Bulgaria, North Macedonia re-establish direct flight after 13 years

Bulgaria, North Macedonia re-establish direct flight after 13 years

Sofia, Feb 13, (dpa/GNA) – Bulgaria and North Macedonia re-established a flight connection on Friday, with the intention of advancing ties between the two Balkan countries.

A first plane of the Bulgarian airline GullivAir, flew from Sofia to Skopje on Friday with the transport ministers of both countries and representatives of the Bulgarian tourism industry on board, Bulgarian media reported.

After an interruption of about 13 years, a regular direct route between the capitals of the two neighbouring countries is to operate again from March.

This will avoid the need to change flights in Vienna, for example.

A direct flight that was available between late 2007 and 2009 was not economically viable due to the low number of passengers.

The distance between Sofia and Skopje can be covered in about four hours by car.

The new governments of both countries want to expand their cooperation, for example in the areas of trade and infrastructure.

North Macedonia’s goal is for Bulgaria to end its blockade of its EU accession talks.

Bulgaria has been preventing the start of EU talks with its neighbour since the end of 2020 because of political and cultural differences with Skopje.

GNA