The Macedonian government has failed to reach an agreement with Ryanair over its entry into the market branding the low cost carrier’s demands as “impossible”. The Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, said, “We’ve met with them [Ryanair] two or three times already. The reason they’re not in our market is because of the conditions they set. In practice, they want both Skopje and Ohrid airports to serve only Ryanair, which would mean the state spending huge amounts of money just on them. They demand a turnaround time of no more than 35 minutes between landing and takeoff. That would require us to hire hundreds of additional staff at the airports just to meet their needs”.
Mr Nikoloski noted that the airline also requested more than double the existing subsidies the state is currently providing to carriers. “They claim the subsidies we offer are too low. At present, we provide airlines nine euros per passenger at Skopje Airport and twelve euros at Ohrid Airport. They are asking for twenty euros at Skopje and 25 at Ohrid. With conditions like that, cooperation simply isn’t possible. The state already spends a significant amount on subsidies, and offering such special terms would distort the market. You can’t give Ryanair privileges that aren’t extended to the other airlines currently operating here. And if we were to give those kinds of terms to everyone, the state would go bankrupt”.
Ryanair has been considering services to Macedonia for the past decade. In 2015, it announced plans to launch flights to Skopje and confirmed it was in talks with the Macedonian government over a number of routes. Shortly after, Wizz Air responded by unveiling several new services from the Macedonian capital to existing Ryanair bases. Despite the initial momentum, Ryanair ultimately shelved its entry into the market. The airline revisited the idea in 2018, but no routes were launched. Wizz Air, which dominates the Macedonian market with an annual passenger share of over 50%, recently announced the stationing of a sixth aircraft at its Skopje base and the launch of seven new routes.
Expected.
ReplyDeleteIf its flag carrier launching Europes main hub as Heathrow or Paris Charlea De gaulle ,yes we can pay them that , but no to Ryanair for sure :D well done to the minister!!
DeleteIf what minister is saying is true. no one should ever accept this. It means basically pulling pants to knees and bending over for hanky-panky. If they requested and accepted what is given to Wizz, than that could be ok and fair. But why should they be pointed as sole carrier on both Macedonian airports?!
DeleteAlso legacy routes are significantly more valuable than Ryanair and Wizz routes. Highest paying tourists are those from afar, like Korean, American, Canadian and Japanese ones, not a bunch of blokes from Leamington Spa looking to get drunk in a cheaper country during the summer
DeleteI don't think there are many Japanese who want to visit Skopje.
DeleteNeither from Leamington Spa.
Delete@10:35 You are being elitist. I am sure that the shops and hotels in Skopje would be lucky to even get ANY tourists from Leamington Spa.
DeleteBRAVO MACEDONIA
DeleteBRAVO
Expel the bloodsuckers
Ryanair acting like Trump here. Bullies
ReplyDelete20 euroes subsidies per passenger. So the government should pay basically the whole ticket for the passenger and what they charge above that is profit
+1
DeleteThey also want to not pay any airport taxes and fees.
Ryanair being hilarious as usual 🤣.. aka useless hacks.
DeleteTo think I expected anything better from them.
Well, dears, at least you can see for yourselves where things stand.
They are right. The terms are ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteRyanair dont want to pay any taxes to any country , simply they want all the profit for them.Plus they ask for subsidies
Delete+1
Delete@09:06 Ryanair is one of the biggest taxpayers in all of Europe. They pay hundreds of millions of euros in tax every year. What on earth are you talking about?
DeleteOh wow, a company is paying taxes, wanna give em a gold star?
Delete@Anonymous 10:10
DeleteTo whom exactly do they pay these taxes?
So do I (pay). And don't get billions in subsides for an alleged successful business model
DeleteIf this is true than thank you , we dont need them. 20-25 eur subsidies is huge amount for any country , I dont believe there is country who can pay that amount , thats just simply too. 35 turnaround time , are they coming to Skopje or Dubai ? What an airline 🤮
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean if it's true? You think the minister is making it up?
DeleteWell according to the experts LJU, Fraport should just pay that to Ryanair so that these experts would have Ryanair base at home.
