Airfares in Moldova 'can be halved'

Airfares in Moldova can be reduced by 40% to 50%, thinks expert Radu Bezniuc, author of a study on the Moldovan airline market. The main measures that would allow this to happen are: a law on civil aviation to regulate entrepreneurial activity in this area, increased competition between airline companies, and transparency in calculating airport fees, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the author, one of the reasons for the high airfares is the small number of airlines. In Moldova, the national operator Air Moldova is the leading company on the market. The airline is subordinated to the Ministry of Transports and has a market share of 49%. Radu Bezniuc says that a law creating free access conditions on the market for any company can increase the level of competition. “What we have is a restrictive regulation of air transportation in Moldova. The market is shared according to the principle first come, first assigned”, said the expert. He thinks this eliminates any chance of competition for some destinations, so that new companies could compete only for new airways. Radu Bezniuc deems restrictive the fact that the market is mostly regulated by the Ministry of Transports. “There is no real division of functions when the policy authority has all the tools to control the enforcement authority, including to fire its head”, he said. A solution to improve competition, within the current legal frame, is to hold periodic contests for granting operating rights for a certain destination. The study also notes that at the Chisinau Airport, companies pay 23.9% of the ticket’s cost. New companies enjoy discounts, which upsets older clients. Earlier, Moldavian Airlines vice-president Anatol Bzdovyi stated that all fees should be equal. “We don’t need to wait for low-cost companies to give us cheaper tickets. National companies are continuously working for the optimization of costs, but they need a fair competitive environment”, argued Bzdovai. The study titled “The Moldovan market of passenger air transportation from the perspective of lower irfares” was published with the support of Soros Moldova.