On Saturday at 05:48, for the first time in 13 years, a scheduled flight (G2 311 operated by GullivAir with an ATR72-600 registered LZ-DAH) landed in the northern Macedonian capital Skopje (SKP) from the Bulgarian capital Sofia (SOF).
The re-established short route (the flight time is about 30 minutes) is a step in an attempt to build trust between neighbouring countries, which have long had a strained relationship.
Bulgaria does not recognise a separate Macedonian ethnicity and language but considers the language to be a Bulgarian dialect.
The dispute has led the country to veto Northern Macedonia to begin talks on EU membership, despite the fact that the country meets all requirements and the European Commission has for several years considered the country ready.
Northern Macedonia recently resolved a similar conflict with neighbouring Greece, thereby lifting its veto on EU and NATO membership applications by changing its name from Macedonia.
