Macedonia to maintain airline subsidies


The Macedonian government plans to continue offering airline subsidies for low cost carriers in the future with the current three-year agreement with Wizz Air set to end in 2022. As part of its three-year commitment to provide Wizz Air with financial incentives, the state has forked out 1.1 million euros this year. “The state sees all airlines operating on the Macedonian market as serious partners for the development of air traffic in the country and we will continue to work with them”, the government said. Over the past decade, Macedonia has granted incentives for the launch of new routes to interested carriers through a public tender in three-year intervals. All have been won by Wizz Air, which was the only one to show interest.

The operator of the country’s two international airports, TAV Macedonia, has endorsed the policy. “State subsidies for low cost airlines were one of the foundations of growth and prosperity on the Macedonian aviation market prior to Covid-19. As an airport operator, we have supported this model from the very beginning of its implementation, because we believe this is the right tool for emerging markets, such as the Macedonian one”, Metin Batak, the General Manager of TAV Macedonia said. He added, “Government subsidies, along with our efforts to attract new airlines, have resulted in a fourfold increase in passenger traffic within ten years, from 2010 to 2020. New destinations that were launched in the past ten years created a completely new category of passengers, who previously did not even consider air transport as an alternative to land transport. Therefore, we will continue to support government subsidies for low cost flights and continue to invest our global knowledge and skills in order to attract new airlines and expand our network of destinations from Skopje and Ohrid airports”.

Pristina Airport and Austrian Airlines have previously complained about the policy. The Austrian carrier said the subsidies provided by the Macedonian government to stimulate low cost airlines to operate flights to the country were unfair and distorted competition. At the time, the carrier noted it was difficult to compete in such an environment and under such circumstances. Pristina Airport had requested for the European Commission to investigate state subsidies offered to low cost airlines operating out of Skopje. Pristina Airport's General Manager, Haldun Fırat Kokturk, previously said, "We, as an airport operator, can compete with another airport operator - competition is normal, it is good. But we cannot compete with a government”.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Let me guess, Wizz Air will get the money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      No doubt

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:05

      Maybe things change because of pandemic.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:36

      Don't count on that.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:49

      Don't see an issue with Wizz winning when no one else applied.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Let's hope it results in more new routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      We will probably see more routes from Germany even though we have flights to 10+ cities.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      That's simply where the demand is.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    What else can be launched from SKP?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Flights to Israel could work.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      PRG, GVA and AMS are all still possibilities. Although GVA can only be launched by easyjet.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      LJU

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:09

      Wizz could bring back SZG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:12

      Agree, LJU should be brought in. Wonder if it would be of any interest to Wizz Air,

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:37

      Also flights to Sofia are needed.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:48

      Were there flights once upon a time between SOF and SKP?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:13

      Yes, with Hemus Air in 2010. Gullivair mentioned they will launch SKP and it's even present on their website but operate charters to Greece.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    why not

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Let's see if some other airlines launch flights to SKP in 2022.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    More regular airlines with flights to actual hubs please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      I agree. We really need is flights to major hubs like LHR, CDG, FRA, MUC, AMS, FCO, BRU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      You will need national carrier for that..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      At least one of these please

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:43

      I don't understand why there is no Lufthansa in Skopje? I am certain it would work, at least from Frankfurt, especially now.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:11

      Lufthansa works for TIA Frankfurt is now 3 daily

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    I just hope that 2022 will be year to restore the traffic close to what was back before the pandemic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    First and foremost I hope we see Flydubai and Qatar Airways restore flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Flydubai should be back in November. QR is out for good.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      Wizz Air Abu Dhabi should definitely launch AUH-SKP. I think they could be very successful against sluggish Flydubai.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:25

      I highly doubt

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:28

      ^ What?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:38

      I highly doubt they will be successful.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:42

      Macedonian minister for transport announced last DECEMBER that a deal has been signed with Wizz Air Abu Dhabi for flights to Abu Dhabi and that ticket sales would start during the month. Here we are in July and still nothing. What happened? Did the minister lie?

      Delete
    7. No, politicians don't lie, worldwide, and Balkans especially ☺

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    Plans for 6th plane by Wizz?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      They first have to return the fifth and I'm not sure the fourth is back either.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:05

      The fourth is back as of now. Now they have 3 A321 and 1 A320.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    Better that Austrian focuses on the massive LCC expansion in Vienna rather than Skopje.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      They have complained about that too. Don't worry.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      OMG they don't even have any competition on Skopje-Vienna route. But I assume they lost lots of transfers to other European cities (Scandinavia in particular).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:01

      Austrian has no direct concurention in Skopje, but there is an wizzair flight from Skopje to Bratislava and a lot of Macedonians in Austria use this route.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:20

    Since ADP (Aeroporte de Paris) now holds 46% of TAV it would be logical to open SKP-CDG and try to distribute some of the transfer pax from SKP via CDG . There are more connecting opportunities at CDG than VIE for example.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:21

