A public row has broken out between Romanian airline Carpatair and Timisoara Airport, with the airport operators complaining that the airline owes millions of euros, while Carpatair claims competitor Wizz Air has received preferential treatment and unfair discounts on tariffs.

Timisoara Airport Director Daniel Idolu said Carpatair has debts of RON 3.3 million (some EUR 760,000) and EUR 1.9 million with the airport. Meanwhile, Carpatair has challenged the amounts owed on the grounds that the airline was improperly billed to favor Wizz Air, according to local news agency Mediafax.

Idolu said that the problems go back to 2011, when Carpatair accused the airport operators of giving excessive discounts to Wizz Air, and since then a number of legal processes have been initiated, against both the airport and Wizz Air. The airport director also said that Carpatair has reduced the number of routes it operates in the last few years and seen revenues fall, which although bad for Timisoara Airport, is not the fault of of the airport management.

The figures quoted for tariffs paid per passenger by the two airlines appear to contradict Carpatair's complaints. According to Idolu, back in 2009, Carpatair was charged around EUR 4 per passenger, while Wizz Air paid some EUR 10 per passenger in airport tariffs at Timisoara. Later, Wizz Air benefited from reductions in prices because passenger volumes increased and in the last two years, the two airlines have been charged around the same amount, some EUR 5 per passenger, although Wizz Air still appears to be paying slightly more. Discounts are usually offered to airlines which bring high volume, and as Carpatair reduced its traffic volume, it didn't receive as many discounts anymore.

In reply, representatives of Carpatair say that Timisoara Airport has caused financial damage to the tune EUR 10.5 million to the airline by a discriminatory billing policy. The legal case concerning Carpatair's claims is ongoing. In a separate case, Carpatair also accuses Timisoara Airport of failing to recover EUR 4 million in illegal state aid granted to Wizz Air by the Hungarian Government.

Carpatair made similar accusations against Cluj-Napoca Airport in 2011 and stopped using the airport as a hub. The complaint also concerned Wizz Air, and the same claims of an airport giving Wizz Air an unfair advantage.

editor@romania-insider.com