TAV Macedonia: Runway rehabilitation of Skopje Airport starts on 28th March, it’ll be completed in 50 days without closing the airport and with minimal impact on air traffic

As TAV Macedonia has already announced in early November 2021, as part of the investment plan for expansion and renovation of Macedonian airports, starting from March 28^th until May 16^th this 2022, in a time period of 50 days, the company will rehabilitate the runway of Skopje International Airport.

For this purpose, the air traffic at Skopje International Airport, in this time period, will take place from 17h in the afternoon until 9h in the morning, each day.

Planned in consultation with all stakeholders, the rehabilitation works will be completed without closing the airport and with minimal impact on air traffic.

-“Rehabilitation of the runway means that we will practically renovate the upper layer of the asphalt of the runway and, as a result, during this period, between 9:00h and 17:00h, from March 28 until May 16, 2022, there will be construction works on the runway. Each day, in the noted hours and time period, we will rehabilitate one part of the total length of the runway, in order for the airport to remain operational, i.e. so we can normally handle flights during the remainder of the day, from 17:00 until 9:00h. I would like to emphasize the following - Skopje Airport will not be closed during the rehabilitation of the runway. The airport will be open for passengers 24/7, as it is always. As the whole time during covid pandemic, we advise passengers to arrive at the airport 3-4 hours prior the scheduled departure of their flight, prepared with the required covid related travel documentation, in consultation with their airline and the Embassy of the foreign country they are about to visit”, says TAV Macedonia General Manager, Metin Batak.

He explains that TAV Macedonia has made the decision for rehabilitation of the runway of Skopje Airport in consultation with all airlines that fly from Skopje Airport, as well as other stakeholders, such as the Ministry for Transport and Communications, the Civil Aviation Agency, M-NAV, as well as all service providers.

TAV’s aim is to complete the rehabilitation works with minimal impact on traffic.

As TAV Macedonia officials explain, when airports do these kinds of rehabilitations or renovations on the runway, there are two options – either to completely close the airport for flights, for a certain period of time, while the construction works are ongoing, either to follow a model in which the construction works will be happening every day, in a predefined time/hours of the day, while in the rest of the day the air traffic will function normally. We’ve chosen the second option, although it may be harder for us, but we wanted to maintain uninterrupted air traffic for our clients – airlines and passengers.

-“I would like to thank to airlines and all government institutions for their close collaboration for the planning and keeping the disruption at a minimum. We are continuously working together with them, in order to establish Skopje International Airport as the best airport in the region in terms of service quality and these investments contribute to the long-term development of the airport and the Macedonian air traffic”, emphasizes Batak.

Skopje Airport runway is long 2.950 meters and wide 45 meters. The last deeper renovation of Skopje Airport runway happened in 1996, when the construction works were done deeper in the asphalt than it will be done now, i.e. now only the upper surface will be rehabilitated. At that time, Skopje Airport was closed for 2,5 months, while the whole air traffic was transferred to Ohrid Airport.

TAV Macedonia advises passengers to regularly follow and check their airline’s web page, in order to see the latest updates on the flights schedule for their desired destination from Skopje International Airport in the period from 28^th March until 16^th May 2022.