There's good news too, and this time it comes from the air. According to an analysis by ACI Europe, Macedonia's two airports are among the fastest-growing aviation markets on the continent outside the EU. The airports in Skopje and Ohrid handled 1.58 million passengers in the first five months of 2026 - up 31.2 percent on the same period last year. The number of flights grew by 9.5 percent.

The figure is even more interesting in context. While several large EU markets - Germany, Britain, France - are recording declines, Macedonia is growing by over 30 percent, alongside Albania and Moldova. Spain and Italy lead within the EU, while the highest growth rates belong to Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia. Small and medium airports, it seems, are beating expectations exactly when the big hubs are vulnerable to geopolitical and economic pressures.

At TAV Macedonia, the airports' operator, general manager Nedžat Kurt said the results „position the country among the fastest-growing aviation markets in Europe.” They attribute the growth to continued infrastructure investment, improved services, marketing and government support.

The numbers are real and worth noting - 31 percent growth is not an everyday thing. Still, one question stays open for travellers: is the quality of service growing alongside the number of passengers, or just the number of people waiting in the same queues? Growth is good news; whether it will be felt at the terminal is decided by the very infrastructure investments everyone keeps talking about.