Deleteagreed
Delete(provided he is saying the truth why they ditched Ryanair- should be noted for this minister and his track record of claims)
I am saying maybe it is just acting from him to make more room for Wizz air and also keep them on the market , knowing if Ryanair comes Wizz will have strong competition right... I am just guessing, maybe he is talking truth...
DeleteWizzAir also has 35mins turnaround time..Sometimes even 30mins. In fact the cabin crew has 5 minutes to prepare the aircraft for the next sector on A320 and 6mins on A321. I dont know why the minister mentioned it, hiring hundreds of new people, ridicilous.
DeleteThe turnaround is maybe something which can be achieved with some training but the subsidies request is very demanding, and I'm not sure how are they agreements with the other Balkan countries/airports but I think this is too much
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that SKP as airport have that capacity , infrastructure to handle that turn around. I do also think the airport is not build for operations like that. Staff can be found , but the capacity for timing for landing and take off is almost reached , which is around 40 landings and take offs in 24 hours.. especially with Wizz winter addition I think its impossible too
Deletejust had a look on FR24: some (the majority) of Wizz turn around times at SKP are also 35min but they seem more flexible
DeleteThis is nonsense. The airport staff already handles 30mins turnaround. Now there is even a pre-boarding area build at the gates by puting a fence after they scan the boarding card, addditionally all passengers wait before and inside the jet bridge, this is called pre-boarding so that they can immediately board the plane after and the gate is already closed, no missing passenger no nothing. Cargo. Most of the flights have low number of checked-in luggage cause Wizz is low cost and u need to pay for that. I doubt there are more then 100 pieces of luggage, which is way less then on the charter flights the ground staff at SKP is capable of handling for 40mins. Also, i think Aleksandar Nikolovski is just making this up cause what Ryanair could actually ask is 25mins of turnaround time, not 30-35. At most airports they have 25.
DeleteThat decision will actually bring even more MK originating passengers to TIA and PRN.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much they are getting for opening a 3 aircraft base in Tirana.
DeleteWith Madrid,Barcelona,Prague,Cologne,Stockholm Arlanda,Bari,(Rome Fiumicino is back) Larnaca, where some Macedonian will use Tirana , for what can u specify?
DeleteWho on earth goes from Skopje all the way to Tirna to catch a flight?
DeleteMany people use Tirana from Skopje for flights
DeleteI never heard anyone going from Skopje to Tirana to catch a flight. Only in winter when Skopje is facing huge fogs with a days , Turkish,Austrian and even Wizz offers flights from Pristina , happend to me beggining of this March , but thats only for things like that and also almost all diverted Skopje planes landing at Pristina..
Delete@09:09
DeleteTIA subsidizes 6 EUR per passenger. Info is on TIA incentive plan on Airports website.
The commentators here.
Delete@9.29 you really think that's all that Ryanair gets. lol
DeleteMy comment was about people traveling to Tirana from Skopje. Not about the comments below. I just hadn't refreshed the site in 10 minutes.
DeleteSorry
DeleteWhy still comparing country with a sea and 10 million tourists who go there for sea, with a landlocked country ? :D Tirana is Tirana , Skopje is Skopje , why just dont chill out for this comparing in every article
Delete@09:30
DeleteSomeone asked - I gave an informed response. You#re welcome.
Should you prefer speculating instead - go ahead and knock yourself out.
10 million tourists?
DeleteOut of that 10 mln - 4 mln PAX are alb immigrants+locals travelling abroad.
3 mln PAX come from surounding countries - mainly Kosovo.
and some 3 mln PAX who are real foreigners.
Ryanair gets subsidies from every country they fly and that is true fact , only difference is their price list is different for any market , starting from country size , sea , landlocked ,GDP per capital , EU member yes no and etc.....
Delete09:56 my bad sorry , not tourists , I wanted to say people who basicly used air travel in 2024 in Albania, online stats saying it is around 10 million people
Delete@09:58 You write a totally incorrect sentence and then you say "that is true fact" but it does not make it true.
