Wizz Air, Flydubai, and Turkish Airlines have secured Macedonian government subsidies after successfully responding to a public call for new route launches. Wizz Air will introduce flights from Skopje to Barcelona, Lyon, and Stuttgart, as well as from Ohrid to Basel. Flydubai will resume its Dubai - Skopje service after a five-year hiatus, and Turkish Airlines will begin flights between Istanbul and Ohrid. Of the six new routes, set to launch next year, only services to Lyon have never been previously operated on a scheduled basis. The airlines will receive subsidies for three years, with nine euros allocated for each arriving passenger from Skopje and twelve euros from Ohrid.
Commenting on the new routes, Macedonia's Minister for Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, said, "I am proud to announce that starting March 30, 2025, Flydubai will begin flights between Dubai and Skopje. Additionally, from June 30, 2025, Skopje will have a twice-weekly connection to Barcelona, offering direct access to Spain. On the same date, a twice-weekly Skopje - Lyon route will also launch, introducing southern France as a destination for the first time. Furthermore, starting next year, there will be three weekly flights between Skopje and Stuttgart, providing greater access to western Germany". He added, “Regarding Ohrid Airport, there will be twice-weekly flights to Basel, and what I consider the most significant development is Turkish Airlines' regular service from Istanbul to Ohrid, beginning March 30, 2025. This will link Ohrid to Europe's largest and most connected airport".
Mr Nikoloski noted that a new subsidy call will be issued over the next few weeks due to strong interest from carriers. Wizz Air last maintained services from Skopje to Barcelona in January 2022 and from Ohrid to Basel in August 2023. It was due to inaugurate operations between the Macedonian capital and Stuttgart this year, which never materialised due to its ongoing fleet issues. On the other hand, the now-defunct Turkish carrier Onur Air last operated flights between Istanbul and Ohrid during the 2019 summer season, ending operations in September of that year. The operator of Skopje and Ohrid airports, TAV Macedonia, previously said the new route launches would generate an additional 200.000 passengers in 2025.
Turkish airlines was not expected i was thinking could be Ajet
ReplyDeleteBut i think better for connections with THY
i hope its not seasonal because that would be against the rules
DeleteNo its all year round.
DeleteIt will be 4 times a week ohrd istanbul
DeleteDo i know how much volume this route has may to otcober easy 80k people traveling from usa to macedonia and pogradec korca albania which only they have 30k diaspora in usa mostly in the state of connecticut 25k of them
Than in winter theyre 20-40k travelers from australia come to more macedonia or even more
Connecting with dubai
And turkey
Now they will have two options flying sydney or melbourne or perth to dubai than skopje
Or sydney to istanbul to ohrid
Now turkish has direct flight with sydney little stop to malausia than takes off agains and fly to instanbul
From 2026 they will go non stop 18 hour plus flight istnanul to sydney melbourne even perth with airbus a350-1000 ulr
Ohrid with turkish airline allowed me and other 200 people i know will use that route with istanbul from jfk in 2025
As long theyre flight price is not crazy high and almost same level
With tirana airport or skopje at least
I don't know what the prices will be like but from BEG TK has become very expensive. Not just to IST but for transfers as well.
DeleteI am shocked that BCN requires subsidies.
ReplyDeleteI am happy it is back
DeleteU sk nista novo, igra macke i misa. Raspisu tender-otvore linije-istekne vazenje-zatvore linije-raspisu tender.
Deletea bet you will be very happy to use the BCN route :)
DeleteI think BCN can work without subsidies but Wizz wants even more money. They are not doing the best especially since they are fighting others in places like TIA.
Deletenobody is shocked about Basel but Barcelona, ha
DeleteI Basel iz Ohrida je išao 4 puta nedeljno i imao je odličan load. Mislim da su ga ukinuli da bi bilo subvencija. Izgleda da su uspeli u toj nameri. WIZZ i sve je moguće.
DeleteBasel-Ohrid je bila rentabilna linija. Išla je 4 puta nedeljno i imala je odličan load. Sve mislim da su je namerno ukinuli da bi dobili subvencije. WIZZ i sve je moguće.
DeleteA but underwhelming. Was expecting more new routes the way the minister hyped it.
