Low cost carrier Wizz Air has stationed its seventh Airbus A321neo aircraft at its Skopje base, a move expected to generate more than 120.000 additional passengers annually and add some 230.000 seats to the market each year. "This is a major achievement, something that even many national airlines cannot claim. That's why I often say that Wizz Air has, in effect, become Macedonia's national carrier", Macedonia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, said. The additional capacity will enable Wizz Air to increase frequencies on a number of existing routes while supporting its recently launched services from Skopje to Palermo and Alghero.
As of next week, Wizz Air will operate between 20 and 22 departures per day from Skopje. Including return flights, the airline will record 294 weekly aircraft movements at Skopje Airport, offering a total of 70.266 seats per week. It will serve 34 destinations, with the highest weekly capacity deployed on routes to Basel, Dortmund, Malmo, Memmingen and Berlin.
Andras Szabo, Wizz Air’s Network Officer East, recently told EX-YU Aviation News, "Macedonia is really close to our heart. This is a market we highly appreciate. We see a strong growth profile in Macedonia, which already started late last year with significant expansion as we added aircraft and upgraded existing based aircraft from the A320 to the A321 type. The growth is coming from multiple types of travel. We have opened more routes geared towards leisure and city-break traffic, and we are indeed seeing demand for them. Some of them were bolder choices, such as the Spanish routes, but we see there is demand”.
Wizz Air now accounts for 62% of Skopje Airport's total scheduled weekly seat capacity. Its market share is expected to increase further during the winter season as several other airlines reduce their operations. The General Manager of airport operator TAV Macedonia, Nejat Kurt, noted, “The basing of Wizz Air's seventh aircraft at Skopje International Airport represents a significant milestone for TAV Macedonia and for the continued development of air connectivity in North Macedonia. Beyond expanding travel options for passengers, this development strengthens Skopje's role as a regional gateway, supports tourism and business activity, and contributes to the country's economic growth. We are proud of our successful partnership with Wizz Air and remain committed to further developing our airports and creating opportunities for sustainable growth”.
Commenting further on Wizz Air’s presence in Skopje, Minister Nikoloski noted, "This is now Wizz Air's third-largest base anywhere in its network, and I hope that in the near future Skopje Airport will climb to second place in terms of the number of based aircraft. This is a remarkable achievement. These successes are no coincidence; they are the result of close cooperation. The figures clearly demonstrate this. Last year alone, Wizz Air carried 1.7 million passengers, while in just the first six months of this year it has already transported 1.2 million, clearly illustrating the pace of growth. During the first half of the year, Skopje and Ohrid airports together handled more than two million passengers, and I hope this momentum will continue throughout the second half of the year”.
move expected to generate more than 120.000 additional passengers annually and add some 230.000 seats to the market each year.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make sense? Surely they aren't flying half empty
Nešto ne štima
DeleteSad statement
DeleteThe consolidation of european market. Remember the 2000's with so many charter airlines.
ReplyDeleteRemember the 2000s when getting to Skopje was not easy or cheap.
Delete+1
DeleteHemus Air via Sofia to New York with Yak40 golden times 😊
the age of Adria and Malev @9,05
DeleteThe minister saying SKP is Wizz Air's third largest base which is simply not true.
ReplyDeleteLiterally. Its totally wrong.
DeleteOTP,/BBU, BUD, LTN, FCO, WAW/WMI, TIA
DeleteI agree, I was watching the news yesterday, I'm not sure why they need to say these false things when the success with the 7th aircraft and the frequencies increase is a success on its own.
Deletecame to post this. This guy is such an embarrassment for every inteligent person in the country but he knows how to feed his sheeps (aka voters)
DeleteMost of the political class in the region are either fools, corruput or corrupt fools. Thats a common theme of unity 🤩
DeleteIs there a list with planes numbers per base?
DeleteHe was saying about Wzz Hungary. Romania, Italy and UK are different AOC. In WZZ Hungary Budapest and Warsaw are bigger so Skopje could be third.
DeleteHe was talking rubbish mate
Delete@10:19
DeleteBUD - 19
OTP - 18
LTN - 15
WAW - 15
FCO - 15
MXP - 10
TIA - 10
CLJ - 8
SOF - 8
KTW - 7
SKP - 7
GDN - 6
KRK - 5
IAS - 5
LCA - 5
KUT - 5
RMO - 5
BEG - 4
CTA - 4
LGW - 4
VAR - 3
Other bases 3/2/1 or TBC
Good 👍 thank you 😊 🙏
Delete@10:33
DeleteTIA is up to 15 aircraft this summer. Not sure where you got 10 from but that number has long been surpassed. Also don't know if the numbers for the other bases are also outdated.
@13:56 i did it from memory so definatly its changed a bit for the larger bases.
DeleteIts definatly wonderful for Macedonia's connectivity. But how can it be the third largest base? What about Budapest, Bucharest, Luton, Warsaw? They are all far larger.
ReplyDeleteIrrespective its great to have this degree of connectivity.
It's not true. PR
DeleteMinister just saying nonsense.
DeleteSofia has 8 aircraft based. Maybe he means in the 'hood' after Sofia and Tirana.
DeleteSofia and Tirana are really in the Balkans. Bucharest is not balkan capital, CLJ, TSR also.
DeleteHahah and?
