Macedonia rules out new national carrier

The Macedonian government has reaffirmed it has no plans to establish a new national airline, a decade on since the collapse of MAT Macedonian Airlines. The incumbent government mulled the possibility of establishing a new flag carrier at the start of its mandate several years ago but has decided against it. Instead, it inked a new three-year subsidy agreement with Wizz Air this January for the introduction of new routes. The financial support included a one-time payment of 40.000 euros for each new destination launched, as well as nine euros per passengers for each new route from Skopje for the first year, eight euros during the second year and seven during the third. On the other hand, the carrier is receiving thirteen euros per passenger during the first year of operations on each new destination out of Ohrid, twelve during the second and eleven euros per traveller in the third year.

The head of the North Macedonia Civil Aviation Agency, Tomislav Tuntev, said establishing a new national airline would be unviable. “I must reaffirm my personal opinion that that there is no economically viable justification for developing such an outdated concept at this time. Our expert research, analysis and feasibility studies, as well as comparative experiences from countries in the region, have shown that such an airline would find itself in operational difficulties, pose a financial burden on the state, and result in a lack of competitiveness on the aviation market due to the necessity for continued state interventionism, in spite of the existing European Union policies in support of fair competition”. However, Mr Tuntev noted the Agency would provide support if a private investor would be interested in registering aircraft in Macedonia or establish an airline in the form of a public - private partnership if the state saw an economic interest in such a venture.

Since the 1990s, Macedonia has had two national carriers, both of which subsequently declared bankruptcy. Palair Macedonian Airlines was founded in 1991 as the country’s national airline but was hit by local competition with the creation of MAT Macedonian Airlines in 1994. As a result, it ceased flying in 1996. MAT was formed in cooperation between JAT Yugoslav Airlines and local businessmen. In 2000, the Macedonian government declared MAT the country’s national carrier owned by two private stakeholders. However, mounting debt, as well as political wrangling, saw MAT cease operations in September 2009. MAT’s demise was followed by an attempt to relaunch the airline as Mat Airways several years later, however, it too failed. Based on its latest financial report, Air Serbia has a 100% stake in a company registered in Macedonia, named AeroMak, however, it is currently inactive. Its predecessor Jat Airways planned to establish an airline under the name in late 2009 but shelved them months later.

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