Low cost carrier Wizz Air will restore its entire network out of Skopje on June 1 after two and a half years. The carrier will resume flights to Budapest, Malta, Vaxjo, Bremen and Bologna next week, as well as inaugurate its new service to Turin, which had previously been delayed. Furthermore, the airline will increase frequencies on a number of services among which are Berlin, Basel, Copenhagen, Cologne, Malmo, Billund, Nuremberg, Turku and Friedrichshafen. Wizz is also increasing its pre-pandemic capacity in the Macedonian capital. The airline will have three 230-seat Airbus A321 aircraft stationed in the city along with a further two 180-seat A320s. Prior to the global health emergency, its Skopje fleet consisted mostly of A320s.
Wizz Air initially planned to restore its summer network earlier during the 2022 summer season. However, Skopje’s runway overhaul, which ran from March 28 until yesterday, limited the airport’s operational hours to between 17.00 and 09.00 the following day. A two-week delay in the project’s completion further pushed back the airline’s flight resumption plans. Overall, Wizz Air will maintain operations from Skopje to 31 points in Europe. Following the height of the pandemic, the airline briefly restored, but later terminated, services to Barcelona, Larnaca and Hanover, while Salzburg was launched in the summer of 2020 only to be discontinued a week later as Austria introduced a complete ban on flights to a number of Balkan countries. The service has not been restored since.
Wizz Air’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi, visited Skopje last month. The carrier is preparing to take part in the Macedonian government’s tender aimed at subsidising the launch of new routes, which it has won on all three previous occasions. Tender procedures are likely to kick off this summer with Wizz considering flights from Skopje to Slovenia, as well as a destination on the Croatian coast, Prague and the resumption of some of the abovementioned routes discontinued by the carrier from the Macedonian capital. New services from Ohrid are also expected.
Great news from Skopje
ReplyDeleteI also hope FZ and especially QR also follow
ReplyDeleteIf I see right, FZ removed SKP from schedule. It doesn’t look like they will return soon.
DeleteAt least LOT is back
DeleteGullivair is also out. I think they broke a record. A month of flying to Skopje.
DeleteNo, that record goes to Croatia Airlines a few years ago which had total of two flights Split-Skopje before suspending it,
DeleteIn the end I think we may see Wizz launch Skopje-Abu Dhabi in place of the Gulf carriers.
DeleteIt is unfortunate that SKP relies so much on one airline. It is ultimately TAV's fault for letting that happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree. And also unfortunate that we already know, even before tender for new routes begins that Wizz Air will in it. I don't understand the who charade of a tender. Just give the money to Wizz Air straight away.
DeleteA tender is needed because the EU likes to have a fake appearance of transparency. Especially when an EU registered company is the beneficiary of state funds.
DeleteI don't mind that Wizz will win the tender. I mind that they will apply terminated routes to the tender. Routes that have already received funds and then got terminated for a year so they can reapply for them.
DeleteHonestly I hope to see easyJet expand more and more in Skopje and for Wizz Air to get some serious competition.
Delete^^Me too. Hope for Basel-Skopje with Easy jet
DeleteLet's see if easyjet will apply for the tender this year.
DeleteCDG by easy would also be welcome.
DeleteIt would be incredible if Ryanair would start having flights. The tickets are so much cheaper compared to Wizzair. There are some ridiculously cheap tickets the EU like 10€ tickets. If Ryanair would be present, the prices would definitely decrease :).
DeleteHow many passengers could Skopje have this year?
ReplyDelete80% of pre pandemic numbers.
DeleteSKP did relatively OK last year. It was ahead of ZAG for most of the year.
DeleteFinally Skopje-Budapest is back. It hasn't been in operation since March 2020!
ReplyDeleteI thought they might terminate it like some other Balkan destinations from BUD but thankfully it's back!
DeleteI wonder how many people fly to BUD and then catch another Wizz Air flight.
DeleteHope Turin works out
ReplyDeleteThe area had a big Macedonian and Albanian population. Should work.
DeleteWish they bought back Salzburg
ReplyDelete5 aircraft in SKP is quite impressive.
ReplyDeleteSKP will boom again , OHD too.
ReplyDeleteWhat else can be launched by LCCs from SKP?
ReplyDeletePrague, Madrid and Ljubljana by Wizz
DeleteKrakow, Split, Ancona and Bergen have potential too.
DeleteMaybe something in Spain?
DeleteYes, so Madrid lol
DeleteMore regular airlines with flights to actual hubs please.
ReplyDeleteGood news. But I hope we finally see another airline using these subsidies. Wizz Air needs some competition.
ReplyDeleteRyanair said recently it was interested in opening many new bases across Europe due to the number of planes they are getting. I'm hopeful they revisit their plans to open a base in Skopje which is what they wanted to do eight years ago until they were chased out by Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I wrote the same thing above
DeletePlans for 6th plane by Wizz?
