The government of Macedonia has confirmed approaching Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Atatürk) over the possibility of it starting intercontinental services out of Skopje.
A statement said Minister of Transport and Communications Vlado Misajlovski held a working visit to Istanbul this week where he met with Bilal Eksi, the general manager of Turkish Airlines, as well as the management of TAV, the management firm responsible for running Skopje Alexander the Great Airport.
During the meeting, Misajlovski pitched the possibility of Turkish Airlines starting regular flights to the United States and Canada.
"Considering that Turkish Airlines is one of the leading air operators in the world, we believe that there is a chance for the first time ever to introduce such an intercontinental route that would cover the needs of many Macedonian citizens living abroad," he said. "It would greatly increase the number of passengers going through Alexander the Great airport and would help turn it into a regional centre."
The ch-aviation capacity module shows that at present, Hungarian LCC Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) is Skopje's most prominent operator offering 11,160 seats per week (52.44%) to the market. Turkish Airlines is second offering 2,296 seats per week to Istanbul Atatürk while Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna) is third with 1,890 seats/week (8.88%).
