TAV MACEDONIA RECORDS 41% INCREASE IN PASSENGERS TRAFFIC FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2023

TAV Macedonia, the airport operator of both Macedonian airports, Skopje International Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, notes a 41% increase in passenger traffic in the first half of 2023, compared to 2022, while compared to the same period in 2019, the passenger traffic increase is 15%

TAV Macedonia reports a strong increase in the number of passengers for the period January – June 2023, when 1.338.406 passengers traveled through Skopje International Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, which is an annual increase of 41% compared to 2022.

Compared to 2019 that is considered as a referent year in aviation, as it was the strongest year in terms of passenger traffic before covid-crisis appeared, TAV Macedonia has 15% more passengers in the first half of this year.

In terms of the number of flights for this same period, again there is a 23% annual increase, or a total of 10.299 flights have been handled at both airports.

“With the summer season being at its peak, and with the traffic figures summarized for the first half of 2023, or for the period January – June, we as TAV are happy to note a strong positive recovery trend and increase in passenger number figures by 41% compared to last year. Not only that the positive trend of 2022 continues, but it is also exceeds 2019 level and *ACI’s European airport passenger traffic forecasts of -9% for 2023. We have 15% more passengers than 2019, that was the strongest year in terms of air traffic before covid-19. Such an increase in the number of passengers is evidence and a result of our dedication, commitment, results and customer-oriented work and organization management. We are glad to see that the surge in air travel continues in 2023, and with travelers’ confidence in air traffic being back, combined with our excellence in airport service quality, we expect that this year will be a year of reaching new milestones in air traffic figures for both Macedonian airports.” – stated Nejat Kurt, TAV Macedonia General Manager.

As TAV Macedonia officials explain, the new routes launched and the new airlines that entered the Macedonian aviation market during the past few months, besides the regular year-round and the traditional summer seasonal and charter flights, represent yet another additional input to the continuously increasing results (at Skopje Airport: Frankfurt by Lufthansa, Split by Croatia Airlines, Olso by Norwegian; at Ohrid Airport: charter flights from Manchester and Gatwick by TUI, and Belgrade by Air Serbia).  

The most frequent destinations from Skopje International Airport according to TAV Macedonia passenger traffic statistics, for the first half of 2023, January – June, were Istanbul (both airports, IGA and Sabiha Gokcen with 11,4% market share), Basel Mulhouse (6,7%), Zurich (5,9%), Dortmund (4,9%), Vienna (4,6%), followed by Munich Memmingen (4,3%), Frankfurt (3,5%), Malmo (2,9%) and Cologne (2,6%).

The top 5 countries with direct flights for January – June 2023 were Germany (27,9% market share); Switzerland (14,6%); Turkey (14,5%); Italy (7,4%) and Sweden (6,9%).  

Regarding airlines’ share in passenger traffic for the first six months of 2023 at Skopje Airport, Wizz Air transported the largest number of passengers (64,6% market share), followed by Turkish Airlines (6,6%), Pegasus Airlines (6,5%), Austrian Airlines (4,6%), Chair Airlines (4%). 

The most frequent travel destination for the first half of 2023, January – June, from Ohrid Airport, was Basel (23,7% market share), followed by Vienna (22,6%), Dortmund (17,9%), Memmingen (11,8%), Malmo (8,6%), Zurich (8,4%), Amsterdam (6,1%), and the other destinations have 0,2%. 

Currently and according to the summer flight schedule, there are 21 airlines operating from Skopje International Airport operating to 47 destinations, whereas, at Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, 6 airlines operate to 12 destinations.