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The government is trying to make up for 30 lost years in relations with northern Macedonia, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told his ministers yesterday. PHOTO: Yordan Simeonov
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However, there is no request for the line that
should work up to 60 days
Two airlines are interested in a regular flight Sofia – Skopje, but in principle. At the moment, there are no requests for flights between the two capitals, despite the assurance of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov that they will start within 60 days.
For the time being, GullivAir points to media reports as the operator of the line to Skopje. However, its owner Yanko Ivanov explained to “24 Chasa” newspaper that at this stage they do not intend to perform such flights.
As early as January 7, the Ministry of Transport and Communications announced after a meeting with representatives of our airlines that it will assist as soon as possible in opening an airline between Sofia and Skopje in case of interest from the airline to operate the flights. From a legal point of view, there is no obstacle to starting air transport of passengers on the basis of a multilateral agreement between the European Community and its Member States from 2006, to which Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia are parties.
The representatives of the airlines stressed that the future of the airline also depends on the development of economic relations between the two countries.
When an interest with specific parameters is expressed, the Bulgarian Aviation Administration will start talks with its Macedonian counterparts to clarify the details, the press release said two weeks ago. But at the moment there is no airline that has submitted documents.
In fact, the civil aviation administration will only have to issue a permit to fly, which takes an hour, experts said. This is done on the basis of a received slot (take-off and landing time) from Skopje Airport.
The regular flights Sofia – Skopje were launched by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov during his meeting with Dimitar Kovachevski in Skopje. He then said that regular flights would be launched in two months.
Former Minister of Transport of the Triple Coalition Petar Mutafchiev recalled that such a line existed from 2007 to 2009, but was terminated by the carrier. Then there were direct flights to Croatia and Belgrade, in a period of time there was a line Sofia – Skopje – Zagreb.
On Thursday, after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said the ministers had discussed very carefully all the projects they wanted to happen, along with their counterparts in northern Macedonia.
“It’s time to make up for the 30 years we lost.” Each of the ministers made proposals for joint work and projects, and when the next meeting took place, it should not be just political talk, but there should be real results.
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