ReplyDeleteThey did say that a new subsidy tender will be announced in the next weeks.
DeleteThere will be more new routes in December with the new call
DeleteThats quite disappointing…
ReplyDeleteIt is not , they select the routes with most demand and the most interest , you cannot select route where is no any potentinal. Plus soon will be new call , and will have more routes in December.
DeleteWhen the tickets start stelling ohrid to istanbull
DeleteI see it says march 30th
But when i can start booking for summer time because i dont see anything online
Bravo, Dubai and Barcelona for Skopje and Istanbul for Ohrid were a must!
ReplyDeleteStill nothing to Dubai, if you check their website there is no direct flights to Macedonia :(
DeleteGreat news for SKP and OHD
ReplyDeleteSeems that in the future we would travel to European airports only on W6...
ReplyDeleteWhat do u expect my friend ? They try to increase the tourism sector in the country , and in the days that coming we will getting new routes for sure , just need time and hard work. We just need some extra european main hubs and we are all set , which I expect we will get in the future.
DeleteWe have been hearing about getting connected to the main European hubs for years. Long before the pandemic.
DeleteBut we are still solely dependent on Wizz and the connections to the main hubs are always "in the future"
Couple more routes with the new call will be also very good for both airports , in December we will have new routes too 👍
ReplyDeleteunderwhelming? always told you dont belive everything when this minister opens his mouth. He is a disgrace
ReplyDelete@09:21
Delete+1
I still dont believe this actually. I am waiting for the routes to be scheduled. Also if Wizz launch them is another story.
Delete:D:D Stuttgart
DeleteFlyDubai comeback is the biggest news here actually.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasnt for the POMPEZNI NAJAVi this would have been an ok result BUT:
ReplyDelete- Macedonian airports set for ten new routes, Dubai flights and hub connectivity
- Many airlines” apply for Macedonian subsidy tender
- Macedonia to end dependence on Wizz Air with overhauled subsidy scheme
except for Dubai, NOTHING of this materialized
Also it's stupid to only give money to TK for OHD flights. They should have them launch ESB to SKP.
Deletewhat happenedt to the airline that "has never served macedonian market before" ???
ReplyDeleteand why do they need another tender? if there "is"strong interest" why didnt they apply now ???
the biggest joke is giving sub for Ohrid - Basel! Wizz is laughing loud in their headquarters
You are right.
DeleteIf a route can only exist with subsidies it shouldn't exist
ReplyDeleteyou are mixing PSO and sub. If you think these 2000€ per flight will make your route profitable then you should start your own airline instead of wasting your time on online blogs honestly
DeleteWhy you are saying that , every airport have subsided routes in the world , SKP have 7 routes that are without subsided money , we are country less then 2m people , what market we are ? Every airline wants big markets with big population its simply
Delete7 routes with out subsidies? Oh boy you better check and inform yourself before writing something. In fact these four routes together with the last three routes Salzburg, Frankfurt and Sarajevo and subsidied. So 7 routes in total are subsidied, its the other way around.
Delete11:46 Istanbul,Viena,Warsaw,Zurich,Belgrade,Zagreb and in summer Riga and Oslo , how many they are ? You need to count and check before writing somethin not me ;)
DeleteAgain, What makes you think that all 30 routes of Wizz are with subsidies? Please explain to me. For example, Skopje-Treviso was the first ever route of Wizz in Macedonia, launched 13 years ago with out subsidies. As i already said, only 7 routes are currently with subsidies by Wizz. The airline may have received subsidies about other routes as well but as u can see they are still operating now after the subsidies ended.
DeleteNeeding subsidy for a flight to Barcelona is not a very encouraging sign for an airport
ReplyDeleteaj aj aj the haters arrived. Good morning!
DeleteTrue though
DeleteAnon 09.38
DeleteCan you please let us know how subsidizing flights to a mega tourist destination needs subsidies? You know, since anyone who questions this is a hater.
Wizz and Ryanair work that way, either big incentives from aiprorts or money from towns/countries
DeleteNonsense. They don't get that in BEG, SOF, OTP... they are doing it in SKP because the government is allowing them.
Deletefor sure not: https://sofia-airport.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Sofia-airport-incentives-program-2023-2027_EN.pdf ...
