The scenarios for the development of the 23 regional airports of the country that have remained under the management of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are being examined by the Hellenic Holding and Property Company (HHSC), better known as Hypertaeum, giving priority to Kalamata’s “Captain Vassilis Konstantakopoulos” airport, one of the fastest rising airports in Greece, but where an Israeli-owned company is creating an International Air Force Pilot Training Centre.
According to reports, Kalamata airport is proposed to be privatised individually and not in a package with other regional airports. In this way, the Prime Minister’s announcement made in Kalamata in the autumn of 2019 will be implemented. However, what remains open and of particular interest is how to ensure that the Air Force International Pilot Training Centre will operate in parallel and without bringing obstacles to the operation of the civilian airport.
For that airport – which ranks among the top 23 airports, having served more than 330,000 passengers in 2019 – Achilleas Konstantakopoulos emerges as a strong contender. As is well known, the eponymous group has identified its business course with the development of Messinia, which has become a top tourist destination thanks to the infrastructure and services at “Costa Navarino”. The airport will require major interventions for its expansion and modernisation (extension of the building and terminal by 2,500 sq m, extension of the aircraft parking floor by 32,000 sq m, upgrading of the runway and taxiway, etc.), starting with expropriations, with the Ministry of Infrastructure having estimated these costs at between €60 and €80 million.
In any case, however, the equation of developing the 23 regional airports is difficult, as many of these airports lack the traffic and air connections that would make them attractive to private investors. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, these airports have heterogeneous characteristics in terms of passenger and international traffic, growth prospects, infrastructure and capacity, as well as investment and financing needs, which confirms that not all of them will follow the same design. Factors such as geographical and geostrategic location are also among the elements to be taken into account in the categorisation criteria.
The basic scenario being worked out at the Treasury is to create at least one ‘package’ comprising more than one airport to be privatised, while others are to be sold separately. Whether there will ultimately be interest remains unknown.
The prospects for the development of the 23 airports have been assessed by the State’s consultants. They are managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, but the right to concession them has been transferred to EESYP (from the State Property Fund), which will prospectively proceed with tenders for their development, beyond Kalamata, so that the concessionaires can undertake the financing and implementation of key investments in infrastructure and equipment, as well as the upgrading of services. The criterion for the tender will of course be the annual consideration offered, but also the investments that the interested investors will commit to make for the development of the airport. Of course this cannot be done at all airports, say officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, as some of them are not economically attractive due to low traffic, while others host key Air Force infrastructure (Lemnos, Skyros).
Recall that the 23 airports have been categorized since 2019 into three groups or clusters based on their passenger traffic and potential investment interest. The first group is the one with airports serving more than 100,000 passengers per year (Karpathos, Chios, Kalamata airport, Alexandroupoli, Araxos airport), while the second group includes airports with annual passenger traffic between 30,000 and 100,000 (Limnos, Ioannina, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Ikaria, Kythera). Finally, the third category is made up of airports for which investment interest is considered non-existent (Leros, Sitia, Nea Anchialos, Kalymnos, Skyros, Syros, Astypalaia, Kastelorizo, Kastoria, Kasos, Kozani).
It seems, however, that the previous government’s plan, which provided for the concession of commercial operations of airports to airlines and tourism companies, has been abandoned.
The third category airports are almost certain to remain under public control, and for these it is expected that the revenues of the European body Eurocontrol from the fees paid by passing aircraft crossing the Athens FIR will be used. This revenue will be used to pay for the operation of the air traffic control system