Legacy carriers operating at Skopje Airport are preparing for Lufthansa’s arrival on the market, with the German carrier to launch ten weekly rotations to the Macedonian capital in less than month, along with plans for further growth. Wizz Air dominates in Skopje, making competition between the legacy carriers more pronounced. Turkish Airlines is by far the largest among them. According to data provided by the European Statistical Office, it handled 158.955 passengers between Istanbul and Skopje in 2022. Despite its hub being east of the Macedonian capital, Turkish Airlines sees notable transfer traffic on the route to Western Europe, the United States and Canada, which are being targeted by Lufthansa as well.

Commenting on Lufthansa’s upcoming arrival in Skopje, the General Manager of Skopje Airport operator TAV Macedonia, Metin Batak, said, “We are very happy over Lufthansa’s decision to enter the Macedonian market, by launching flights between Frankfurt and Skopje. This means that as of April, Skopje will be connected to Frankfurt, which is Lufthansa’s main hub and one of Europe’s most important transfer airports. Additionally, the high frequency of scheduled flights, seven days per week with double daily flights on select days, gives great flexibility for our passengers traveling to Germany and those connecting within Europe and North America. This new connection is especially important for passengers traveling for business purposes and it will give new options for air cargo transport to Germany, as the main trade partner of North Macedonia”. The German national carrier noted, “Lufthansa is offering Skopje for the first time from April 23 and will connect the capital of Northern Macedonia up to two twice a day. The flights are scheduled to be attractive for both business travellers and tourists. Lufthansa is strengthening its position in Eastern Europe by adding Skopje".

Notably, the majority of legacy carriers serving Skopje are either part of the Lufthansa Group or Star A
lliance, including Turkish Airlines, Austrian, Croatia Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines. Among the national carriers in the former Yugoslavia – Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia – the former maintains its dominance on the Macedonian market. The Croatian carrier sees a notable number of transfer traffic on the route. Its Star Alliance membership also provides benefits for passengers connecting through Zagreb onto Germany for long haul flights. It is the Star Alliance membership that also saw a number of travellers migrate from Adria to Croatia Airlines following the Slovenian carrier’s collapse in late 2019. Frankfurt is its number one Skopje transfer destination followed by the likes of Brussels, Amsterdam and Munich. On the other hand, the likes of New York, Ljubljana, Zurich and Amsterdam are among Air Serbia's top Skopje transfer destinations.