Compensation of 27,000 lei net at Bucharest Airports, approved by the Ministry of Transport / The Proprietatea Fund's proposal of 11,000 lei was rejected

In the midst of the period when the Bolojan Government is proposing reforms in the state administration, the Ministry of Transport approved an allowance of 46,560 lei gross/month (about 27,200 lei net) for each member of the Board of Directors of the Bucharest National Airport Company (CNAB). As a rule, a board of directors meets once a month.

Fondul Proprietatea, a minority shareholder in the company, proposed an allowance of 19,885 lei gross (about 11,600 lei net), but the request was rejected by the Ministry of Transport, in the General Meeting of Shareholders on December 2.

It should be noted that the majority shareholder is the Ministry of Transport, with 80%.

Ilie Bolojan criticized, a few weeks ago, the high allowances from transport companies

At this moment, the members of the Board of Directors of Bucharest Airports are: Eduard Bachide, Georgeta Bumbac, Cosmin Florin Mihălțean, Ileana Mirela Bîrchi, Constantin Gabriel Bunduc and Cătălin Diaconu. Their terms expire in July 2028.

At the end of October, the prime minister criticized the high level of allowances that executives at state-owned transport companies receive. He gave the example of three companies, one of them being Bucharest Airports itself. Only a few weeks after these criticisms, the Ministry of Transport approves these allowances for the members of the Board of Directors.

“I looked at three companies, for example, in the transport area, at Kogălniceanu Airport, at Otopeni Airport and I think at Romasta. Management allowances exploded. They are quite robust amounts and they increased them by 40-50%. But there is no problem that these data will be made public. Do you think they have reduced them? No, they prefer to stay at the limit until you can no longer block their budgets, no interested in this, instead of returning to some decent allowance values. And if the law can no longer force them, maybe common sense could force them or the ministry to put pressure on them, because they are actually defying the people”, said Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, in October.

Fondul Proprietatea accuses the Ministry of Transport of making it difficult to list “Bucuresti Airports” on the stock exchange

Fondul Proprietatea made several proposals regarding corporate governance during the AGM, which were rejected. In the Fund's opinion, their rejection will make it difficult to list the company on the stock exchange.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan recently announced that state companies will be listed on the stock exchange. He gave the example of CEC Bank and Bucharest Airports.

Franklin Templeton, the administrator of Fondul Proprietatea (the Fund), expressed his deep disappointment after the rejection of all his proposals regarding corporate governance at Compania Nationala Aeroporturi Bucharest (CNAB), according to a press release.

Daniel Naftali, Portfolio Manager of Fondului Proprietatea, criticized MTI's decision, stating that it demonstrates a “lack of commitment to complying with corporate governance standards at CNAB”.

According to the Fund, these rejections will lead to the delay of essential investments in the airport infrastructure, in addition to the fact that it will make it difficult to list on the stock exchange.

This situation sends a negative message to investors, both Romanian and international, regarding Romania's commitment to corporate governance and the development of the local capital market, Fondul Proprietatea also believes.

Rejected proposals and reasons cited by the Fund

Proprietatea Fund's proposals:

• Re-selection of the financial auditor. The fund requested a resumption of the process to appoint an auditor with recognized expertise in capital market transactions. Failure to achieve this goal will result in additional delays and costs to a potential listing.
• Transparency in the decision-making process: The Fund opposed amendments to the Constitutive Act that would reduce the time limit for convening the Board of Directors (BoD) to just 48 hours and would allow a majority of the BoD members to decide on additional items without the approval of all. These changes undermine the CA's supervisory function and point to a “negative model” that is repeated at other companies subordinated to MTI, such as Timișoara Airport.
• Fair remuneration: The Fund's proposal to establish a fixed gross monthly remuneration of 19,885 lei/CA member, based on industry benchmarks, was rejected. Instead, an amount of 46,560 lei gross/month/member was approved, considered by the Fund to be “deeply disproportionate” compared to other airport councils in Romania.

The National Company Aeroporturi Bucuresti SA, which operates on Otopeni and Băneasa, had, in 2024, a profit of over 600 million lei, on a turnover of 1.8 billion lei. For 2025, a profit of over 500 million lei is estimated.

The majority shareholder (80%) is the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Transport. Fondul Proprietatea owns 20% of the shares.

The company recorded, in 2024, at Henri Coandă International Airport Bucharest and Bucharest-Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport, an air traffic of 16 million passengers and 134,700 landings and takeoffs.