Dumitru Alaiba: "Methods will be sought to attract new operators to the airline market"
After Chisinau International Airport has returned to state management, methods of attracting new operators to the air market and actions to develop this strategic object will be sought, Minister of Economic Development and Digitisation Dumitru Alaiba said on Radio Moldova's "360 degrees" show.
The deputy prime minister stressed that in the future, institutions could be sought to manage this asset, without giving more details.
"The airport is under the control of the Republic of Moldova. It is also an example that sometimes it pays to take it slowly, methodically and systematically. My opinion is that the state is a good administrator in most cases. At the same time there is no single solution, for the moment it is important to stabilize the situation, to offer new opportunities to the players on the market", said Dumitru Alaiba.
On 28 March, the procedures for transferring and taking over the assets of the Chisinau International Airport to the state, under concession to Avia Invest, were completed.
The operations and management of the Chisinau International Airport were transferred to Avia Invest in 2013 under a public-private partnership. The company, which committed to manage the airport for 49 years and to invest in its modernisation, was accused of not honouring its contractual obligations and not fulfilling the investment plan, thus the termination of the concession agreement was requested. The action was described as a raider attack by the concession company, which announced that it would challenge the termination of the contract in court.
