sure they will come if they see potential.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:28

      The Germania flights are for the Albanian community you talk about. They are chartered by Air Prishtina.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:57

    SO OHD will lose JU but gain Onur Air, nice!
    I am so glad for Macedonia lately. Kudos for the great job their government is doing. I am secretly hoping for flights to neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria. The country might even join EU before the rest.
    Bravo OHD! Bravo MK!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:53

      +1000

      Delete
    3. OHD-SOF would definitely work, even year round

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:04

      According to the EUs new Western Balkan accession plan which was adopted last week Montenegro and Serbia will join first in 2025.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:39

      They could join EU in 2025 (earliest possible date, probably not even then)...

      Delete
    6. Eus has a total debt of 10 trillion euro
      Sorru but im against eu il.stay in style of norway

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:01

    Ohrid has a lot of potential and the tourism is still not developed to its full potential. So I think we will only see flights grow more and more in the future. Nice to see Onur Air starting up this route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      Agree. It really is a special place there.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:04

    Nice to see. There are still a few airline which could start flights to Ohrid. Would be nice if they attracted Adria back. I think 2 weekly with their Saabs would work perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:07

    There should also be new flights from Warsaw to Ohrid this year too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      Do you know which airline?

      Delete
    2. LOT kind of semi-confirmed OHD a while back, but no official announcement (yet)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:34

      kako pa da ne LOT .....

      its small Planet, its a charter flight for package tourists

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:39

      Well I was hoping for LOT but they will obviously fly only to Skopje. I think it is Small Planet.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:48

      It would be a good route for Wizz Air.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:09

    Great news for Ohrid. I hope they maintain a sustainable tourism agenda.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:14

    Unfortunately all of these new routes are subsidised because tour operators get a certain amount of money for each tourist they bring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Pretty much the same scenario as Wizz Air and SKP

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:24

    So two new routes to the east - Istanbul and Tallinn. Not bad. Like someone said we are missing Moscow.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:25

    Will the subsidies the Macedonian government gives through tender only apply for flights to Skopje or will it also be offered for flights to Ohrid as well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35

      I think it applies to Macedonia in general, no matter of the airport. Since in the article it says the government is focusing on LCC flights to Ohrid, it is likely they will push for Wizz to start more flights from there.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:38

    OHD is quietly and slowly might end up stealing some traffic from SKP.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:41

    oh poor Air Serbia ...

    wondering if JP can fill the Saab to OHD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they offer good connections and advertise OHD as a destination properly, it can definitely work at least as a seasonal destination

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:45

    SOF-OHD is a another candidate, seasonal flights can work but WIZZ is not keen on launching seasonal flights...

    Im not sure if this route would work year-round

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:54

      I think it can work even year-round.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:47

      OHD is a very popular destination in Bulgaria but sadly, people use ground transport as it is quite close.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:04

    Maybe in winter they could transfer to Skopje. Same way Flydubai transferred from Tivat to Podgorica.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12

      They wouldn't stand a chance against Turkish and Pegasus.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:20

      they would be the only LCC offering flights to Ataturk so you never know.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:39

      Plus the demand for Turkey is constantly growing as the numbers indicate.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous12:13

    Bravo Makedonia!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous12:14

    Not surprised. Ohrid really is Macedonia's biggest selling point. It really is a spectacular place. I just hope it's natural beauty is preserved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:34

      I hope Ohrid gets more charter flights and even some regular lines either summer basis or even year long round hopefully for another 3 lines in the next 1 or 2 years. Ohrid may not have a big catchment area but I believe there is definitely room for expansion

      Delete

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