Skopje Airport anticipates US/Canada flights
The Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency has announced that two airlines, one from the United States and the other from Canada, are interested in launching transatlantic flights to Skopje. According to the Agency, the names of the two airlines cannot be revealed at this moment, although more information should be available from September when Macedonia and Canada sign a bilateral air agreement. The two countries are set to sign the agreement in early September. Macedonia and the United States have already signed an Open Skies Agreement, which came into effect last Friday. The Open Skies Agreement allows unrestricted access by the airlines of each side to fly to, from and beyond the other’s territory, without restriction on how often carriers fly, the kind of aircraft they use and the prices they charge.
Dejan Mojsovski, the head of the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency says, “Two companies have shown interest and they are not classic low budget airlines but offer a mixed product. Their initial interest is a good indicator for us”. Macedonia plans to promote Skopje Airport’s potential for transatlantic flights at the ICAO General Assembly meeting in Montreal in October. Furthermore, the operator of Skopje Airport, TAV, as well as the Macedonian government will carry out a feasibility study on the potential of transatlantic flights to the Macedonian capital. Pristina was the last city in the former Yugoslavia to have direct flights to the United States, back in 2006.
Meanwhile, Macedonia’s two international airports continue to record strong passenger figures. In June, the two handled a combined total of 107.178 passengers, making it their busiest month so far this year. Compared to June of 2012, Skopje and Ohrid recorded growth of 22%. In the first half of the year, the two airports welcomed 472.536 travellers through their doors, up 17%. Tour operator, Air Prishtina, has announced it is organising flights from Skopje to Berlin to be operated by Germania. The service will launch on December 20 and is set to run until the start of the 2014 summer season. Further flight details are available here.
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