Pursuant to Article 49 of the Aviation Law ("Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia" No. 14/24) and Articles 7 and 9 of the Decree on the manner, detailed criteria for granting financial support for domestic and foreign air carriers, and documentation required to be submitted by the financial support beneficiaries ("Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia" No. 182/24), the Commission for implementation of the financial support granting procedure hereby publishes the following:

1. The subject of this open call is the granting of financial support to domestic and foreign air carriers for the launching of new routes.
2. Provider of the financial support is the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, through the Ministry of Transport.
3. The period for which financial support is granted shall be in accordance with the Program for determining the funds required for granting financial support to domestic and foreign carriers for the promotion and development of the air transport in the Republic of North Macedonia for the period 2025-2027 ("Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia" No. 182/24) and are in amount of:

- 110.000.000,00 denars for 2025 year,

- 125.000.000,00 denars for 2026 year and

- 125.000.000,00 denars for 2027 year.

4. The allocation of financial support shall be carried out through an open call, in the form of a procedure for implementing an open call for the allocation of financial support.
5. The documentation for an application for participation in the financial support granting procedure can be obtained every working day from 10:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. local time, at the Ministry of Transport at Plostad Crvena Skopska Opstina Str. No. 4, 1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, throughout the duration of this call or delivered electronically or downloaded from the official site of the Ministry of Transport.
6. The deadline for submission of the applications for participation in the financial support granting procedure is 07.10.2024 by 10:00 local time, in the archives of the Ministry of Transport. Applications submitted after the deadline shall not be considered.
7. Submission of the documentation for the applications to participate in the financial support granting procedure shall be in the Macedonian language or English accompanied by a certified translation into Macedonian (by a licensed translator).
8. The public opening of the applications shall be held on 07.10.2024 at 12:00 local time, at the location specified in the application documentation. Persons authorized by the applicants shall have the right to participate in the public opening.
9. The submitted applications shall be reviewed by the Evaluation Commission, composed of nominated representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of culture and tourism and the Civil Aviation Agency. The member representing the Ministry of Transport shall chair the work of the Commission.
10. The Commission shall have the right to require the applicants to supplement or clarify parts of the documentation.
11. The evidence and documentation which the applicants need to prove their personal status, professional activity, economic-financial status and technical or professional ability are provided in the application documentation.
12. To qualify as a financial support applicant, the air carrier should meet the following criteria:

- to hold a valid AOC – Air Operator Certificate

- to have carried i.e., served at least five million passengers in 2023,

- to have made a profit of at least 10,000,000 (ten million) euros in 2023.

13. The air carrier selected as a financial support beneficiary shall:

- operate each new awarded route launched from the Skopje International Airport and the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, for the period for which the financial support is granted, at least twice a week in each of the IATA seasons, i.e. in line with the application submitted, according to a predetermined flight schedule, starting from its launch until the end of the period for which the financial support is granted, except for the week in which the New Year and the religious holidays of Catholic and Orthodox Christmas take place,

- develop a promotion and marketing plan, that may be subject to changes upon instructions of the financial support provider, and

- submit a Report on its operations to the Ministry of Transport every six months.

14. The financial support shall be granted according to the new destinations ranking criteria, in the following order:

- period of operation of the destination.

- number of weekly flights.

- attractiveness of the airport, i.e., the airport with the higher number of passengers served in 2023, in accordance with the airport data available and

- number of seats offered for sale.

15. In case of submission of applications that are equal according to the destination ranking criteria, the principle of priority in submission of a financial support application shall apply.

After ranking the new destinations, the Commission shall calculate the funds required for each new destination according to the estimated costs which the air carrier have specified in the Operational Plan submitted along with the Application, determine a ranking list of new destinations, and close the call.

16. As a new destination shall be considered an airport that have not already been served by scheduled air transport in the past two IATA seasons from/to the Skopje International Airport and the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport.
17. The financial support in relation to a new destination shall be in the maximum amount of:

- 9 euros in Denar equivalent at the middle exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia on the day of invoicing, per arriving passenger, to the Skopje International Airport for the new destination, and

- 12 euros in Denar equivalent at the middle exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia on the day of invoicing, per arriving passenger, to the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport for the new destination.

18. Within 60 days following the day of the public opening of the applications, the Evaluation Commission shall evaluate the applications and prepare a Report on the conducted evaluation of the financial support applications, it will then submit it to the Minister of Transport for adopting a Decision based on the Report after which the applicants ranked shall be invited for concluding an agreement for financial support.

 
Open Call 2024 (4).docx

Application Documentation_06 09 2024 (1).docx

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Address:

Ministry of Transport,

Plostad Crvena Skopska Opstina No. 4, 1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia

Phone: +389 2 3145 592

E-mail: mtcfinancial.support@mtc.gov.mk

Website: www.mtc.gov.mk