CASE VIADUCT: Blockade of BHANSA is a blow to the state, employees, tourism, economy...

(Patria) - Representative unions at the BHANSA level, together with the Association of Air Traffic Controllers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, held a press conference after the Agency found itself in an unenviable situation due to the non-execution of an arbitration ruling in the case of Viaduct d.o.o. Portorož against Bosnia and Herzegovina, although it is not a party to that proceeding, but its accounts have been blocked. The consequences have fallen directly on the Agency and all its employees. Due to the blocking of funds from Eurocontrol, its basic functioning is jeopardized.

A fact that must not be overlooked is that BHANSA paid over 19.2 million convertible marks into entity budgets in the past year 2024 based on various contributions, and the projection based on the first two months of 2025 shows that this amount will exceed 20.3 million convertible marks in 2025, while as an institution it took 0 convertible marks from the budget.

The state of BiH is obliged to pay 110 million KM to Viaduct, which it should then recover through a recourse lawsuit from the entity of RS.

Suad Kukić, President of the Association of Air Traffic Controllers, said that the damage will be enormous if an unfavorable vote occurs on Tuesday at the session of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

"Regarding the impact on airports, if an unfavorable vote occurs on Tuesday, if BHANSA's capacities are reduced, there will be a reduction in the volume of passengers and traffic from Sarajevo. There will be a huge impact on tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Kukić said.

Armin Fazlić, an area air traffic controller, said that their job is not politics.

"I hope that on Tuesday there will be the will for BHANSA to continue functioning in terms of financing. Weekends are the busiest. This Saturday we had 1,650 overflights in 24 hours over Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is 15% more compared to last year."

Vinko Malnar, President of the Air Traffic Controllers Union, once again called on state institutions to do their job.

"At no point should we have allowed ourselves to be brought into a situation where the survival of BHANSA, which is self-financing, is threatened. Yesterday we had an extraordinary assembly of controllers, two types of conclusions were adopted that we will present on Tuesday after the Council of Ministers of BiH if the proposal to help BHANSA is not adopted at that session. Air traffic will not proceed normally, there will be a gradual reduction of capacity at airports. Therefore, you need to adopt the provision of Minister Edin Forto, which involves the allocation of money by the Ministry of Finance of BiH, which will be returned after BHANSA's accounts are unblocked. Our salaries have now been reduced by 20%, and it is possible that our base salary will be reduced by 40%. The amount of stress we are exposed to, which is abnormal, my salary will be reduced, and all those ministers at the end of the month will receive full salaries regardless of whether they adopt something or not."

BHANSA employees clearly stated that they do not plan to pay other people's debts, and the relevant minister Edin Forto proposed that the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH enable temporary financing for BHANSA.