New flights to Milan, Dublin, Basel, Paris, Barcelona and Dubai
The Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency has announced that Skopje will soon get direct flights to Milan, Dublin, Basel, Paris, Barcelona and Dubai but did not reveal the airlines which would operate the services. The Agency adds that several low cost airlines have expressed interest to fly to Skopje. Only a few days ago, Wizz Air launched flights from Venice (Treviso) to Skopje, their second destination to the Macedonian capital after inaugurating flights from London over the summer. German Sky Airlines, a subsidiary of Sky Airlines from Turkey will commence flights from Zurich to Skopje this winter.The Civil Aviation Agency says that it is trying to attract as much airlines as possible which will in turn lead to a reduction in ticket prices, making flying more accessible to the general population. “We would like to point out that some thirty airlines are operating flights to Macedonia this year, an increase of 50% compared to last year. For the first time, Macedonia has direct air links to Moscow, Amsterdam, Rome, Ancona and Helsinki”, the Agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Skopje based MAT Airways has been grounded for over a month. Its single Boeing 737-500 has been parked at Skopje Airport and the airline has halted ticket sales. Although there is no official confirmation as to why it has ceased operations, it is believed that poor ticket sales have forced the airline to suspend services for a second time this summer. MAT Airways has an operational license from the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency until mid 2012. It is unlikely that it will be extended.
Dublin? That would be interesting decision, maybe Ryanair is considering flights from there. I wonder why no one cares about Frankfurt, Hamburg (where most of the Macedonian immigration in Germany lives) or Scandinavia yet.
ReplyDeleteCroatia airlines plan to fly from summer time table:
ReplyDeleteIstanbul - every day
Moscow - plan is to take one A319 from Adria for that route
7th Q400 was planed to fly to Tirana, but it will not happen, instead they plan some other routes for 7th Q400.
Wow... with that rate I wonder how long before SKP is linked to Narnia!
ReplyDeletePurger, do not spam, this is about Macedonian news!
This thread was about TunisAir and Belgrade, actually... but it was full of mistakes and wrong information, and was taken down by the author :)
ReplyDeletePurger News are always good !!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes but this is about Makedonija, no Croatia!
ReplyDeletehahahaha... skopje-helsinki!!! maybe to use A340 on that route.
ReplyDeletethis was in some newspaper interview weeks ago. its not new. and nothing to take seriously
ReplyDelete@last anonymous.
ReplyDeletethere were charters with Finnair HEL-OHR , stfu
Sorry just need to say this... about Purger "spamming"... Purger I respect you a lot for all valuable news you contribute with, so for me you spamming about this is just welcome!
ReplyDeleteFor all the others, what are the news? Really? they say these new destinations will open up but not wanting to reveal the carrier/s? Then I must say Purger at least came up with some really INTERESTING facts. Ciao
what about tunis air and belgrade?
ReplyDeleteim macedonian, and dont mind off topics in this article. just keep them coming
ReplyDeleteAs for the new terminal at Skopje - I had the pleasure to visit it last week and was highly impressed. TAV didn't 'gold plate' with unnecessary items and it is very functional and easily the most impressive piece of aviation infrastructure in the entire Balkans.
ReplyDeleteWhether there is enough traffic to support it is another story, but it's a step in the right direction.
As for the new terminal at Skopje - I had the pleasure to visit it last week and was highly impressed. TAV didn't 'gold plate' with unnecessary items and it is very functional and easily the most impressive piece of aviation infrastructure in the entire Balkans.
ReplyDeleteWhether there is enough traffic to support it is another story, but it's a step in the right direction.
The way SKP is heading they will be linked to the USA first.
ReplyDeleteAmazing what proper facilities can get you!
Yes, what about Tunis Air and Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteWhat hapenned with flights by Tunisair to Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteIt would be intresting to see direct flights from Dubai to Skopje.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm... maybe those Arabs think Skopje is a Turkish boomtown of
ReplyDeletesix-and a half million people...
and Emirates send their Boeing777-
300 for daily nonstop flights ?!
