Skopje hopes for US flights

New terminal under construction as Skopje anticipates traffic rise

After Zagreb and Belgrade, Skopje is hoping it too will have flights to and from the United States. Macedonia’s Civil Aviation Agency is finalising an open sky agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration in the US, which would enable direct flights between the two countries, the MIA news agency reports. Dejan Mojsoski, the CEO of the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency said, “The extension of the runway at Skopje’s Alexander the Great Airport will enable long haul intercontinental flights”. He adds that there is interest for flights between the United States and Macedonia. Work at Skopje Airport is ongoing with the construction of the new terminal in full swing. However, whether Skopje will be able to attract any US airline to operate flights remains questionable.

Currently, no airport in the EX-YU region has flights to the United States. However, this summer, both Belgrade and Zagreb are expected to be linked with a 1 weekly service to Chicago. Croatia already has a free sky agreement with the United States while Serbia is also negotiating with US authorities.

Meanwhile, the low cost Austrian airline Niki will commence 2 weekly flights from Vienna to Skopje this September. The airport's management believes Skopje could handle up to 900.000 passengers this year and is negotiating with other high profile companies to commence flights to the Macedonian capital.