Modest start for Skopje Airport

Slow start for Skopje despite Wizz Air presence

Skopje Alexander the Great Airport has seen its passenger numbers improve by 2% in January 2013 compared to the same month last year. Macedonia’s busiest airport welcomed 65.700 passengers through its doors in the first month of the year. The modest growth is somewhat disappointing considering that Wizz Air has introduced up to six new routes from the airport while Flydubai is also operating services to Skopje, unlike last January. If Skopje is to reach its goal and handle one million passengers this year it will have to record significant growth throughout the coming months. In January 2012, Skopje saw growth of over 20% compared to the year before.

Recently, charter carrier Alba Star launched flights from Skopje to Rome and Basel with services operating every weekend. Passenger numbers could receive a further boost thanks to several new airlines which have announced plans to launch flights to the Macedonian capital. They include Nordic Air Sweden which will inaugurate services from Copenhagen on February 28, B&H Airlines from Sarajevo starting April 1 and Jetairfly which will resume its seasonal summer flights from Brussels. Furthermore, there is a possibility that Wizz Air will also boost its presence in Skopje with new routes. Low cost Flydubai will increase its frequencies from two to three times per week this summer, while Qatar Airways is considering launching flights from Doha to the Macedonian capital later this year.

Alexander the Great Airport welcomed 828.831 passengers in 2012, an increase of 9.1% compared to the year before. The airport’s busiest year was 2000 when it handled 1.019.905 passengers. Since then, the airport has been closest to that figure last year but is still some way off from breaking the million passenger mark.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:23

    It would be interesting to see the increase in capacity since the arrival of Wizz Air and then to compare it with the passenger growth.
    I am sure that Jat's numbers in SKP have gone down in January due to the fleet shortage, but I wonder who else had a bad month there. Adria?

    ReplyDelete
  2. jeste, ali ovu godinu SKP je kraci za Malev x 12 svaku nedelju i CZA x 10 svaku nedelju, tako da kad uporedis stvare ipak za ovaj period je prilicno dobar !!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:05

    Jat's figures in SKP have not gone down in January.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:35

    you have to remember that in january 2012 skopje had 10 weekly flights to prag and 12 weekly flights to budapest with cza and and malev, they are gown now because of their cost cutting measures or bankrupcy... so there are missing about 22 flights per week while wizz air has with its new routs simething about 17 flights per week so there are missing minium 5 flights a week...
    despite that skopje still has a significant growth with only 2% because wizz air has always good loads to all of their routs from skopje...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 6 new routs on Wizzair is : the each 1 x 2 a week is 12 it's not 17 ;) Pozz iz makedonija !

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:24

      hehe ne brat ;)
      3x za Basel = 13 + London (2x) i Venezia (2x) = 17 ;)
      ama inace u pravo si

      Delete
    3. ne ne za bazel bese samo od 18 dekemvri do 16 januar x 3 inace sega si e x 2 se do sredinata na mart, a london si bese i lani isto i venezia, niv ne gi stavaj na isto mesto so novite 6, London i Venezia si bea i lani vo januar ;) pozzz

      Delete
  5. Anonymous13:44

    So, what same situation with Malev (14-18 flights per week) and CSA (7-10 flights) was in Zagreb + Spanair on all year ZAG-BCN route.

    Also all other months from March to December Skopje missed those flights. Last year was exeptional for SKP, you can not espected same this year. It is hard to continue grouth like this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous16:04

    Seems like SKP is reaching the limits of its grow. There are anyway too many airlines already for such a little airport. Don't make me laugh about QR starting flights there and getting into that mess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:26

      well flydubai has pretty got loads and QR will take many buisness travels from qatar to macedonia also tourits and transit passengers... i am pretty optimistic...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:35

      Since when Skopje became such an economic/financial powerhouse?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:10

      well qatar is planning to invest about 1 billion euros in macedonia in different sectors like tourism, farming, petrol etc.... so there will be many buisness travellars and after they invest into tourism qatar people will hopefully visit macedonia... and transit passengers like we all know to australia and the rest of the world...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:40

      Dont just believe to what Gruevski's medias have to say, if Qatar wanted to invest, they would have something official, but nothing is for sure yet and I don't think that something will come out from all the fanfares regarding Qatar and their investments in Macedonia

      Delete
  7. Anonymous19:49

    Have jat's losses increased this month?

    ReplyDelete
  8. RetroFly19:52

    here are some old JAT and PanAm timetables from NYC to ZAG and BEG
    http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/ju63/ju63-10.jpg
    http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ju/ju65/ju65-04.jpg
    http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1983/1983%20-%200669.html
    http://www.airlinetimetables.blogspot.de/search/label/Pan%20Am and so on

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:09

      thanks for this, but we were hoping to get JATs timetable from its golden ages late '80 and early '90.
      Do you have any? We would really appreciate it

      Delete
  9. RetroFly20:14

    http://www.departedflights.com/ZAG83p1.html
    http://www.departedflights.com/BEG83intro.html

    sorry, i have just these ones.. if you go to departedflights.com, you can also see a lot of timetables, but JAT i did not found.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is great link, thank you very much! And from that page, there is also the link I wanted, the complete timetable from Belgrade airport (JAT and also all other air lines): http://www.departedflights.com/BEG83p1.html

      Delete
  10. RetroFly20:30

    JAT @ LAX1987 DC10
    http://www.departedflights.com/JUD10.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous20:35

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  12. @ex-yu aviation

    The date under jat's DC-10 vintage photo is false. The first DC-10 in JAT fleet, named after Nikola Tesla, registration YU-AMA, arrived in December 1978, not 1975. Sorry for OT.

    ReplyDelete
  13. EAPfan20:47

    Alba Star's flights to Basel haven't started yet.Does anybody know the reason?Maybe,they only start for the sumer period?

    ReplyDelete

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