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.

German low budget carrier Eurowings, a part of Lufthansa group, will operate flights linking Macedonia's capital with Germany's Munich starting from October 31, local media reported on Friday. It will be the first operation for Eurowings from Alexander the Great Airport in Skopje.

The company will operate on the Skopje-Munich route twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, with an 174-seat Airbus A320-200.

Eurowings, which is headquartered in Duesseldorf, flies to more than 140 destinations in over 40 countries in Europe. In southeastern Europe it operates flights to Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

Low­-cost airline "Wizz Air" will introduce flights from Skopje to Malta, Rome and Vaxjo (Sweden) on July 14-16, in parallel with adding one more aircraft to the Skopje airport fleet.

Wizz Air also marks the 3­-million mark in the number of passengers from and to Macedonia with a 20-­percent discount on Tuesday's bookings for flights from Skopje to any of 27 destinations.

"Addition of the fourth aircraft to the Skopje base, the three new destinations and the increased frequency on existing flights means more jobs in Macedonia and Wizz Air, but also our business partners. This will also provide an incentive to the tourism and hospitality industries and enhance business relations in Macedonia", said Owain Jones, Wizz Air Chief Corporate Officer, at today's promotion.

Minister of Transport and Communications Vlado Misajlovski stressed the government is continually implementing successful policies in the airline sector, which yield concrete results. "Since 2012, the government's financial support has resulted in the introduction of 28 flights to European cities, transporting more than half of the passengers using Macedonian airports. I expect the number of increase following the launch of the three new destinations", said Misajlovski. Alper Ersoy, general manager of airports' concessionaire TAV Macedonia, expects huge interest for the new flights. "These three destinations, along with the already announced flight to Budapest launching on April 2, are truly attractive at the market. This is a result of our continual marketing­-studies and activities", added Ersoy. Wizz Air operates 29 flights to 13 countries from the Skopje and Ohrid airports.

Qatar Airways has officially confirmed that the Skopje-Doha flight will be launched on 17 July, said Minister of Transport and Communications Vlado Misajlovski on Monday.

“The airline has informed us it will start procedures over obtaining flight permits, whereas the first Skopje-Doha flight will be introduced on 17 July. This global airline will offer new possibilities for Macedonian citizens and direct flights to the Middle East”, said Misajlovski at today’s press conference.

He added that air traffic in Macedonia has achieved progress in recent years, both in number of passengers and new destinations.

“We completed 2016 with a record number of 1,8 million passengers at the Skopje and Ohrid airports. Today, we have over 30 destinations, 25 of which operated by low-cost airlines. We remain on the same course of attracting new airlines that will offer fresh destinations at accessible ticket prices”, said Misajlovski.

TAV Macedonia is in talks with German low­-cost airline "Eurowings" over the introduction of Skopje­-Munich and Skopje­-Dusseldorf flights.

Eurowings representatives have met with the TAV Macedonia management, as well as with government institutions and travel agencies in Macedonia.

Eurowings, headquartered in Dusseldorf, is a fully owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group.

It operates more than 140 destinations in over 40 European countries.

TAV Macedonia, concessionaire of the Skopje and Ohrid airports, says the number of passengers has increased by 15 percent to nearly 1,8 million in 2016, accompanied by a 8.9­ percent rise in the number of flights.