Ljubljana, 07 May (STA) - Two airlines have applied to the latest, eighth open call to boost Slovenia's air connectivity for which EUR 16.8 million in subsidies is available in total. Both airlines have been urged to supplement their bids. The final decision on the subsidies is expected in early June, the Infrastructure Ministry said on Wednesday.
According to web portal Exyuaviation, the bids refer to connections with Ljubljana, just like in the previous calls. The newspaper Delo quoted unofficial information in reporting that the two new potential connections with the capital are with Albania's capital Tirana and Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, Spain.
Under the scheme, the state subsidises 50% of the airport charge at the country's three international airports - Ljubljana Airport and the two in Maribor and Portorož. Airlines receive subsidies based on three-month reports on flights and the number of passengers.
So far, just over EUR 494,000 of the EUR 16.8 million available has been used to create connections with Luxembourg (Luxair), Riga (Airbaltic), Copenhagen (Norwegian), Madrid (Iberia) and Düsseldorf (Eurowings).
The scheme prioritises ten routes for the 2023-2025 period - four to serve final destinations - Brussels, Skopje, Prague and Berlin, and another six to fly to airports from where passengers may catch a connecting flight - Vienna, Copenhagen, Athens, Madrid, Amsterdam and Helsinki.
The second list includes Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, Lisbon, Prishtina and Paris, while the third features all destinations within the European Common Aviation Area.
Since the first call to claim subsidies was released in April 2023, four new routes have been established: to Luxembourg, Riga, Madrid and Copenhagen. Cyprus Airways applied to the fourth call but no new route was introduced due to the air carrier's business problems.
Not a single airline applied under the fifth call, while the low-cost airline Eurowings, which is part of the Lufthansa group, participated in the sixth. The seventh call attracted no bidders and the eighth was published in mid-March.
The law enabling the scheme will remain in place until 5 October and after that a new scheme can be reported to the European Commission for up to three years, the ministry told the web portal, adding that it was also looking into other ways to boost the country's air connectivity.
