Kalamata Airport sale plan
The Superfund plans to have received binding financial offers for the concession of Kalamata airport by the end of June, so as to complete the signing of the concession contract by the end of the year, to be ratified by the Parliament.
Kalamata International Airport was a pilot tender for the Superfund, which chose to run the process itself and not through its subsidiary TAIPED. The tender was announced early in 2022 with interest expressed by a joint venture between GEK Terna and the Indian GMR Airports, another between the French Egis Airport Operation, Aktor and Aeroports de la Cote d’Azur, another between Fraport AG, Delta Airport Investments and Pileas SA, and finally Mytilineos’ joint venture with Corporation America Airports (CAAP). The four schemes seek the right to administer, manage, operate, develop, expand, maintain and operate Kalamata International Airport.
In parallel with the tender for Kalamata Airport, the Superfund is evaluating utilization models for the other 22 regional airports that remain under the control of the state and are currently operated by the Civil Aviation Authority.
After a relevant tender, Eurobank was hired as a financial consultant for the utilization of the 22 airports, and Doxiadis Associates as the technical consultant, while YLP & DVLaw took on the work of the legal consultant. Their task is to assess the state of the airports and the related investments required and to update the Kantor study of the 22 airports from a few years ago. These are the airports of Karpathos, Chios, Alexandroupoli, Araxos, Limnos, Ioannina, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Ikaria, Kythera, Leros, Sitia, Nea Anchialos, Kalymnos, Skyros, Syros, Astypalaia, Kastellorizo, Kastoria, Kasos and Kozani. Most need serious investment both in terminals and runways, as well as in their electronic and mechanical equipment.
Meanwhile passenger traffic at Greek airports jumped to a new record high in 2023, totaling 72,613,658, up from 63,672,121 in 2022 and 64,169,005 in 2019 (up by 14% and 13.2%, respectively), the Civil Aviation Authority said in a report on Tuesday. In December, passenger traffic rose 16.2% from 2022.
