The government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina held a session on October 22, 2020 and passed a decision on suspending fees for the development of air traffic until 31.12.2021.
The abolition of this fee should result in a reduction of
airline ticket prices to the satisfaction of all passengers, as well as
airlines operating from Sarajevo International Airport.
The fee was introduced based on the decision of the government
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005 with the aim to develop
civil aviation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was applied
only to companies operating at Sarajevo International Airport.
The fee of 10 euros per departing passenger from Sarajevo
Airport was used mainly for the reconstruction and development of two other airports
in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mostar and Tuzla International
Airports). Last year, Sarajevo Airport collected €5.763.380 or 11.272.191
Bosnian Marks in the above-mentioned tax.
It is very ironic that the main airport in the country is
collecting this tax just to support Mostar Airport, which is partially owned by
a foreign company – in this case, Zagreb Airport. This is consistent with Tuzla
Airport, which supports foreign airline, Wizz Air, with huge discounts for
airport operations with the funds collected at Sarajevo Airport.
If Sarajevo Airport would like to see a recovery from the devastating
Covid-19 pandemic, its owner (the Government of Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina) should invest this tax to bring new airlines that would attract
mass tourism to the city and the whole country, or abolish the tax altogether
in favor of bringing low cost airlines to Sarajevo.
Source: Flying Bosnian and Sarajevo Airport
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