Ten airlines have responded to an exploratory notice issued by the Marche region in central Italy to nominate destinations to which they would operate subsidised flights out of Ancona. A total of 45 cities have been shortlisted, among which are Skopje, Pristina and Split. Local authorities are now awaiting approval from Brussels before launching tender procedures for carriers to bid to operate a select number of routes. The ten companies which responded to the exploratory notice were Air Corsica, Alitalia, Bulgarian Air Charter, Danish Air Transport, easyJet, Eden Viaggi Tours, Nordica, Transavia, Volotea and Wizz Air. The tender was open only to carriers registered within the European Union.
Ancona Airport (commonly known as Marche) has no scheduled passenger services to the former Yugoslavia. It is believed that low cost carrier Wizz Air nominated Skopje and Pristina among others, while Volotea, which has extensive seasonal operations in Split, opted for the Croatian city. Ancona is located on the Adriatic Sea, some 280 kilometres northeast of Rome. It is one of the main port cities on the Adriatic coast. Only a handful of airlines maintain flights to Marche Airport, with Volotea serving the largest number of destinations, albeit all of them on a seasonal summer basis. The only legacy carrier present in the city is Lufthansa. "We are working to relaunch our airport", Governor Luca Ceriscioli, said.
Split, Skopje and Pristina are all linked to Italy with the Croatian coastal city having the greatest number of flights. In addition to Croatia Airlines, which connects Split to Rome throughout the year, Alitalia, easyJet, Volotea and Vueling also maintain seasonal flights from the Croatian city to points across Italy. In Skopje, Wizz Air runs year-round operations to both the Italian capital and Milan, while Alitalia had previously operated flights from Rome. On the other hand, Pristina Airport boasts only seasonal services to Verona, with the Italian market accounting for just 1% of all travellers flying to and from the Kosovan airport in 2019.
Such a shock that Wizz Air applied to operate a subsidized route. lol
ReplyDeleteAny airline should apply if they are being offered.
DeleteThis was open to all EU registered airlines. Why not apply if they are going to offer money? You might even create a market between two city pairs.
DeleteCroatia Airlines should have applied
ReplyDeletePSO experts
DeleteThey are to busy now. They have two new destinations to open, 3 weekly, on Dash. Not an easy task LOL
DeleteWell you may be complaining that CTN is opening. Reading through some different aviation portals, it also states that they will use these aircraft to increase frequencies on some destinations. Why don't we just wait and see when the new summer timetable comes out. Then er can see exactly where these extra aircraft will be used.
DeleteWith all due respect it is already mid February. Summer season begins in just over a month. Frequency increases should already be filed.
DeleteWhy? JU launched new destinations a day or two ago?
DeleteFor SKP/PRN is there a diaspora from either in that part of Italy?
ReplyDeleteAirlines don't care as they will be getting money for this route. For them it makes no difference.
DeleteBecause if the route works they can continue it after the subsidies end. Like the majority of routes from Skopje for example.
DeleteYes, there is (for SKP).There is a lot of diaspora from Reka/Mavrovo region near Debar, maybe half of the population works there (and the other half opted for Friuli-Venezia Giulia region :) ), also some good number from Polog (Tetovo/Gostivar) and in smaller number Ohrid and Struga.There are daily bus departures from both Debar and Tetovo (and options via Slovenia and Albania/ferry) and 2-3 pw from other places.
DeleteAlready flights to TIA
Deletethere were flights Ancona - Skopje with Belle Air Europe or what was it called around 2010
DeleteInteresting. Didn't know that. Were they seasonal? Do you remember the frequency?
DeleteThey were daily flights on the A320.
DeleteDaily? Wow!
Deleteofc they were not daily. its some troll
DeleteThis could be a nice seasonal route for leisure purposes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting JP didn't apply.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're being sarcastic.
DeleteA connection to Ancona would be nice :D
ReplyDeleteSPU is the only one that makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteSkopje/Pristina makes much more sense due to diaspora. It could even work year round.
Deleteespecially since they already had flights to Ancona
DeleteGreat. I hope they choose one of these.
ReplyDelete"A total of 45 cities have been shortlisted"
DeleteIt will be difficult.
Impressive these 3 made the cut :)
DeleteAnother plus of growing LCC presence in the region.
DeleteI have a feeling they will choose one Balkan city. So it will be between these.
ReplyDeleteSkopje me thinks
DeleteHow much money are they offering?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't announced yet. They only asked airlines to express interest.
DeleteThis would be cool. Hope it happens.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly there are scheduled flights Tirana-Ancona year round.
ReplyDeleteWhich airline?
DeleteBlu express.
DeleteHardly surprising considering how big the Albanian diaspora is in Italy.
DeleteThis route has been operating for years
DeleteYes, 3 weekly in winter, 4 weekly in summer.
DeleteAncona is beautiful. Worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteFrom Skopje they could get a good mix of tourists and diaspora. Worth a shot.
ReplyDeleteI would like that too but it would be nice if they started a single new route from SKP without subsidies.
DeleteSplit has quite good connectivity to Italy. Ancona would be a good addition.
ReplyDeleteThat's really a short flight: 45 minutes?
DeleteEven shorter than Banja Luka - Beograd.
DeleteLet's go swimming :)
Could it have something to do that both are port cities?
DeleteI might be wrong but I think the shortest destination from BEG is actually SJJ. :)
DeleteYes it is.
DeleteMaybe worth mentioning that Ancona did have flights to Croatia, and recently. ECA, European Coastal Airlines operated for one season, before ceasing operations, Ancona from/to both Split and Rijeka, by Twinotter hydroplanes
ReplyDeleteThat must have been a picturesque flight.
DeleteBulgarian Air Charter usually do summer VAR/BOJ operations to Northern Europe and winter ski or Egypt SOF charters. Not sure why they applied. As for ex-Yu I think SPU, SKP are logic. SKP needs more Italian connections.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Miss Alitalia in SKP. I know they are not the best airline but it was great having a legacy carrier fly this route nonstop and Alitalia is still generous with its service (they still don't charge for luggage) even though they are bankrupt.
DeleteV7 seem to be expanding domestically and all their current routes out of AOI are connected to the southern Italian coast. I personally used Volotea and it is a great Spanish airline. Punctual service, very efficient crew and their 717 was in perfect condition. Pity they will stick to A319 in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn a likely scenario we may see V7 operating AOI-SPU and even DBV in the future if we follow their current network logic.
+1
DeleteFingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteSkopje terminal looks really cool on that photo.
ReplyDeleteAre there any ferries from Split to Ancona?
ReplyDeleteYes. From Split and from Zadar
Delete