Wizz Air will be adding eight new routes from Macedonia starting this March, after the carrier signed a new three-year subsidy agreement with the country for the introduction of new destinations. The no frills carrier will introduce year-long flights from Skopje to Baden Baden and Bremen, as well seasonal services from the Macedonian capital to Turku in Finland and Larnaca in Cyprus. In addition, Wizz will commence year-round operations to Ohrid from Malmo, Milan Malpensa, Memmingen and Dortmund. As a result, the low cost airline will base its fifth aircraft, an Airbus A320, in Skopje. The fleet expansion will also enable it to increase the number of weekly flights on existing routes from Skopje to Gothenburg, Hamburg, Cologne, Malta and Basel. According to the company,. the fifth jet represents a further 101 million dollar investment into the Macedonian aviation industry and will contribute to the creation of over thirty new direct jobs with Wizz Air.
| Route | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Malmo - Ohrid | MAR 18 |
| Skopje - Baden Baden | MAR 19 |
| Milan - Ohrid | MAR 19 |
| Skopje - Bremen | MAR 20 |
| Memmingen - Ohrid | JUL 01 |
| Dortmund - Ohrid | JUL 02 |
| Skopje - Turku | JUL 03 |
| Skopje - Larnaca | JUL 03 |
Click on link for further details
Wizz Air's Chief Commercial Officer, George Michalopoulos, said, "Further expanding our Macedonian operations means that Wizz Air can provide even more opportunities for Macedonian customers to travel across Europe at the lowest prices. Today we announced the allocation of the fifth aircraft to our base at Skopje together with eight long-awaited routes from Skopje and Ohrid to Germany, Cyprus, Finland, Sweden and Italy". He added, "We are confident that our customers will appreciate these connections and that these routes will be as popular as the other thirty in our Macedonian network. We will continue to further expand our network footprint and provide truly affordable prices, as well as stimulate the local economy of the communities we serve".
The Macedonian Minister of Transport and Communications, Goran Sugareski, noted, "It is our pleasure today to start a new phase in the development of air traffic in the Republic of Macedonia. As the responsible government body, we are strongly committed to the development of air transport and creation of conditions for establishing access to new destinations for Macedonian citizens. Today we signed an agreement with Wizz Air, which is the beginning of a new cooperation and an opportunity to improve air traffic in our country. I would like to congratulate the airline. They remain a serious partner of the government in the development of air traffic in the Republic of Macedonia".
Tickets for the new routes are already on sale through Wizz Air's website. During the 2019 summer season, the low cost airline will offer 38 destinations from Macedonia.
Comments
11 routes in total is just way way too much.
The same goes to PFO.
Goodbye Frankfurt and Munich.
As for BEG, don't forget that JU launched LCA in 1992 after it tookover the route from JP. Demand was always there. I don't see LCA lasting beyond summer months.
I doubt students can be such a factor to justify so many flights.
Not sure if they would be allowed to "replace" routes that potentially don't work out with new unserved destionations (PAD in Germany for example).
you've never said a positive word about Macedonia on this forum ...
It seems there is simply no market there despite your 'protestations.' Wizz Air have offices at GVA airport so they should have a hand on the pulse for the local market.
They go abroad usually because there are some universities that are not available on the island or that are cheaper in places like Bulgaria or Hungary. Maybe these numbers are not high enough but they help boost a certain route.
Anon 11.14
I am sure you can find these numbers online, especially in the Cypriot census. The 1.700 is the estimate of the Serbian embassy in Nicosia and it includes all 'Yugoslavs.'
Probably for Albanians as I heard theare a lot of them there
I am stating facts here. There is a reason SKP-LCA is being launched only once government subsidies came into play. Those are facts, you might like them or not, that's your own thing. However saying that SKP flights can make it just because BEG or SOF do is funny.
From the other hubs, BA is also a mirage with the current visas, KLM/AF is the last light in the tunnel to have a decent connection to a major European hub but also highly unlikely.
In case you missed the point, opening additional routes to Germany further reduces the changes of opening either FRA or MUC.
DUS and STR also also missing from a EW point of view, but FRA and MUC are major European hubs, so deserve a special mention.
not bad ;)
dude, Bulgaria is in the EU.
However, SKP/OHD cannot complain, really. W6 has completely transformed the market. It's not to everyone's taste, but the impact is significant and widely felt.
1.TR 2.GRE 3.SRB 4.BG 5.GER 6.CRO 7.ALB 8.CHINA 9.KS 10.USA 11.SLO 12.NED 13.UK 14.PL 15.ITA
CRO hype continues (+87%)
TR tourists in MK and SRB are in the negative the last few months
I believe it will go well and next year might be started earlier.
Is there a visa requirement for travel to Cyprus?
SOF-PFO is 3 weekly
VAR-LCA is served year round 2 weekly.
These are crazy numbers and indeed could confirm Nemjee's point.
I think it will work for SKP too as many Macedonians are holders of Bulgarian passports and residing in Cyprus.
Are Germans visiting Macedonia or is it all about gasto routes?
I recall flying from CDG to GVA over 10 years ago and existing through a 'French' sector without passport control. I was under the impression that the airport had a similar status to BSL.
Nonetheless, the question still stands? If the market is there (never seen passenger figures between the two), why is no one opening this route? Why does Wizz Air not open a Macedonian subsidiary and register at least one out of its five SKP-based aircraft to fly routes outside the ECAA?
SKP-TKU has excellent potential with Kosovan market.
George did his homework *clap
So W6 would have to be really cheap to attract customers away from them.
