Wizz Air introduces 3 new routes from Skopje airport

The inaugural flight from Skopje to Malta took place Friday as TAV Macedonia is marking the introduction of three new routes, namely Malta, Rome and Vaxjo, as well as its decision to invest in the deployment of its fourth aircraft at the Skopje base.

The modern 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft will conduct operations on the new routes from Skopje to Malta, Rome and Vaxjo.

“Wizz Air, Macedonia’s number one airline, keeps growing and providing more opportunities to our customers to travel in Europe and beyond on the lowest fares. Our fourth aircraft at Skopje Airport will create a number of additional local jobs with WIZZ and the new destinations added to the network mean an even greater choice for WIZZ passengers of 27 popular routes to 13 countries operating from Skopje,” Sorina Ratz, Communications Manager at Wizz Air said at a news conference.

The new aircraft allocated to WIZZ’s Skopje base is bringing the total investment by Wizz Air in Macedonia to over $396 million and a local staff of 139 employees, according to the Hungarian low-cost airline.

“I would like to express our appreciation for the decision of Wizz Air to base its 4th aircraft at Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, which is an important decision since the investment is huge and it shows that Macedonian aviation is still developing and stable. With basing 4th aircraft the airline will add three more new destinations – Vaxjo (Sweden), Malta and Rome, and increase the frequencies of some of the existing routes. TAV Macedonia will continue to work on opening new routes and expanding the frequencies of the existing ones, for which we closely cooperate with Ministry of Transport, and all competent governmental institutions, stated Alper Ersoy, TAV Macedonia General Manager.

Wizz Air’s massive expansion at its Skopje base brings an 17% increase to its total yearly capacity, including the increased frequencies on some of the most popular routes to: Eindhoven, Brussels Charleroi, Memmingen (Munich West), Copenhagen, Gothenburg Landvetter and Bratislava. At the same time, Wizz Air will provide a daily connection from Skopje to the popular destinations like Malmo and Mulhouse. The extended WIZZ low-fare network from Macedonia will further stimulate tourism and hospitality industries, while strengthening business relations between the countries, Wizz Air says in a press release.

Since the beginning of 2017, over half a million passengers traveled on WIZZ routes from Skopje, which is an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year and which supported over 375 jobs in associated industries in the area.

In the first six month of 2017, TAV Macedonia registered a 6% increase in the number of passengers compared to the same period last year, i.e. the two airports in Macedonia – Alexander the Great in Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle in Ohrid – handled a total of 860,130 passengers from January to July.