Skopje International Airport (, ), also known as Skopje Airport (), and Petrovec Airport () and is the larger and busier of the two international airports in North Macedonia, with the other being the St. Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid, which is located southwest from the national capital Skopje. The airport was previously named Skopje Alexander the Great Airport (). History Early years The airport was built in 1928. The first commercial flights in Skopje were introduced in 1929 when the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced a route linking the city with the capital, Belgrade. A year later, the route was extended to Thessaloniki and further to Athens in 1933. In 1935, Aeroput linked Skopje with Bitola and Niš, and also operated a longer international route linking Vienna and Thessaloniki through Zagreb, Belgrade and Skopje. After the Second World War, Aeroput was replaced by JAT Yugoslav Airlines, which linked Skopje to a number of domestic and international destinations until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Development since the 2000s In December 2006, the conservative VMRO-DPMNE-led government of the Republic of Macedonia renamed the airport after Alexander the Great, sparking further controversy in the ongoing diplomatic feud with Greece. Both countries consider Alexander the Great as part of their respective heritages, demonstrated by the fact that the regional airport of Kavala in Greek Macedonia is also named after Alexander. However, the airport in Kavala was the first to be named as such since 1992. In 2008, the Macedonian Government signed a contract with the Turkish company Tepe Akfen Ventures (TAV) for a twenty-year-long concession, during which this company would manage Macedonia's two existing airports, the Skopje Airport and the St. Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid. In September 2011, the new terminal building, extension of the runway, new administrative building, cargo building and new access road with parking facilities were opened. In February 2018, Alexander the Great was dropped from the airport's name in a move to improve relations with Greece, with the airport being officially renamed Skopje International Airport. A few months before, Aegean Airlines announced future flights between Athens and Skopje, the first flights to Greece for several years, another example of improved relations between the two countries following the Prespa agreement. Airlines and destinations The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Skopje: Cargo Statistics Traffic development The number of passengers has