Skopje, 22 January 2024 (MIA) - TAV Macedonia, the operator of two Macedonian airports – Skopje International Airport and St Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid – has noted a 33% increase in passenger traffic in 2023 compared to the previous year, and an 18-percent rise in comparison to the reference year in aviation, 2019.

Both airports ended 2023 with a significant recovery of air traffic passengers, servicing nearly 3.15 million passengers, or a total of 3,149,274 passengers, and 23,949 flights, TAV said in a press release.

It adds that the total number of passengers is a significant milestone for the two Macedonian airports, for two reasons - surpassing the 2019 peak of almost 2.7 million passengers, and surpassing 3 million passengers for the first time on record.

Airport operator officials are satisfied as Macedonian airports exceeded the ACI's European airport passenger traffic forecasts for 2023 by almost 23%, compared to 2019. They are certain that the positive trend will continue and exceed the forecasted +1.4% for 2024, especially considering the strong demand for air transport and the quality of services offered at both airports.

The most frequent destinations at the Skopje airport in 2023 were Istanbul (both airports IGA and Sabiha Gokcen with 10.9% market share), Basel Mulhouse (6.4%), Zurich (5.4%), Frankfurt (4.7%), Dortmund (4.5%), Vienna (4.4%), Munich Memmingen (4.3%), Antalya (3.2%), Hamburg and Cologne (2.7% each).

The top 5 countries with direct flights for 2023 were Germany (28.3% market share), Turkey (16.1%), Switzerland (13.4%), Sweden (6.5%), and Italy (6.4%).

Regarding airlines’ share in passenger traffic in 2023 at Skopje Airport, Wizz Air transported the largest number of passengers in 2023 (61.8% market share), followed by Turkish Airlines (7%), Pegasus Airlines (6.2%), Austrian Airlines (4.4%), Chair Airlines (3.7%). 

The most frequent travel destinations at the Ohrid Airport were Basel (21.5% market share), Vienna (21%), Dortmund (16.4%), Memmingen (11.9%), Malmo (9.4%), Zurich (9.3%), Amsterdam (8.8%), and other destinations with 0.5% market share. ssh/ik/

Photo: TAV airports