Skopje struggles to surpasslast year’s growth

In the month of September the total number of passengers transported at Macedonia’s main hub, Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, stood at 59.457 passengers, which is an increase of 2.8% in comparison with same month of last year. From the beginning of the year to the end of September the airport has seen an increase of 6.7% in passenger numbers. It is still questionable if Skopje Airport will manage to surpass its last year’s growth of 15.5% by the end of the year. At the moment it is highly unlikely as flights to 3 destinations – Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamburg will be ceased as of October 26 by the national airline MAT. Total number of aircraft operations in September stood at 1159. Commercial aviation (scheduled, charter and cargo flights) had increased by 2.3% compared to last year and for now the airport authorities do not expect a fall in the number of operations.

The most frequent lines travelled by passengers from Skopje are Vienna and Zurich, with the biggest increase in passenger numbers to Ljubljana, Istanbul, Budapest and Zagreb and the greatest decrease compared to last year on flights to Zurich, Belgrade and German destinations Dusseldorf and Hamburg/Berlin. On direct charter flights to tourist destinations in Turkey, Egypt, Spain, Tunisia and Sicily in the period from June to September, 29.112 passengers were transported or 62.1% passengers more than last year, and represents 10.2% of total passengers numbers.

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MAT Macedonian Airlines winter 2008/09Farewelling three destinations

On October 25, 2008 MAT Macedonian Airlines, the national airline of Macedonia will begin with its winter schedule. As usual for this time of the year MAT will be decreasing its regular frequencies. This winter it will operate flights using 3 aircraft (2 newly leased Boeing B737-500 aircraft and a CRJ-900).

From Skopje MAT will be ending its flights to Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamburg. Flight IN451 was operated once a week to Amsterdam while flight IN320 to Berlin was operated twice a week. Flights to Hamburg were also operated twice a week. Despite this, MAT will continue flights to Germany by continuing services to Dusseldorf which will operate twice a week using a B737-500. Services to Istanbul which were operated 6 times a week will now be operated twice a week using the CRJ-900. Flights to Rome will continue to be operated twice a week using the airline’s both aircraft types. Flights to Vienna will continue operating 5 times a week with a daily code share flight serviced by Austrian Airlines. There will be 11 weekly flights to Zurich with another 2 flights operated in a code share by Helvetic.

From Ohrid the Sunday flight to Vienna will continue to run via Skopje. Flights to Zurich will be maintained once a week while the flight to Amsterdam which was operated via Skopje ends as mentioned above. Currently in the preliminary schedule there is no news of new destinations.

Any related updates will be posted. Any question our readers might have regarding the new schedule can be posted by using the “comments” option or contacting us using our e-mail address. Soon Adria Airways’ 2008/09 winter schedule will be published on the blog.

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Good results for Macedonian airports in August as MAT gets warning

The two international airports in Macedonia, Skopje and Ohrid, which were recently taken under the management of the Turkish company TAB have reported good passenger results for August 2008. With a total of 84.180 passengers transported, August had the most frequencies this year according to the number of passengers, from which 52.000 (62%) were on departure. Compared to the same period last year, the number of passengers increased by 5% and for the period from January to August a total of 7.2%. On destinations with scheduled lines, in the period between January and August, the most frequent were Vienna and Zurich, while the biggest increase in the number of passengers compared to last year was seen on lines towards Ljubljana, Istanbul, Budapest and Zagreb.

Meanwhile Macedonian Airports (the handling and operational company of Skopje and Ohrid airport) will stop providing services to the national carrier MAT until that company fulfils its current obligations towards Macedonian Airports. MAT currently owes the company a total of 42.028.109 Macedonian denars (MKD) which is approximately 682.700 Euros. Several judicial proceedings against MAT are currently in progress. MAT has in the past been in trouble for not satisfying agreements with Jat Airways (dispute with Boeing 737 lease) and Embraer (dispute with new aircraft delivered which was later seized by Embraer).

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Jat Airways: We will improve 3 star ranking

Serbian media have responded to the website airlinequality.com which ranks airlines from 1 to 5 stars depending on levels of service and other factors influencing the airlines operations. Although the rankings have been available for more than 4 years, as a Serbian tabloid discovered the website, which is well known amongst aviation fans (website), other more distinguished newspapers picked up the story.