What the point in having a platform such as this to discuss civil aviation if people are not expected to question consequences of new developments.
It's a question of whether diversity is a good thing or not.
Having W6 operate over 10 destinations to Germany, mainly but not exclusively to smaller secondary and tertiary airports impacts the viability of other operators opening routes to major international airports such as LH to FRA or MUC or EW to DUS or STR.
These are valid points that are worth pointing out.
No one is arguing that opening of new routes is not good. Of course it's good, it will increase passenger numbers. But the question is whether it would have been better to attract LH/EW and/or AF/KL/HV to a major hub with excellent connectivity.
¡Well done MK!
Again we are talking about mini states like Qatar, so it´s very easy to become richer.
And well Cyprus is definitely a year round destination.
It was always an emigration destination but the lowered class such as cleaners, hotel staff, etc.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/12/skopje-airport-welcomes-two-millionth.html
OTP-PFO is year round maybe this one is gasto but SOF-PFO is seasonal.
I am seeing a PFO connection to Yugoslavia within the next year or two.
As for W6, it's too late for them to open a base there, because it is already taken by FR.
I've been on the receiving end of quite something around here even when presenting proper facts.. =)
The 'French' sector in GVA is for domestic flights only unfortunately.
It will be up to easyJet to launch it. Should happen sooner or later, they have all the info they need. The ball is in their court.
Subsidiary and AOC scenarios are simply unsustainable. Cases in point are Ukraine and Bulgaria. UK is something completely different of course. I imagine the based capacity equivalent to be at the very least in the teens there, quite a bit of a stretch from four or five.
Anyways, congrats on the 5th aircraft. Somebody finally sold the idea of Finland/Turku, I find that one quite entertaining. LCA should be just fine.
Greetings from Sofia!
Happy Orthodox New Year everyone!
W6 is now 100% dominant in MK.
QED. На апаратима!
True, you've been in the receiving end of some unpleasant comments, but these are only targeted at people with knowledge. No one targets losers, so it's a kind of compliment.
In any case, W6 has delivered. It's now serving countries as south as Malta and Cyprus, as north as Finland and Sweden, cities such as Milan and Rome (and cheekily they refer to FMM as 'Munich' in the new routes map). There can be no complains, in my opinion. They're delivering their part of the bargain with 5 SKP-based aircraft. Whether this is the best route that Macedonia could have chosen to develop SKP and OHD will remain open for years to come.
I'm very curious to find out what happens in the next 3-5 years. I don't see how anyone can complete for the core European market with W6 at SKP. I can foresee OU and JP, and to a lesser degree JU struggling for non-core connecting passengers (considering that there are so many direct routes now) when you have OS and TK offering twice daily connections to much bigger hubs. LO is an interesting option and A3 can grow and grow since it's a major trading partner. So, how will conservative airlines like AF, KL, BA or LH and their low-cost subsidiaries enter and complete is difficult to see. Nonetheless, whoever expected say in 2010 to see SKP reach 2m passengers by 2018 would have been referred to a mental asylum. So, onward and upwards.
I mean people will get used to them so much and when the government shuts the money tap, then all this artificial traffic will immediately drop.
You can't just keep finansing those routes and not focus on schools, roads, hospitals, etc.
Also MK is destroying itself by draining all the brains to West Europe.
Dunno, I find this all so forced and non organic.
But to shed some light on the topic - there's a certain positive threshold in terms of incremental (!) profit and strategic impact necessary for such a scenario to be justified. It seems to be there is gross underestimation of costs and focus necessary to operate a subsidy / AOC, let alone the ripple effect of such a signal across EMEA should it come to light.
Now, if I caught your meaning well, let me remind you that all of the existing traffic is completely self-sustainable and profitable, and the amount of negative schedule adjustments (BCN, VXO) have been at an unprecedented level for a W6 operated base. The most stable base by far, excluding LTN.
That's exactly the same argument used to justify subsidies at OU, JU, YM, except that the government has leverage. SKP is now firmly under control of one foreign airline. State has no leverage and must do as W6 commands. That can turn to higher prices and less competition long term.
The leverage is higher in the stated examples but at a much higher cost. Macedonia has 3 shots at a domestic airline which went to ashes and burned a lot of money. Running a domestic airline is by default marred by local bureaucracy and politics. Investing large money into that is way to risky under those circumstances. 5 mil/3 years is not only good ROI as stated above, it's low risk. It is not a lot of money for any country. When circumstances do change, maybe the strategy will be different. There are countries in much better shape than Macedonia which don't have a national airline and do just fine.
On the other hand Macedonia does not have the market of OU and JU. OU caters a country with highly developed tourism while YU handles a concentrated market of almost 8 million people that relies upon 1 airport. The biggest driver for Macedonia is the diaspora and the type of development caters their needs. The needs will naturally change over time, but it is very childish to keep on having the discussion based the checklist of legacy airlines, connectivity to hubs and than comparing all airports with the same criteria. This is not directed at you @15:49 but at the general pattern here. Each airport and each catchment area has their specifics and it is upon the stakeholders (companies, authorities etc) to be creative and find the best model.
W6 does not command anything, they got some pocket money (in relation to what is a very costly business to run) and they maintain most of their flights with no state intervention on purely commercial basis. When W6 changes it behavior, the demand is already established and after an initial slump, things will naturally rebound. But the time for that discussion is just not here at the moment.
2: Kiev and Israel.how many times one should repeat Wizz can fly only to EU countries from MK
3: Bucharest: totaly unknown market so far