eKathimerini — The management and operation of 14 regional Greek airports will be handed over to Fraport Greece on Tuesday, when the German-Greek consortium will also make a one-off payment of 1.2 billion euros to state sell-off fund TAIPED.
It has taken four years since the proclamation of an international tender in April 2013, and the inclusion of the concession among Greece’s “prior actions” – measures demanded by Greece’s creditors in exchange for bailout funding – for the project to be completed.
Delivery of the airports to the German-Greek consortium began early on Monday and continued until late at night, coordinated by Fraport Greece’s “command center” at its headquarters in Kalogreza, northern Athens.
Following last Friday’s Eurogroup meeting, where the airports concession to Fraport is thought to have been discussed, the final protocols were signed on Monday. In an unusual move, the Greek government had to agree to additional guarantees demanded by Fraport to secure its investment against the risks of Grexit or state bankruptcy.
The company has undertaken the operation, maintenance and development of three mainland airports (Thessaloniki, Aktio and Kavala) and 11 island airports (Cephalonia, Corfu, Chania, Kos, Myconos, Mytilene, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos) for the next 40 years.
Within this month, Fraport will conduct extensive cleaning and renovation work at all the airports, including the painting of installations and bathroom facility improvements. Infrastructure works will begin right after the summer, to be executed by Intrakat.
Fraport’s investment program amounts to 400 million euros for the first four years, of which 95 million concerns Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Airport, including construction of a new terminal. New terminals will also be built at Argostoli (Cephalonia), Corfu, Kos and Mytilene.
