March 13 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's government has picked flights to ten destinations that will be offered to airlines in a tender for government subsidies under a financial aid scheme aimed to improve air connectivity, it said.
The priority list of ten routes includes flights to Vienna, Brussels, Copenhagen, Athens, Madrid, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Prague, Berlin and Skopje, the government said in a statement on Friday.
If funds are still available after the first round, a supplementary list of connections to Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, Lisbon, Pristina and Paris will be added.
According to Slovenian media reports, the tender is expected to be announced on March 24.
"With the new routes, we also cover the Benelux countries and the Nordic countries perfectly. I believe that assistance to ensure Slovenia's air connectivity will have a positive effect on the further positioning of Slovenia on the aforementioned European and global markets," economy minister Matjaz Han said in the statement.
In January, Slovenia's parliament approved legislation providing air carriers with 5.6 million euro ($6.0 million) in financial aid per year. The aid will be granted as a subsidy covering up to 50% of airport fees for airlines establishing new routes or increasing the frequency of their existing flights.
($ = 0.93641 euro)