If set up, a Slovak national air carrier should operate based on market principles, be exclusively or partly controlled by the state and be a joint-stock company. These suggestions come from a feasibility study submitted by the Transport Ministry to the Cabinet. The study identified three potential variants for the national air carrier, with a market-based carrier operating without additional state intervention stated as the most advantageous one. The total investment for the first five years is estimated at €175 million if the air fleet is purchased and over €127 million if it is rented.
"Quite high financial expenditure is at stake here that would have to be partly covered by the state in the first round. There's also the question of return on the investment, as well as further management of the whole project," stated Transport Minister Árpád Érsek (Most-Híd). He added that by submitting this document, he had fulfilled his duty stemming from the Government Manifesto. According to Érsek, the results of the study should now be analysed at several forums and only then should the decision be made in this regard.
Talks regarding the setting up of a national air carrier are a waste of time and a waste of money, stated the Opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party on Wednesday, adding that experience has shown that a similar air project set up in the past failed. Moreover, according to the party's MP Miroslav Ivan, the Government would have to find millions to set up a national air carrier at a time when road and railway infrastructure is falling apart, the money for repairing railway lines and burning wagons is missing or at a time when 40 percent of first-class roads are in a poor condition.
According to the study from the Transport Ministry, the proposed flight schedule envisages 14 routes, including ten from Bratislava, three from Kosice and one from Poprad. The total annual cost of operating two planes is estimated at €49 million.
