Skopje Airport in Macedonia has been stretched to the limit by Kosovan refugee flights
David Arminas/SKOPJE
In less than a decade, Skopje Airport has changed from military airstrip to international airport to NATO air-movement centre - and in the past three months it has been stretched to the limit. Since March, the airport, which serves Macedonia's capital, has handled more than three times its normal traffic of 30 flights a day.
Even the capitulation over Kosovo of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has not slowed the flow of military air traffic into and out of Skopje. NATO says that since the bombing ended, an average of 100 military aircraft a day have been using the airport - and that number is unlikely to change in the immediate future. As for the long term, it is anyone's guess.
"Since the bombing started in Serbia on 24 March, civilian traffic has been almost extinguished," says Jani Kardula, whose tenure as general director of the government-owned Macedonian Airport Authority (MAA) is about to end. "Of the foreign airlines, only Adria Airways has continued to operate, although Malev has recently restarted its operations. Civilian traffic is now only 35% of operations," he says.
The two domestic carriers, Aviompex Makedonija Airways and Macedonian Airlines, no longer serve many destinations. The airport has been used mostly by NATO cargo and troop aircraft, and for chartered humanitarian flights for refugees. At the height of the Kosovo crisis, there were 10-12 refugee flights a day, carrying a total of about 2,500 people. By 23 May, 400 humanitarian flights had taken out 60,800 refugees. While one aircraft was taxiing onto the runway for take-off, more busloads of refugees would pull up at the airport gate - a scene that was repeated all day, seven days a week.
Kardula says the charters did little to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the airport's finances. "The daily losses from reduced civilian traffic are around DM35,000 [$18,430], equalling about DM2 million over the past two months. NATO and humanitarian flights don't pay according to [airport authority] prices for handling aircraft," he says.
Until 1992, when Macedonia left the Yugoslav Federation, Skopje Airport was an air force-run military installation, with domestic Yugoslav feeder services to Belgrade for international connections. When the country became independent, the military left, taking with them the control tower's navigation aids and the airport's ground-handling equipment.
So it was "year zero" for the MAA when it took over the terminal and runway. Macedonia has no air force, so virtually all operations have been civilian, more than 70% by Aviompex (with 50%) and Macedonian Airlines (20%). Foreign carriers - in particular, Adria Airways, Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines, Croatian Airlines, JAT Yugoslav Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Swissair - took the other 30%.
The MAA operates the country's only two airports: Skopje, in the north, 25km (14nm) from the city and 60km from the Kosovo border; and Ochrid, in the south, near the tourist city of the same name. Skopje handles 90% of Macedonia's traffic. Although the Ochrid runway is 100m (330ft) longer, its lighting and navigation aids are less developed than those at Skopje.
Last year was good for Skopje Airport. In the financial year ending 31 December, passenger traffic was up by 15% on 1997's figure, to 503,600. Operations were up by 13%, to 10,320 movements, or 5,160 aircraft, and cargo was up by 8%, to 5,240t. The airport's 1997 profit of DM5 million rose to DM9 million last year.
Then the Kosovo conflict began and Skopje Airport has literally taken a daily pounding. Airport maintenance manager Dimitar Dzekov says Skopje has been receiving heavier aircraft than the runway was constructed to bear, causing extra wear. The 2,450m runway, at 780ft above sea level, was rebuilt in 1996, including new lighting and a full parallel apron. "The runway was meant to last 10-12 years," says Dzekov. "We are sure that, after five or six years, we will have to rebuild."
NATO and Russian aircraft landing at Skopje include the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules, Transall C160, Lockheed Martin C-141 StarLifter, Antonov An-26 and Ilyushin Il-76. The humanitarian charter flights are often Airbus 330s, Boeing 747-400s and McDonnell-Douglas DC-9s.
NATO troops usually unload their own aircraft. Other cargo aircraft may have a 2h wait because of a lack of personnel or equipment, or simply of parking space. "Capacity is nine slots for aircraft up to the [Airbus] A330, and [Boeing] 747-400s must take two slots," says Dzekov. The problem is compounded if there are 15 aircraft at the airport, because there are only three portable passenger stair sets.
Dzekov has written to all the NATO countries' embassies in Skopje asking for donations of equipment, including secondhand items. Needed are 4.1bar (60lb/in2) airstart units, 140Kva ground power units, high loaders and 5t forklifts. Only the German Government has responded, providing X-ray machines. Airport deputy director Branko Bojkovski says: "We rely on NATO forces for loading/unloading of 747s.We just don't have a 4.5m high loader - ours is 3.5m."
The airport has been operating round the clock with four shifts instead of the usual three, and holidays have been rationed for the airport's 400 staff. Bojkovski says that many senior managers put in 12h days, seven days a week.
This August, work is due to begin on an 8,000m2 (86,000ft2) extension of the terminal building, including a VIP lounge, almost doubling the floor area. This was planned before the Kosovo crisis.
Dzekov denies reports that the airport could not handle the steady flow of large groups of refugees. At the height of the crisis, scheduling posed greater difficulties than the number of refugees passing through, and Dzekov points out that refugees did not use the terminal building. An example of refugee flight scheduling problems was planning for, say, 14 such flights a day and receiving only 11, but being notified of the cancellations on the day they were due.
In the end, the main problem for the MAA is loss of money, because 75% of its income was from civilian handling, says Bojkovski. "We have just reached an agreement for NATO to pay 35% of our costs-and humanitarian agencies 50%. Our costs are competitive with those of other European airports - around 20-30% less expensive. Also, we have serious problems with payment from the humanitarian flights. At the moment, it seems we run from aircraft to aircraft asking them to pay for landing because these are from airlines with which we have no agreements for use of the airport - Condor, LOT, Lufthansa and others."
Bojkovski says that the MAA is keenly looking forward to the airport resuming normal operations and to the return of foreign airlines. "They are our lifeblood - we live from handling," he says.
Source: Flight International
