The airport in Skopje is an "extremely important" route for Ljubljana that needs to be renewed, representatives of the Ljubljana airport authorities say to the specialized air traffic site "Exuaviation".

The site points out that Skopje and Ljubljana are the two busiest non-connected airports in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, which were left without a direct airline after the collapse of the Slovenian airline "Adria Airways".

According to "Exuaviation", from January to the end of September 2019, when "Adria Airways" ceased operations, 40.293 passengers flew on the route Skopje - Ljubljana and vice versa. In 2018, 44.828 passengers flew on this route in both directions.

After the collapse of "Adria Airways", the Serbian "Air Serbia" became the main airline for transporting passengers between Skopje and Ljubljana.

"Exuaviation" states that the low-budget company "Wizer" considered launching a line from Skopje to the airport in Maribor, as an alternative to the Slovenian capital, but requested up to one million euros in subsidies and incentives to maintain services between the two cities.

On the other hand, the site states, "Air Serbia" is negotiating with the Macedonian authorities for the introduction of seasonal summer airlines between Belgrade and Ohrid from next year, which will serve to connect the two cities, but also as a transfer line for the network of longer routes the Serbian airline.

The Serbian airline initially launched seasonal flights between Belgrade and Ohrid three times a week in 2016, after a three-year hiatus.

In 2017, the number of flights was increased to four per week, but by 2018 the airline was discontinued due to pressure on Air Serbia to reduce costs and rationalize its air network.

- At that time, the airline to maintain its line to Ohrid, primarily relied on transfer passengers with special prices for the Macedonian diaspora in Australia, many of whom come from the Ohrid region. However, the suspension of "Air Serbia" flights to Abu Dhabi in 2017, which served as a transfer from Australia, significantly affected the decrease in turnover on the Ohrid line, "Exuaviation" states.

The site also indicates that "Croatia Airlines" negotiated with the airport operator "TAV Macedonia" for the potential expansion of its flights to and from the country.

- If there is interest from Macedonian tour operators and partners, we are ready to expand our cooperation to other routes besides Zagreb - Skopje, such as perhaps Ohrid - Split, "Croatia Airlines" told "Exuaviajshn".

On the other hand, "TAV Macedonia" emphasized that the air connectivity between the country and Croatia is at an unsatisfactory level and new airlines would be a big step forward in improving the current situation.

- We think that flights between Ohrid and Split would be of interest to tourists, so that they could visit both countries within a few days in one move, "TAV Macedonia" added to "Exuaviation".