Moldovan expatriates request low-cost airlines in Moldova
A number of organizations of Moldovans living or working abroad have sent an open letter to the leaders of the Alliance for European Integration, requesting the liberalization of the air transportation and the permission of low-cost airlines to operate in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports.
“Today Moldova is the most expensive air travel destination in Europe. The flights to Chisinau are several times more expensive than the flights to any other European country, including Moldova's neighbors – Romania and Ukraine, or the small countries in the Balkans. The airfares are in fact an indirect tax imposed on the diaspora. These prices make us want to return home more seldom, to invite relatives more seldom, to see our children and our elderly more seldom. In the best case, we fly home via Romania or Ukraine, or pay exaggerated prices”, reads the letter.
According to estimates presented in the letter, a family of two adults and a child has to pay about €1,200 to fly to Chisinau, whereas a budget round-trip airfare from London to Kiev or Bucharest costs about €100.
“The competition between carriers could lead to cheaper prices”, the letter says. Among its signatories are the Club of Bessarabians from Belgium, the Moldo-Romanian Association “Mihai Eminescu” from Switzerland, the association "Cittadini moldavi in Italia" from Milan, the Association of Moldovan Communities in Ireland, the Community of Moldovans in the United Kingdom.