REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

25.12.2014 Views

CEFTA-2006 AND ANHANCING COMPETITIVENESS OF THE REGION - SOME SECTORAL ASPECTS At the moment the level of air transport connections within the region is shown bellow. Table 7: Destinations and frequencies within region - 2008 Airline No. of routes SEE routes Adria Airways 27 6 Destinations / Weekly frequency Ljubljana - SJJ 7x; TGD 3x; TIA 7x; SKP 11x; OTP 4x; PRN 14x Zagreb - SJJ 14x; SKP 7x; TDG 3x; PRN 4x SEE freq. Croatia Airlines 36 4 28 Bulgaria Air - Hemus 34 3 Sofia - TIA 2x; SKP 2x; OTP 5x 9 Air Moldova 16 1 Chisinau - OTP 5x 5 Albanian Airlines 4 1 Tirana - SKP 3x 3 Belle Air 19 1 Tirana - PRN 12x 12 BH Airlines 6 1 Sarajevo - SKP 3x 3 Macedonian Airlines 6 0 - 0 Tarom 38 2 Bucharest - SOF 11x; KIV 4x 15 Carpatair 34 1 Timisoara - KIV 6x; Montenegro Podgorica - BEG 21x; LJU 2x; 14 3 Airlines Tivat - BEG 14x 37 JAT 33 4 Belgrade - SKP 18x; LJU 7x; TGD 33x; TIV 31x 89 Total 267 27 247 Source: According to various sources, prepared by authors According to the above data only 10.1% of existing routes are oriented to the area of Southeast Europe (primary airports connections only). Mainly existing routes connect the above mentioned area with the central, western and northern Europe. Average weekly frequency on half of the Southeast Europe routes (13/27) is less than one daily flight. Taking into account the long term schedule planning 4 (fleet diversity, man power planning, protecting hubs, adding or changing hubs and adequate facilities at airports) and market evaluations 5 (frequency and time of service, adding new and dropping existing markets, pricing policy, competitor behavior, code sharing agreements and alliances) (Bazargan, M. 2004:32) there is necessity for creating a new network model to increase air connectivity within the region. List of existing routes indicates the possibility to establish new routes on the following city pairs which would be conducted in phases: a) First phase (by the end of year 2010) - priority o Evaluation of existing routes and city pairs; 46 4 +60 months 5 12-36 months 261

PART IV: b) Second phase from 2011 to 2012 o Bucharest ↔ Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo; o Belgrade ↔ Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb; o Ljubljana ↔ Sofia; o Sofia ↔ Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Podgorica; o Zagreb ↔ Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade, Tirana. c) Third phase after the year 2012 o Bucharest ↔ Tirana, Podgorica, Prishtina; o Belgrade ↔ Tirana, Chisinau; o Ljubljana ↔ Chisinau; o Sofia ↔ Sarajevo, Tirana, Chisinau; o Zagreb ↔ Chisinau… Traffic on the specified new city pairs would be served by the formula 3+3 equally by two airlines on the route. (For example Croatia Airlines on route ZAG↔OTP in days 1.3 and 5 and Tarom on the same route in the days 2, 4 and 7.) Of course there are other possible combinations: 2+4, 4+3 etc. The specified list of routes can be amended with other combinations which include other primary airports in the region: Burgas, Varna, Split, Dubrovnik, Timisoara, Cluj and Tivat. The implementation of the proposed project with introduction of PSO for the region should take into account the cultural and ethnic differences, particularly cultural fit factors: work style, management style, attitude towards the customer, team spirit, performance focus, attitude towards learning, risk taking etc… (Iatrou, K.and Oretti, M. 2007: 178) Application of the PSO model must take into account the low living standard, price elasticity of demand and the appropriate amount of the ticket price. (Vasigh, B., et al. 2008: 65.75) Creating a single European market more than 58 million people and 30 airports of the Southeast Europe region would be fully integrated consisting thus market for 500 million people in total. In order to be successful in this process the airlines of Southeast Europe should segment their market properly, avoiding the mistakes of both over and undersegmentation, and build a sound understanding of the needs of their customers in each of the market segments. (Shaw 2007:48) At the same time standard of living in the region points to the need of avoiding influence of exogenous factors (cyclicality, ease of access to capital, cost of aircraft, competition, consolidation…) and endogenous factors (labour, management, pricing…) to generate losses in aviation sector. (Pilarski, 2007: 85-176) Such a project requires an economic evaluation to a deeper look at all the possible economic and social effects within the region, all in the context of further European integration processes. One of the key factors is a partnership interested subjects within the region to achieve the high level of synergy necessary for implementing the project. CONCLUSIONS Committing to continue harmonizing legislation with EU laws, removing the remaining market access restrictions on flights between the EU and the region, removing existing 262

PART IV:<br />

b) Second phase from 2011 to 2012<br />

o Bucharest ↔ Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo;<br />

o Belgrade ↔ Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb;<br />

o Ljubljana ↔ Sofia;<br />

o Sofia ↔ Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Podgorica;<br />

o Zagreb ↔ Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade, Tirana.<br />

c) Third phase after the year 2012<br />

o Bucharest ↔ Tirana, Podgorica, Prishtina;<br />

o Belgrade ↔ Tirana, Chisinau;<br />

o Ljubljana ↔ Chisinau;<br />

o Sofia ↔ Sarajevo, Tirana, Chisinau;<br />

o Zagreb ↔ Chisinau…<br />

Traffic on the specified new city pairs would be served by the formula 3+3 equally by<br />

two airlines on the route. (For example Croatia Airlines on route ZAG↔OTP in days 1.3<br />

and 5 and Tarom on the same route in the days 2, 4 and 7.) Of course there are other<br />

possible combinations: 2+4, 4+3 etc. The specified list of routes can be amended with other<br />

combinations which include other primary airports in the region: Burgas, Varna, Split,<br />

Dubrovnik, Timisoara, Cluj and Tivat.<br />

The implementation of the proposed project with introduction of PSO for the region should<br />

take into account the cultural and ethnic differences, particularly cultural fit factors: work<br />

style, management style, attitude towards the customer, team spirit, performance focus,<br />

attitude towards learning, risk taking etc… (Iatrou, K.and Oretti, M. 2007: 178) Application<br />

of the PSO model must take into account the low living standard, price elasticity of demand<br />

and the appropriate amount of the ticket price. (Vasigh, B., et al. 2008: 65.75)<br />

Creating a single European market more than 58 million people and 30 airports of the<br />

Southeast Europe region would be fully integrated consisting thus market for 500 million<br />

people in total. In order to be successful in this process the airlines of Southeast Europe<br />

should segment their market properly, avoiding the mistakes of both over and undersegmentation,<br />

and build a sound understanding of the needs of their customers in each of<br />

the market segments. (Shaw 2007:48)<br />

At the same time standard of living in the region points to the need of avoiding influence<br />

of exogenous factors (cyclicality, ease of access to capital, cost of aircraft, competition,<br />

consolidation…) and endogenous factors (labour, management, pricing…) to generate<br />

losses in aviation sector. (Pilarski, 2007: 85-176)<br />

Such a project requires an economic evaluation to a deeper look at all the possible economic<br />

and social effects within the region, all in the context of further European integration<br />

processes. One of the key factors is a partnership interested subjects within the region to<br />

achieve the high level of synergy necessary for implementing the project.<br />

CONCLUSIONS<br />

Committing to continue harmonizing legislation with EU laws, removing the remaining<br />

market access restrictions on flights between the EU and the region, removing existing<br />

262

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