SKOPJE (Macedonia), January 2 (SeeNews) – The Macedonian government said on Friday it will renew the deal with Hungary’s Wizz Air to operate as a low-cost air carrier for another next three years and will subsidise flights to six new destinations.
The contract is expected to be signed by January 15 following the expiration of the appeals' period, the government said in a statement, quoting transport minister Mile Janakieski.
In 2012, Macedonia decided to subsidise Wizz Air flights linking Skopje and Ohrid to six destinations in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, in a bid to attract more tourists. The government said earlier it planned to allocate 306 million denars ($6.0 million/5.0 million euro) to subsidise air transport in 2014.
The number of passengers at Macedonia's two airports, in Skopje and the lakeside city of Ohrid, totalled 1.27 million in 2014, Janakieski said in the statement.
Janakieski was also quoted as saying that Macedonia launched a procedure last year to select a flag carrier.
The Macedonian government signed an agreement with privately-held airline MAT in 2000, making the company the country's flag carrier for a period of 10 years, but the airline’s services were suspended in 2008 due to unpaid debts.
In late 2009, Serbian travel agency Kon Tiki Travel set up an airline in Macedonia, MAT Airways, to fly under the brand name of grounded Macedonian flag carrier MAT, but it suspended operations in 2011 due to financial difficulties.
($=0.8223 euro)