TAV: SKOPJE AND OHRID AIRPORTS RECORDED 2.4 MILLION PASSENGERS IN THE 9 MONTHS OF 2023

TAV Macedonia, a subsidiary of TAV Airports, a member of ADP Groupe reports a strong increase in the number of passengers for the period January – September 2023, when a total of 2,4 million (2,357,712) passengers traveled through Skopje International Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, which is an annual increase of 30% compared to 2022.

Compared to 2019, which is considered a referent year in aviation, as it was the strongest year in terms of passenger traffic before COVID-19, both airports recorded 15% more passengers in the period January – September 2023. 
In terms of the number of flights for this same period, there is a 19%, or 5%, annual increase compared to 2022 and 2019, respectively, or a total of 17,683 flights have been handled at Skopje and Ohrid airports. 
“We as TAV, are truly happy to note 30% increase in the passenger number figures for Skopje and Ohrid airports compared to 2022 statistics. We are especially glad that in only 9 months of 2023 with 2,4 million (2,357,712) passengers, we almost reached the number of passengers served in the entire 2022. This represents a continuation of the positive recovery trend, and what makes us especially proud is that the air traffic statistics for both Macedonian airports not only exceed the referent 2019 by 15%, but also exceed *ACI’s forecasts for the 2023 global passenger volume, which is 94.2% of the 2019 level. We expect that by the end of this year, the input with the new routes launched and the new airlines that started operations on the Macedonian market, coupled with the excellence in our services provided by our committed and customer-oriented colleagues, will conclude 2023 as a year of new record breaks.” – stated Nejat Kurt, TAV Macedonia General Manager.
In 2023, so far, two new air carriers entered the Macedonian aviation market, Lufthansa and Norwegian, with regular or seasonal flights to Frankfurt and Oslo, respectively. 
Meanwhile, from Skopje Airport, SunExpress announced that its charter flights to Izmir and Antalya will continue to operate as regular flights as of the upcoming winter season, and Wizz Air launched its regular flights to Ljubljana. Additionally, AEGEAN launched non-stop flights to Sarajevo, which started flying on 2nd October 2023.   
Ohrid Airport witnessed a busy summer season boosted by the seasonal and charter flights to Belgrade, by Air Serbia, and to Manchester and London (Gatwick), by TUI.
The most frequent destinations from Skopje International Airport according to TAV Macedonia passenger traffic statistics, for the period January – September in 2023, were Istanbul (both airports, IGA and Sabiha Gokcen with 10.8% market share), Basel Mulhouse (6.1%), Zurich (5.5%), Vienna (4.7%), Dortmund (4.5%), followed by Frankfurt (4.2%), Munich Memmingen (4.1%), Antalya (4%), Malmo (2.6%) and Cologne (2.6%). 
The top 5 countries with direct flights for January – September 2023 were Germany (27.3% market share); Turkey (16.9%); Switzerland (13.4%); Sweden (6.7%) and Italy (6.5%).  
Regarding airlines’ share in passenger traffic for the first nine months of 2023 at Skopje Airport, Wizz Air transported the largest number of passengers (60.2% market share), followed by Turkish Airlines (7.4%), Pegasus Airlines (6.1%), Austrian Airlines (4.7%), Chair Airlines (3.7%).  
The most frequent travel destination for the 3 quarters of 2023, January – September, from Ohrid Airport, was Basel (21.5% market share), followed by Vienna (21%), Dortmund (16.4%), Memmingen (11.9%), Malmo (9.4%), Zurich (9.3%), Amsterdam (8.8%), and the other destinations have 0.5%.  
Currently, according to the flight schedule, there are 14 airlines operating from Skopje International Airport flying to 41 destinations, whereas, at Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, 2 airlines operate to 6 destinations.