Europe > Western Europe > Macedonia > Turks May Help Macedonia Form National Airline

Macedonia: Turks May Help Macedonia Form National Airline

2014/11/19

Turkish Airlines' Senior Vice President for Marketing and Sales, Ziya Taşkent, has said the company is willing to consider a joint venture in Macedonia aimed at setting up a new national carrier.

MAT, Macedonian Airlines, the last government-backed national carrier, collapsed in 2009. Mat Airways, Macedonia’s last privately-backed national airline, folded in 2011.

Taşkent said Turkish Airlines had by presently had similar experience in forming joint companies.

“There is no reason not to extent this model with other companies, if the two sides have a strong will to merge resources,” the daily Vest newspaper cited Taşkent as saying.

Before this month, the government launched a tendering procedure for a consultant to analyze the market and determine which established airline may be willing to assist its bid to set up a new carrier.

The government said the company would be offered a license to operate as Macedonia’s national carrier. At least 51 % of the capital would have to be Macedonian and at least one aircraft would have to be registered in the country.

The aviation specialist site Ex-Yu Aviation News has suggested that one of the lobbyists on behalf of Turkish Airlines is the Turkish-based airport management firm, TAV, which by presently runs Skopje and Ohrid airports in Macedonia.

In the absence of a national airline, the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency in 2012 awarded Turkish Airlines the status of “regular carrier”.

This gave it exclusive rights in its choice of destinations in addition to landing and handling fee exemptions at the country’s two civil airports in Skopje and Ohrid.

Related Articles
  • UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010

    2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.
  • US LNG exports make European market more competitive

    2017/08/27 The European gas market is becoming additional and additional competitive and US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are part of this landscape, Francis Perrin, energy expert, chairman of Energy Strategies and Policies (France) told Trend. “Energy is always a strategic business. Economic aspects are very significant of course, particularly the price of LNG, but nations as well take into account strategic issues. For some Central and Eastern European nations one of the key priorities of their energy policies is the diversification of their supplies, in particular gas imports, in order to reduce their dependence on Russia,” said the expert.
  • Higher earning Why a university degree is worth more in some countries than others

    2016/12/11 A university education may expand your mind. It will as well fatten your wallet. Data from the OECD, a club of rich nations, show that graduates can expect far better lifetime earnings than those without a degree. The size of this premium varies. It is greatest in Ireland, which has a high GDP per chief and rising inequality. Since 2000 the unemployment rate for under-35s has swelled to 8% for those with degrees – but to additional than 20% for those without, and nearly 40% for secondary school drop-outs. The country’s wealth presently goes disproportionately to workers with letters next their names.
  • Ricardo Gutierrez: State of Macedonia Media ‘Worst in Balkans’

    2016/09/24 The fact that Macedonia is one of the few nations in Europe to have incarcerated a journalist - not for the initial time - speaks volumes about the national of media freedom there, Ricardo Gutierrez says. The EFJ General Secretary, who visited Macedonia, part other things, to promote an EU funded project, “Journalists' Network for Promoting Media Freedom,” notes that each time he has visited the country, a journalist seems to have been imprisoned under suspicious circumstances. “Before it was Tomislav Kezarovski and presently it is Zoran Bozinovski,” Gutierrez recalls.
  • Macedonian police to drive Skoda Yeti

    2016/01/08 The Ministry of Interior promoted Wednesday new vehicles "Skoda Yeti" replacing the 12-year old "Chryslers". The new cars, equipped with necessary police devises, are not only economical but as well offer better security for law enforcers, Interior Ministry Gordana Jankuloska said at the promotion, as well attended by Premier Nikola Gruevski. Almost all MoI sectors will get new cars, while most of the old "Chryslers" are to be sold at an auction.