Skopje, 14 August 2026 (MIA) -- Passenger traffic at the Skopje and Ohrid Airports has reached the highest level ever recorded, with more than 2 million passengers in the first six months of 2026 and a rise of 32% this year over last year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski told reporters after his working visit to the national air navigation service provider M-NAV earlier Friday.

According to Nikoloski, this was due to the government's new policies of attracting and subsidizing direct flights.

"There have been 28 new destinations from our two airports in the past year and a half," the transport minister said, adding that the introduction of the new flights meant "serious air traffic growth." 

"There was great growth last year, and this year there is historic growth," he said. "The two airports together have had 32% growth in the first six months of this year."

"In absolute numbers, we reached 3 million passengers last year, and we have had over 2 million passengers this year so far, which means we may reach 4 million passengers by year-end," Nikoloski said.

"If this doesn't happen in 2026, then we are sure to reach 4 million passengers in 2027, and that's a huge number considering our country's total population is 1.8 million," he said.

According to the transport minister, the Skopje and Ohrid airports are breaking records.

"In July, the Skopje airport saw 101 air operations, landings and take-offs, in a single day," Nikoloski said. "There were 21 at the Ohrid airport. This is an absolute record, never seen before." 

The transport minister also recalled that the Skopje airport was the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air's third largest European base, with seven aircraft stationed in the country's capital city. He announced that one aircraft would be stationed at Ohrid airport, too, and new flights would be added this winter. mr/

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