The first four months of the coronavirus crisis in Macedonia have caused serious damage to air traffic. Due to the decision on the 18th of March to close the two airports as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in North Macedonia, by the end of May half a million passengers are “lost”. The data provided by the State Statistical Bureau indicate that during April 2020 there were 1.853 passengers using air travel – and all of them were citizens that were brought back to North Macedonia by the Foreign Affairs Ministry through humanitarian flights.
In contrast to these numbers, during April last year, 213.261 passengers were registered at both airports in Skopje and Ohrid, while in May there were 219.141 passengers. In March 2019, there were 175.437 passengers while during the same month, but this year, there were 79.469 passengers. Taking into account this statistical data, it can be concluded that due to the coronavirus crisis, the air travel has so far lost around 520.000 passengers without counting the low numbers of passengers that will follow during the summer months.
