TAV Macedonia, the operator of the country’s two international airports, is drafting plans for future development in Skopje and Ohrid as it marks ten years since the start of its twenty-year concession. "Having completed the first ten years of operations in the country, we are very happy with the management of Macedonia’s two airports, in every aspect, both for the company and for the overall economy of the country. Since 2010 we have invested 120 million euros in airport infrastructure and development, and have paid a total of 47.4 million euros in concession fees and taxes. Since the beginning of TAV Macedonia's operations, the investment cycles have improved all segments of airport operations”, the President and CEO of Turkey’s TAV Airports Holding, Sani Sener, said. He added, “We expect this development to continue at a similar pace in the coming period, taking advantage of the potential of Macedonia’s airports to become a joint regional hub and to contribute to the development of the country’s economy, as well as business relations between Macedonia and Turkey”.
TAV plans to expand Ohrid Airport’s terminal following strong passenger growth. General Manager Alper Ersoy, said, “We did some redesign work at Ohrid Airport to increase capacity. However, due to high traffic growth, we are close to utilising the full capacity of the airport. Therefore, we closely monitor occupancy rates and have plans to extend the terminal building to cope with increased traffic”. In addition, Mr Sener indicated TAV's willingness to extend its concession past 2029. “Many ministers and governments [in Macedonia] have changed, but the rules have not. The attitude towards foreign investors has not changed. That's why we're happy”, he said.
Commenting on future development in Skopje, Mr Ersoy noted, “We have sufficient space at Skopje Airport for further growth as the capacity of the terminal is 4.2 million travellers per year. Since the number of travellers and air traffic is increasing from year to year, we have some plans regarding passenger flow in order to be ready for future growth. We are monitoring passengers‘ needs, through tools such as customer relations emails, comment forms, airport service quality surveys (ASQ) and social media. We create plans to improve the quality of service to meet the needs of passengers based on this analysis. For example, we are now working on making smoking areas available past passport control due to many complaints that we do not have them in this zone. Passengers recognise our efforts in providing high quality services”.
Excellent that they plan to expand Ohrid. Much needed.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFor years we have been hearing rumors of crating direct flights from JFK in New York City. Is this ever going to happen?
DeleteTAV got lucky that the government decided to subsidise Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteWonder by how long they could extend the concession.
ReplyDeleteAnother 10 yrs probably.
DeleteWow can't believe it's been ten years already
ReplyDeleteThe airports have covered a long way since.
Delete*come
DeleteI heard Sener say on Macedonian TV that these airports aren't that profitable for them. Does anyone have figures of their financial results for last year for example.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting statement but it doesn't surprise me. BUD is also an LCC heaven like SKP and they are struggling financially.
DeleteI wonder if he said it to put pressure on the government to maybe lower the concession fee?
DeleteSKP needs to find ways to keep a large number of Kosovo Albanian passengers who will be able to fly from PRN for less now.
ReplyDelete'Pristina Airport recently claimed that 50% of Skopje Airport's passenger traffic is made up of Kosovo travellers, while last year, Niš Airport noted that 14% of its travellers originate from Kosovo and 5% from Macedonia.'
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/08/macedonian-airports-with-regional-hub.html
lol. nice (second try). Their "claim" is as realistc as your first deleted post.
Deleteas a frequent flyer from SKP i can say that claim is as true as @realDonaldTrumps' tweets. Have a nice day!
DeleteIt's a statement from PRN, are you implying they are lying?! Wow...the nerve.
DeleteDon't you worry about SKP. It's doing just fine.
DeleteIf there were no extra subsidies there would be no new Wizz flights.
DeleteThese airports are well managed in my opinion. They have done a good job and it is one of the better concessions in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteGood to see. I hope they bring a few new airlines to SKP.
ReplyDeleteIt would be good if Lufthansa finally came back. Austrian is usually crazy expensive from SKP.