ReplyDeleteSo it seems that the more exciting destinations are not returning especially Barcelona. The flight increases and destinations are predominantly gasto.
ReplyDeleteWhich is the proof that without subsidies Wizz can not fly profitable from Skopje and not even from much bigger airports.
Delete@11.22 Completely Wrong. All routes are self sustainable.
Delete@11:32 Do you have a proof as well? The article clearly says: "The carrier is preparing to take part in the North Macedonian government’s tender aimed at subsidising the launch of new routes, which it has won on all three previous occasions."
Delete@12.16 dude are you new to this blog or just trolling? Wizz is getting subs only for 3 years per route. Go and figure out. They havent received a penny since 2020 yet they increase capacity and introduced new routes lately on their own. Ofcourse they will take part of the tender. Who wouldnt? Btw they get peanuts from the macedonian gov compared to other airports in the region
Delete3 tenders? Thats some 18 routes max (3 years per route) plus 13 others which never got subventions
Deletewell routes like Larnaca and Barcelona for example might need susidises but all routes to west-europe and Italy are working perfectly fine. Wizzair is even asking ridicolous high fares for these routes.
DeleteEven those worked fine until Corona, especially BCN.
DeleteI think LJU, PRG and MAD are coming with the next tender.
ReplyDeleteAre they planning to introduce SKP-LJU or SKP-MBX with WZ?
DeleteI'd say LJU. They already operate flights there + they would like money for flying to MBX and most likely they won't get anything.
DeleteRyanair could apply and launch BCN, MAD, (LJU), KRK, PRG, PFO, VIE, PSR, SPU
ReplyDeleteWe still need legacy carriers to main hubs tho
Why KRK? And where is PSR? I think you randomly chose this list. If you want to find cheap flights to Spain, just use SOF. There are at least 5 connections.
DeleteSame with SPU, you can fly via ZAG as OU has good connections.
Speaking of legacy, which other carriers are you proposing? BA, AF, IB? If so, you will need huge demand to US/Canada, large diaspora or incoming tourism. All those 3 factors are lacking. I think by having OS, TK and LO basically everything is covered in SKP regarding big and real hubs.
As random as your comment. Go yourself to another country to catch a flight
DeleteI already did as many others do in the normal world and current century. You still didn't answer the question of your initial comment. You mentioned legacies, which ones are you proposing and why?
DeleteAlright Anon 12:22, let me precise why I picked these routes not randomly, btw I am the author of the first comment, Anon 12:44 is not.
DeleteWell, KRK can have a potential maybe not on a year-round basis but at least on a seasonal one. Remember that from Podgorica you have two year-round flights to both Krakow and Wroclaw so I don't get your point on that, why wouldn't Krakow work from Skopje ? Anyway
When it comes to Pescara, let me first tell you that the city is located in Italy on the East Coast. The coast is served by Wizz all year from Tirana to multiple cities : Pescara, Ancona, Rimini and Bari thanks to diaspora. Since you have Albanian diaspora in North Macedonia added to gastarbeiters like we call them, then I don't see why Pescara could not work plus given that it's a coast city meaning you can attract leisure passengers in summer.
Finally, Skopje traffic relies mainly on one airline which is Wizzair in this case. Wizz flies to big cities right, but not to big airports. Having legacy carriers would on the one hand make some concurrence to Wizzair and its expensive prices on some periods of the year meaning lower prices. Added to that the fact that you can transit with a legacy carrier, thing that you can't really do with a LCC unless you buy separated tickets meaning you must leave the terminal, check-in again and so on. That will be my last sentence but North Macedonia is next to Kosovo and has a huge and non-negligent diaspora in the US. Nowadays the fastest way to reach the US from PRN/SKP is flying via VIE which uses its monopoly to increase their prices especially in summer.
Air France could easily fly to Skopje since they have the right-sized aircraft making them able to fill the plane in winter like in summer. Like KLM did it with BEG, they started if I remember well 3 weekly flights or something and progressively increased to 14 weekly plus doing a mix of E190/B737.
By right-sized aircraft I meant the E190 the same they send to LJU and ZAG.
Delete@14:17 Thanks a lot for your comments, it is always very good to have a healthy debate where one can learn.
DeleteOn my opinion, KRK/KTW are more opt for OHD rather than SKP. OHD is just more touristic and has more interesting stuff to offer. Plus, having SKP-WAW is already more than enough. TGD and Montenegro have much larger numbers of tourists simply because the country has a coast. When a country has a sea, things change quite a lot.
Pescara, okay might work. I agree about what you said.
Now, regarding the legacies. I think if an airport is already LCC oriented then there is no need to change a strategy that is already working. It's like forcing Charleroi to begin with legacies. Wizzair and SKP have a good relationship and both sides are benefitting. The government is not stupid and know this.
Comparing BEG with SKP is a bit mere. It took KL ages to decide on BEG and well, there is a sizeable Serbian diaspora in France but also in Canada and USA. The NMK one is more in Australia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.
