Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Skopje International Airport (LWSK) is North Macedonia's principal gateway, lying at Petrovec/Ilinden a short distance east of the capital. It offers a single long, hard-surfaced runway with ILS guidance on one approach direction, making it a straightforward destination for airliners and general aviation traffic alike under Skopje's control.
Skopje International Airport, historically also known as Petrovec Airport and for a period as Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, is the larger and busier of North Macedonia's two international aerodromes, the other being St Paul the Apostle Airport at Ohrid some 170 km to the southwest. It is operated under a long-term concession by TAV Airports and serves as an operating base for Wizz Air, handling a substantial mix of scheduled European and regional traffic. For a simulator pilot it presents a sizeable single-runway international field with full ILS support, set in the Vardar valley close to the Macedonian capital.
The airport sits at Ilinden, near the village of Petrovec, a short distance east of Skopje in North Macedonia. As the country's main international aerodrome it lies within controlled airspace served by its own approach and tower units, and is the primary point of entry for air traffic into the Skopje area.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 16/34, some 9,713 ft long with a hard surface and runway lighting. The runway 34 end is equipped with an ILS, while runway 16 is lit but without an instrument landing system.
Pilots should expect to work Skopje Approach on 120.3 MHz and Skopje Tower on 118.5 MHz, with airport information broadcast on the ATIS frequency 130.125 MHz. An ILS serves runway 34 for instrument approaches.
Aviation at Skopje dates back to 1912, when Serbian military aviators made the first flight and landing in the city during the Balkan War. Skopje passed to Bulgarian control during the First World War and a military aerodrome was established there, later serving British and French forces during the Vardar offensive of 1918. A proper airport was built in 1928 near the district now known as Aerodrom, and commercial services began in 1929 when the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput opened a route to Belgrade, later extended to Thessaloniki and Athens, and eventually to Bitola, Nis and a longer Vienna-Zagreb-Belgrade-Skopje-Thessaloniki route by 1935. During the Second World War a Bulgarian-built military airport near Aerodrom was destroyed by Allied bombing. The present airport was constructed after the war near Petrovec, and JAT Yugoslav Airlines operated from it linking Skopje domestically and internationally until Yugoslavia's dissolution in the early 1990s. In December 2006 the airport was renamed after Alexander the Great as part of a wider identity policy, a move that caused diplomatic friction with Greece; the name reverted to Skopje International Airport in February 2018 to help improve relations. In 2008 the Macedonian government granted a twenty-year concession to TAV Airports Holding to manage both Skopje and Ohrid airports, and in September 2011 a new terminal, an extended runway, a new administrative and cargo building, and improved access roads and parking were opened.
Skopje International Airport today functions as North Macedonia's principal international gateway, operated by TAV Airports and serving as a base for Wizz Air alongside scheduled services from carriers including Turkish Airlines, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Air Serbia, Aegean Airlines, easyJet, SunExpress and others, plus cargo operations including DHL Aviation. It is a large, actively managed international aerodrome, so pilots should anticipate the procedures and prior arrangements typical of such a field when planning a visit.