Macedonia to reveal bidders for new routes as Wizz rules market
The Macedonian Ministry for Transport and Communications will today, at midday, publicly open bids it received from airlines requesting financial support for the introduction of new routes from Skopje and Ohrid up until 2026. Although the bidders were to be unveiled last week, the public call was extended. Carriers applying for the financial assistance must be from Europe, have carried at least ten million passengers and generated 25 million euros in profit in 2019. Furthermore, the winning airline(s) will be obligated to continue operating the new routes past December 30, 2025, for a period of at least two to three years. If they fail to do so, they will have to return the funds granted by the state.
Under the terms outlined in the public call, airlines must maintain flights to the newly launched destinations at least twice per week throughout the year for the duration of the financial assistance, develop a plan for marketing and promotion, as well as submit a report on its operations to the Ministry for Transport and Communications every six months. The Ministry will select the winner(s) based on the number of weekly flights offered on the new routes, the volume of passengers at the destination airport (the busier the airport the greater the chance of the route being subsidised), as well as the amount of offered capacity. Funding will not be provided for routes from Skopje which have been operated from the airport in the past two seasons (summer and winter), nor from Ohrid if they have been operated either from the lakeside city or the Macedonian capital over the past two seasons.
Commenting on the public call, Macedonia’s Minister for Transport and Communications, Blagoj Bočvarski, said, “What I want to emphasise is that the entire procedure will take place in a public and transparent manner, and I assure you that we will choose airlines that submit the best offers according to the criteria in the public call”. He added, “Our ultimate goal is to ensure air traffic growth in the Republic of North Macedonia and provide the public with attractive destinations based on their needs at affordable fares".
Wizz Air, which previously won all three similar public calls, dominated at Skopje Airport last year with a passenger share of 59.3%. It was followed by Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Chair Airlines. Overall, Istanbul’s two airports were the two busiest routes to and from the Macedonian capital, followed by Basel, Vienna, Zurich, Antalya, Dortmund, Munich, Memmingen and Cologne.
Skopje’s five busiest airlines in 2022
.gif)
0 Response to "Macedonia to reveal bidders for new routes as Wizz rules market"
Post a Comment