DeleteThere is almost not a single country that subsidises Ryanair. I only know of two countries.
Please go ahead and prove me wrong and list all the ones you know since you say it is a true fact.
What is the amount of money per passenger that Zagreb subsidize Ryanair?
DeleteZagreb normally charges 17.5 euros per departing passenger. Ryanair gets 80% discount on this.
Deleteit was reported that they increased it to 19.67€ https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/01/zagreb-airport-to-hike-fees.html
Deletewhich means they get a discount of 15.7€
@9.29 lmao
DeleteThere are many people that go from Macedonia to Tirana to catch a flight. Most of them are for Liepzig, Barcelona, Madrid, Bari sometimes or another Italian route.
Deletesure Leipzig when BER is only 2 hours away by train ...
Deleteonly spanish and south italian routes but with Barcelona, Madrid, Bari now intriduced
Well I have had Macedonians on my flights between Leipzig and Tirana. And BCN being introduced from SKP doesn't mean that people will stop using SOF and TIA. Me myself have been checking the prices of Ryan and Wizz for flights to Spain from SOF or TIA other than SKP. The truth is that there will always be people using other airports. Some are even using Thessaloniki.
DeleteWith Madrid,Barcelona,Prague,Larnaca,Cologne,Bari, Wizz will be dominating starting from this winter from Skopje , there will be no any reasoj for going outisde Skopje. The only route missing will be Dubai and Doba out of SKP
Delete@16.08 with 5 weekly flights from Skopje to Berlin you travelled 6 hours to Tirana to catch a flight to Leipzig??? Jesus!
Deletethe train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof takes 1 hours 15 min
It's just a shame that Croatia and Bosnia allow Ryanair bullies into their Airports.
ReplyDeleteAnd you think Ryanair offers the same terms and conditions to all airports?
Delete09:08 is correct.
DeleteThey only demand such terms from weak markets.
They don't get any subsidies in Spanish, Italian, French or Greek airports.
So they try to get them from poorer markets.
Ask someone how much Bosnia is paying them , then you will understand what Ryanair doing in reality. They want clear profit plus huge subsidies to any airport they wish to go
Delete@9.11 They most certainly get all sorts of subsidises from various airports in Spain, Italy, France and Greece.
Delete@9.11. Sure they don't
DeleteRyanair has been the subject of investigations into French State aid it received, with the European Commission ordering the company to repay €8.5 million in illegal subsidies related to marketing agreements at Montpellier Airport and other French airports like La Rochelle.
Ryanair's involvement with Spanish "subsidies" is primarily focused on regional incentives for airlines to boost traffic at underutilized public airport.
@09:14 no actually they do not!|
DeleteThey threw a fit when they were rejected years ago by these countries when they asked for subsidies, they cried and threatened to pull their aircraft.
BUT because they are countries with strong demand they just continue to fly to their airports and pay just like everyone else.
They do get subsidies. It's just not as apparent since its banned under EU rules. You are very naive to think they don't and there is proof that they do. Ryanair cries and threatens everyone to get the most out of any deal.
Deletethey dont receive subs from gov's but they get huge discounts from (regional) airports which is the same for them.
DeleteI'm sad that Ryanair won't be entering the market so there is more competion but they are way out of line demanding that much for subsidies. Hopefully another LCC enters the market and gives Macedonia more options on airlines and more destinations. Untill then they are held captive by Wizz
ReplyDeleteI am not sad at all for them. They can go make profit from rich countries not from our country!!!
DeleteGreat decision from the minister 👏you cannot giwe that amount money to no any airline even if thats Emirates not to a low cost airline like Ryanair. Its so simple , everyone is welcomed , if you agree this conditions accept if not bye bye!!!
ReplyDeleteAgree! More governments and airports should act the same way. Their terms and conditions are just unfair. The same way they are rude against their employees.
DeleteOf course it is unfair , it would be much easier if they ask for 11 eur SKP current 9 and OHD 14 current 12 , but jumping to a double numbers is just non realistic...