DeleteOr Swiss
DeleteI can't see how some legacy airline such as Lufthansa, Air France, BA or KLM can start flying to SKP because of the "deal" the authorities have with W6 and because some of their alliance partners already fly to SKP.
DeleteWhat "deal" with Wizz Air? I highly doubt they made a deal with Wizz that no other airline could fly routes they launched. Besides, none of those legacies fly on routes Wizz Air operates from SKP.
Deletedont agree with Austrian being that "crazy" expensive. HIllarious to think LH will be any cheaper
DeleteOS (random jan dates): SKP-CDG 168€, SKP-FRA 179€, SKP-FCO 199€, SKP-CPH 208€, SKP-MAD 218€, SKP-JFK 514€ and so on
the days when they charged >300€ for everything in Europe are long gone
the "deal" guy is the same guy with the PRN-statement and he will be all day here triggered by a SKP article like a hungry wolf. So best ignore him
DeleteSo what you are saying that there is no deal and anyone who says otherwise should be ignored? Shall we also ignore Wizz Air's extremely high marketshare in SKP?
DeleteFew days ago Lufthansa team was doing certain measurements at SKP.
DeleteAs non-smoker in a country where literally everybody smokes i think they should further LIMIT possibilities to smoke and not expand them.
ReplyDeleteWell done Skopje and Ohrid.
ReplyDeleteSkopje should be connected to major European cities by a legacy carrier. SKP doesn't have flights to airports like FRA, LHR, CDG, AMS.
ReplyDeleteExactly. We need more regular airlines with flights to actual hubs please.
DeleteDoesn't have to necessarily be a legacy airline but someone like Transavia to Amsterdam with the option of buying onwards KLM flights on one ticket would be great.
DeleteThe demand is there for Frankfurt, Moscow, Munich and Amsterdam.
DeleteI can't believe there was no demand for flights Munich-Skopje-Munich by Eurowings.
DeleteThere obviously is not enough demand. If there was someone would have launched flights.
DeleteAs far as I know, maybe situation changed and I am wrong but Eurowings does not fly from Munich, or if, has very very limited presence. Frankfurt as well. Those two are "reserved" for Lufthansa. Eurowings is strong in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart, Berlin Tegel, Hannover and Hamburg.
DeleteBest of luck.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the old terminal at SKP? What is it being used for?
ReplyDeleteNothing. It's just sitting there abandoned.
DeleteThey have said, if they receive a permit, they will demolish it and extend the new terminal towards it.
DeleteThanks.
DeleteI think there is more room for some LCCs at SKP outside of the major 3. Someone like Eurowings, Transavia, Vueling...
ReplyDeleteIf you take a better look there is no direct competition between any LCC and legacy carriers on flights from Skopje. So a lot more room for LCCs to expand.
DeleteMacedonia is definitely the pioneer at the Balkans. It was the first country that gave it’s airports on a concession, got modern airports, cashed in 47 Mio., spent some portion of it on subsidizes and again received more money because of the higher number of passengers. Very smart! As for the passengers being from Kosovo, it is a very stupid statement and is just the same as claiming that half of Belgrade’s pax are from Srpska. Having some pax less due to SKP is not a reason to cry and behave like a child, but work and improve against the competition. Should now Slovenia cry why Croatia recapitalized OU with millions and people fly on OU now? No. But it works on establishing it’s own carrier.
ReplyDelete'as claiming that half of Belgrade’s pax are from Srpska' the only difference is that no one has ever made such a statement, ever. The othr statement was made by PRN so I think they know what they are talking about.
DeletePioneer for paying a low-cost Hungarian airline to fly from their airport? Pioneer for Wizz having 65% of the market share with mostly gasto routes? Definitely not an example to be followed
Deletewell it seems to work for SKP, but, no, nobody has to follow anything - bttm line Macedonian tax payers are paying less than e.g. Serbian, Croatian or Montengerin ones to have very good and affordable connections to Europe.
DeleteOn the other hand, those countries are getting a lot in return by having their own national carriers.
