The Minister of Construction, Infrastructure and Transport, Goran Vesić, announced that the Civil Aviation Directorate will launch a tender to select a new ground handling operator at Nikola Tesla Airport because “the state has the right to do so according to the concession agreement with the French company Vinci”.
Vesić explained the decision to launch the tender because it is the concessionaire’s obligation to ensure that the airport services work flawlessly and that the passengers who paid for the tickets get exactly what they paid for.
“That didn’t happen and there were big delays, both of Air Serbia planes and other companies because the airport didn’t have enough people to load and unload the luggage. This is completely unacceptable and I told them that the state authorities will react. I asked them to implement additional measures, to hire more people and pay them better because these are the reasons why they don’t have enough workers. They implemented some measures and they promised to pay their employees more. The situation has somewhat improved but it is still not good enough,” said Vesić.
He underlined that the Civil Aviation Directorate’s inspectors are checking the airport’s operations on a daily basis, particularly the work of check-in staff and the luggage sorting units.
He added that Vinci knew that a new terminal would be opened this year, that Air Serbia would add about 40 percent more flights to its existing schedule and the plans of other airlines to increase the number of their flights.
“All of this was known to Vinci and they had to be better prepared for the season. Belgrade Airport had almost 3.5 million passengers this year and will have seven million by the end of the year, which is a historical record,” concluded Vesić.
(Biznis.rs, 03.07.2023)
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