Russia’s Nordwind Airlines plans to launch operations between St Petersburg and Skopje, as well as increase frequencies on its existing flights between Moscow and the Macedonian capital launched last month. It comes following talks between Nordwind representatives and the Macedonian government. The Russian carrier plans on adding a second weekly departure from Moscow to Skopje starting August 2, each Monday, while services from Russia’s second largest city would commence in October. Tickets for the new flights are yet to be put on sale. Services between Moscow and Skopje are currently capped at one per week by Russian authorities, however, limitations are expected to be eased in the coming weeks.
Russian tour operators are yet to embrace Macedonia as a tourist destination and there are currently few travel packages being sold to the country. This has resulted in a lower load factor on the Skopje flights, although Nordwind sees potential in the destination as entry for Russian nationals is visa free and there are no PCR or vaccination requirements. Currently, the Moscow - Skopje service is predominately used by those continuing their journey to Montenegro, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Albania and Greece. Based on OAG data, during the pre-pandemic 2019, there were a total of 5.518 indirect passengers between Moscow and Skopje and a further 1.209 indirect travellers between St Petersburg and the Macedonian capital.
Commenting on the new Moscow service, the General Manager of Skopje Airport’s operator TAV Macedonia, Metin Batak, recently said, “At TAV Macedonia we are very pleased Nordwind decided to start flights between Moscow and Skopje, opening the first air link between North Macedonia and Russia in twenty years. We strongly believe this unserved route has huge potential and that it will be very useful for both business travellers and tourists alike. Nordwind is one of the largest airlines in Russia in terms of passenger traffic and boasts one of the most developed destination networks in the country”.
Comments
We all know why BUD has low figures. Comparing a gasto airport with an EU capital visited by nearly 14 million and having numerous universities and expats is simply unrealistic.
Also in 2012 it had like nine million passengers which is around 25% more than Belgrade today. Things can change and SKP will keep on growing.
Second
It's a pity Macedonians need visa to enter Russia.
So at first thought these two factors keep the development of this route slow.
https://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2016/01/07/mortar-attack-revealed-as-the-cause-of-istanbul-sabiha-gokcen-airport-explosions
Crazy how it happened at SAW with all those Pegasus airplanes. I guess when they are not skidding off the runway they are experiencing mortar fire. lol
I don't know about the SU office in Skopje but I do know that back in 80's Aeroflot did not fly to Skopje. They didn't even fly to LJU, SPU or DBV. The only two destinations Aeroflot had operated in ex-yu in 80's were BEG and ZAG, both from both Moscow and Kiev. There were plenty of summer season flights to ex-yu, especially Adriatic coast, by carriers from eastern Europe - Malev flew to RJK and DBV, Interflug to LJU and SPU, LOT to RJK, SPU and DBV, CSA to SPU and DBV but none of them, including Aeroflot, did not fly to Skopje, especially not three times weekly. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia, maybe, but in 80's, in ex-yu, definitely not. Maybe there were some charters sometime, but scheduled three weekly service - categorically no.
Double negative. Should be; but none of them, including Aeroflot, flew to Skopje.
Respect.
It was short after they started Belgrade where they were denied more frequencies.
Keep up the good work bro.