Skopje, 10 March 2022 (MIA) — Competing against ten other airports (Madeira, Krasnoyarsk, Menorca, Santiago, Sola, Tbilisi, Tallinn, Vaernes, Turin and Zagreb), Skopje International Airport has been awarded another ASQ Award by the Airports Council International for the best airport in its size and region (2 to 5 million passengers per year in Europe) and for having the best hygiene practices in Europe for 2021. “This is the seventh time we have received this wonderful news that Skopje International Airport was awarded by ACI for having the best airport services in its size and region, and the second time it was awarded for the best hygiene practices in the region,” TAV Macedonia general manager Metin Batak said in a press release. Batak said the awards reflected the outstanding efforts the airport staff had made during 2021 amid the global pandemic, and passengers recognized their hard work. According to TAV Macedonia in its release, airports worldwide have been adapting to the different needs of customers through various airport service quality surveys. “In 2021, with evolving health measures and new expectations of the airport experience, the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on passenger traffic,” the release adds. ACI head Luis Felipe de Oliveira, congratulating the Skopje International Airport for being awarded the Best Airport in its size and region and Best Hygiene Practices by Region for 2021, said this was a clear indication of prioritizing customers’ needs during a difficult year. "This achievement represents the commitment of Skopje International Airport to consistently provide an outstanding customer experience," De Oliveira said in a written statement. The ACI Airport Service Quality Initiative is the only global survey of passenger satisfaction done while passengers are at the airport. Carried out at nearly 400 airports worldwide, the ASQ survey provides an in-depth assessment of the quality of the customer service experience, the release says. In 2021, 111 awards were given to 88 airports worldwide. Award categories include Best Airport by Size (number of passengers per year) and Region, and Best Hygiene Practices by Region. In the first two months of 2022, TAV Macedonia has had a total of 215,227 passengers pass through the two airports it operates: Skopje International Airport and St. Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid. Although this is a higher number of passengers compared to the same time in 2022, compared to the number of passengers in January and February 2019, this is a drop of 29 percent, the release notes. mr/