Battle for Macedonia’s sky

The fight is on

Another two airlines have applied for a license to operate flights from Macedonia. Laluna and Montair are the latest applicants. The Laluna Airlines project is being headed by former employees of the Turkish cargo airline Star, which until recently operated from Macedonia. The airline declared bankruptcy a few months ago. Laluna plans to begin services in December with smaller and old aircraft although plans are in place to buy 1 Boeing B737-400 and 1 Boeing B737-600 in 2010 as it intends to become a scheduled airline.

Montair will be partly owned by a Bulgarian company. The airline plans to become Macedonia’s answer to Croatia’s Dubrovnik Airline. It plans to operate charter flights with small aircraft and even plans to hire employees from Dubrovnik Airline.

The Macedonian Civil Aviation Directorate (ACV) has confirmed that two airlines are seeking flight permits although they did not wish to name the airlines. They say that it takes 90 days for an airline to receive a license, during which the ACV checks the airline’s financial and technical statements. Unofficial sources claim that another airline, Aeromak, will be launched soon. Sources suggest that the airline will perform promotional flights within the next 2 months. Aeromak was registered as an airline operator in 1999 and 49% of shares are owned by Serbia’s Jat Airways.

Graphs provided by Anna Aero