Slovenia allocates €7 million to improve airline connectivity
The European Commission has approved the Slovenian government’s plan to allocate seven million euros in incentives to airlines serving the country in a bid to continue supporting the recovery of tourism and, more broadly, the economy of Slovenia, which have been negatively affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Under the scheme, the support will take the form of direct grants. The measure will be open to all interested airlines operating flights to and from Slovenia. The level of support per beneficiary will depend on the number of passengers carried and the number of flights performed. The Commission found that the Slovenian scheme is in line with the conditions set out in the EU’s Temporary Framework on state aid, introduced two years ago to help with the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The state aid will not be able to exceed 2.5 million euros per airline and will have to be granted by June 30, 2022 at the latest. The block’s executive branch noted, “The Commission concluded that the measure is necessary, appropriate and proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a member state”. The Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, said, “The purpose of the tender is to maintain the existing schedule operated by international airlines, to encourage the resumption of suspended flights due to the consequences of the pandemic, and to encourage new airlines to fly to Slovenia. Lacking a national carrier, Slovenia is currently experiencing a very slow recovery”.
Slovenia had previously allocated just over three million euros to airlines through 2020 and 2021 in order to mitigate and remedy the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation industry in the country. Jointly, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and Brussels Airlines pocketed just over 1.6 million euros, or some 45% of the total funds. The German carrier was awarded the most aid, followed by Turkish Airlines, Air France, Air Serbia, LOT Polish Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss, Wizz Air and Air Montenegro. Questions remain as to how Swiss was granted 22.050 euros in the first of three rounds of the subsidy allocations as it did not meet some of the criteria. On the other hand, easyJet, which was Slovenia’s busiest airline prior to the pandemic, received no funds and was disqualified from the first round of the subsidy allocation for undisclosed reasons.
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