Strong start for Wizz Air’s Skopje base

Only month after opening its base at Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, Wizz Air is recording strong passenger figures. The no frills carrier welcomed 15.565 passengers on its six newly launched routes from the Macedonian capital in the past thirty days. Malmo has proved to be the most popular destination with 2.802 passengers using the service. It is followed by Dortmund with 2.665 passengers, then Eindhoven (2.643), Basel (2.633), Memmingen (2.427) and Bergamo (2.395). Wizz Air entered the Macedonian market last year with flights from Luton and Treviso. In return for opening its base in Skopje, the airline has been granted five million euros in subsidies by the Macedonian government over the next three years.Wizz Air plans to handle at least 120.000 passengers to and from Skopje by November 2013. In its second year of operations the number of passengers is projected to rise to 135.000 and a further increase of 20.000 passengers is expected to be seen by November 2015. As Wizz Air’s flights from Skopje are proving to be successful, a new expansion is tipped for the summer of 2013 with services to Brussels, Rome and Barcelona being considered.Skopje Airport has seen its passenger numbers surge this year, however, experienced a significant decline in the month of October. November and December figures are set to soar thanks to Wizz Air’s new flights. This year Flydubai and Jetarifly were new arrivals into Skopje with the latter operating seasonal flights. On the other hand, the airport lost Malév Hungarian Airlines due to bankruptcy and ČZA Czech Airlines.