If Macedonia profits from it...let it happen !
Respect to Purger...for not being Serbian !
ReplyDeleteTo Angel Arnaudov :
ReplyDeleteI am living in Hamburg my whole life.
All the Macedonians I know there are in fact Albanians,alot of them use Prishtina airport.
I never met any "real Macedonian"
so I assume that most Macedonian emigrants are of Albanian ethnicity .
Last census show us that half a million (25%)were Albanians,
not counted were same number of
Albanians with Macedonian passport
who live outside of Macedonia
and those who changed their nationality to others (German,Swiss,Swedish etc.)
With such a big emigrant population Macedonia has.. Skopje airport only can be a success..even if you have direct competitor Prishtina airport .
Beste Grusse aus Deutschland!
@last anonymous
ReplyDeleteand what was the point of our post?
...Maybe the point is that the majority of people using new skopje airport are the same people who used till recently the neighbouring airport in Prishtina !
ReplyDeleteSo you can see that those both airports will have a tough competition ..something you can not see in any other ex yu airport !
Imagine ..Prishtina alone will get now four new destinations in Germany by Germanwings !
Munich and Frankfurt also served by Adria ,nearly daily !
Then those flighs coming up in Skopje.
Flights alone to Hamburg by multiple airlines..you have so much
Choice !
There is no single flight from Hamburg to Belgrade by any airline in comparison !
You have to be blind not to see that aviation in Ex Yu is DOMINATED by the duopolis Prishtina-Skopje !
Imagine living between those both cities !
i live 80 km far from PRN and 90 km from SKP. so it's so nice when i have so much options, every time when i/family/friends want to travel we're checking for flights from PRN and SKP. and it's so easy to find good route/price. and usualy(but not always) SKP has better offer for me. maybe PRN has more flights, but also bigger prices:)
ReplyDeleteGood luck to SKP with this new destinations, and i hope we can see USA from/to some ex-yu airport in 2012.
Yes thats it!!BEG, ZAG and LJU were talking for years about new terminals and SKP was the city with the most african looking airport in the Balkans but now is Singapore in the Balkans!!
ReplyDeleteI am sure we will see in the next 2-3 years many new routes to SKP cause not only the diaspora but also the many foreign tourists that are visiting the country will contribute to the rising pax numbers!And besides that many many macedonians still use SOF, SKG, PRN and BEG as departing points so the potential is there!
So the article mentions a few new destinations from SKP, 'The Civil Aviation Agency says that it is trying to attract as much airlines as possible which will in turn lead to a reduction in ticket prices, making flying more accessible to the general population.' and people immediately turn this news as a sign that SKP has become Frankfurt of the Balkans!
ReplyDeleteSo, some new routes are announced and that in itself is good news just as is the opening of a new terminal since Skopje desperately needed one.
How long these routes will be operational remains to be seen.
I think it'be prudent to tone down the excitement for various reasons; Macedonia is a small and poor country (this is not meant to be offensive, too few people can afford to travel) its diaspora cannot be THAT big, and tourism is insignificant compared to its neighbors Greece and Bulgaria.
Just because a new building was built it does not mean it will attract millions of passengers. I mean Sofia and Belgrade are hovering about 3m pax per year and they are much bigger cities than Skopje and also capitals of countries which have 4x more people. NOt to mention that 'Macedonia' airport in Thessaloniki handles 4mil pax per year and Greece receives more tourists than Macedonia can ever dream.
To believe that SKP will become a new hub of the Balkans based on a new building with 6 air bridges is borderline lunatic. How many flights DAILY do you have to Sofia, Belgrade, Thessaloniki, Tirana. Podgorica, Plovdiv, Ohrid, etc. which would serve as 'feeders' for the new terminal? Why would the Turks allow that at the expense of the Ataturk Airport? At best, this airport will attract maximum of 3mil pax in 5 to 10 years. And lets hope that evenhappens.
TAV thank God you have taken over our Airports i was departing through the old terminal last month and to be honest that is depressing to see that in 2011.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the Great work and hopefully the connection will get better for Australia & North America.