Aegean to resume Athens - Skopje in November

Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines will launch flights between Athens and Skopje on November 1, resuming services between the two capital cities after more than a decade. Flights will run twice per week, each Tuesday and Thursday, and will be operated by its regional subsidiary Olympic Air, which will deploy its 48-seat ATR42 turboprop aircraft on the route. Skopje Airport's name posed as one of the main obstacles for Aegean to resume operations between the two capitals over the past few years. Formerly known as Alexander the Great, the airport was renamed in March. Skopje was Aegean's first scheduled international destination back in 2003, however, flights were discontinued in 2007 as relations between Macedonia and Greece deteriorated. The Greek carrier initially planned to resume its Skopje service this June, but delayed its return to the Macedonian capital until the "resolution of certain contentious issues".

Greece's Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs, Georgios Katrougalos, recently said, "We see these flights as a positive development, like every measure that promotes economic cooperation between our two countries". Skopje becomes the airline's seventh destination in the former Yugoslavia. It currently serves Belgrade and Zagreb on a year-round basis, and Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Podgorica during the summer. Furthermore, the carrier will introduce flights to Sarajevo on June 13, 2019. Tickets for the new Athens - Skopje service are available for purchase through the airline's website. Aegean’s passenger traffic will grow to over thirteen million this year from just 8.8 million in 2013 when it acquired state-run Olympic Airlines. The carrier expects to carry around fifteen million passengers a year by 2023.

Flights between Athens and Skopje will be operated by Olympic Air's ATR42

The Greek carrier has also outlined its plans for the former Yugoslav markets during the 2019 summer season, which begins on March 30 next year. Apart from the new Sarajevo service, Aegean will increase frequencies to Belgrade from three to five per week, Split from four to five per week and Zagreb from three to four per week during the high season, with the latter two to be maintained by Olympic Air's Dash 8 aircraft. Flights to Zadar, which were launched on a seasonal basis this summer, are currently unavailable for booking next year. The airline recently said, "Demand for these routes remain strong as passengers are able to travel to Athens and beyond. Our performance is satisfactory on this market, as is the cooperation we have with partner airlines in the region".

Aegean Airlines faces no direct competition on its Skopje service. Further flight details can be found here.