Several airports in the former Yugoslavia are set to benefit from subsidies provided by state or local authorities to airlines that are willing to establish operations. There are currently three public calls taking place related to Tuzla, Sarajevo, and airports in Slovenia.
Tuzla Airport is seeking the launch of new routes, or the upkeep of existing ones maintained by Lumiwings, which are currently also being subsidised. Local authorities have listed a total of nineteen destinations that are subject to funding. They include Hahn, Berlin, Saarbrucken, Hamburg, Baden Baden, Nuremberg, Cologne, and Friedrichshafen in Germany, followed by Gothenburg, Stockholm, Halmstad, and Malmo in Sweden, then Esbjerg and Billund in Denmark, Vienna and Salzburg in Austria, Maastricht and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, as well as Istanbul in Turkey. All of them must be operated by an aircraft with the capacity to seat at least 110 passengers. The interested airline must include the total cost of operating the route in its submission, with local authorities in Tuzla willing to cover the difference if the expenses are not covered by revenue. Airlines had until earlier this week to submit their bids via email, while a hard copy of the bid must be submitted by today.
Authorises in Sarajevo have issued yet another public call for airlines to launch operations to the city with the deadline for the submission of bids set for this coming Monday. Funds will be made available to carriers that either introduce flights from a destination that has not been served in the past twelve months, start services to one of 26 unserved destinations deemed to be of strategic importance or a served destination from the list with under five weekly flights, as well as those wishing to commence operations on routes longer than six hours. The value of the subsidies has not been made public. During a similar tender last month, five airlines applied – Ryanair, TUI Airways, Aegean Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Norwegian.
Slovenia has issued a fourth tender call for airlines to introduce new routes to the country in return for subsidies lasting over a period of three years. The previous three public calls garnered mixed results with interest being expressed solely for flights to Ljubljana. Only airlines registered and based in the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) are eligible for the subsidies. The ECAA is made up of states that are part of the European Union, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway, and Montenegro. The Slovenian government is primarily targeting the introduction of flights from Vienna, Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, and Lisbon, although all unserved destinations within the ECAA are eligible. The state has allocated 16.8 million euros in subsidies divided over three years, or 5.6 million euros per year for the latest public call. They are designed to cover 50% of the airline’s airport costs in Slovenia. If funds are left over following the completion of the ongoing public call, the state will launch a new one. Interested carriers have until this coming Monday to submit their bids.
Comments
@13.22 you got it wrong! the "fixed amouny of money for each onboarded passenger" is exactly half of the airport cost at that time and only that is part of the subs. I like the slovenian formulacija much better it sounds more elegant
Slovenia allocates 5.6 million euros per year for Madrid, Helsinki, and Oslo. It's not really clear how much every airline will get and if they will use all the 5.6 million euros.
I don't know how much Lumiwngs get at Tuzla, but they exploit Tuzla for every penny. They are even cheaper than Ryanair. Come on, Halmstad, Esbjerg, etc. Even with subsidies, no one serious is interested, unfortunately. So the market really needs to perform well. Sometimes airlines doubt if it's a good idea to start a new market or route. That is a great moment to give subsidies. To give an airline a push to start new flights, not to give them money for the next 10 years.
The new routes with Ryanair from SJJ are great, though. It won't cover the Wizz loss, but it's a great start.
So overall, SKP definitely has the best deal. Overall, per passenger, the cheapest subsidies. And Wizz employs pilots and stewards (who get more paid than the national average). Most importantly, SKP achieved a healthy market with the help of subsidies in the past, with Wizzair having a base in SKP for 12 years. With every year carrying more passengers. When it started in 2012, most routes were subsidized, and now almost nothing. I hope that Bosnia and Slovenia will achieve the same.
For a few days Maribor was listed under Austrian destinations, which means it was in the system somewhere in the Lufthansa group
3-4 weekly cannot compete with multiple daily next-door. Airline network planning isn't rocket science - it's often enough looking at human behaviour and thinking logically.
- How many passengers will adapt their travel plans to different days of the week and times of the day just because of flying from LJU rather than TRS? Only a subset. Especially since those driving to the airport won't fly out from one airport and back to another, so the compromise is often needed in both directions.
- Will the aircraft fill well in both directions each day of the week that it operates? Slovene business travellers flying out during the beginning of the week and back during the end of the week aren't good enough - you need Romans to fly the other way too.
- Will the LJU pax be as high-yielding as the pax who prefer TRS?