DeleteAn incentive program is not the same as subsidies. Almost every single airport in the world has an incentive program. And the airlines that launch flights to Skopje get government subsidies in addition to the incentives they get through Skopje Airport's incentive program.
Deletefrom an airline point of view it doesnt matter if the airport is giving incentives or the government is paying the same amount per pax.
Delete.btw good luck with the TAV incentives for SKP
It matters if you can get both. And there certainly is an incentive policy at SKP.
DeleteThey would never wait for these tenders if there were any reasonable ones.
DeleteWhy when it comes to SKP giving subsidies it is wrong but when LJU is pleasing carriers to operate even for two months of the year then it is all positive?
DeleteHave you read the comments anout Ljubljana and subsidies? They are anything but positive. But it is a fact that Macedonians here get most offended, touchy and aggressive when someone suggests something is stupid.
Deletethey are not positive because there is barely anyone applying recently.
DeleteCongrats to Macedonia, I wonder why it’s so easy for them and so hard for LJU
ReplyDeleteSimply no demand for LJU.
DeleteMacedonia needs flights to get anywhere. From Ljubljana you can drive to a lot of places.
Delete@9:48 expert
DeleteLJU have better connections then SKP , even its smaller country and well positioned. SKP doesnt have any main Euro hub except Frankfurt and Vienna. No munich,amsterdam,paris,heathrow ..
DeletePaying 9/12 € per head compared to almost nothing they would get in LJU
DeleteAnonymous10:17 SKP has frequent flights to IST, (even Sabiha Gokcen), and IST is better connected that just about any European hub. So it is Vienna, Istanbul and Frankfurt. The main problem with IST is TK's punctuality. Delays are everyday business as usual for them. If you do not have at least three hours connection time at IST, there is too much risk your connecting flight will be gone. But if you compare the total connectivity of SKP (add Ohrid) to the TOTAL purchasing power of the 1.8 million Macedonians still living in Macedonia, officially the fifth poorest country in Europe) SKP may be better connected that many, many European areas.
Delete12:49 all u said its corrrect , but when you see LJU have heathrow,amsterdam,paris cgd,munich, and many more , SKP has only IST,VIE and Frankfurt , Warsaw and Riga also good , and Oslo in summer , for me they still have better options then SKP. Btw where you read that MKD is 5th poorest country in Europe ?
DeleteIf we didnt have flights to the rest of the Europe, we would also have LHR, AMS and CDG. Whats better? Direct flight to your destination or connecting via those three hubs? LJU doesnt even have BER.
DeleteAnd SKP doesn't even have AMS, LHR, MUC, BRU..
Delete150-seater would get approx 1500 EUR per departure in Ljubljana, so it's comparable.
Delete"Го решаваме проблемот со зависност од една авиокомпанија" - рече министерот.
ReplyDeleteyes buddy you really sorted the dependance from one company, haha
Se pravi statistika ko ruti se najbarani i najgolem interes za nas kako drzava , ne ocekuvaj Paris Amsterdam Doha ili neznam so koa nema potencijal takov , kolkav sme nie pazar za takvi kompanii da flezat ? Pogolemi drzavi od nas ima pa nemaat takvi konekcii. Baska kaj nas da ne e Wizzair nieden gastrbajter ke nema da si dojdi vo MK , mislis da dojde Aif france ,KLM ke letaat so niv ? Ne zaebavaj bidi realen ,Wizzair da ne e ke treba da zatvorime aerodomite vo MK
Deletene me sfati. Ne mi e problem ni da ima zavisnost od edna kompanija. Zadovolen sum od nivnite ruti i gi koristam. Ne sum od onie sto bezveze ovde sekoj den baraat konekcii do nekoi si golemi aerdoromi. No, ne mozam da ostanam ramnodusen koga nekoj se obiduva da me laze na takov perfiden i pogan nacin. Ako tenderot im bese so cel da se namali zavisnosta od Wizzair i da se donesat turisti vo Makedonija togas rezultatot e nikakov. A da ne govoram za site bespotrebni falenja za vreme na tenderot, najgolem interes neznam sto.
