Nebojša Starčević, CEO of Civil Aviation Directorate: All low-cost airliners will get licenses

(Nebojša Starčević)

- Every low-cost air transportation company that applies for the license to fly from Belgrade or Niš will get it. Based on the Open Sky Agreement, our position is that Serbian market should be opened and that we should allow maximum number of foreign companies to fly from Serbia, regardless of whether they are regulatory or low-cost companies - Nebojša Starčević, the CEO of the Civil Aviation Directorate, said in the interview for "Blic".

He adds that the Directorate's position is that much time has been wasted on consideration on whether the licenses should be granted or not.

What happens with the companies from outside Europe that are not included in the Open Sky Agreement?

- If we respect the Open Sky Agreement and allow all European companies to fly, I can not see the reason why we should not allow the same thing to the companies from outside Europe. Based on that, the agreements have been signed with the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Australia.

Does that mean that Serbia is going to sign bilateral agreements with the companies from outside Europe?

- That's right. We are now focused on making bilateral agreements with the countries outside Europe on the basis of the Open Sky Agreement in order to make them as liberal as the Agreement itself.

What does an airliner need to have in order to obtain license?

- Only the most necessary technical conditions are required in the current situation. The company must be correctly registered, it must possess registered certified aircrafts, and that's it. Of course, it must not be on European or global black list.

How interested are foreign companies in flights from Belgrade ?

- I hope that the visa-free regime will be introduced on January 1st, which will, definitely, automatically result in the growth of air transportation. That is backed by the fact that the interest of foreign companies has rapidly grown recently. The companies that operate in Serbian market for a long time applied this year for the license with much larger airplanes.

Two Russian companies are interested in flights from Belgrade. What are their chances to obtain licenses for flights from the capital city?

- Our aspect is that the chances are good. We will allow the flights if the bilateral agreement does not forbid them. We had contacts with several Russian companies, the last of which was company "Moksovja". That company expressed interest in flying not only from Belgrade to Moscow, but also from Belgrade to New York. That is something that should be talked about and approved by several aviation authorities.

Hungarian "Malev" has been granted the license. How much flights from Belgrade will that company have?

- They wanted to fly every day. I think that it is in their interest to attract passengers to Budapest and then transport them from Budapest to the destinations in Europe or across the ocean.

When can we expect "Emirates" to fly to the capital city of Serbia?

- I honestly hope Iskreno se nadam da će vrlo brzo posle potpisivanja ovog sporazuma doći do zahteva za dozvolu za letenje na relaciji Arapski Emirati - Beograd. Verovatno neće u ovoj prvoj fazi doći do letenja dalje van Beograda, ali se nadam da je i to moguće tokom sledećeg zimskog reda letenja kada bi eventualno mogli da polete prema Americi. Mislim da interes za to postoji i sa njihove i sa naše strane.

"Wizz Air" has not applied officially. What happens with that company?

- The time for appearance of low-cost companies comes in January when the visa-free regime should be introduced. The only contact we have had with low-cost airliners is the contact with "Wizz Air". I believe that that company will apply for the license after the New Year because it has not officially done that yet. Whatever they apply for - they will get the license.

Will competition bother "Jat"?

- As soon as some company is taking away passengers from you, it can bother you. When the real low-cost company appears, it will take one or two seasons for the people to realize what that is and to decide if they want to fly with such companies or with regular airliners. It still depends more on "Jat" and less on the low-cost airliner.

Were you talking about privatization of "Jat" with the delegation of UAE that was recently staying in Belgrade?

- We did not talk about business-technical cooperation, privatization or strategic partnership. The guests were the people from the aviation authorities, and they were not authorized for such talks. But there were some announcements that the partners who would ask question about takeover or strategic partnership with "Jat" should appear soon. By the way, I believe that the privatization of "Jat" is possible only if some company from outside Europe is involved.

We protect national company in charter traffic

Will there be problems again with the licenses in charter traffic next summer?

- There is a tendency for protection of the national air transportation company in charter traffic everywhere in the world. We will try to insist on the national airliner in charter traffic.

And what if that company has incompetitive prices?

- In case some company offers lower prices, we must allow that since it is in the interest of passengers. At this moment, I can not tell you how the situation will look like in 2010. That does not depend on us.

(Note: complete text is taken over from newspaper "Blic" of November 2nd, 2009)