Slovenia awards Lufthansa most aid, easyJet disqualified
Lufthansa will receive the largest share of subsidies for maintaining flights to Slovenia, the country’s Ministry for Economic Development and Technology has announced, while easyJet has been disqualified from the aid program. As previously reported, nine carriers applied for the incentives including Lufthansa, Air Serbia, Montenegro Airlines, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Swiss, easyJet, Wizz Air and LOT Polish Airlines. Under the original tender requirements, carriers should have operated at least two flights per week to the country between March 30, 2020 and September 30, 2020 to have been eligible for the assistance, however, the government has seemingly changed the rules, now saying that subsidies apply to both airlines which have either operated flights within the set timeframe or will run services during the summer of 2021.
Lufthansa will receive 371.040 euros, followed by Air France with 176.160 euros, Turkish Airlines with 148.530 euros, Air Serbia with 98.130 euros, Wizz Air with 80.340 euros, Montenegro Airlines with 45,450 euros, LOT Polish Airlines with 43.620 euros and Swiss International Air Lines, which will receive 22.050 euros even though it did not operate a single scheduled passenger flight to Slovenia since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry for Economic Development and Technology noted it was seeking additional information from both Swiss and Wizz Air and that the aid could be revoked from the pair if they do not receive a satisfactory response. It gave no explanation as to why easyJet did not meet the tender requirements.
Overall, the Slovenian government disbursed 985.320 euros in subsidies for the airlines, even though a total of 1.5 million was originally allocated. The government plans another two rounds of subsidy tenders. Under the original timeframe and requirements airlines which are maintaining services between October 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021 must apply for the aid by June 10, 2021, while carriers that will serve Slovenia between June 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 must submit their applications by October 11, 2021. Although the government initially said it had allocated another 3.5 million euros in funds for those flying from October onwards, the figure has now been reduced to just one million euros. An airline can receive a maximum of thirty euros per passenger flown.
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