Low-cost airlines pay higher taxes on the Aurel Vlaicu (Baneasa)Airport than on the airports in Rome, Madrid and Lisbon, accordingto data centralised by ZF.
If the passenger tax on Baneasa Airport, located 8.5 kilometresaway from the centre of Bucharest is 17 euros (plus airportsecurity tax), the same tax is 8 euros on the Barajas Airport ofMadrid, located 14 kilometres away from the Spanish capital,according to market data.
Passenger plus security taxes reach 15 euros on the airport inLisbon, 7 kilometres away from the city and 16 euros on theFiumicino airport in Rome (34 kilometres away from Rome), on whichmainly low-cost companies operate, according to the booking site oflow-cost airline Blue Air, which show exactly what passenger andsecurity taxes are included in the final price of plane ticket. Onthe other hand, such taxes on the country's biggest airport HenriCoanda (Otopeni) reach 21 euros.
"Airport taxes are set based on the costs of the airport, on theexisting facilities (only one terminal i.e.) and the proximity tothe city. Normally taxes on Baneasa should have been even higherthan those on Otopeni, considering it is closer to the city centre,but the existing facilities do not allow for such a thing. When wehave upgraded the airport, we will charge higher taxes," saidGeorge Mihalcea, general manager of Aurel Vlaicu Airport, whichreached almost 18 million euros in turnover last year, while theprofit margin reached almost 50%. The general manager of theairport says no investments in infrastructure were made last year,in order to cut costs.
Most of the revenues of the Baneasa airport, 80%, come fromtaxes charged from airlines. "We are a kind of collector of suchtaxes from passengers. All airport taxes are included in thetickets 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 pays6 euros per tonne of aircraft for takeoff and landing on theBaneasa Airport.
In other words, for an about 60-tonne aircraft on the average,an airline will pay 360 euros for takeoff from Baneasa, about 100euros less than it should pay if it were to take off from Otopenifor instance (7.5 euros per tonne).
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