Ohrid's St. Paul the Apostle Becomes Second Fastest-growing Airport in Europe

Freitag, Mai 13, 2016

Ohrid's airport "St.Paul the Apostle" is the second fastest-growing airport in Europe in 2016 first quarter, in the category of less than five million passengers per year, TAV Macedonia said on Friday.

In its latest report, Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) says the Ohrid airport has registered a 173.9% increase in passenger traffic in the first three months of 2016.

"This increase is owed to the new destinations introduced from the Ohrid airport to Basel, Zurich and London. We expect the increase to resume for the entire year, taking into consideration the charter ­flights for the coming summer season, as well as the pending flight to Belgrade, and the charters to Tel Aviv and Brussels", said TAV Macedonia director Zoran Krstevski.

Only Belgium's Liege registered a larger increase in passenger traffic in the category (275.4%), while Ohrid is followed by airports in Ostende (Belgium), Santorini (Greece) and Oradea (Romania).

The ACI Europe report includes 206 airports that operate 88 percent of the European airline passenger traffic.

"Europe's airports have delivered an excellent performance in terms of passenger traffic over the first quarter of 2016. While the additional day in February and during Easter events in March helped, the magnitude of the traffic increase at many airports has defied economic gravity. To some extent, it has also flown in the face of an increasingly adverse geopolitical and security environment. As long as these risks remain in check and with oil set to remain affordable, we remain positive about the traffic outlook for the rest of the year. The fact that airports are now keenly focused on improving their competitive positions and are fighting to attract new traffic also plays an important – and often overlooked – role in maintaining the growth momentum", said ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec.

TAV Macedonia ended 2015 with a 22-­percent growth at the Skopje and Ohrid airports, reaching 1.560,381 passengers.

This trend is expected to continue in 2016, taking into account the 28- percent rise in the number of passengers in the January-­April period.