Fraport Greece: Ready to Take Over Management of the 14 Regional Airports

Samos Airport. Photo © Daniel541, Wikimedia Commons

German-Greek consortium Fraport Greece on Monday announced that it is ready to take over the management of the 14 Greek regional airports, following a share capital increase of 620 million euros. After this increase, the company’s total share capital amounts at 650 million euros.

According to an announcement, the upfront concession payment of 1.234 billion euros to be made when Fraport Greece takes over the management of the airports and the financing of investments that the consortium will implement by 2020 for the development of the airports’ infrastructure (more than 330 million euros), are fully ensured by the equity and debt financing.

“In view of taking over the management of the 14 airports, Fraport Greece has implemented all required procedures, provided by the concession contract, for the smooth and safe operation of the airports”, the consortium said in an announcement.

The company has also proceeded with the necessary recruitments and training of the employees that will staff the airports, but also to the installation of new IT & T infrastructure for the upgrade of the airports operations. The tenders for the security and facility management and cleaning services of the airports have been completed, while the majority of commercial concessions and leases have been agreed and signed. The contract for fire security services by the Hellenic Fire Service has also been recently signed with the Greek State. Respective contracts have been signed with the Hellenic Coast Guard and the General Secretariat of Civil Protection.

The consortium of German transport company Fraport and Slentel (a unit of Greek energy Copelouzos Group) inked a 40-year contract in December 2015 with the Greek state to manage the airports at 14 regions across Greece that include three mainland gateways (Thessaloniki, Aktion, and Kavala) and 11 airports on Greek islands (Chania on Crete, Kefalonia, Kos, Mykonos, Lesvos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos).