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.

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?

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

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

+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

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

Great news

Never head of this airline. But they seem legit.

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

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

They are the third biggest airline in Turkey.

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

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.

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.

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

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

The more the better :)

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.

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

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

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

Tourists.

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

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

How many year round routes from OHD?

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

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

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

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

Depends on Skopje and whether Wizz Air opens more routes.

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

Pobeda would be great for Skopje too

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

They have been around for 25 years.

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.

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

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.

Shame they dropped London year round.

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

^Visas.

Many many years ago Transavia had flights to Ohrid :)

For the gastos. Nice.

TAV did some renovations when they took over.

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.

And of course this if no other airline drops flights.

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.

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!

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.

+1

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.

That was before Yugoslavia broke apart :D

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Agree. It really is a special place there.

What are the other main tourists in Macedonia?

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

Pretty much the same scenario as Wizz Air and SKP

Do you know which airline?

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

kako pa da ne LOT .....

its small Planet, its a charter flight for package tourists

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

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.

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

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

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

oh poor Air Serbia ...

wondering if JP can fill the Saab to OHD

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

It would be a good route for Wizz Air.

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

+1000

I think it can work even year-round.

OHD-SOF would definitely work, even year round

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LTN was launched for tourists not for gastos? capito?

LF in summer is great

and the Polish are more then Croatian. let me check

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

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

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

Bravo Makedonia!

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.

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

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

Ask A. den Doolaard about that :)

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

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

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

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

Haha Anon 10:06 good one :)

@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.

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.

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)

@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.

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