Why taxes on Baneasa Airport are higher than in Rome, Madrid and Lisbon

Low-cost airlines pay higher taxes on the Aurel Vlaicu (Baneasa) Airport than on the airports in Rome, Madrid and Lisbon, according to data centralised by ZF.

If the passenger tax on Baneasa Airport, located 8.5 kilometres away from the centre of Bucharest is 17 euros (plus airport security tax), the same tax is 8 euros on the Barajas Airport of Madrid, located 14 kilometres away from the Spanish capital, according to market data.

Passenger plus security taxes reach 15 euros on the airport in Lisbon, 7 kilometres away from the city and 16 euros on the Fiumicino airport in Rome (34 kilometres away from Rome), on which mainly low-cost companies operate, according to the booking site of low-cost airline Blue Air, which show exactly what passenger and security taxes are included in the final price of plane ticket. On the other hand, such taxes on the country's biggest airport Henri Coanda (Otopeni) reach 21 euros.

"Airport taxes are set based on the costs of the airport, on the existing facilities (only one terminal i.e.) and the proximity to the city. Normally taxes on Baneasa should have been even higher than those on Otopeni, considering it is closer to the city centre, but the existing facilities do not allow for such a thing. When we have upgraded the airport, we will charge higher taxes," said George Mihalcea, general manager of Aurel Vlaicu Airport, which reached almost 18 million euros in turnover last year, while the profit margin reached almost 50%. The general manager of the airport says no investments in infrastructure were made last year, in order to cut costs.

Most of the revenues of the Baneasa airport, 80%, come from taxes charged from airlines. "We are a kind of collector of such taxes from passengers. All airport taxes are included in the tickets we sell," said Adrian Ionascu, general manager of Blue Air, the biggest low-cost company operating from Baneasa.

Besides security taxes paid by passengers, an airline also pays 6 euros per tonne of aircraft for takeoff and landing on the Baneasa Airport.

In other words, for an about 60-tonne aircraft on the average, an airline will pay 360 euros for takeoff from Baneasa, about 100 euros less than it should pay if it were to take off from Otopeni for instance (7.5 euros per tonne).