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).