Skopje Airport set for UEFA passenger boom

Skopje Alexander the Great Airport is expected to register strong passenger growth over the coming days as the Macedonian capital prepares to host the UEFA Super Cup Final. Airlines have scheduled additional flights and upgauged their equipment in order to cater for the growth in demand over the coming days. As a result of the football match taking place on August 8, travellers are being advised to arrive at the airport three to four hours prior to their flight. Some twenty additional services will operate next Monday and Tuesday, mostly charters, with Austrian, Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Turkish Airlines all upgrading equipment on their scheduled flights.

Spain's Iberia will deploy its 288-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft on one of two special flights from Madrid, in order to fly fans to the match between Real Madrid and Manchester United. Furthermore, two flights will operate from Manchester and one from Liverpool. Special charters will run from Ancona, Bratislava, Girona, London, Mali Lošinj, Nice and Vienna to Skopje for the UEFA Final. In addition, airlines operating scheduled services are recording strong demand for flights over the coming days. Wizz Air's service from London to the Macedonian capital on August 8 is almost sold out, with one-way tickets exceeding 200 pounds. Similarly, only a few seats are available on the carrier's flight from Barcelona, which arrives into Skopje on match day. One-way tickets on the route currently start at 300 euros.

Iberia to deploy A330-200 to Skopje

Turkish Airlines will boost capacity on its scheduled services from Istanbul on August 8, operating both its morning and evening flight to Skopje with its 188-seat Airbus A321 jet. The following day it will deploy its wide-body A330-300 aircraft on both flights. Air Serbia will upgrade equipment from the ATR turboprop to the Airbus A319 on both its early morning and afternoon service on August 8. Croatia Airlines will send its A319 to Skopje next Tuesday, while only one ticket is left for sale on its Monday evening flight from Zagreb, which is to be operated by a Bombardier Dash 8. Austrian has scheduled additional flights to Skopje, some of which will be maintained by Air Berlin. The carrier also intends to dispatch its 225-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft to the Macedonian capital.

EX-YU airlines also boosting capacity to Skopje

Alexander the Great Airport welcomed 802.621 travellers through its doors during the first half of the year, representing an improvement of 5.9% on 2016. The airport is believed to have registered strong growth in July, which is set to continue into August.