Croatia adopts new PSO routes
The Croatian government has adopted a decision to offer twelve Public Service Obligation (PSO) flight contracts for a period of four years, which will come into effect on October 25, 2020 and run until October 26, 2024. PSOs make European funds available for unprofitable, primarily domestic routes which are vital for the economic development of the region they serve. The previous four-year contracts expired on March 28, with the Croatian government late in launching tendering procedures for the new round of subsidies. As a result, Osijek Airport has been left without most of its domestic services this summer season. The new PSO contracts will see the addition of two new routes. The exact terms and condition will be outlined upon the launch of the Europe-wide tender, which is expected to run for several months. The previous contracts were held by Croatia Airlines and Trade Air. The latter has discontinued its domestic services as they are no longer being funded.
The routes which will be compensated and maintained as PSO are: Dubrovnik - Zagreb – Dubrovnik, Split - Zagreb – Split, Zagreb - Zadar - Pula - Zadar – Zagreb, Zagreb - Brač – Zagreb, Osijek - Dubrovnik – Osijek, Osijek - Split – Osijek, Osijek - Zagreb – Osijek, Rijeka - Split - Dubrovnik - Split – Rijeka, Osijek - Pula - Split - Pula – Osijek, Rijeka - Zadar – Rijeka and Osijek - Zadar - Osijek. Compared to the previous four-year period, new additions include flights from Osijek and Rijeka to Zadar. However, funding for services between Osijek and Rijeka have been dropped.
The value of the new PSO contracts has not been disclosed. Under the previous deal, Croatia Airlines received 11.4 million euros in annual compensation for the domestic services. The largest amount, 4.2 million euros per year, went towards maintaining flights between Split and Zagreb, where the airline was remunerated some 22 euros per passenger carried, although the largest compensation per traveller was on the Zagreb – Pula - Zadar service, totalling 177 euros. The value of Trade Air's PSO contracts amounted to 2.5 million euros per year. The largest share of the subsidies went towards the upkeep of the Osijek - Zagreb service (1.3 million euros per year), where the airline was compensated approximately 599 euros per passenger.
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