NEWS FLASH
The Serbian government has modified the tender aimed at subsidising routes of public interest from Kraljevo’s Morava Airport. The tender now invites all airlines to express whether they are interested in launching commercial (nonsubsidised) flights from either Vienna or Thessaloniki to Kraljevo. This process must be completed by November 25. If an airline shows interest, the route will no longer be eligible for subsidies and will be removed from the tender. However, the airline that has expressed interest to launch nonsubsidised commercial flights on any of the two routes must do so within the time-frame outlined in the tender - December 1 from Vienna or March 20 from Thessaloniki. The three-year contract for the subsidised services from Kraljevo is valued at 5.7 million euros, with the state to provide 297.800 euros in 2019 and 2.7 million euros in both 2020 and 2021. The deadline for the submission of bids has been set for November 21, 2019 at 10.00 CET.
What's the point of this? I really do not understand.
ReplyDeleteSo they don't have the same problem they had with Ryanair in Nis but it is so silly. No one will open a route in 2 weeks.
DeleteNot to repeat this Ryanair nis thing? So, if somebody wants to fly commercially, they should announced it, if not government is "covered" for PR stunt by some airlines...
DeleteAnd maybe they want to save some money.
ReplyDeleteIt just proves that anyone can fly to KVO and it is not just reserved for Air Serbia
Haha yeah sure. That's why they make this change 3 days before the tender closes and order that airline to start the flights in 2 weeks. And they were so caught up in fixing the last tender for Air Serbia in Nis that they forgot to write that other airlines can't operate the subsidised route so they made the change in the tender documents 3 MONTHS AFTER the routes started. Ie after Ryanair asked for a permit. So transparent. Oh and the tender documents for Kraljevo flights are such a mess. Whoever wrote it up didn't even read it. For Thessaloniki route they even got the year wrong on one page and wrote that the route should start on 20th March 2019.
DeleteI think the government is hoping that Wizz moves its VIE-INI service to KVO.
ReplyDeleteStop the nonsense the runway is not capable of handling an A320. And before you go on that it is long enough, they did endurance tests and it is not strong enough to handl an A320. That's why they are going to build a new runway.
DeleteIt would be nice if Lauda launches flights from VIE.
DeleteThey will launch flights only if they buy an ATR and paint it in Air Serbia's livery.
DeleteI wonder if Turkish Airlines would start Kraljevo flights if Serbian regulator lets them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe after the problems solved with the 737 Max? They will have extra 24 aircrafts and their 737 Max fleet itself is bigger than any national EX-yu carrier's whole fleet.
Do you people understand that nothing larger than a turboprop can land in Kraljevo??
DeleteAre you sure? Here it says Serbia operator in talks between launching flights to Istanbul, and no Turkish carriers have turboprop.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/11/kraljevo-airport-readies-for-commercial.html
That will mean, AS will start Istanbul from Kraljevo? I really don't think so.
Yeah I'm sure. Read that same article again. And who said the airline would be from Turkey? It will be Air Serbia. The tender has the provision that they can add destinations after the tender closes and increase the subsidy. And that's exactly what will happen.
DeleteA bit off topic, but why did they pick Thessaloniki out of all routes? For summer tourists?
ReplyDeleteImportant message to all airlines: if you would ever consider to fly KVO - VIE, make up you mind and tell us within next 7 days and start flying within next 12 days (organise an appropriate pair of slots, aircraft, crew, ticket sales, handling, catering, fuel delivery etc.), or otherwise you will not be able to do start flying for the next three years.
ReplyDeleteThe government can do whatever it wants, but it should always remain serious.
VIE is slot constrained. Any slot at VIE to fly VIE-KVO this winter had to be applied for and obtained more than half a year ago.
ReplyDeleteDespite it I am sure we shall see this winter ATR flying KVO-VIE
DeleteYes, if one airline knew about this tender already few months ago and, preparing for this tender, at that time applied for and obtained an appropriate pair of slots, in particular a slot in VIE to fly to KVO.
DeleteWell Belgrade is growing nicely so some passengers can be switched to KVO and INI. Turks are maxed out in BEG and flights from KVO could make a killing. On top of that look at Aeroflot, three daily flights and their third one is very often on the A321. BEG is getting very congested, it's not a problem if other airports get some more traffic especially since BEG gets more and more transfers.
ReplyDeleteAdmittingly I haven't read the fine print of the tender aimed at subsidizing routes of public interest. However, I find it very difficult to believe that they will base an ATR at KVO. They already have a shortage of regional aircraft. Could they fly BEG-VIE-KVO-VIE-BEG as a third daily BEG-VIE rotation on selected days?
ReplyDeleteWhat a comics with this tender.
ReplyDeleteNow it is evident that it suits only for ASL. Anyhow, this tender is irregular because in AIP Serbia (LYKV AD 2.2 line 7) is stated that permitted traffic is only VFR. Who will operate regular route based on VFR traffic??