Macedonia: the black hole in Europe's airline routes

Macedonians hope to one day become members of the European Union but as things stand they do not have enough affordable flights to its member states or to some other Balkan destinations.

The former Yugoslav republic lacks a national air carrier and its 2.1 million population is too small a market to lure international airlines, which have also been discouraged by the high fees charged by the country's two commercial airports.

Air travel from Macedonia's capital Skopje to many Euro...