Busy November for Skopje as Darwin Airline heads to Priština

Skopje Alexander the Great Airport handled 62.371 passengers in November, an increase of 11% compared to last year’s 56.180. A total of 60.873 passengers were registered on scheduled flights, compared to 50.089 in November 2011 or an increase of 21.5%. The strong results were achieved due in part to Wizz Air, which opened a base in the Macedonian capital in late October. In November, the no frills carrier welcomed 15.565 passengers on its six newly launched routes from Skopje.The strong passenger growth comes on the back of a lacklustre October when numbers plummeted by 9%. With strong growth and the prospect of a further Wizz Air expansion next year, Skopje Alexander the Great Airport is likely to come close to handling one million passengers by the end of 2013, the first time in thirteen years. The airport welcomed a record 1.000.200 passengers in 2000. However, this impressive figure had more to do with the political turmoil in the region rather than natural growth. In 2011, Skopje welcomed 759.928 passengers through its doors, its best result since 2000.Meanwhile, the Swiss based Darwin Airline has announced it will be launching flights from Zurich and Geneva to Priština from December 14. Flights from Zurich will operate on a daily basis while services from Geneva will run twice per week. A Belle Air Airbus A319 will be used for the abovementioned flights. The airline will also launch services from Zurich and Geneva to Niš Constantine the Great Airport next week. Originally, flights were to be inaugurated tomorrow, however, the service launch has now been moved to December 22. The airline will operate services from Zurich and Geneva to Niš on its fifty seat Saab 2000 aircraft until January 20.