The Slovak-Asian Chamber of Commerce (SAAC) based in Bratislava plans to establish a joint Slovak-Chinese air transport company, WDL Airlines, to operate a direct flight between Bratislava and the Chinese city of Tianjin, the SITA newswire reported. The airline is to use a Boeing 747 plane.
SACC informed SITA that the Chinese partner in the company – the government-supported Wadelong firm will own a 60-percent share and a Slovak company will have a 40-percent share. Next year Chinese representatives are expected to come to Slovakia to finalise the agreement.
“During negotiations, the SACC got many offers for collaboration, with the offer of the Chinese Wandelong company being one of them,” Jaroslav Melíšek of the chamber told SITA, adding that the Slovak company wishes to stay anonymous at this time. The new joint company will be based in Bratislava and become registered with the Slovak Aviation Office.
The first flight is expected in May or June 2014 with flights twice or three times a week that are expected to attract mostly businesspeople as well as tourists. The city of Tianjin lies about 140 kilometres southeast of Beijing and has about 17 million residents, SITA wrote. Bratislava’s M.R. Štefánik airport has so far not confirmed the planned flights but had confirmed that negotiations were underway.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
