Macedonia's two international airports handled 1.041.383 passengers during the first half of 2018, representing a notable 21% increase year-on-year. Low cost carrier Wizz Air extended its dominance on the market and now accounts for 63.3% of all passengers travelling to and from the country. It welcomed 659.195 passengers on its Macedonia services during the six-month period. It was followed by Turkish Airlines in a distant second place with a 8.1% passenger share, then Austrian Airlines with 5.1% of the market, Germania Flug with 4.6%, Edelweiss Air with a 3.8% share, Croatia Airlines with 32.282 travellers or a 3.1% share, and Pegasus Airlines with a 3% traveller share. Jointly, Macedonia's two airports exceeded the average European passenger growth rate which stood at 6.1%.

Busiest airlines in Macedonia - H1 2018

Istanbul remains the most popular destination from Macedonia (if both Ataturk as Sabiha Gokcen airports are counted) with some 11% of all passengers travelling between the two cities. It is followed by Zurich with an 8.5% market share, then Basel at 5.8%, Vienna at 5.1%, Malmo at 4.6% and Bratislava at 3.5%. The Slovak capital, which is served by Wizz Air from Skopje, has been the city's fastest growing route so far this year with passenger numbers doubling. For comparisons sake, the busiest routes in and out of Skopje Airport for the whole of 2017 can be viewed in the table below.

Commenting on the results, the General Manager of TAV Macedonia, which manages the country's two international airports, Alper Ersoy, said, "These positive trends in air traffic growth, confirm the great potential of the Macedonian aviation market. We will continue to make every effort to develop both Skopje and Ohrid airports, by attracting new airlines and expanding our route network, in cooperation with all relevant state institutions". Jointly, Skopje and Ohrid airports registered 9.033 aircraft movements during the January - June period, which is up 18% on the same period in 2017. The Macedonian Ministry for Transport and Communications recently issued a public call for the submission of applications in order to grant financial support for the launch of new routes from both Skopje and Ohrid. Under the plan the winning airline must introduce at least two new routes from the two cities each by the end of the year. The deadline for the submission of bids has been set for July 28.

Busiest routes out of Skopje Airport - 2017