Skopje passengers seek connectivity with primary airports


Skopje Airport has seen rapid passenger growth over the past decade, driven primarily by low cost carrier Wizz Air which has five aircraft stationed in the city, maintaining operations to numerous European destinations, albeit mainly secondary airports tens of kilometres away from central hubs. This has resulted in the majority of Skopje Airport’s busiest unserved destinations being major European cities and capitals. Network carriers operating to the city, including Turkish Airlines, Austrian Airlines, LOT, Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines, have benefited as a result, shuttling a considerable number of transfer passengers to their final destinations within Europe.

Year after year, Brussels and Amsterdam have topped the list as some of the busiest unserved destinations from Skopje, despite Wizz Air serving the likes of Charleroi and Eindhoven. Other cities seeing significant indirect traffic to and from the Macedonian capital include Paris Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Dusseldorf, Ljubljana and Munich. Some of Turkish Airlines’ busiest Skopje transfer destinations include London Heathrow and Madrid. On the other hand, LOT sees considerable feed on its Skopje operations to and from Oslo, Amsterdam, Vilnius and Copenhagen. Austrian is the number one transfer airline between Macedonia and both Brussels and Amsterdam with a market share of over 40%.

The two national carriers from the former Yugoslavia also see significant transfer traffic on their Skopje operations. Air Serbia has benefited greatly from the demise of Adria Airways on its services to the Macedonian market, becoming the number one carrier for passengers traveling between Skopje and Ljubljana. It also sees notable traffic to Rome, Amsterdam, Zurich and Paris originating or destined to Skopje. Its Croatian counterpart has excelled in offering connections to other Star Alliance hubs, primarily Frankfurt. It also sees feed between its Skopje operations and Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich and Zurich.

Popular nonstop flights from/to Skopje in 2021*


* Traffic volumes were heavily impacted by restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic during 2021. Data provided by Eurostat

The operator of Macedonia’s two international airports, TAV, has said that adding new destinations and expanding Skopje’s connectivity continues to be one of its main priorities. “In the ten years leading up to the pandemic, we managed to increase traffic at Macedonian airports fourfold, to 2.7 million. During the same period, the number of destinations served increased from fifteen to 44. As part of the largest global airport management platform, we will continue our marketing efforts to re-establish suspended routes and add new ones”, the operator previously told EX-YU Aviation News.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    If I remember well this isn't the first time they are seeking these same flights. Means no one showed interest before. Not too surprised since it's a rather small market.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Transavia would be a great addition from AMS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AMS is no brainer. Eesy Jet, Transavia or even KLM 2/3 times a week would feel up.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    I agree that attracting more airlines from main airports is a must. I hope TAV focuses on this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    I'm surprised at how many passengers Antalya had.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      No one from the country could enter Greece to go on holiday last year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:25

      Again wrong @9.07 it had >60k in 2019 too. Expect even bigger nr this year despite Greece open, botj have nothing to with each other

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:32

      It is just a healthy and cheap tourism demand.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:14

    This has been a long standing issue and TAV should do something about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:38

      I wish turkish airlines starts 2 flights a week from ohrid to intanbull
      Airport.lot of people from kicevo debar ohrid struga prespa even pogradec and korca albania will use that flight to connect with usa
      Is closer for us than going all way to skopje airport

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:16

    The positive thing is that Wizz has started adding more and more primary airports to its network.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      True. From SKP I know they fly to Copenhagen, Berlin and Milan main airports.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      It means little since you can't connect onto other flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      They also fly to Rome Fiumicino now!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:20

    "Some of Turkish Airlines’ busiest Skopje transfer destinations include London Heathrow and Madrid."
    Madrid? Why?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Well there are no flights from SKP to MAD. People want to visit it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      Madrid is top tourist destination and airport is among top European hubs.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:22

    Maybe it’s time for Air France to launch SKP

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:26

    I think TAV should take some of the blame that more than 10 years after their concession started we still don't have flights to BRU, AMS, CDG, FRA, MUC, LHR, FCO... I mean these are major hubs. An airport should have flights to at last one of these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Indeed it is. They have been very passive, comforted by the fact that Wizz will just keep expanding in their deal with the government.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      FCO used to be served by Alitalia

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:41

      ^ yes the flights were terminated 6 years ago in 2016!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:37

    They need to find a replacement for BCN which was flown by Wizz and was rather full.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      Vueling would be perfect. Its an LCC but allows connections onto Iberia and other IAG airlines

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:45

      Why was BCN terminated?