DeleteWell, there is clearly some truth to what he says. Only Tirana and Sofia are in the Balkans. Bucharest is not in the Balkans. Anything north of the Danube is not part of the Balkans (in terms of physical geography), though from a socio-economic perspective, it is.
DeleteTalk about nonsense politics and straw clutching. Anyway its good for the city and country. Comparisons are so very boring.
DeleteYes but the minister said anywhere in the network, not the Balkans.
DeleteExactly. Political 'imagination'
DeleteMaybe it is 3rd by share of traffic in the airport? 62% is a lot.
DeleteWell its just the politician being a fool. You say 63% is alot? Well Stansted airport has Ryanair at 83% market share. Its not 'risky' for wizzair to have such a huge share, rather demonstrates a good working relationship between airport and an airline.
DeleteI was expecting they might announce something more yesterday beside the announcement for the 7th plane, which is already flying for 10 days now. No new launches for now, and this year has been kind a slow of new routes announcements, beside the wizz increase, we lost the connectivity with Frankfurt and easyJet Paris Route. Furthermore, with the upcoming cuts by Lot and Croatia airlines, the legacy airlines are shrinking...
ReplyDeleteBut if passengers can reach more destinations within Europe direct that is overall very positive.
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteLignja just being lignja. Clueless about aviation since day one
ReplyDeleteCongrats and letts hope it will be become a year round soon. For now its only during summer peak.
ReplyDeleteIf they really close BEG base big chances are they stationed one airplane at SKP base from the winter
DeleteHow do you know that?
Delete"Andras Szabo, Wizz Air’s Network Officer East, recently told EX-YU Aviation News, "Macedonia is really close to our heart. This is a market we highly appreciate"
ReplyDeleteAs a Macedonian, as much as I like reading this, sorry, but no corporate world works on emotions.
Indeed. But as the old saying goes..lets get it while we can.
DeleteIt does not, but corporate heads very often say such things. He simply followed what he was told in management school. Customer very often buys the emotion that a certain product invokes in him. Macedonians have a limited choice when flying somewhere, but if they really must fly Wizz Air out of necessity, they might as well love it. If Macedonia is close to Wizz Air's heart, then they will feel it as a national airline, which it practically is. The minister was right about that, if not with the rest of his statement.
DeleteExactly. I agree
Delete"Commenting further on Wizz Air’s presence in Skopje, Minister Nikoloski noted, "This is now Wizz Air's third-largest base anywhere in its network, and I hope that in the near future Skopje Airport will climb to second place in terms of the number of based aircraft."
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with this guy?
a lot ...
DeleteNothing specially wrong. Just a politician. Have you checked ANY politicians statements for accuracy? How does Trump score?
DeleteSeven aircraft is an impressive milestone. Whatever people think of Wizz, it has completely transformed air travel in Macedonia.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey have plans to build a hangar in Skopje and maintain those aicrafts there. They really have strong future plans for Skopje base.
DeleteBuild a hangar? Does Wizz Air have a maintenance division?
DeleteCalling Wizz Air the country's "national carrier" is controversial, but there is some truth to it. No airline comes close in terms of connectivity from Skopje.
ReplyDeleteIts not controversial in the slightest...why would it be?
DeleteGreat news but I'd rather see more legacy carriers entering the market as well. Too much dependence on one airline is risky.
ReplyDeleteNonsense. Having an airline investing vast sums (lets face it no domestic airline could afford 7 A321s) is a win for the country. The number of legacy airlines refects the size of the market and if (and i hope they do not) wizzair reduce their presence than other airlines will move in.
DeleteI find this statement very odd. Wizz, like any other complany, do take care about the profit rather then sentiments. Once incentives gone, 'the national carrier' will leave Skopje in no time.
ReplyDeleteLol dude you stil have that desperate wet dream?
DeleteIncentives for each new unserved route has "gone" after 3 years ... now think about it again
Let's wait 3 years and see what 'the national carrier' will do.
DeleteA route is subsidied only for 3 years... 90% of their routes are not subsidied..
DeleteRight. Pefrect reason to call it 'national airlines'.
Deletewith the success of their LJU & PRG routes hey should use the momentum and launch more east european routes
ReplyDeleteUuuuu, dont call Prague and Ljubljana eastern europe. You'll awaken the geography police.
Delete:))
Deletejokes aside Poland low cost flights should be in the making
DeleteI agree there is scope for that. Polish tourists enjoy the southern Balkans alot.
Delete@Anonymous 15:06
DeleteRussia,Ukraine,Belarus, Poland,Finland,Moldova,Estonia,
Latvia,Lithuania,Romania, Bulgaria, are East Europe, geographically. Czech Republic and Slovenia are Central Europe. No police of any kind needed to determine geographical facts which you, for reasons known only to you, want to change
Thought they would have more than 62% market share with 7 based aircrafts
ReplyDeleteIt is capacity share
Deleteeven that thought to be bigger
Deleteseems like an off-the-cuff remark by the Macedonian minister. Although it is interesting that the general manager of TAV Airports Macedonia has a more official tone
ReplyDeletefrom what I have seen he can be ranked as the coolest ExYU-airport manager
DeleteThe Turkish dude?
DeleteGreat addition for Macedonia, happy to see W6 is growing there alot, is this 7th aircraft will be present only for the summer or it will be year round at SKP??
ReplyDeleteSummer
Delete