DeleteRyanair does large amounts of profits, don't see one single reason to pay them 1 cent of subsidizes. Typical egoistic neoliberal economy behavior. Squezze the public to increase yr profits.
ReplyDeleteThey are trying to see if they can get the big cake , for our luck our minister did a great job👍
Delete+1
DeleteI don't think Ryanair cares that much ! If they did there would be some compromise from them . Either way SKP is not ATH so they would compromise .
ReplyDeleteWith this routes Wizz offering from Macedonia , plus expanding is coming very soon , to be honest we dont need Ryanair at all. I more wish any flag carrier to come not ryanair ;)
DeleteStrange for the 35 min rotation time that Ryanair requested, while on all other airports is 25 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't understand the problem with the hiring new staff, isn't growth in employment one of the benefits of increase in operations? Or he wants to grow without hiring new people? Doesn't seem reasonable to me.
I dont think he refused them about the staff hiring , thats just one reaso,main problem is the amount money they ask for which is crazy. Obviously they requested couple things which none works out and arw without any normal meaning
DeleteIz Zagreb Airport (or Croatia) paying all that?
ReplyDeleteRyanair does not set the same conditions to every airport they fly to or want to fly to. It has been published all the incentives they get at Zagreb Airport for flights that other airlines don't get. And now the airport is considering reactivating an entire terminal for them.
DeleteZagreb doesn't have to because it has more demand than Macedonia. Just like Vienna doesn't have to, Spanish airports don't have to, Budapest doesn't have to etc etc. Macedonia is simply not in the same category as them.
Delete^ but they do. You have an article here of what they get at Zagreb Airport.
DeleteCroatia is Europe union country , have sea , have strong tourism sector , cannot be compared at all with landlocked country as Macedonia with less than 2 million population and not in Europe
DeleteAny link to this article?
DeleteThis is what they get in ZAG. By the way, they are the only airline that get this incentive model
Deletehttps://www.zagreb-airport.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/Addendum%20to%20the%20Incentive%20Program.pdf
From 01.01.2026 Wizz air will be the only airline getting subsidies from government at Skopje, and not for all 30+ routes , around half only getting it. The only other who will recieve subsidies will be Turkish airlines for Ohrid airport
Deleteeasyjet also gets subsisides from Skopje. Stop disinforming people.
Delete10:15 where did u get that information that Easyjet is getting subsidies for Skopje ? If anyone launch flights doesnt mean it is under subsidies program!!
DeleteNikoloski saod it himself. Paris and Geneva.
DeleteFor Geneva yes , but for Paris orly never heard it is subsided route.
DeleteIt is irrelevant what you heard. It was published on the site of the Ministry of Transport when route was announced and was written that it is the direct result of the government's subsidy policy.
DeleteAgain the Geneva route was published there , I never seen Orly was published on his site , but ok if u are saying thay. Amsterdam with Transavia was shared also but it is not subsided route
DeleteDoes this mean that the negotiations are over, at least for some time, or they will try to meet again and strike a deal? I haven't seen this speech from the minister, where was it published?
ReplyDeleteHe said it on TV 2 days ago. Negotiations are over.
Delete09:36 it was on TV news 2 days ago.
Delete09:37 no buddy , he didnt say negotiations are over I watch all interview , he said for now it is postponed and they tell what they want and he tell them what they offer what they not acecpt. He didnt say it is all over at any point if the speech , he mention it is still underway but for now chance to come on market are only if they accept current conditions which they are still open for everyone
To continue on my comment , we can expect any miracle to happend but chances are very small to see something like that in future ,knowing Wizz is growing again and will be even stronger in 2026 in Macedonia...
DeleteMuch expected, similarly as in Tuzla, everything is being done to "protect" WizzAir. Everything can be given to them, tenders are made for them, all their conditions are met immediately...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe biggest envelope wins.
