Transportation minister denies favoring any airline

Moldavian Airlines' request to operate charter flights to the Turkish resort of Antalya cannot be accepted because a memorandum signed with Turkey allows only for regular flights, stated Transportation Minister Anatol Salaru at a news conference on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. Under the memorandum, Moldova may operate up to 14 flights to Antalya a week. With 12 flights already operated by state-run Air Moldova, the remaining two were offered to Moldavian Airlines, which nevertheless refused taking regular flights. Anatol Salaru denied any favoritism being showed by the Ministry toward any airline, in particular toward Air Moldova, as alleged by the Moldavian Airlines management. Salaru also said that steps were being taken to integrate Moldova into the European airspace, which would permit local airlines to operate flights without the Ministry's authorization. Anatolie Bzovii, the managing director of Moldavian Airlines, told reporters that in contradiction to Salaru's statements, the tickets to Antalya sold by Air Moldova read that they were charter and not regular. Bzovii also said that charter flights should be authorized by the Civil Aviation Authority rather than by the Transportation Ministry. Earlier, Moldavian Airlines president Nicolae Petrov accused the Ministry of feigning concern for public interest in order to conceal obstacles to free competition on the air transportation market.