A consortium between the German airport operator giant Fraport and the Greek Copelouzos Group have won a concession from the Greek government to take over the operations of 14 the country’s airports.
They’ve pledged to invest heavily in upgrades to the airports in a bid to win more business from European airlines and tour operators keen to increase the number of tourists travelling to the country.
The agreement is expected to result in long-term benefits for the Greek economy, creating thousands of new jobs, not just at the airports themselves, but through construction contracts and greater demand for Greece’s tourism sector.
The deal will bring in €1.2bn over the next 40 years, according to consortium officials. President of executive committee of Fraport AG Stefan Schulte predicted 3 percent annual growth for the 14 airports and insisted that “we are not here for a quick profit. We have long term collaborations with leading airlines and big tour operators and we expect to bring them here as well.” He said the consortium had scheduled €330m in investments into the airports that will be managed and that subsequent investments couldn’t be ruled out.
Dimitris Kopelouzos, President of Kopelouzos group, predicted that as many as 20,000 new jobs could be created through the investment. The deal marks the first major privatization by the country’s leftist government, which has come in for criticism over the slow speed of fiscal reform.