DeleteThats what I said above , pretty much I am sure our minister did everything to protect Wizz from any other strong competition. 99% I am not believing in this movie what he is saying
Deletesorry but thats tipicna rekla kazala
DeleteMaybe it's rekla kazala. Maybe not. Politicians lie much more than they speak truth. Everywhere, globally. That's not rekla kazala but proven fact
DeleteCorrect choice by the government, if Ryanair can't compete on the same playing field as Wizz, Pegasus and various legacy carriers, then they have no business in Skopje
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1
DeleteI still don't get why the government is negotiating with Ryanair rather than the airport. What is TAV doing?
ReplyDeleteTAV have probably delegated them to the gov after hearing their nonsence wishes
DeleteNothing positive, as usual. They are there for the PR and swiping the cream off the top.
Deleteand what shoud have done? to give Ryanair 100% discounts? ok
DeleteThey've never given anything to anyone, despite committing to expand traffic. Furthermore, they have gone back on agreed discounts once aircraft and routes were added. Needless to say, it was always the government that stepped in despite them having the concession. All hail the neo-Ottoman rulers.
Deleteyour neo-Ottoman rulers are 49% bought by the french
DeleteOk, Wizzair are assholes, they ask for a lot, but it's within the realm of possibilities. This is just insane from Ryanair, they could bring 15 planes to the airport, it still wouldn't be worth. Good decision by the government.
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteif its true thats simpy outrageous
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI think Ryanair refused to give mito to the minister and now its a story about "impossible demands." If they did, all the demands would have been agreed upon.
ReplyDeletehear hear carsija talk of the month
DeleteAha, because mito is unheard of in MKD!
Deletesurely that is how Ryanair works, thanks for reminding us
DeleteThen obviosuly ryanair giwing mito to every country they opening routes
DeleteMaybe not in every country but in some countries you cannot operate without mito.
DeleteMito and corruption is present in every country in this world. It is just very well covered and its matter of time when will pop out for public
DeleteIn some countries more than in others.
DeleteWizzair are taking a breath
ReplyDeleteoh well maybe another time. In the meantime they should get:
ReplyDelete1) Eurowings to launch DUS, the most obvious destination stil missing from the airport...
2) change the subsudy scheme for OHD to allow seasonal flights
3) Wizz to bring back CPH & TKU
4) LH to launch MUC
Also Hannover, would be nice
DeleteVery soon Wizz will announce new routes from both skopje and ohrid as well return some previous ones , just be patience :))) expect the news very soon
Delete^ a week ago you were writing that very soon Ryanair will announce new routes lol.
Delete"Latest updates saying Ryanair is in final moments of launching flights very soon ..."
@21.46 after your Ryanair predictions were 100% false?
DeleteIt is not predictions , this is not a football match👍wait very soon you will see what I am talking about✅️
Deletelol we saw what you were talking about Ryanair.
DeleteI think they requested this amount of subsidies so that they can go with very low prices of tickets and destroy WizzAir. For sure i will not pay the flight of Wizz to Stockholm 120 euros when Ryanair offers it for 20.
ReplyDeleteAnd you think EUR20 covers operating costs? EUR120 for Wizz would barely breakeven. People in poor countries need to pay the same prices as everyone else. Any airport offering subsidies needs to question there whole approach to being open.
DeleteIf that is all true, I'm happy that the government kicked them out the door. What ridiculous asks. But it also gives Wizzy a bit too much leverage now.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the only thing the Macedonian government could have been open to discussing is the introduction of seasonal flights to Ohrid and providing a slightly adjusted subsidy scheme there. Could have further pushed local tourism and trips across Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. Especially with Macedonia and Greece soon opening a new border at Prespa Lake, this would have been nice.