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:38

    LJU has flights to BRU, AMS, CDG, FRA, MUC.. to which SKP doesn't and it is still very, very behind it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:05

      Isn't it for you a little bit logical that LJU has all those destinations since it's ran by Fraport?
      LH is owning:
      SN who flies from BRU and itself to MUC and FRA. For AMS it's a LCC who owns this route and CDG is just because of the fact that AF saw the low performance of LJU and they had pitty of LJU

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:46

      Gotta love those explanations

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:40

    the moral of the story is that Macedonia needs a new MAT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      Are you serious?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:24

      Don't complain about connectivity then

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:45

    Would it be possible to make some arrangments through Open Balkans to provide all carriers from the member states with "national airline" rights? Similar as for EU carriers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:08

      That is probably one of the most intelligent questions i have read on this platform. You are absolutely correct that it could easily be implemented. The effect would. E significant.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:14

      Yes, this is planned in the future as part of Open Balkans.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:59

      Very intelligent indeed. But which Open Balkan airline would be interested to operate additional routes out of SKP? I don't see these significant effects.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous01:18

      Well there is only one

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:27

    Are any legacy carriers planning to start flights to SKP?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:35

    SKP must attract some legacy carriers. The demand is there for Frankfurt, Munich and Amsterdam.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:41

    Isnt it better for Skopje Airport to be connected with 10 German airports then only with FRA and MUC by Lufthansa?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:29

      It's not zero sum game, you should have both since FRA and MUC are used for various transfers not just for those in Germany

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:43

    A lot of poeple who travel to SKP doesn't use Wizzair because they are extreamly expensive. An retour of 400 euro in the summer has become very normal. LOT and Austrian almost always have cheaper deals than Wizzair in the summer. I have flown many times with Austrian from AMS to SKP while I actually live in Eindhoven close to the airport. I personally think there is more than enough demand for an direct flight to AMS,but the only problem is that it will effect many airlines who fly to SKP.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous11:28

    If Easyjet consider a second destinations there should look at AMS in the first place

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:47

      I guess legacy carriers are not about to come in Skopje so the most likely development we could eventually see in Skopje is an expansion of Easyjet’s network, meaning they could launch Amsterdam, Paris ORY or CDG, Basel if they want to with the existing GVA route, in all they can serve four routes which is good. But the A320 might be too big since there is competition on some routes ( Paris BVA with Wizz, Eindhoven competiting with AMS by Wizz too and BSL… ) A319 can easily get filled

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:41

    I wish A3 were more active in SKP; although they only offer 2x weekly, pax can then apparently connect onto those Caucasus and Middle East red-eye flights offered via ATH.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:43

      A3 ignoring the west Europe transfer markets from SKP is a mystery.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:13

      They will understand their mistake and they will provide more flights from 2023,2024 I think

      Delete
  20. Anonymous12:02

    Very good passenger volume between BEG and SKP !!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:13

      not convinced. even Friedrichshafen has more pax. JU could do more

      Delete
  21. Anonymous12:36

    with the EU negotiations started there will be more traffic to BRU

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous13:03

    Nothning will happened... TAV did good job at SKP, but they don't want anything else but Turkish to get all the transfer pax. Do you realy think it is a problem to fill one E-170/190 with transfer pax to anywhere...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous17:05

    Fels like Skopje Airport is operated by Wizz Air and Turkish Airlines Joint Venture.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous18:59

    If JU wouldnt have these ridiculously low frequencies on its intra-european flights ( Madrid ! ) they could attract much more transfer passengers from Skopje .
    Their presence in the macedonian market is really disappointing .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:56

      You are right, Madrid has much more potential, it's mega hub. Maybe one of the issues is Air Europa codeshare, don't know if there's any value to it

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:01

      Better for JU to join Oneworld .
      Then JU and Iberia could codeshare .

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:33

      10x weekly flights to SKP and future OHD flights is really dissappointing? Interesting.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous01:17

      Well it is. Even their local rival OU has more

      Delete
    5. Anonymous01:54

      Local rival LOL. BEG is on that list but ZAG is not.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:47

      Yes but look at OUs result at SKP before Corona. They have more pax capacity now then JU tjis summer

      Delete
  25. Anonymous19:04

    Transavia, Eurowings should fly to Skp

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous19:15

    Air France A319/A220, klm e175/E195, Lufthansa crj900/E190

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:41

      If Transavia can always fill a 737 from LJU, and sometimes also overbooked, I don't see why SKP could just fill an E-175/-95

      Delete
  27. Anonymous01:58

    Speaking of Madrid, there are whole 3 carriers year-round from SOF due to the high diaspora over there. Macedonians with Bulgarian passports can easily reside and work there as well.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous23:32

    How about Dubai

    ReplyDelete

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