Jat commented on the rankings saying it has motivated them to improve services. The Serbian national airline joins airlines such as SAS, Canadian Airlines, and Iberia and also EX-YU airlines Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways in the 3 star ranking. Jat Airways released a statement saying that “the airline feels proud of its ranking having in mind the extreme difficulties it had faced in the past 17 years. Because of the rankings we will particularly focus on improving customer service”. Jat’s rankings in detail can be seen here.

MAT Macedonian Airlines has received a 2 star rankings while B&H Airlines and Montenegro Airlines have not received rankings as yet. According to the website rankings are reviewed annually. For a full rankings review click here.

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MAT increases passenger figures in the first half of 2008

MAT, the national airline of Macedonia has increased passenger figures by 3% in the first half of 2008. Compared to the first half of 2007(when 91.314 passengers were carried), the airline carried 95.382 passengers this year, which translates into a gain of 3% over the same period last year. The average seat load factor (SLF) increased significantly to 73.5%, compared to 65% in the first half of 2007 (+8.5%), on 1281 flights which were operated.

MAT has recently increased its fleet with the addition of two Boeing 737-500 aircraft bringing their fleet number to 3 and allowing them to access new markets. Some of MAT’s plans include opening new lines to Germany and Northern Italy which could be in operation as early as October, as the winter season in the aviation industry begins.

Currently the 6 monthly EX-YU passenger figure leader board looks like this:
1. Croatia Airlines

2. Jat Airways
3. Adria Airways

4. Montenegro Airlines

5. MAT Macedonian Airlines

6. BH Airlines

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Skopje Airport reports positive half yearly results

During the month of July, Skopje Airport in Macedonia reported good results. Most credit has to go to charter flights, which compared with same month last year were increased by up to 52.8% in terms of aircraft movement and 51.7% in terms of the number of passenger. This, despite a ban by Greek air authorities on charter flights between the two countries due to a name dispute. In the period of July the total number of aircraft movement stood at 1.423 or 1.4 % more than the same month last year. Cumulatively for the period between January and July the total number of aircraft movements were increased by 4.1%. During the month of July 82.591 passengers were transported, bringing an increase of up to 4.9% compared to last year, while in the period January – July the number of passengers were increased up to 7.7%.

With tourist charter flights to Antalya, Bodrum, Izmir, Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Palma de Mallorca, Catania and Tunisia during June and July a total of 14.250 passengers were transported. Most of the tourist charter flights were operated by the national Macedonian carrier MAT as well Atlas Jet and Pegasus Airlines from Turkey and Jetran Air, Smart Wings and LTU Lufttransport from Germany. Furthermore frequencies increased between Skopje and Ljubljana, Budapest, Istanbul and Zagreb. Read more

MAT prepares to accept new aircraft

MAT Macedonian Airlines is preparing to welcome to its 2 member fleet a Boeing 737-500, the second such type in the airlines fleet. It follows only weeks after the delivery of the first B737-500 under the registration Z3-AAH (pictured above). The aircraft were produced in 1991 and were both first operated by the then national airline of Belgium, Sabena until its bankruptcy in 2001. The aircraft were then operated by South African airline Nationwide. The newest addition to the fleet has a 126 seat capacity divided in two cabin classes (business and economy) and 4 tons capacity for baggage and cargo. With this model and its seat capacity the aircraft will mainly operate on MAT’s traditional destinations such as Zurich, Rome and Dusseldorf. With the two new additions of Boeing aircraft, MAT is responding to the passenger and destination demand, planning to extend its operations to new ones in Germany and Northern Italy.

The livery is slightly modified to the old Boeing 737-300 fleet the airline use to operate until late last year. Like the Bombardier (the third member of the fleet) the engines have received a red colour and the MAT letters have been darkened.

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MAT adds new plane to fleet

The Macedonian national air carrier, MAT, has purchased a Boeing 737-500, which has already been registered in Macedonia under Z3-AAH.The aircraft embarked on its first commercial flight from its base in Skopje to Zurich, Switzerland. MAT received a loan to buy the 126 seat Boeing 737-500 aircraft with MAT and PK Aviation securing the down-payment for the loan. MAT representatives have said that the airline plans to buy another aircraft next month.

MAT owns one CRJ-900 and has one leased Boeing 737-500. In total there fleet, with the new aircraft, amounts to three. The average age of the airlines fleet is young - just below 7 years. MAT carries out operations to 8 destinations from its bases in Skopje and Ohrid however it operates no flights to any of the EX-YU republic except its own.

