The debts of BH Airlines exceeds 13 million Euros, it was said today at the meeting held at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Communications in Sarajevo.
Representatives of the Ministry talked with the Management and the Supervisory Committee of BH Airlines about the problems in this airline and the possibilities for solving them.
“The situation is extremely complex considering that BH Airlines is blocked by several suppliers. The debt towards HETA, ‘Hypo Leasing’ from Austria amounts to 7.5 million Euros and it refers to the supply of airplanes purchased in 2005 under very unfavorable contracts. When the leasing contracts expire, those airplanes will be owned by the Austrian company Hypo Leasing and not BiH,” Enver Bijedic, Federal Minister of Transport and Communications, said.
He added that BH Airlines owes the International Airport Sarajevo around 7 million KM, while debts towards certain domestic and international suppliers amount to 3.5 million KM.
“At the meeting we decided to send the information, which will contain all these data presented by the Management of BH Airlines, to the Federation BiH Government with conclusions that have been reached,” said Bijedic.
The first conclusion refers to accepting the information of the activities of BH Airlines in a way that obliges the Management to draft a rehabilitation plan for the company.
“The second conclusion is to try and make a reprogram of debt with the Sarajevo Airport so the airport unblocks the accounts. The third is to make payment of the debt from travel taxes from the subaccount of the Federation of BiH budget to HETA or Hypo leasing,” Bijedic added.
The fourth conclusion, which is the most difficult one for implementation according to him, is to find a minimum of necessary funds of around 1.5 million KM to repair the airplane and urgent claims so the account of BH Airlines gets unblocked next week.
Bijedic said that the Federal budget allocated around 7.5 million KM to BH Airlines and that this is the maximum it can give and that with all these funds they are operating with losses.
“The debts of BH Airlines amount to 13 million Euros so far,” Director-General Amir Jazic confirmed.
He said that according to the Tax Administration, regarding the Pension Fund, they have a debt of 2,45 million KM.
“It’s a debt that was incurred since 2011 and to date it has multiplied and grown to that amount. We submitted an application for an agreement soon and expect a response from the Tax Administration,” Jazic added.
He recalled that the airline “Turkish Airlines” broke the partnership with BH Airlines two years ago.
“The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the sole owner of BH Airlines, and we hope it will do everything possible to restore this public company,” added Jazic.
The attitude of the Ministry of Transport and Communications FBiH is to find a way to help BH Airlines to avoid shutdown or bankruptcy as the only national airline in BiH.