Macedonia to launch new airline subsidy tender in March

NEWS FLASH

The Macedonian Ministry for Transport and Communications plans to commence tender procedures to subsidise airlines for the launch of new routes from Skopje and Ohrid airports up until 2026 during March. It comes after the previous tender was annulled as none of the three parties that had submitted proposals for the introduction of new services - Wizz Air, Aegean Airlines and Lufthansa - satisfied the tender criteria due to errors with documentation. “I expect to announce the new call at the beginning of March. The commission that is working on preparing this public call will help all interested companies to correctly complete their documentation in order for this renewed call to be successful. I am convinced that this is a good policy that will give good results for air traffic and the opening of new destinations”, the Macedonian Minister for Transport and Communications, Blagoj Bočvarski, said. He added, “We will not stick to the choice of one carrier. It is in our interest for more airlines to launch flights”. All three previous similar tenders over the past decade were won by Wizz Air, which was the only airline to apply. The terms and conditions of the upcoming public call will remain the same as the previously annulled one.