As the big facelift of the Alexander the Great airport in Skopje nears completion, its operator, Turkish TAV, has high hopes for the hub’s future.

The grand opening of Skopje's new passenger terminal is slated for September 8, Macedonian Independence Day.

At a cost of €110 million the new terminal will be ten times bigger than the existing building and will allow for long-awaited improvements to passenger travel.

The terminal will feature six air bridges, 23 check-in desks and 15 passport control counters, stretching over more than 40,000 square metres. TAV says that they have completed more than 80 per cent of the construction of the building.

Work has also been done on the runway, which is being lengthened from 2.5 to 3 kilometres to ease the landing of larger aircraft. A new cargo terminal and road access to the airport and parking area are also being constructed.

“My vision for the airport is to make it the regional hub,” TAV Macedonia's director, Murat Ornekol, told News 24 TV recently. The management hopes to increase the annual number of passengers from slightly over half a million today to 3.5 million a year.

 “In the past, many passengers headed to airports in neighbouring countries. Our goal is to attract those passengers back. And believe me the new terminal building has the capacity to accommodate this number,” Ornekol said.

Since TAV's entry, the airport has seen solid growth.  In the first half of 2011, the number of passengers increased by nearly 10 per cent. It has also welcomed new budget airlines like WizzAir, Air Berlin, XL Airways and soon the Turkish low budget carrier, Pegasus Airlines.

Turkish Airlines and other companies who already operate in Skopje are also expected to increase their number of flights.

TAV started construction work at the airport in mid-2010. The government chose the company to reconstruct and manage Macedonia's airports in 2008.
 
Last year TAV finished reconstruction of the country’s second civil airport in the tourist town of Ohrid. TAV recently boasted that in only one year they increased the number of passengers there by a staggering 60 per cent.
 
One thing that is bound to ruffle diplomatic feathers is the announced decision to place a 1.5-metre-high statue of the head of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great near the entrance to Skopje airport.

Both Greece and Macedonia consider Alexander part of their own national heritage. The erection of a giant 24-metre-high statue of Alexander in the heart of Skopje last month drew criticism from Athens. Greece said Macedonia was stealing its history.

TAV built and runs the Kemal Ataturk airport in Istanbul and also has a role in airports in Israel, Georgia, and Tunisia. The company is involved in airport construction in Egypt and Qatar as well.