ACI NAMES OHRID AIRPORT AMONG THE TOP 3 WITH THE HIGHEST GROWTH IN EUROPE

ACI NAMES OHRID AIRPORT AMONG THE TOP 3 WITH THE HIGHEST GROWTH IN EUROPE

14 May 2019

Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, that is operated by TAV Macedonia, has been named among the top 3 airports in Europe that achieved highest growth in the first quarter of 2019, in ACI’s group of airports under 5 million passengers per year.

According to Airports Council International (ACI), Ohrid Airport has had a 63.9 percent increase in passenger traffic in Q1 2019 and 96,9% increase in passengers traffic in March 2019, compared to March 2018. In the category of less than 5 million passengers per year, only the Italian Taranto Airport (+152.2%) and the Georgian Kutaisi (+101%) had a stronger growth in the first quarter of 2019, than the second airport on North Macedonia.

- This recognition by ACI Europe is a confirmation of our continuous efforts to bring a steady increase in air traffic at both airports operate by TAV Macedonia. At Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport we marked an incredible passenger’s growth of 64%, due to the three new routes opened in the last 6 months – Vienna in November 2018, Malmo and Milan - in March 2019. With the additional four new destinations that will be opened as of this summer – Memmingen, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, we expect to maintain the high passenger’s increase rate at Ohrid Airport, reaching new records, stated Alper Ersoy, TAV Macedonia General Manager.

Compared to the average growth of passenger traffic at Europe’s airports (+4.4%), the increase at Ohrid Airport is bigger than 60%. With a growth rate of 5,6% in the first quarter of 2019, Skopje International Airport also had a larger average in Q1 2019 than the one across Europe.

Just recently, Switzerland’s leading leisure travel airline Edelweiss launched a new direct route from Ohrid to Zurich. Additionally, 'St. Paul the Apostle Airport' has 5 regular routes year-round, Vienna, Basel, Zurich, Malmo and Milan, and 8 seasonal destinations to: Amsterdam, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Katowice, Istanbul, Eindhoven and Tallinn, operated by 11 airlines. 

- We finished the first 4 months of 2019 with almost seven hundred thousand passengers at Skopje International Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport and 10% increase on the annual level. Skopje Airport marked the expected passenger growth rate of 7% for the period January-April, that we expect to be higher in the second and the third quarter of the year, due to the opening of the 4 new destinations, Baden-Baden and Bremen, launched in March, and Larnaca and Turku, that’ll be opened in July 2019. TAV Macedonia, together with all aviation related Governmental bodies, will continue to work on the route network development at both airports. At the same time, customer satisfaction will remain as one of our top priorities, focusing on improvement and innovation of services for airlines and passengers, says Ersoy.

In the first four months of 2019 a total of 694.227 passengers traveled through both airports – Skopje International Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, which is 10% increase compared to the same period of 2018.

Skopje International Airport is connecting travelers to a total of 42 regular destinations, operated by 13 airlines. Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport at the moment has 11 airlines that operate on 5 regular and 8 seasonal destinations.

TAV Macedonia finished 2018 with a total of 2,3 million passengers at both airports, which  is 16% annual increase, and 19.750 flights, with 9% annual increase.