Skopje Airport

Major improvements since the opening of the new terminal. Access to the airport is easier off the new freeway interchange and the car park has plenty of bays available. The terminal is spacious with the check-in counters and ticket offices conveniently placed. Check-in ran smoothly as did immigration and security. Burger King and a couple of cafes in the departure area as well as decent duty free outlets. Plenty of rest rooms VIP lounge and seating at each gate. The queue at the departure gate was a little disorganised and time consuming however the new aerobridges make the walk to the aircraft a whole lot easier. Looking forward to my next trip there.

The completely rebuilt airport was opened in 2011. I have flown there twice since and am impressed with the new building! Large departure/arrivals waiting area a nice cafe/restaurant with food and beverages (well priced) a couple of shops and an enormous parking lot. They just built a brand new interchange for the highway as well (located right on the main highway). They just opened a new City Bus route that travels to the Airport from the centre of Skopje and also the city bus and train station downtown. In the gate area there is a "Beer Garden" cafe a Burger King and two Duty Free Shops nicely equipped with a large Macedonian Wine section. The building is clean and staff are efficient. It's a pleasure flying to and from this new airport!

Skopje airport seems to be smaller than some big railway stations. A handful of counters half a dozen gates. Accessibility by car is great - the parking lot is face to face to the terminal. Shopping and catering is limited but handling passengers and baggage is quite efficient. Hardly surprising so it is a really small airport with just a small number of flights to handle. Immigration can be somewhat weird - please do not chat loudly to your travel companion while standing in the queue for the counter! Entering or leaving Macedonia is a serious official procedure which dignity should not be disturbed by chatting travellers. - Important: do not rely on taxi drivers' hotel recommendations! You will get a nasty overpriced hotel room while your driver gets a nice commission from the hotel owner.

I flew twice from SKP to ZRH with the Swiss carrier "Helvetic Airways" this year. Unfortunately the bus-connection from city-centre is - optimistically said - "developable" so you'd better take a taxi. Fix the price with the driver in advance! The airport is small only with basic facilities so the check-in is quite fast and without problems. Baggage control is ok though not really well organized as well as the passport-control anyway: it works. The waiting lounge has a nice view to the planes (if there are some...) a really small duty-free with bored female sales-agents and a bar where you can drink a coffee for a reasonable price compared to other airports. SKP is unspectacular and unproblematic. Go for it!