Air Montenegro and Luxair bid to operate flights out of Slovenia
Air Montenegro and Luxair have applied to operate a number of routes out of Slovenia, which will be subsidised by the Slovenian government over the next three years in a bid to improve the country’s connectivity. Despite interest from several legacy and low cost carriers, only the national airlines from Montenegro and Luxembourg submitted formal offers. A final decision on whether the bidders are eligible for the subsidies will be announced after their proposals have been reviewed by a commission made up of officials from the Ministries for Infrastructure, Finance, and the Economy. The government is willing to subsidise airlines that will operate flights from either Ljubljana, Maribor or Portorož to Brussels, Skopje, Prague, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, Athens, Madrid, Amsterdam and Helsinki.
The bids submitted by Air Montenegro and Luxair have not been publicly disclosed and it is unknown which of the abovementioned routes either of the two applied for. The development comes just days after the former CEO of Adria Airways, Mark Anžur, was named Air Montenegro’s new Chief Executive. The carrier maintains flights from Podgorica to Ljubljana, which are substituted with services from Tivat over the summer months. On the other hand, Luxair previously said it was studying the possibility of launching flights between Luxembourg and Ljubljana but has never expressed interest in operating out of Slovenia to third countries in the past.
With neither of the two airlines having a base in any of the ten cities the Slovenian government is willing to provide subsidise for, they will be unable to offer passengers connecting flights, which was one of the goals of the scheme. Presently, Air Montenegro is unable to sell connecting flights via Podgorica or Tivat either. In addition to subsidising the launch of pre-determined routes, the Slovenian government is also considering the possibility of setting up a new national carrier, with a decision on the matter to be made over the summer following an in-depth review of market conditions.
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