Skopje International Airport ( mk, Меѓународен аеродром Скопје, translit=Megjunaroden aerodrom Skopje, ), also known as Skopje Airport ( mk, Аеродром Скопје, translit=Aerodrom Skopje), and Petrovec Airport ( mk, Аеродром Петровец, translit=Aerodrom Petrovec) and is the larger and busier of the two
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
s in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
, with the other being the
St. Paul the Apostle Airport in
Ohrid, which is located southwest
from the national capital
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
. The airport was previously named Skopje Alexander the Great Airport ( mk, Аеродром „Александар Велики“ Скопје, translit=Aerodrom "Aleksandar Veliki" Skopje).
History
Early years
The airport was built in 1928. The first commercial flights in Skopje were introduced in 1929 when the Yugoslav carrier
Aeroput introduced a route linking the city with the capital,
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
.
[Drustvo za Vazdusni Saobracaj A D – Aeroput (1927-1948)](_blank)
at europeanairlines.no A year later, the route was extended to
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
and further to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in 1933.
In 1935, Aeroput linked Skopje with
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
and
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...
, and also operated a longer international route linking
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
through
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
, Belgrade and Skopje.
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Aeroput was replaced by
JAT Yugoslav Airlines, which linked Skopje to a number of domestic and international destinations until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Development since the 2000s
In December 2006, the conservative
VMRO-DPMNE
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ( mk, Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за ...
-led government of the Republic of Macedonia renamed the airport after
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
, sparking further controversy in the ongoing
diplomatic feud with
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. Both countries consider Alexander the Great as part of their respective heritages, demonstrated by the fact that the regional
airport of Kavala in
Greek Macedonia is also named after Alexander. However, the airport in Kavala was the first to be named as such since 1992.
In 2008, the
Macedonian Government signed a contract with the Turkish company Tepe Akfen Ventures (TAV) for a twenty-year-long concession, during which this company would manage Macedonia's two existing airports, the Skopje Airport and the
St. Paul the Apostle Airport in
Ohrid.
In September 2011, the new terminal building, extension of the runway, new administrative building, cargo building and new access road with parking facilities were opened.
In February 2018, ''Alexander the Great'' was dropped from the airport's name in a move to improve relations with Greece, with the airport being officially renamed Skopje International Airport. A few months before,
Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines S.A. ( el, Αερογραμμές Αιγαίου Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία ''Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía'', ) is the flag carrier airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carri ...
announced future flights between Athens and Skopje,
the first flights to Greece for several years, another example of improved relations between the two countries following the
Prespa agreement.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Skopje:
Cargo
Statistics
![SkopjeTerminalAirport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/SkopjeTerminalAirport.JPG)
Traffic development
The number of passengers has increased since 1990, from 312,492 passengers in that year, to 2,158,258 passengers in 2018, but this was not a steady increase. In 2000 the airport handled 1,005,852 passengers, but in 2001 the number of passengers dropped to 499,789. This was influenced in part by a number of airlines replacing services to Skopje with services to nearby. In 2014 Skopje airport handled 1,208,359 passengers, surpassing one million for the first time since 2000.
Most frequent routes
Largest airlines (2022)
Largest country markets (2022)
Ground transportation
Taxis to Skopje are available. There is also a bus service linking the airport and the city with several stops.
Incidents and accidents
*On 24 July 1992, an
Antonov 12BK of
Volga-Dnepr Airlines crashed at the mountainous
Lisec village near
Tetovo
Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...
, on approach to Skopje Airport, after the crew strayed off course while trying to circumnavigate a thunderstorm, because the
DME at Skopje Airport was inoperative. All 8 occupants died and the plane was written off.
*On 5 March 1993,
Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301
Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled international passenger flight to Switzerland's Zurich-Kloten Airport from Skopje International Airport, Skopje, which crashed shortly after takeoff on March 5, 1993. The Fokker 100 was opera ...
, a
Fokker 100 bound for
Zurich, crashed seconds after takeoff from runway 34. Investigation into the accident determined the cause of the accident to be the failure of the flight crew to have the aircraft
deiced before departure. Of the 97 people on board, 83 died.
*On 12 January 2008, a
Mil Mi-17
The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...
of the
Macedonian Air Force
The North Macedonia Air Brigade ( mk, Воздухопловен ВИНГ) is the air warfare and air defense force of the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia.
History
The development of the Macedonian Air Brigade began in 1992.
The UTVA- ...
, from
Mostar
Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina.
Mostar is sit ...
en route to Skopje Airport, crashed on a hill near Katlanovsko Blato in dense fog and burned out. All 11 occupants died and the helicopter was written off.
*On 13 February 2009, Austrian Airlines Flight OS780,
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400
The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...
scheduled flight from Skopje to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, failed to retract landing gear after take-off and performed an emergency landing on Skopje Airport.
*On 14 November 2011, a private flight
Socata TBM700N (TBM850), from
Maastricht Aachen Airport to Skopje, hit several treetops and approach light while landing and missed the extended asphalt of the runway and touched down on grass. All five occupants escaped unharmed. The plane received substantial damage and was sent to
Daher-Socata at
Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport for repairs.
*On 11 February 2012, Czech Airlines Flight 848, a
Boeing 737-55S scheduled flight from
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to Skopje, made an emergency landing at Skopje, because of reported smoke that came out of the aircraft. Airport firefighters and ambulance were alarmed. The plane had a minor damage and all passengers escaped uninjured.
*On 6 September 2016, a private
Piper PA-34-200T Seneca II crashed near Vetersko,
Veles while landing in Skopje, killing all 6 on board. The aircraft was written off.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skopje International Airport
Airports in North Macedonia
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
Petrovec Municipality