    Zurich is the second busiest route out of Skopje so it's beyond me how Swiss mainline failed in Skopje. It would be nice if they came back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Or at least seasonally like in Sarajevo and Nis.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:24

    Excellent news

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:33

    Let's hope it's more successful then the one in Slovenia which gave money to Montenegro Airlines (which went bankrupt a week after), Swiss which had no flights in over a year to LJU and no money to easyjet which was Slovenia's largest airline.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      LOL true

      I really hope for a SKP-LJU resume.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:12

      ^ It's the only suspended ex-Yu route LJU management said they would work on restoring.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:28

      They should do a better job at it.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:35

    How many destinations will Wizzair have from SKP in five years?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      They will probably have around 75% of traffic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      I think they could have around 40 destinations.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:35

    I think this strategy has been rather successful for MKD so I support it, especially in these sort of circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      It will be employed by a lot of countries and airports with no demand recovery in sight.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:27

      What are you talking about? Demand is returning to many markets.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:35

    Wondering why Easyjet never launched any flights to SKP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      Something to do with Stelios?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:50

      LOL. Highly doubt it.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:37

    I hope we see Arkia, Aeroflot and TAROM start flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      KLM would be nice too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:41

      Or at least they could try serving SKP through Transavia

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:49

      Transavia would make sense. But they seem to have a very passive approach to this entire region.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:42

    What a line-up of Wizz planes on that Skopje photo :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      Wizz central

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:49

      Skopje "Wizz Air" Airport.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:47

    What makes repeated subsidies to Wizz legal?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Why would it not be? There is a tender where anyone can apply. Wizz won because it is the only one applying for the subsidies.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:11

      Only one applying every time means no one else could win. That's what makes is questionable.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:50

    Fantastic news. As things start to normalise this year, I hope we see several new routes from SKP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:07

      We have seen a few so far. Moscow and new seasonal routes to Turkey

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:01

    The only airline that could apply for this subsidy - beside Wizz - is Ryanair. They could launch a few routes out od SKP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      They were interested a few years ago but Wizz chased them out.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:54

      The only airline beside wizz that may want to apply for subsidy is Ryan. Don't expect any national airline to use this opportunity.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:06

      I don't understand why they have not applied.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:58

      The terms and conditions make it difficult for anyone to compete against a Wizz offer.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:48

      Do you have a link of the tender call. I'm interested in seeing the T&C

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:25

    This policy has been a great success for Macedonia really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      It was a great success for Wizz but name me one European LCC other than Wizz that has come to Skopje since 2012.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:58

      Does it matter? How many new routes did SKP get in the last 11 years. A substantial amount. So it has worked out great from MKD and SKP.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:08

      Ohrid too.

      Delete
    4. Double Standard16:14

      Does it matter if Air Serbia has majority market share at BEG? How many new routes did BEG get from Air Serbia in the past 6-7 years? A substantial amount. So it has worked out great from Serbia and BEG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:17

      Anon @15:58 Same can be said for JU and BEG. So if you are happy with MKD subsidies to W6, you should be happy with Serbia subsidies to JU.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:48

      I never said anything about JU subsidies or even mentioned them.

      Delete
  24. Yesterday there were Wizz Air flights London to Ohrid. But today all flights between these two for the whole month of August are “Sold Out” - both ways. Is this to do with this tender or do you think that they will be cancelling the flights and reallocating the planes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      I believe the flights are zeroed out because they are cancelled. Maybe because UK is going to allow vaccinated passengers quarantine free travel so they relocated capacity on some higher yielding route? Just guessing.

      Delete
    2. Yes - this is what we are worried about. Other flights are going up in price!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:53

      Macedonia has been taken off the list the UK government advises against travel, so it is a positive sign but I don't understand what Wizz is doing.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:38

    The amount that is being given as a subsidy is not a lot actually.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:47

      It is very reasonable.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous15:54

    So I'm guessing the government is no longer interested in setting up a national airline?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:57

      It has been ruled out for a while now
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/12/macedonia-rules-out-new-national-carrier.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:47

      It would cost ten times more than these subsidies while the result would be questionable.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous22:47

    Of course TAV supports the policy. They don't have to lift a finger yet they get the traffic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:28

      Bingo

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:40

      Does Wizz also get incentives from TAV for things like handling, landing, use of gates?

      Delete
  28. Anonymous23:37

    I really don't see an issue with these subsidies. If I remember correctly they were open to all low cost airlines and were offered on a tender. Obviously selecting Wizz Air was a smart choice since they have opened so many routes and based aircraft in SKP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:39

      This policy was one of the better ones. The passenger growth speaks for itself really. I support that they continue with this.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous23:37

    Good news. But I hope we finally see another airline using these subsidies. Wizz Air needs some competition.

    ReplyDelete

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