Macedonia to restart direct flights to Greece after country’s name deal

Direct flights between Macedonia and Greece are set to resume after more than a decade. Amid a thaw in relations following a deal to rename the country “North Macedonia,” Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani plans to be on the first flight from Athens to Macedonia’s capital of Skopje on Thursday evening, AP reported. Osmani plans to be in Athens for talks with Greek officials, his office said on Wednesday. TAV Airports, which operates the Skopje airport, said Greece’s Aegean Airlines will carry out the twice-weekly flights. Skopje and Athens had a direct air link from 2003-2007. It was stopped after Macedonia’s previous conservative government named the Skopje airport after the ancient Greek warrior king Alexander the Great, angering Athens. Macedonia’s current left-wing government renamed the airport Skopje International Airport in February as a goodwill gesture. The agreement on Macedonia’s name change reached in June is in the ratification process.