Why would the government give Ryanair money when they can put them in their pockets. All the talks with them were to scare Wizz Air so that Wizz agrees to open new routes here and get more money and even more money under the table. Nobody is talking about the subsidies that the government will give to Wizz again now when they bring A321neos, just like they were giving them money years ago and they stopped when they saw ( which is very easy to see just open flightradar24 ) that there are no A321s in SKP but A320s. Additionally, with this statement the so called minister is making himself look better in front of the people by saving their money cause he will not pay Ryanair 20 euros per passenger. He announced the routes of Wizz which were Cologne, Stockholm, Madrid, Prague and Bari but Larnaca was not mentioned anywhere while it is listed on the website of WizzAir as new service and will launch this October as well. The media also doesn't talk about Larnaca, just the five routes the government mentioned which shows how limited the media in Macedonia is. Making statements that the requested time of FR at SKP Is ridicules doesn't make sense cause Wizz Air also has 30-35 minutes turnaround time sometimes when the crew has 4 sectors on the plane i.e. when there is no immediate crew change. If different crew comes then most of the times it is 45mins turnaround time. FR may have requested for 25mins not 35. Hiring hundreds of people to make that happen ( we are talking about a few weekly flights of FR to SKP not a base with 5 737s ) is also a ridiculous statement. At least he is doing something, yes we see many new routes from SKP this year which is great, but making yourself a bigger person with statements like this 5 new routes of Wizz at SKP are going to change the world is very funny.
ReplyDeleteSkopje has one big problem above all else and that is the proximity of PRN.
ReplyDeleteSo what we have with pristina ? Explain please
DeleteI would actually say it's the other way around. A large number of Kosovars fly out of SKP, while I haven't heard much about Macedonians using PRN. In fact, I think more Macedonians choose airports like BEG, SOF, TIA, or even SKG over PRN.
DeleteMacedonians most using thesaloniki,belgrade , zagreb and sofia. Some macedonian albanians are sometimes using pristina but that is very small portion. Kosovarians are the ones who fly from Skopje the most. All cars at the parking lot are from kosovo not from macedonia. All taxi coming are from kosovo not skopje. The only moment planes divert from skopje to pristina is in winter foggy days at skopje airport which is huge problem for skopje at thet time of the year
DeleteIt's the other way around. PRN has much more expensive ticket prices, there isn't much incentive going there unless a route is unavailable from SKP. If it wasn't for SKP, PRN would have ever crazier numbers. Kosovars just fly way more.
DeleteI don't see the big deal. As a for-profit corporation, Ryaniar is looking for most favorable terms possible. Can you fault them for that? The government is looking for the most competition/routes at the lowest cost (subsidies) to its least citizens. Can you fault them for that? If the two parties can't meet in the middle, then they simply move on without a deal being made. Concessions will only be made from the side that needs it more. Simple supply and demand.
ReplyDeleteExactly. As if Ryanair owes anything to SKP anyway.
DeleteOf course , the government conditions are this and ryanair conditions are that , if no middle than bye bye , no one will die if ryanair doesnt come to our country!
DeleteTrue, and some people try to convince us that SKP is bigger than Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad the government didn’t give in to the bullying.
ReplyDeleteBesides they’ve got Wizz and if they can do it, so could Ryanair if they really wanted to.
Wizz air is doing amazing job here in our country , plus very soon from this winter they will increase current routes , re launch some previous ones and plus add completely new ones that diaspora routes and leisure routes will be completely covered!!
DeleteRyanair passengers don't bring much value to the local economy so why should Ryanair receive larger subsidies than other airlines?!
ReplyDeleteThats the question , all airlines recieve the same amount of money , ryanair cannot recieve more or any other airline , it is simple , the amount is set for everyone willing to operate from the market. Plus Wizz already covers good portion of diaspora routes as well leisure , missing only couple more routes which we hope we will see them soon
DeleteThe right question is if Ryanair accepted or to what portion they are willing to return the subsides to the political party ruling.
ReplyDeleteI am not really upset with this , if this is all true then well done to our minister , if ryanair or anyone else wants to start operations in Macedonia clearly conditions are available and same for everyone , game over!!! What I am upset is we still miss Dubai,Doba,Munich,Hanover,Copenhagen,Dusseldorf, London gatwick or stansted , this is what we really need and to what government and TAV should put their focus!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you need Gatwick or Stansted when barely the Wizz route to Luton is operating with 3-4 flights a week, it can't even sustain a daily service
Delete@Anon08.20
DeleteI'm quite sure more people would fly out/to Gatwick than Luton.
I think the demand would be the same as for Luton.
Deletemore flights = more travellers
Delete