Abstract
This paper solves the regional airports in the Slovak Republic and the problems they have been facing while focusing on the specific, i.e. ˈsmall regionalˈ airports category (up to 200,000 passengers transported per year). Moreover, the issue of Slovak regional airportsˈ problems is connected mainly to their funding system, which has shown to be insufficient, and the extent of their utilization in relation to their untapped potential. It was proven that small regional airports with an annual throughput under 200,000 passengers are unable to break even and to cover their operational costs as well and thus must be subsidized. Funding of ˈsmallˈ regional airports can be considered as not only the Slovakian problem, actually it is a broad long-term EU problem and there were several approaches established by the EU related to adjustment of those issues. The current legislation is represented by new Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1084 thanks to which the state aid at the EU level has been greatly simplified. The paper focuses on the case study of chosen Slovakian small regional airport near Žilina, in Dolný Hričov, which the possibilities of several measures for its revitalization and efficiency improvement are depended on the operational-technical characteristics and position within the region.
Highlights
Introduction toSlovak regional airportsproblems –sufficient funding andutilized potential?In the Slovak republic, there are currently more than thirty airports – thirteen public and six with the status of an international public airport with the permission to provide international commercial operations, handling, rescue and firefighting, and air traffic services in Slovakia: Bratislava, Košice, Žilina, Piešťany, Sliač and Poprad-Tatry
This paper is dedicated to the actual state of regional and small regional airportsproblems in the Slovak Republic in relation to their funding system and the extent of their utilization, while focusing on the case of Žilina Airport
The total costs amount was on the decrease between the years 2015 – 2017 and the amount of cargo carried had a declining tendency, which was reflected to costs per one tonne of cargo carried: in 2014 the costs reached almost 853,000 EUR and in the following year, it decreased to merely 703,900 EUR
Summary
In order to understand these problems, it is necessary to define the key term, i.e. ˈregionalairport asan airport with average annual passenger traffic of up to 3 million passengersaccording to Article 1 paragraph 153 of the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1084 of June 2017 amending Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards aid for port and airport infrastructure [3]. The guidelines on state aid were established as a part of several changes leading to common air transport servicesmarket and in history, there were three phases of their development: the 1-st phase (1984 – 2005) – no particular guidelines were in existence, the 2-nd phase (2005 – 2014) – Communication from the Commission: Community guidelines on financing of airports and start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports (2005/C 312/01) were in existence and the 3-rd phase (since 2014) – Communication from the Commission: Guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines (2014/C 99/03) have been in existence
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