On March 22, 2020, the Lider portal published the news assuring that a “mysterious” aircraft had arrived at the Skopje airport bringing some kind of shipment and had left the airport after half an hour. The text says that the shipments brought by this aircraft do not say what they brought and where they came from, and the question arises how at the time when the Skopje airport is closed due to the coronavirus, aircrafts from other countries are still landing.
The portal also posted a photo of the plane coming from England and Austria.
Two days after the post made by the portal Lider, on 24.03.2020, the portal makedonskivesnik.mk published a post by Professor Tanja Karakamisheva, asking “what did your “friends” bring you?”
The fact is that on March 19, 2020, a cargo plane landed at the Skopje airport, which is not prohibited, as the Government’s decision only restricted the airport to passengers, not to shipments of medicines, food and other products that are needed for the lives of the citizens.
In a response given to F2N2, TAV Macedonia said that the airport is closed only for passenger flights. Quoting the decision of the Government of North Macedonia dated 16.03.2020 they remind us that there are a number of exempt cargo flights for medical, military and other purposes.
TAV Macedonia’s response to F2N2
“According to the Government’s Decision, Skopje International Airport is closed for passenger flights. Therefore, for any information relating to exempt types of flights, such as: cargo, state, military, medical, sanitary and humanitarian flights, please contact the competent national authorities.”
Although many European countries have closed airports and borders, the website flightradar which shows live air traffic around the world, it is noticeable that there is a great deal of traffic throughout Europe, unlike North Macedonia, where only one aircraft can be seen.
The attached photo was taken on March 26, 2020, at 4 pm.
The following link provides an analysis of almost all the countries in the world that have decided to close passenger airports but have remained open for cargo planes and you will find that North Macedonia is not an exception.
Here you can find an analysis of almost all countries in the world that have decided to close airports for passengers, but it’s open for cargo planes, and you can see that North Macedonia is no exception.
