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.
Great news
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of them.
ReplyDeleteThey are not that unknown actually.
DeleteThey have been around for 25 years and they also own Zagrosjet in Iraq.
DeleteWhy does SKP think that just because there is a flight to OHD there has to be to SKP as well.
ReplyDeleteWhere do they think that?
DeleteLook 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.
DeleteMaybe the Israrlis want to establish flights to Skopje. No one is forcing them.
DeleteGood to see the Macedonian government trying to secure new flights.
ReplyDelete+!
DeleteAnd people were worried that they would scrap the Wizz Air deal. Obviously not.
Deletewho was worried? (only the bots from the ex-ruling party) and why would they??
DeleteWhat kind of service do they have?
ReplyDeleteUdjes, sjednes, dodjes, ustanes i izadjes.
DeleteAre the fares reasonable or are they like Eurowings?
DeleteBeautiful service.
DeleteWould be nice if they tried to attract easy Jet and make some competition for Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice but I doubt Wizz Air would allow it. Remember when Ryanair wanted to start flights?
DeleteEspecially now that Wizz is getting more and more expensive, another LCC would be more than welcome in Macedonia - Norwegian, easy or Ryan.
DeleteNorwegian 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.
DeleteLet'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
DeleteIf we trust Ryanair then Norwegian won't survive the winter.
DeleteWizz getting more and more expensive?? where does that come from?
DeleteWe already have multiple flights and options to IST. Maybe anther route.
ReplyDeleteThat is great if it is from OHD. Recently I have seen many turkish tourists there so I assume it will boost tourism even more.
ReplyDeleteSKP will have over 2 million passeghers next yeae.
ReplyDeleteThat will be at least for 2018..
DeleteThis year both SKP and OHD will handle over 2 mio.
Impressive
DeleteIn 2015 Skopje surpassed Ljubljana and this year I believe they will overtake Pristina.
Deletenope, but they will come very close. PRN has a strong December that will help him in the end.
DeletePRN_SKP_LJU so close, its going to be cosy
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.
ReplyDeletelol. because there is demand for IST, kapiraj vec jednom.
DeleteThey recently held talks with LOT too so I think they will be coming soon as well.
ReplyDeleteI really hope these materialize. Like someone said, it is important for Skopje to have more legacy carriers and LOT would be excellent.
DeleteWe don't know if they will come to Skopje. They could launch seasonal flights to Ohrid.
Deleteafter 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
Deleteon the bright side: good for Miles&More members
The more the better, even if it is a route which is already served. There is demand.
ReplyDeleteDoes someone know how Qatar Airways is performing to SKP? What are the loads?
Around 70%.
DeleteThat's not that bad.
Deletelol, source? could have written any other number too.
DeleteI am also curious what the loads are for FZ- someone keeps on writing here that they are not doing that well.
DeleteOn 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?
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)
ReplyDeleteI would preferred Pegasus to open this route though along resuming seasonal SKP-Izmir.
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.
DeleteIt's not a big surprise since they do not need visas for any these two countries and its relatively close.
Deletethis 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
DeleteGood job, Skopie!
ReplyDeleteFantastic
ReplyDelete"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"
ReplyDeleteMore subsidies coming right up.
SKP will soon have to expand its terminal with such big passenger growth and new airlines constantly announcing flights.
ReplyDeleteThis would be great for either SKP or OHD.
ReplyDeleteWell done MK!
ReplyDeleteOn 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.
What is A320 YU-APH doing in Sochi (AER)?
ReplyDeleteDon't know, but A330 YU-ARA is back flying to JFK now.
DeleteWorld Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi.
Delete150 passengers BEG-AER
Does SKP needs more flights to IST?
ReplyDeleteThey would not be starting flights just for the fun of it. There must be demand.
DeleteEven OTP don't have 3 airlines flying to it from IST
DeleteMaybe they want a share of the market for themselves? It doesn't necessarily mean there is enough demand for more flights.
DeleteAnon 04.08
DeleteSo what? BEG handles much less passengers than OTP but it has three airlines from Istnabul: Turkish, Pegasus and Atlasjet.
Both Serbia and Macedonia receive large numbers of Turkish tourists.
DeleteI think Serbia had 78.000 Turkish tourists in the first 9 months of 2017 followed by Germans (around 54.000).
DeleteGreat news for Macedonia.
ReplyDelete