The airport on the island of Milos, in the Cyclades [Shutterstock].
In the weeks after Easter, before the summer, the Growthfund is planning to publish a call for expression of interest in an open international tender for the concession of the 22 regional airports now managed by the Civil Aviation Authority.
The related services of the Growthfund, following a decision, decided to proceed with an open tender for the en-bloc concession of all 22 units that belong to the fund’s portfolio.
The incentives plan weighed in previous months as a qualifier for increasing investor participation is frozen, at least for the time being. That plan provided for the process to invite only the existing concessionaires of the largest Greek aviation infrastructures and, in return for the investments they would have to make at the 22 airports, to receive an extension to the existing concession contracts they currently have.
However, this model requires approval from the European Commission, which is estimated to take more than a year to secure. In view of the large increase in international arrivals in Greece and the development of tourism, such a time frame is not workable.
Of course, if the invitation to express interest in an open international tender proves fruitless, “then the country will have one more argument to request approval of the alternative plan, and rapidly too, from the European authorities,” well-informed sources tell Kathimerini.
These are the airports of AAlexandroupoli, Araxos, Astypalaia, Chios, Ikaria, Ioannina, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Kastoria, Kozani, Kythira, Leros, Limnos, Milos, Naxos, Nea Anchialos, Paros, Sitia, Skyros and Syros. According to market estimates, the estimated future cash flows of these 22 state-owned airports show that even if passenger traffic were to double, their annual revenues would hardly exceed €65-70 million.
At the same time, estimates for the budget of the required investments in relation to their upgrade start at some €200 million and increase depending on the extent of the interventions that will be decided and designed according to the needs of each airport.
The need to increase passenger traffic management capacity at the 22 regional airports is also documented by the forecasts of the Airports Council International (ACI World) for global passenger traffic in the period 2025-2054.
