The passengers leaving the main Ukrainian airport of Boryspil will have to recall the old army statute and get ready to bear up all the hardships and disadvantages of being in this high-quality service enterprise that used to successfully serve hundreds of thousands guests of the European Football Championship. In July the air passenger traffic in Ukraine increased by 10.2 percent as compared to July 2011 and made 995,500 people. The lion share of this fans’ flow travelled through Boryspil. For seven months of the current year 4.8 million passengers used the services of the international airport.
The Facebook page of this state enterprise informed that most duty-free shops and public catering enterprises had been closed in Boryspil since September 1. “As a result, tens of thousands passengers are left without food and necessary goods and the state is bearing significant losses,” the airport representatives responsible for serving passengers complained. The message emphasized that the current situation was caused by the tendering process and completing rent contracts in the State Property Fund of Ukraine and postponing trading activities permits in the restricted areas of the airport by the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
The page emphasized that, according to the global practice, modern airports get 80 percent of their income from trading activities, public catering and other services. In its turn, it allows the airports to invest into the development of traffic services. “Today the airport, which is the state enterprise, does not control this process judicially,” the message specified. “The airport lends its premises through direct agreements between the State Property Fund and tenantries that later get permits at the Customs Service.” The state enterprise also informed that the airport and the corresponding ministry agreed and completed all the documents well in advance, after that they repeatedly asked to accelerate this process.
What winds will blow above the main airport of the country? The Day asked this question to one of the top-managers of the aggrieved company. “If anybody knew it, everything would be different. However, now nothing is clear. One thing that we know is that the new Customs Code became effective on September 1. All the points of duty-free trade, bars, shops and restaurants, have to be adjusted in accordance with the requirements of this document. The important additional circumstance is that the customs have been submitted to the Ministry of Finance which means that they have the new government. Probably, they want to get some evidence. What evidence? Personally I do not understand it. But now nobody has any work permits. Or, probably, somebody has...” “What does it mean for passengers?” The Day asked. “You, probably, know,” the top-manager continued, “that the security service prohibits to bring liquids and food into the customs area and now people have to stay in holding rooms for two hours without a sip of water, whereas previously they could buy anything they needed in duty-free.” The Day asked this person to introduce himself but he replied: “Now we have the situation in which coming into the spotlight means digging my own grave.”
Maria Bielova, working in the public relations in one of the companies having a duty-free shop in Boryspil, told The Day: “All the necessary documents were timely sent to the corresponding institutions, we did not have any refuses and are waiting for results.” She advised us to address this question to the Customs Service or the State Property Fund. Unfortunately, we could not use her advice. It looks like some circumstances make the officials from the ministries involved into this situation be very careful with journalists. The Day was able to talk only to its source in the Cabinet Council. Speaking about the companies that suffered from the new Customs Code he said: “They wanted to be the only ones there until the public prosecutor turned them out. They did not have any rent contract all this time. It is wrong. They only applied for the rent in May. Now the procedure is in progress. If they are the only ones who want to be there, the contract will be signed in ten days. They will get into it without any problems. However, the State Property Fund of Ukraine has to stick to the procedure and it cannot complete it faster than the law provides.”
The Customs Service clarified the situation in the airport of Boryspil. Its message sent to The Day reads that: “The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has found several violations in the work of duty-free shops. In particular, there are not any rent contracts agreed by the State Property Fund in cases when the rent term has finished but enterprises continued their trading activities. In this regard the Prosecutor General’s Office asked to remove the reasons and conditions that contributed to it. On request of the General Prosecutor’s Office the Customs Service assigned an inspection of existing duty-free shops and the Prosecutor General’s Office will be informed about its results.”
So, what is going on? The simplest version is that the new Customs Code has nothing to do with this situation, whereas the involvement of the new government appointed by the Customs Service is quite possible. One call to the Prosecutor General’s Office was enough to make the bureaucratic wheel go round to make a profitable place for somebody at the airport. The Ministry of Infrastructure and its government was offered to share. It is no coincidence that this ministry ignored the call of The Day asking for comments.
