Bosnian airports in the grip of international profiteers: Concessions are an attempt to rob the FBiH, just as the region is being robbed!

By: Rasim Belko

We must defend our airports, and that must be the focus and essence of the concession story imposed on the FBiH Government and the public by US Ambassador Michael Murphy and EU Delegation Head Johann Sattler.

Because, even those economic analysts who claim that FBiH airports should be given under concession simultaneously state the reasons why some regional airports have slowed down due to these concessions, and some have been completely set back.

The departure of Wizz Air from Sarajevo International Airport is clearly part of a plan to stifle both Sarajevo and Tuzla Airports, while Mostar has been in trouble for a long time.

Among the shareholders of Wizz Air is the American JP Morgan, known for years for scandals involving high-ranking diplomats and politicians, including Jean-Claude Juncker, former President of the European Commission. Even the Holy See closed its account at JP Morgan bank in Italy due to scandals.

The fact that the pressure on the imposed government in FBiH came directly from the US and EU representations clearly shows who is behind the plan to seize airports in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the benefit of international companies, under the guise of poor management of these airports. Therefore, it is difficult to believe that the departure of foreign companies from Sarajevo and Tuzla airports is a product of coincidence and business reasons.

Analyst Alen Šćuric, an aviation expert from Zagreb, who recently told Klix that BiH airports need concessions, himself admits that most regional airports under concession operate worse than before.

“Concessions in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Skopje, and Pristina were not rational. These are cities whose airports could have expanded with their own funds, these are airports that were managed exceptionally well. They were growing significantly, even more than they are growing today. This particularly applies to Zagreb and Ljubljana. They worked exceptionally well,” says Šćuric, but he still tries to convince us that we should give our airports under concession, even though no one can and will guarantee us that these airports will not subsequently be shut down due to unprofitability.

The story of corrupt dealings and conditioning, which the media in Serbia have written about, is also not negligible. But let's return to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where ambassadors and diplomats behave like sheriffs, who want us to believe them rather than our own eyes and minds. Thus, they explain to us that we should dismantle our energy sector, even though we are one of the few countries that does not lack electricity, and we even export it. But it doesn't suit diplomats, especially American and EU ones, that we export; they are there to transfer that money to their companies.

Similarly, they would turn our airports, which with investment could be made more successful than regional ones, into their companies' golden geese, and then in 10-20 years we would read in the New York Times or from someone like Assange how these ambassadors took millions to arrange this, while telling us that the fight against corruption is the key problem. It's not that it didn't happen; on the contrary.

Therefore, the responsibility to preserve the airports owned by the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina lies solely with the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, and local authorities when it comes to Tuzla and Mostar.

There is money in this country, and even when there isn't, institutions easily incur debt, so it is reasonable, necessary, and essential that if necessary, they borrow from creditors and equip these airports to meet the highest standards. Sarajevo Airport has already done a significant part of this work.

And yes, if Wizz Air and other companies of American and European ownership do not want to operate at such airports, then companies that do should be found, and we should not pay attention to Murphy and Sattler threatening us with sanctions, because surely our goal is to survive and live better as a society and a state, not to please sheriffs who want to impose rules on us that they wouldn't dare elsewhere.

And yes, operational data shows that Sarajevo International Airport operated positively in the last two years, despite all the problems and investments, with a profit of several million.

Therefore, it is clear that Ambassador Murphy was malicious when he stated in his letter that airports would operate better if they were managed better. Given that in the post-corona year, Sarajevo Airport made a profit of millions, it is clear that there is room for improvement in the capacity of domestic management.

On the other hand, the story that regional airports are recording significant growth after concessions has also proven to be false, given that some of them are experiencing a decline in traffic, some are forced to slow down traffic growth, and some have lost the potential they had before the concession.

All of this leads to the conclusion that the sole goal is to seize airports in BiH for the quick profit of international wheeler-dealers, and Nikšić and his ministers must be clear about this before the citizens have to explain it to them from the streets. And Nikšić knows well what that looks like.