Travelers squeezed by airport debt

RIGA - The new International Riga Airport terminal project must be carried out by 2014, and the government will review it together with the 2012 national budget, Transport Minister Uldis Augulis (Union of Greens and Farmers) said in an interview with Nozare.lv. “The government has clearly stated that it realizes the importance of the national airline airBaltic, which will be maintained. However, it is also necessary to implement the airport’s terminal project,” emphasized the minister.
Augulis says that the airport’s runways will be brought to order with aid from the European Union’s Cohesion Fund. According to the submitted plans, the terminal will be reconstructed by 2014, when Riga will become the European Capital of Culture. The project must be completed by 2015, when Latvia will hold the EU presidency.

The most “logical” terminal development model has been chosen and assessed, and there is plenty of time to conclude it. The Transport Ministry is ready to submit the project to the government, which will review it together with the 2012 budget.
The current terminal extension project is estimated to cost 68 million euros. According to the new terminal’s concept, the passenger flow from the Schengen Area countries will be separated from other passenger flows. The concept also envisages new baggage handling halls with automated baggage handling systems. The passenger registration area and the aircraft docks will be wider.

Passengers will have to wait for a new and more spacious terminal, but they may soon be hit with higher traveling costs, if airport security has its way.

Riga International Airport Security Department Director Raimonds Lazdins plans to increase the airport’s security costs threefold next year by acquiring - charging - the necessary funding from passengers, as documents submitted to the government suggest. Chairman of the Board of Riga International Airport, Arnis Luhse, though, has not been informed about such plans, reports TV3 broadcast program Neka personiga (Nothing Personal). Luhse said that he had no clue about the idea to implement the fee, as he was certain that the current funding is enough for airport security.

Lazdins’ offer is to spend 10 million lats (14.2 million euros), instead of the current 3.5 million lats, on airport security. In order to acquire such funds, the airport has prepared a draft that provides for security fees in the amount of 9 euros per traveler if the money is collected by an airline, or 10 euros if the money is collected by the airport.
The airport’s transit and transfer passengers would not have to pay the fee.

His calculations are based on an estimate that the number of the airport’s passengers will decrease 40 percent next year. If it remains at the current level the airport would collect 17 million lats a year in fees.
The new fee is necessary because of lower subsidies from the state as well as airline debts, still to be collected, have put a hole in the airport’s budget, and the passengers are being made to pay for the shortfall. Ryanair, for example, owes the airport 700,000 lats; airBaltic owes twelve times much.

Lazdins’ estimates submitted to the government also provide for an additional 4.4 million lats for the staff, 1.2 million for communications, maintenance and consultations, 1.5 million for outsourcing companies, and 1.7 million for investments. A more detailed application of funds is kept secret, as is usual in Latvian state-run operations, which suggests that the expenses are probably already included in the airport’s budget.

The security director communicated his plans directly to the government, but forgot to inform his boss, Luhse.
Luhse said that three million lats is enough to implement the necessary security measures.
On Oct. 10, the Cabinet of Ministers’ committee slowed down the proposal to introduce these security fees at Riga International Airport. The committee, instructed by Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity), submitted the proposal for additional harmonization to the Justice Ministry. The ministry points out that these services are public and cannot be subjected to late fees.

The ministers were also not sure whether the new fees will apply to those passengers who have already bought their tickets, and how these changes will affect the airport’s transit passengers. Dombrovskis also wants to receive the airport’s explanation why the estimated security fees in Riga are higher than in other airports.

As the problems at airBaltic have been temporarily solved, it seems the state may now have to turn its attention and investigate closely the confusion and reporting of the airport’s operations.