What the country needs to do is to work with Romania. 18/19 million country with a huge market and many airports. According to the 2019 official stats, there were barely 19,000 Romanians who visited the country. Given the size of their population, that is barely nothing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_North_Macedonia#cite_note-makstat2-10
I just think SKP should stick to its already working strategy of secondary or tertiary airports where clearly there is demand. If there is a market for legacies, they would have arrived like a swarm of bees.
I appreciate your comment !
DeleteNot gonna lie I'm not really optimistic about Romania flights. I've never heard someone going to Romania on leisure purpose whether it be in Bucharest or to the beach ( Constanta ).
Northern part of Romania such as Timisoara is easily accessible by car from Belgrade, I don't see any potential demand to anywhere in Romania unless TAROM focuses on transfers and in this case it may slightly work.
Just to come back on what you said previously, I quote "If so, you will need huge demand to US/Canada, large diaspora or incoming tourism. All those 3 factors are lacking.".
DeleteAccording to this article from EX-YU, New York was in 2019 the most unserved routes from Skopje with exactly 19.053 passengers. You must add to that indirect passengers to other US cities + Canada... here is the source : https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/02/new-york-remains-skopjes-busiest.html
The US alone have exactly 36.081 indirect passengers on an annual basis from Skopje, Pristina is not taken into account but in 2015 it was reported that some 13.000 people flew to New York (JFK&EWR) and this figure has certainly grown until now, at least before pandemic. https://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/01/new-york-top-unserved-destination-from.html
All in all, this area (Kosovo + NM) has a huge potential for a legacy carrier to launch operations such as Air France and their huge North American network + some diaspora here in France.
Adding SKP figures + PRN's one for 2015, you arrive to some 49.000 and an average of 134 passengers going to US everyday !!
Like I said before they have the right aircraft for this route and I'm sure their E190 will always be full if they are competitive and offer cheaper prices. And I didn't even took in consideration diaspora in Canada.. so yeah there is definitely a need to attract a legacy carrier ahah.
True dat. The perfect aircraft for the perfect route and yes Embraer 190 is a very good example. It has been a reliable plane for many years and has a bit more comfy experience compared to the ATR. I still think that more merit should be deserved to OHD.
DeleteYes, maybe NYC is a quite busy underserved route but it is very very expensive to maintain throughout the whole year. Look at Air Serbia. Their peak in the summer season is 6 weekly on a very limited range and this was during the last 10 years since their creation.
Back to your point about North America and I am not 100% sure but the A321 XLR might be a perfect fit for flights between SKP and JFK but I do not think it has this range.
If NM joins the EU, it will first need to connect to more local capitals and cities similar to what ZAG finally did after almost 10 years of EU membership.
Neighbouring TIA are not an EU member, but they have taken a very very serious stance during the last years and their aviation has improved drastically. Not to mention their second new airport and booming numbers.
Hi! I'm new here. What is a legacy hub and why do we need it?
DeleteAnon 20:40
DeleteWhat do you exactly mean by " If NM joins the EU, it will first need to connect to more local capitals and cities similar to what ZAG finally did after almost 10 years of EU membership." I’ve never heard of that and I’d appreciate you to explain it a bit ahah.
Also the point is not to get a direct SKP-JFK line because it’s simply impossible for two reasons, who will operate it and with what aircraft ? You mentioned A321 XLR and you were right, it has not enough range to achieve it. But a legacy carrier can do the same job because like I reported few hours ago other cities are concerned by the diaspora and by flying for example with AF via CDG you’ll be able to fly to Chicago, Boston, Toronto… and NY of course ahah
AirSERBIA is very limited because they only have a sole long-haul aircraft. You wrote that New York was a quite busy underserved route that was very expensive to maintain throughout the whole year. I’ve never mentioned a year-round flight between Skopje and New York idk where you pulled it up from lol
DeleteWhy you write entire Skopje network few not bookable: Barcelona, Larnaca, etc
ReplyDeleteBecause these are terminated not just suspended
DeleteWizz-fares this summer are crazy. Its sometimes more then Austran/Turkish
ReplyDeleteSame in Tirana.
DeleteTrue, i have to fly TIA-WAW in July and i booked with OS via VIE instead of non-stop with Wizz. Not only was it cheaper and more convenient, it's also a bit safer because Wizz is cancelling and rescheduling flights like crazy nowadays.
DeleteI agree, Wizz cancelled my flight out of BEG for no reason, plus they moved it to a secondary airport!!
DeleteFrom Belgrade it's cheaper to fly to CDG (with Air Serbia) than to Beauvais...
DeleteEntire network means larnaca as well? Or not?
ReplyDeleteMaybe read the article?
DeleteI did, and it says no Larnaca, but not clearly. So I question is the title wrong or the text?
DeleteI'm wondering. Why did Wizz wait so long with opening a base in Tirana if it suddenly proves itself as much more successful than even Skopje?
ReplyDelete