VILNIUS — An aviation expert has lauded the Ministry of Transport and Communication’s proposal for a stimulus plan that would subsidize less profitable routes, enabling airlines to fly to and from Vilnius International Airport.

“I do not believe that free market forces are able to guarantee a fair and efficient outcome. I believe that the current financial crisis has proven us that the times of the ‘laissez-faire’ economic policy is over,” German-born aviation consultant Maik Hüttinger told Baltic Reports on Friday. “In case Lithuania wants to attract investors, they will not only have to provide airports, they will also have to guarantee that airports are used.”

The stimulus plan would create direct connections to Europe’s most important hubs — London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam and Madrid — by covering the cost of loss-making routes that were previously dropped by other companies.

Hüttinger is a senior assistant professor at the ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius. He has worked for Lufthansa and studied Nordic and Baltic airlines in-depth. He said the approach isn’t new and is borrowed from the Norwegian public service obligations scheme. He did say that this would be a first for states subsidizing international travel, though.

“Norway realized already very much in the beginning, that their air transport will never be profitable. However they are dependent on it,” he said adding that some Norwegian internal airlines make half their money from subsidies.

Though Hüttinger supports the idea of the subsidy plan, and even calls it the government’s obligation to stimulate aviation in the country, he said using Riga as a hub for the Baltic states is a more viable solution.

“I personally would recommend Lithuania to accept that the country is by its GDP too small to operate a competitive international air network. I would recommend that the government should rather subsidize routes to Riga, in order to guarantee a hub-and-spoke strategy,” he said. “That you can fly from wherever, via Riga, in a comfortable way. For example, it could be that every hour there would be one flight from Riga for transfer passengers without any bigger surcharge. This could simply be organized in a way that the landing and handling fees for Riga flights will be reduced.”