Pristina Airport has said it has overtaken its counterpart in Skopje by the end of July despite the lack of state subsidies for the upkeep of select routes, as well as European Union visa requirements for Kosovo passport holders. Pristina Airport's Scheduling Manager, Driton Hyseni, said, "During the period between January and July of 2019, we surpassed Skopje Airport by an additional 38.000 passengers. While on August 18 [today], we have 83 flights which will carry some 11.000 travellers. Despite the huge subsidies the government of Macedonia is offering airlines and the tourism sector, Kosovo, namely Pristina Airport, surpassed Skopje Airport by 3% or by over 38.000 passengers. During the seven-month period, Pristina Airport handled 1.338.996 travellers to Skopje Airport's 1.300.790.
Mr Hyseni noted that travellers from Kosovo generate considerable traffic at Macedonia's airports. "It should be emphasised that the citizens of Macedonia have for many years been entitled to visa free travel in the Schengen area. Furthermore, Kosovo's proximity to Macedonia generates over half of Skopje Airport's traffic, which offers affordable flights enabled through government subsidies", the Scheduling Manager said. The Kosovo Civil Aviation Authority has previously complained to the European Commission over state subsidies provided to Wizz Air by the Macedonian government since 2012 for flights from Skopje. The regulator argued that incentives should be offered by the airport operator itself and not the government. However, in 2016, the European Commission said its investigation into the matter had proved inconclusive.
Mr Hyseni believes local authorities should do more to help Kosovo's aviation sector. "The time has come for us to offer greater support to airlines and the tourism industry in Kosovo, which would provide our countrymen with more convenient and affordable travel. At the movement, Niš Airport is also being used by passengers from Kosovo. Furthermore, such support would increase the number of foreign visitors to Kosovo, which would generate additional income and provide more jobs in the aviation industry, tourism sector and other services". Mr Hyseni argued that by investing into the aviation sector, Pristina would be able to attract passengers from Skopje and Niš. Earlier this summer, Eurowings became the first low cost carrier to station an aircraft in Pristina.
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However good to see that they stopped bitching and nagging and have actually started doing something about their situation.
Grabs pop corn.
The ''good'' thing is that the airport to the other side of the border and as you know the Albanian government hates TIA because of the recurrent robberies and break downs in their security system so they are so much willing in having the airport in kukes operational. Time will tell I suppose.
And I think the concession agreement for TIA forbids Albania opening another international airport.
Yesterday I flew INI-GOT and the load was 135/144. Don't know about flight back.
So load factors in SKP must be going down.
What is the point of such a comment? No contribution whatsoever.
Pristina Airport is publicly owned, and its purpose should not be to generate profit for itself, but to serve to public.
With this prices, PRN is earning a good profit, but Kosovan diaspora and tourism industry are suffering. And Kosovo is getting very little..
Instead of paying for a ticket 500-600 euros and that money to go who knows where, tickets should cost, lets say. 150-250 euros, and the rest of that money would be spent in Kosovo..
We also observe a certain fatigue in SKP, where growth is expected to slow down this year.
We also observe a certain fatigue in SKP, where growth is expected to slow down this year.
August 2019 most probably will be the first month in history that PRN will reach 300k.
Same
yesterday on the news I saw Pristina Airport employees will be on protest for the upcoming week, something against Pristina Limak airport worst managing happening now hidden from the airport employees!!
Best option is to end up the agreement of Pristina Limak Airport and start a new one with FRAport or different one with better managing, change the policy, change prices increase flights low fares and say goodbye to Limak because that's who is getting the most profit of Pristina Airport instead of public of Kosovo.
Any other argument is nonsensical stirring of competition or rivalry, where there should be little or no competition. We don't see these comparisons between TIA and PRN, for example, although both airports attract passengers from the other airport's catchment area. The same, as expected, happens between SKP and PRN to a degree.
I find both the headline and the line of reporting to be sensational, but clearly Driton fall for it. Genuinely, who will lose any sleep whether PRN or SKP has 2-3% more passengers than the other? Seriously?
Is it SKP fault that we still require visas to enter the Schengen Area? And just as they are close to us, we are also close to them. It works both ways. I genuinely find all this very childish and I'm disappointed that someone from PRN got involved.
Keep going forward -->>
But business is this, and, it is normal in business to compete. In fact, in business it is not normal not to compete.
And, as far as these two airports (PRN and SKP) are competing, for us costumers from the region, that is a good thing.