Greece and Macedonia introduced the first direct airline route connecting the two countries since 2007, the Beta news agency reported on Thursday.

Greece’s Olympic Air introduced scheduled flights connecting Skopje and Athens twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the inaugural flight from Athens landing in Skopje on Thursday.

Among the passengers were Macedonia’s Deputy European Affairs Minister, Bujar Osmani, and Greek Deputy Foreign Minister, Jorgos Katrugalos.

The move is seen as the latest sign of thawing relations between the two neighbouring Balkan nations, after Macedonia’s social democrat cabinet led by Zoran Zaev changed the name of the Skopje Airport as part of negotiations with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras which resolved the 27-year-long dispute over the Macedonia’s name.

Athens and Skopje had maintained direct flights from 2003 to 2007 when a nationalist Macedonian government renamed the airport after Alexander the Great, angering Greece which saw it as a claim on its own cultural and historical heritage.

Macedonia and Greece agreed in June that the the country’s new official name would be Republic of North Macedonia, and despite nationalist opposition on both sides of the border, Macedonian Parliament approved the change.

The move had lifted Greece’s long-standing veto on Macedonia joining the European Union and NATO.

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