Skopje Airport is poised for strong passenger growth in 2026, driven primarily by the continued expansion of its base carrier, Wizz Air. After handling a record of more than three million passengers in 2025, Macedonia’s main gateway is set to add over 560.000 seats in the first half of the new year alone, representing a year-on-year increase of 33%. However, TAV Macedonia CEO Nejat Kurt says the airport is not pursuing short-term traffic surges. “Our goal is not growth for its own sake, but responsible, long-term value for passengers, partners and the country”, Mr Kurt, notes.
The airport operator is currently targeting new services from Skopje to Denmark, Finland and destinations in the Middle East. In addition, from the markets already served, it is focusing on greater connectivity with Spain and the United Kingdom. “As we look ahead to 2026, our direction is clear. We will focus on strengthening year-round connectivity, adding more destinations, operational growth, supporting sustainable tourism growth, enhancing operational reliability and passenger experience, continuing alignment with European aviation standards and building resilience for the future of air transport”, Mr Kurt says. He adds, “Through the combined efforts of our airport teams, airline partners, institutions and government counterparts, we have achieved strong, stable growth, while maintaining safety, reliability and European operational standards. In 2025, our two airports together served 3.4 million passengers, representing 9% growth compared to 2024, with 54 destinations and eighteen airline partners connecting North Macedonia to Europe and beyond”.
Apart from growth at Skopje Airport, Ohrid is adding over 25.000 seats during the first half of the year. It has also secured a new legacy carrier in the form of Austrian Airlines, which will launch seasonal operations to the lakeside city in May, following Turkish Airlines last year. “Skopje International Airport remains the country’s gateway to discovery, supporting year-round travel for business, diaspora, culture and regional exploration. Ohrid Airport continues to serve as a destination gateway, offering direct access to one of Europe’s most unique UNESCO heritage and leisure destinations, while respecting sustainability and seasonality. This approach allows tourism to grow without compromising quality, and connectivity to expand without distorting the market”, Mr Kurt concludes.
Thank you Wizz!
ReplyDeletelol wait and see until they close half of these new routes
Delete@9.14 ah yeah?
DeleteSo SKP could overtake SPU?
ReplyDeleteIn the first 6 months of the year, quite possible.
DeleteOtherwise, don't make us laugh.
its geting very close to it
Delete@09:05 no
DeleteSKP might overtake Zag in 2 to 3 years
Delete@14:50 given the city's size, and tourist draw and greater wealth i cannot imagine that occurring even in that time-span.
Delete@15.10 what should Ljubljana say?
DeletePRN is on course of overtaking ZAG with even less size, tourist draw and wealth, that argumentation is not very strong
DeleteWhats this obsession with size?
DeleteLUX enters the chat
DeleteDon't forget that one day when OU goes bankrupt ZAG will surely lose around 500.000 passengers. A lot of transfers will be lost and a lot of domestic flights will be cut. That is when PRN will overtake them.
DeleteSKP will come close to SPU this year, that's a fact.
SKP size queen
Delete"SKP will come close to SPU this year, that's a fact." and?
DeleteSkopje is growing fast but infrastructure and ground handling will need to keep up
ReplyDeleteI've only used the airport a few times (maybe 7/8 over the years) and i've always found it quite ok both for arrivals and departures but then again i've only used to on Air Serbia up to BG during the afternoon. Does it get chaotic at times?
DeleteThe problem is poor staffing, not the capacity of the airport and infrastructure.
DeleteOh, i see.
DeleteSkopje Airport is one of the most efficient airports I have used in the world... The problem is public transport to the airport, there needs to be more.
Delete+1 although this isn't unique to Skopje in the region with several other airports with either awful public transport or fairly substandard. The car is king in the region and it shows in the lack of care given to other forms of transport.
Deletewould say they have the smoothest imigration i have seen at any airport
DeleteNetwork diversification would be healthy.
ReplyDeleteWe have been hearing about Middle East flights being a priority for 5 years now.
ReplyDeleteObviously the airline are not interested. Flydubai has been rewarded subsidies but still decided not to launch flights. Instead they stared Riga and Vilnius instead.
DeleteBravo Wizz Air!
ReplyDeleteIn all these years, the state has not lifted a finger to develop tourism. We only hear praise for flights to Western Europe, but at the cost of many Macedonians leaving their homeland. The sad reality.