DeleteToa e vo red taka e se falea i so tie falbi site ocekuvavme nesto jako koj znae sto ke bide , usvari ne ispadna nisto od toa. A realno gledano golemite kompanii se skapi za nas standard , za toa ne ni idat tuka , nas ni fali samo edna do dve konekcii amsterdam ili pariz , i ke sme top. I realno Wizz da ne se u MK nema nimoj da leta , mal broj na lugje moze da si dozvolat karti od 300 evra pa i poveke nekogas.
DeleteBefore the pandemic we have great routes , after that all stopped. Plus the previous government in 7 years did not do nothing to recover this. The new ones now bring the biggest tour operator in Europe , open onr call and one in coming , plus couple more in the coming years. You cannot by the night bring Paris,Amsterdam,Heathrow,Doha , it needs hard work and it takes time. I am sure that we will have better connectios in the days coming , just need time. Not doing nothing for 7 years now we pay the price !!!
ReplyDeletewho is the biggest tour operator in Europe? RSD Reisen? muhahah ne si normalen
Deleteveke gi skratija letovite
DeleteTell me then who else is the biggest ?
DeleteTUI Group
DeleteI am saying for tour operator who organize holidays , not for an airline like TUI who also takes people to holidays and have planes.
Deleteand TUI doesnt organize holidays??? Daj ne ne brukaj ovde, idi na miting i vej so znameto
DeleteTUI also organizes holidays and have planes , RSD only organizes holidays dont have planes , thats the difference.Cannot compare those two companies
DeleteA be ja zname ne veam ama ti so branis kumovi so a unistia drzavata e druga tema , ne gledas podaleku od nosot , ministrite na sdsm 7 godini a unakazia drzavata , sea sakame nekoj za 3 meseci da ni ja oprai , pola od toa ovie so napravia sdsm procent ne napravi ;) samo sum realen me boli kur za ednite i drugite , makedonija a napustiv koga ti avion na filmovi samo si gledal :D
It’s disappointing to see that Wizz is not commencing those new flights before 30th of June. Just shows that their NEO problem will still be an issue in 2025.
ReplyDeleteYes their problem is huge and will be still ongoing in the new year too , will getting better for June 2025 ...
DeleteThe important thing is that this isnt going to provide more connectivity. Wizz Air will launch ( hopfully ) these three routes from SKP but CPH, NYO, CGN and BRE are discontinued. I mean i surely prefer BCN over these four but this does not mean that Wizz Air will grow in SKP as of June.
ReplyDeleteThey will restore all routes since they get their birds in air , its just need time.
DeleteAt long last OHD will be connected to a major hub with regular flights throughout the year
ReplyDeleteif
DeleteOhrid is city with 20k residents , connected with IST is great job!
DeleteIf what? TK is confirmed
DeleteHe is thinking TK is seasonal , but it is all year round.
Deletei thought to have read BCN and LYS to be 3 weekly but who knows
ReplyDeleteI read LYS and STR to be three weekly and BCN two.
DeleteLyon could work as a mix of serving the french market and Geneva. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI was really hoping for Ankara flights
ReplyDeleteThey are selecting what routes are in demand and what really needs , its possible in future we see Ankara too.
Deletelol ko sekretarka
DeleteTamu e u shtab zatoa znae. I shto Lion ima povekje pobaruvachka od Ankara? Molim te vrie od turci vo Skopje.
Delete@11.10 +1
DeleteTo all my Macedonian people , be happy that we have W6 , because if they leave we will need to close airports. Tomorrow Klm,Air france,BA,Iberia,Qatad will come to SKP , and you think our people havd 300 euro to pay in one way flight ? Are you crazy , be realistic , and hope W6 stays here forever ;)
ReplyDeleteTotally, so sick of W6 complainers. Legacy carriers don't work, there aren't enough money. And what even is the point of taking a slightly more comfortable 2-3 h flight for 3x the price.
DeleteIf Wizz Air leaves Ryanair will jump in. Actually they expressed interest once in the past, but Wizz Air threated to leave so Macedonian government decided not the disturb the status quo and risk. RyenAir has even cheaper tickets than Wizz, (and maybe even lousier service), but what can you expect for 4.99 euros a ticket. Besides they fly the well proven older version of 737, unaffected by the P&W engine trouble.
DeleteI also really wants Ryanair to jump in , but for now I guess its not possible , W6 have big support as we can see from every our government ...