DeleteWhy was the second part of my comment removed? It's true Wizz flies to secondary and tertiary airports around Europe. Unless FMM is the same as MUC or FKB is the same as STR.
Deletewhat exactly do these countries get in return by having their own national carriers?
Deleteif u have 2 ask that question u don't want to get involved
DeleteWhen was the last time a legacy launched SKP?
ReplyDeleteAegean, last winter.
DeleteI think Macedonia should consider setting up a national airline with Slovenia. Why not having Slo Mak Airlines?
ReplyDeleteBoth of them are small, the one has a big diaspora, the other is close to Western Europe and has more business pax. They can generate a lot of synergies and be somewhat relevant because the airline will serve a 4 Mil. market. For ex. they can generate connections to the South will via SKP and to the West via LJU..
SKP needs a kind of domestic airline that will fly to major airports. The same as LJU.
well,if you say that SKP needs a domestic airline, then i guess will will take your word for it
Deletehe obv meant national airline "domasna aviokompanija" but im happy for the haters having a good day today.
DeleteWhat both LJU and SKP could do instead is look at airlines that could be subsidized to fly to destinations existing carriers can't/won't serve but are important for connectivity. From SKP that could involve LHR, CDG, FRA, AMS, MOW etc. Wizz won't touch those. Different set of destinations but same approach could work from LJU.
DeleteOne airline that could do it for both airports is Air Serbia. No need for a new flag carrier, just ask Air Serbia to use local crew and give them permissions needed to fly those routes. Add a clause to modify a destination or two doen the road. Quick and easy, no CapEx, no risk. Any objections?
Yes, why Air Serbia. Let it be Croatia Airlines
DeleteAir Serbia already has a reference for this model, they are doing it at INI. Air Serbia got PSO approvals from EC. Air Serbia is oldest and largest airline in ex-yu and already operates at both LJU and SKP, unlike that other airline. Air Serbia was quickest to react and offer rescure rates and increase connectivity at LJU. Need more?
DeleteCroatia Airlines operates more flights with more planes from DBV and SPU than Air Serbia from INI. Croatia Airlines has PSO as well and need no special EC approvals. Air Serbia was so proud not to have anything with Jat anymore, and now when needed, conveniently is successor to Aeroput, JAT and Jat, and is the oldest (which btw makes absolutely no difference for this case). Croatia Airlines does not operate in LJU because of vicinity but is stronger in SKP than Air Serbia. I am very critical about Croatia Airlines, think it should be much bigger and better and I admit Air Serbia is bigger and better than Croatia Airlines. But I am also very much against "my is bigger" attitude here, especially when there is no real reason for it like now, and I can just say: shame on you both for this stupid arguing and stop behaving like children
DeleteAt the end of the day if JU did not do it in BNX then it won't in LJU or SKP, markets are too small for them. INI was done because the government insisted on it. Let Air Serbia do its own thing in Belgrade which seems to be very successful. Some might like and some might not but both SKP or LJU will never have national airlines based there, those days are over. They are both relatively small regional airports with limited demand.
DeleteWhat happened to the new airport in Stip? Obviously a long shot but has it been officially dropped now?
ReplyDeleteIt has been officially dropped a while ago.
DeleteThey said how they would use the cash for Stip Airport to expand OHD and later on SKP when required.
DeleteI'm really glad for Skopje knowing how many passengers they had only 5-6 years ago. But I agree with others, I just wish there was a bit more variety at the airport other than Wizz.
ReplyDeleteSKP had 1 million passengers in year 2000 already. We are not Sarajevo or Podgorica.
DeleteAnyone know how FZ and QR are doing in SKP?
ReplyDeleteNice success story, congratulations fm my side, I hope one day I ll be able to visit it
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested to see how Wizz Air will grow in the future in SKP and what routes it may add. Could we expect sixth A320 in 2021 perhaps?
ReplyDeleteVery happy for my country MACEDONOJA doing well i notes that the aeroplans where full when i was 3 month ago.
ReplyDelete