ReplyDeleteNorth Macedonia's population is declining fast like several others in the region. More flights than ever! Fewer actual people in the country. Ironic almost.
DeleteThe arrivals and night spend of international tourist is rising but domestic tourism is unfortunatly on decline.
DeleteAnonymous09:17 Kosovo's population is declining even much faster, but you don't notice it, since it is obvious you are Macedonia hater. That declining population is the main driving force for PRN high numbers, they still come home to visit when they can. The realistic estimate for gasto traffic at PRN is over 90 %. while for SKP it is noticeably lower, about 70%.
Delete@12:36 as the writer of that comment i an assure you that i dont hate North Macedonia, nor have anything to do with that region. You clearly are triggered by the reality that N.M is bleeding population like the rest. Nothing to do with comparisons with Kosovo or elsewhere, just reality mate.
Delete@12:36
DeleteAre you OK?
He just mentiones the reality of population decline due to migration to western Europe by most of the countrys in western Balkans. 🤷♂️
Calling Macedonians "North" is the insult. Probably not on purpose if not knowing that the name change was brutally pushed on the country by force.If you don't want to insult please don't call us "north macedonians"
DeleteThat security area before entering the gates area needs to be improved/expanded definitely
ReplyDeleteIf Skopje keeps growing at this pace, terminal expansion will soon be unavoidable.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. Congratulations
ReplyDeleteWizz Air has turned Skopje into one of its stronger secondary bases in the region.
ReplyDeleteGood to see the airport not chasing growth at any cost.
ReplyDeleteHaha... sure. Good to see people falling for this nonsense.
DeleteThe airport operator is a business.
I don't know how are their flight loads on some of their routes for example Madrid, Larnaka, Prague, Barcelona Lyon in this time of the year since they are more of a leisure routes and its hard to fill in the A321 to those routes I think
ReplyDeleteMadrid was 100% full on the 30 12, mixed spanish and macedonian pax. No info on Skopje bound flights.
Delete1 Spanish passenger, and 229 Macedonian passengers is also a mix of passengers.
DeleteSkopje these days have alot of Spanish and Italian people in the city centre atleast what I've heard from earsdropping when hearing a foreign language
Delete@Observer you should rename yourself
DeleteMore UK connectivity? Yes, but give us something besides Luton! A Manchester or Birmingham rotation 2-3x weekly would tap into the diaspora and tourists heading to Lake Ohrid
ReplyDeleteWizzair offer no flights to Manchester, so certainly wont be flying from there to N.Macedonia anytime soon.
DeleteWhilst Birmingham has a slight Wizzair presence its mostly towards Romania, as well as routes to Budapest and Rome. Birmingham is only 1hour 30 from London by train and the same by car to Luton Airport which really means any "diaspora or tourists" in the midlands are well served by Luton Airport.
if there will be one its either Leeds or Liverpool
Deletea failure that they never went for Manchester
I dont think wizzair will add another UK route, however you are right that Leeds would be a good one if the decided to.
DeleteLeeds-Skopje 🤣
Delete@14:16 whilst I don't think that they would open such a route, its not a daft as it sounds given the north of England is poorly connected to the region. But given the low frequencies even to Luton I think the best Skopje can hope for is increased rotations on that route.
Deletethey might actually launch a second UK route to both SKP and BEG
DeleteWell done SKP
ReplyDeleteSuch a relief after two years of status quo caused by the engine issues
ReplyDeleteOHD on the way back to 300k passengers it seems
ReplyDeleteWizz tickets from SKP are not cheap at all for a low coster. Most destinations are at least 100 eur one way.
ReplyDeleteThat just isnt correct you can find loads bargins. I see flights to Paris in march for 65euro return etc. Prague for even less.
DeleteI fly before new year to Bari for 15 eur
DeleteWell, if Wizz doesn't have bese in SKP?
ReplyDeleteThen Skopje would be in big trouble for a period. But the exact same thing can be said for many other airports in Europe. But yes, the attraction of another LCC would probably be in the city's long-term interest.
Deletewhy shouldnt it have a base there?
DeleteBravo Hrvatska (joke comment, laugh)
ReplyDeleteand thats only H1
ReplyDeleteNorth Macedonia on the up!!
Delete