DeleteOf course thats what I am saying with W6 my cousins fly from Dortmund to SKP for 20 euros both ways , with Lufthansa you need to pay 150-200 euro one way. For europe the low costs are great , for longer duration of course its another story. Thats why I am saying low costs are great for our standard , we dont have money to pay the expensive tickets , but nobody wanta to confirm that , but thats the reality.
DeleteHahaha, all those big pompous announcements and we get this? Reminds me of Segway announcements back in early 2000s lol
ReplyDeleteTK in Ohrid is massive.
ReplyDeleteI have sugested this rute several times in the past in my comments.
Turkish tourists dominate in Skopje so I will expect that they will also love Ohrid.
I believe that within 12 months we'll see 7 daily from IST to OHD especially in the summer period.
2023 200k turkish people visit Macedonia , and 250k Macedonians visit turkey. This year the numbers will be higher for sure. Most dominant foreign tourist in Macedonia are from turkey.
Delete7 daily LOL
Deleteam sure he meant 7 weekly so no need to LOL
Deletebut i wanted to add these Turkish tourists only spend one night in every Balkan country so they are not that really how to say it "korisni", liek Dutch, Polish and UK
btw Skopje will have 4-5 daily flights to Istanbul from next month
7 weekly of course.
DeleteIn addition, I also think that AMS at least 2wice per week will be a no brainer for Easy or Transavia. Why are this 2 airlines not interested is a mistery to me.
Let's see what happens. TK is also terminating TIV in winter despite there being 12.000 Russians in the country. This is a huge market for them and they still failed. Let's see what happens in Ohrid and if there will be enough demand.
Deletesame thoughts
Deleteon a positive note this route can get solid transfers from Australian diaspora
DeleteHow many people are flying to Australia from that area? Also I fear many Macedonians who emigrated to AUS are either very old or dead by now.
Deletelol
DeleteLove it. Wizz flew almost all of those routes before for money and now they are going to get money for it again. Flydubai was not paid to fly to Skopje before, but now it will get paid. Onur Air used to fly from Ohrid to Istanbul without any funding, now it is getting money. The market is going into reverse.
ReplyDeleteHey, thats progress in Balkans.
Deletenobody is geting "paid to fly". If you think 2000€ is geting paid, we would have every possible airline flying. See it as a motivation for airlines who are already thinking about launching a route. Damn i must be very stupid to not start an airline if 2000€ is doing the trick
Delete@11:50 exactly many people don’t understand that.
DeleteEK will be pretty expensive from Aus , at the moment and lately TK with MH have great airfares, no one can beat them yet. Yes, two stops , but worth for the $.
ReplyDeleteEK tickets - average price will be over $2.2k unless they go inline to compete with TK and theirs code share partners: MH, SQ, TG, QF, CX.
Prices are not loaded yet in system , probably next week I assume.
Avg transit time in the past was around 4h in DXB from any Australian city . Time table looks like will stay same :
Arriving SKP around 10-11am , departing around 12-1pm.
The current Non stop flight Mel to IST , which in future from next year will be non stop flight , won't be suitable for mkd travelers . TK arrives in IST around 10:30am, the morning flight is already departed, and night flight is far to late , after 8hours waiting time . Who knows maybe TK will bring the old schedule on certain days or introduced third skp daily around mid day.
ReplyDeleteVery disappointing. This does not work good for the economy.
ReplyDeleteWhy not ohrid malmo???
ReplyDeleteWhen they get most of their planes fixed they will return all the routes that were served before , all the routes now are on stand by , they are not quit just pause them. One by one they will return all routes.
DeleteShould be a flight to Ohrid from Sweden or Danmark!
DeleteWill be for sure when they fix the planes , they know which routes are busy ;)
Deletebro you dont need to answer every comment
DeleteOhrid Malmo was always fully booked
Deleteand the elephant in the room: Ryanair
ReplyDeletewhat happened on the meeting in Budapest?
first they announce expecting at least 10 destinations then one day before the tender ends they are flown in to Budapest. They never announced who applied to the tender
Deletethere is room for speculation especially as Nejat Kurt (TAV) said a new airline has applied that has never flown to either SKP or OHD
That W6 should still be in game :D
DeleteWell Wizz Air not wanting any competition in SKP just shows that they make so much profit from here. And yet people still complain how we have connectivity because we pay. I have flown Wizz Air from SKP to over 8 routes touristicly, more then 30 times with them and i can surely say that the LF was never under 85%, most of the time it was 95-100%, in different periods of the year, even in months like February, March and November.
