Sarajevo International Airport in May this year took over the duties of counter-sabotage inspection from the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and so far more than 500.000 pieces of hand luggage have been inspected, and more than 75.000 required additional inspection. However, as stated by Sarajevo Airport, not a single case has been recorded that would endanger the safety of passengers, staff, or flights.
In this way, Sarajevo Airport proves that safety is not a matter of status, but of principles and systems, and in a security context can match many airports in the European Union (EU).
Based on available information, through the Baggage Handling System (BHS) from the beginning of the year until the end of August, more than 450.000 checked pieces of luggage were processed, and more than 40.000 of them were sent for manual inspection.
As a result, almost 10.000 prohibited items were removed from luggage, which further confirms a serious security approach in all operations.
These data also confirm that Sarajevo Airport, although BiH is not a member of the EU, has not received a single complaint from other airports that luggage inspected at our airport was poorly inspected, thereby confirming the highest level of security and quality of work.
“With the increase in traffic volume (by the end of this year, more than 2.000.000 passengers are expected), we are aware that potential challenges are also increasing. We encounter different situations which, within the framework of civil aviation at the airport, in the largest number of cases, we mark as events. In the past period, none of these events endangered the safety of the airport, and therefore not the safety of passengers.
All these events were resolved efficiently, with full cooperation and coordination with the Border Police Unit and the Customs Office. We did not call them incidents because most often these are situations when passengers, due to haste, lack of information, or sometimes negligence, come to the airport and in their luggage have items that cannot be brought onto the airplane. Such items we confiscate, but we leave passengers the possibility of reclaiming them, if the items are not of such nature that they require further support of the Border Police Unit,” they emphasize from the Airport.
For actual incidents, which can be marked as a potential danger, the Airport has appropriate plans and readiness of the responsible services to reduce risk and prevent possible escalation. The Airport is also not immune to false threatening reports, but everything is assessed in an emergency procedure, and with planned action declared harmless. Incidents are usually marked as “abandoned luggage” or “unattended luggage,” and in all cases were declared harmless by the Border Police Unit.
“When it comes to goods, we rarely encounter shipments that can be classified as prohibited or goods smuggled through the airport. We believe the reason for this is that senders, through freight forwarders and other entities, are usually beforehand informed about what can and cannot be transported by air,” they state from Sarajevo Airport.
The airport operator, as they add, possesses appropriate security equipment and conducts security screening of all goods and mail intended for export through the airport, which is certainly another reason why Sarajevo Airport is avoided as an option for potential smuggling.
In terms of the type of processed goods through the Cargo Center of the Public Enterprise International Airport “Sarajevo”, to the greatest extent, products of the pharmaceutical, defense, and automotive industry are processed for export, as well as valuable shipments of commercial banks and biological substances such as blood samples, stem cells, and similar.
The average amount of cargo processed through the Cargo Center J.P. Sarajevo International Airport d.o.o. Sarajevo in the past three years (2022-2024) amounts to 2.723 tons, of which 89.3% (2.443 tons) accounts for cargo shipments, while the remaining 10.3% (280 tons) are postal shipments, mostly of public postal operators in the Federation of BiH (FBiH). The average coverage of export by import in the segment of cargo shipments, including military cargo shipments, amounts to 31.4%.
“The spectrum of imported goods is much wider and includes many commercial goods, but without dominant categories. Still, among the most represented goods in imports, we would highlight imported cargo shipments containing telecommunication products, IT equipment, pharmaceutical products, medical instruments, as well as equipment and spare parts for almost all industrial branches,” they state from Sarajevo Airport.
The Airport possesses modern security equipment, including metal detector gates, a face screening scanner, and advanced X-ray scanners for screening luggage and shipments, which enables efficient detection of explosives, weapons, and other prohibited substances.
Despite the fact that BiH is not yet a member of the EU, no European or world airport has issued a complaint about the quality of security screenings conducted in Sarajevo, which further confirms a high level of compliance with international standards, especially Annex 17 of the ICAO convention.
“From the aspect of personnel potential, the airport operator has an adequate number of workers who, organized in teams, implement demanding physical protection measures of all parts of the airport complex and facilities, including the perimeter and airport fence. Their weapons are discipline, vigilance, and knowledge. The airport operator also follows world trends and, within its development plans, foresees continuous modernization of security equipment,” the Sarajevo International Airport stated.