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New flights from Ohrid

Ohrid St.Paul the Apostole Airport, the second largest in Macedonia, has recently added Skywings as one of the airlines which operate to the airport. The airline commenced services recently between Ohrid and Dusseldorf, Germany. This charter flight will operate once a week, on Sunday, during the 2008 summer season. Six airlines now fly to Ohrid with two operating exclusively summer charters. These are, the airline mentioned above and Sun d'Or International Airlines operating charters to Tel Aviv. Compared to last year, Ohrid Airport this year does not have charters to Greece due to a ban imposed on Macedonian airlines to fly to Greece because of a name dispute as well as the absence of flights to Belgrade which were operated last year by Jat Airways. Read more

Good results for Skopje Airport

At Skopje Airport from January to June there were 6407 departures and arrivals, 4.8% more than the same period last year. At the beginning of summer timetable (which began March 30), the number of weekly frequencies with new scheduled destinations were increased by Adria Airways to Ljubljana (+3 compared to last year), Turkish Airline to Istanbul (+1), MAT to Rome and Vienna, and in May Croatia Airlines introduced a new line to Zagreb. There has been a decrease of weekly frequencies to Zurich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin (operated by MAT and Helvetic Airways).

Aircraft movements in commercial aviation increased by 0.5% compared to same period in 2007, and non commercial aviation (military flights, general aviation and others) increased up to 21.5% compared to last year. According traffic figures most frequent aircraft in use at Skopje’s airport is Canadair 900 and Airbus 320.

In the first six months 291.918 passengers were transported, an increase of up to 8.5% compared to last year. Compared to year before, there is a growth of passenger traffic on all destinations, excluding Zurich and Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin. The most frequent destination still remains Vienna and the most significant growth of traffic was registered to Ljubljana, Istanbul and Zagreb.

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Ohrid Airport celebrates 55 years

Ohrid Airport in Macedonia is celebrating 55 years since the first commercial flight landed at the airport in 1953. The special occasion will be marked with a range of promotional activities which will take place at the airport named Ohrid St. Paul Apostole (the name caused the ususal row with Greece). In memory of the first commercial flights, operated by a Jat Airways DC3 from Belgrade to Ohrid via Skopje (pictured above), the airport authorities are organising and aero meeting. The meeting is also being organised on behalf of the Macedonian Aviation Federation and will feature various air acrobatic exercises including paragliding. The last aero meeting was organised in Ohrid in 1983 when the city was the host of the Yugoslav acrobatic flying championships. Other promotional activities will include the publishing of a book outlining the airport’s history as well as a photo display which will be set up at the airport terminal featuring various airlines and aircraft which have flown and are flying to Ohrid.

Ironically Jat no longer operates flights to Ohrid. It dropped the, what once used to be a seasonal, destination from its network this summer. There are currently 3 scheduled airlines operating to the sea side town, with Adria Airways and MAT Macedonian from EX-YU.

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MAT – Greece crisis deepens

Greece's Ministry of Transport and Communications banned a few months ago the national airline of Macedonia to fly to destinations in Greece due to the name "Macedonian Airlines (MAT)". MAT’s request for obtaining permission to fly in June, July and August to Greek charter destinations was rejected by Greece. “Referring to you letter about tour charter flights in June, July and August 2008, we kindly inform you that we cannot grant permission to the airline under the name of MAT-Macedonian Airlines", reads the response sent by the Greek Transport Ministry. Subsequently, MAT appealed to the European Regions Airline Association, EU Ambassador Erwan Fouere, Air Traffic Committee and Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry and to the Civil Aviation Agency. Furthermore Macedonian President Crvenkovski, cancelled his participation at the Summit of Heads of States of Southeast Europe in Athens due to Greece’s decision to ban the landing of the Macedonian government as the name Macedonia was written on it. The summit is taking place tomorrow in Ahtens.

The economic implications of the MAT ban in Greece will be seen at the end of the year. There is no air traffic between the neighbouring Macedonia and Greece at the moment. A reminder to readers that Macedonian Airlines was created in 1992 as the charter subsidiary of the Greek national airline, Olympic Airways. The Olympic Airways management board decided to rename the charter subsidiary of the Group, Olympic AirTours in 1992 and the Macedonian Airlines brand name was created. The company had nothing to do with MAT Macedonian Airlines, which was founded two years later, in 1994. The Olympic subsidiary is now defunct.

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