DeleteBCN is a fantastic PR coup for Wizz, they need some positive press in MK after cuting frequencies left and right
ReplyDeleteW6 will make strong come back in MKD in summer 2025 , but until late May 2025 there still be significent cuttings ...
DeleteWhat happened after Iberia's pilot flight Madrid-Skopje-Madrid? Maybe that was the new company that Kurt was talking about.
ReplyDeletedoubt it, there will be 2 charters again. These flights are on behalf of a spanish tour agency
DeleteThey had a trial this summer , for the next ome they want to try introduce summer seasonal charters , we can expecy official announcment in thr coming months.
Delete@13.58 lol
Delete26.4 and 24.5 @13.58 cel den go tupis
DeleteEtihad will apply on the next call , I have clear information😊
DeleteMaybe they chose Wizz to BCN over Iberia to MAD and i think they made a smart decision. I surely dont want to spend 300 euros to get to MAD when i can get to BCN for 50.
Deletedream on about Iberia.
DeleteWhat is the point of Lyon route?? How they plan to fill 200 passengers twice a week?
ReplyDeleteGVA
DeleteLyon was on TAV's radar even since the call to be opened. Probably they planned that after GVA closing announcement.
DeleteI dont know what those people expect , you cannot get 20 destinations and 15 airlines by night , this tender calls are for getting the most wanted routes and the routes that are in demand , there will be every year at least 2-3 calls , so easily but for sure every year we will getting new routes , just need time,patience and hard work. In 7 years there was nothing from our previous government , now we need more work to get any airline decision to open a route and enter the market of course. Just chill everything will be good :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe next tine he should not not give stupid interviews announcing "at least 10 destinations"
DeleteI guess that is just gaining political points and sharing not thruthfull informations ... I dont like that either , but what giwes me hope he say that his plan in his mandat is every year to be at least 2 calls. Lets see the December one :))))
Delete@14:22 Thats what they do, they lie to people to gain political points, so that we say wow they are doing very good, its all just manipulation. Just like with the virus in the Skopje ZOO which now we see that it doesnt even exsist.
DeleteEmil can fly to from BCN now.
ReplyDeleteKoj Emil?
DeleteHis friend
Delete😂😂😂
DeleteAnyone who knows that tenders are submitted in a closed envelope where it is not allowed to write who is behind it, knew that the words of the minister are only for the rebuke of the uninformed. No one can know me until the bids are closed on the day of the call closing. Everything else is speculation
ReplyDeleteHe announce that he expect Dubai to be reopened days before the call finish , which means he already knew who is applying..
DeleteI really find it strange how Easy, Ryanair, Vueling and Transavia do not ever apply on these calls? It can't be that they are simply not interested.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteOf course they are not interested even giwing them money , they dont see our country as a tourist place or potential economicly strong market , its simply.
Deletetwo of them fly to PRN so your arguments are bit over the top
DeleteMacedonia is a small market, we got it.We don't have a problem with hub connectivity, at least most of us (since IST, WAW, BEG are doing the job for USA/Canada transfers) but of course it would be great to have some of them.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest dissapointment comes from the gov't/TAV announcements for NEW major airlines/airports and not to be so greatly dependent on Wizz.
Instead we got more Wizz and reinstaled their previous routes SKP-STR/BCN/DXB, OHD-BSL.Except for Barcelona no one believes that they are not self sustainable.
"Николоски: Имаме шест нови ексклузивни линии" lol this minister
ReplyDeleteIt felt weird flying from tirana to dubai in the past year, glad the OG route is back and people from kosovo, south serbia and macedonia itself can use this route again. Look forward to qatar coming back as well eventually, great memories on those routes out of skopje.
ReplyDeleteWhat blatant lies.
ReplyDeleteAleksandar Nikoloski, said, "I am proud to announce that starting March 30, 2025, Flydubai will begin flights between Dubai and Skopje.