Although an agreement was not reached with the low-cost airline Ryanair, the Government continues to open new airlines and expand the network of flights from Macedonian airports, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski said Thursday and announced five new destinations this summer.
Nikoloski stresses that the country remains open to cooperation with all airlines, but will not accept conditions that would be detrimental to other air carriers and state interests.
“We are providing a subsidy of 9 euros for each foreign passenger arriving at Skopje airport and 12 euros for Ohrid. If they want to participate, the door is open. But we cannot accept blackmail, the cancellation of other routes in their favor and subsidies that would be two and a half times higher for just one company,” Nikoloski said.
The Deputy PM reveals that talks are currently underway with other interested airlines, adding that Macedonia is the only country in the region that is opening new routes at a time when the global aviation industry is facing a serious crisis.
“Macedonia is the only country in the entire region that is opening new routes and in the coming period there will be five new ones, such as: Austria Airlines will fly directly Vienna-Ohrid, in June two destinations from Krakow and Wroclaw in Poland to Ohrid will start, and during June two excellent summer destinations will start from Skopje airport, one is Palermo-Sicily, and the second is Alghero-Sardinia, so we are opening 5 new routes in the biggest crisis that the aviation industry has ever seen,” noted Nikoloski.
