Letter from President of the Management Board of Gdansk Airport

"Dear All,

The day before yesterday was International Civil Aviation Day, and probably because of that, the entire aviation industry and passengers received a "wonderful gift" from our policy makers.

The Parliamentary Finance Committee rejected an amendment by opposition MPs to subsidize the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency with PLN 50 million next year, so that there would be no need to increase terminal fees for Polish regional ports.

This means de facto that the increase in charges has become a reality and its costs will be borne by airlines, airports, all users of the aviation market and passengers. Terminal charges for regional airports will increase by 37%, for Warsaw-Chopin airport they will increase by 29%.

I want to "very sincerely thank" everyone decision makers for turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the airline industry or passengers and giving us a fee increase. In my opinion, in such economic crises as we have now, entrepreneurs need not ordinary officials to cooperate with, but courageous officials/managers who understand and feel the market and the phenomena occurring in it.

"Thank you especially" on behalf of passengers from Pomerania, Podkarpacie or Lubelszczyzna and other regions of Poland where residents use regional airports, for lowering the competitiveness of these airports and consequently raising ticket prices disproportionately and giving them the opportunity to cover PANSA costs all over Poland, excluding Warsaw-Chopin airport. Pomeranian residents are certainly happy and joyful to cover the costs of PANSA in Radom, Zielona Góra or Katowice.

I send "exceptional thanks" on behalf of the residents of Mazovia who use Warsaw-Chopin Airport for not having to pay, in solidarity, the costs of PANSA at other regional airports in Poland - because, well, why?

During these consultations I heard a lot of "golden thoughts" from decision makers regarding possible financing of PANSA from the state budget:
- “it could be unauthorized state aid,", which is obviously not true;
- “it would be a hidden support for low-cost airlines, because they are the ones who fly from regional airports,", we explained that every regional airport in Poland would welcome traditional carriers with open arms, only that they are not too keen on opening connections from smaller regional airports;
- “it will not be the Polish cashier who never uses and will not use air transport to bear the cost of financing it", which is not true, as the said Polish cashier is already doing so by financing the construction of the Central Communication Port and helping LOT survive, which is, after all, financed from the state budget;
- "we will not support foreign low-cost airlines because they are in a great financial position, as evidenced by the fact that now, in a pandemic, they pay their employees, including pilots, 100% of their salaries", which I will ignore silently because I don't even know how you can come up with something like that;
- “we have to cover the operating costs of PANSA therefore we are raising the fees, another "golden clerical thought" that I dedicate to all the entrepreneurial losers in pandemic (hotels, restaurants, airlines, fairs, airports etc.) who do not know how to adjust the price of their product/service so as to generate profits rather than incur losses;
- “a 37% raise is a very small raise”, another thought I shall simply leave without comment.

Looking for positives, I note that we should only be happy with a 37% increase, after all, it could be higher!

It is surprising that the government does not agree to subsidize PANSA with PLN 50 million and at the same time PLN 3 billion is allocated for the purchase of aircraft for VIPs (long-term program called "Zabezpieczenie transportu powietrznego najważniejszych osób w państwie" [Securing Air Transport of the Most Important Persons in the Country). It probably makes no sense to buy this service from LOT Polish Airlines and thus help our national carrier which is in a tragic situation.

And now, without irony, I truly want to thank the following persons from the bottom of my heart for supporting our efforts to prevent the raising of fees for the airline industry and passengers:
•    owners of the Gdansk Airport (Mieczysław Struk - Marshall of the Pomorskie Voivodeship, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz - President of the City of Gdańsk, Jacek Karnowski - President of the City of Sopot, Wojciech Szczurek - President of the City of Gdynia);
•    MPs from Pomerania (Agnieszka Pomaska, Tadeusz Aziewicz, Piotr Adamowicz, Małgorzata Chmiel);
•    Dariusz Joński, Chairman of the Standing Subcommittee on Air Transport, and other opposition members of that subcommittee who supported the airline industry in their demands;
•    Pomeranian senators (Ryszard Świlski, Bogdan Borusewicz, Sławomir Rybicki, Stanisław Lamczyk, Kazimierz Kleina),
•    Pomeranian and national employers' organizations (Business Centre Club, Gdański Klub Biznesu [Gdańsk Business Club], Pomeranian Employers),
•    Pomeranian tourist organizations (Gdańsk Tourism Organization),
•    colleagues in the aviation industry, those who have actively participated in our fight,

and, most of all, a great thank you in a very special way:

•    to passengers using our regional airports who have expressed their support for our cause in various ways over the past months.  

Tomasz Kloskowski - President of the Management Board of Gdansk Airport"