Crete Airport Tender Process Deadline May be Pushed Forward

Despite having set May 6 as the final date for the submission of binding offers for the Kastelli airport project on Crete, Reuters reports that the government just may extend the tender procedure.

“All interested parties have asked for an extension and the ministry is looking into it,” an infrastructure ministry official told the news agency.

According to Reuters, leading French concession & construction player Vinci was expected to express interest together with Greek contractor Ellaktor. Spain’s ACS was also set to join GEK-Terna in the bidding, as was China State Construction Engineering and joint venture partner Zurich Airport. All groups aim to obtain the 37-year concession in the project, which has thus far been budgeted at 900 million euros. The winning bidder will also be responsible for the construction of Crete-wide road links to the airport.

Slated to be operational in 2018, the airport – set to replace the current Nikos Kazantzakis airport in Heraklion – is expected to handle more than seven million passengers per year, becoming Greece’s second-biggest airport.

In the meantime, passenger traffic to Crete increased in March with Heraklion airport seeing a total of 95,067 passengers go through its gates.