Despite green light, doubts persist about airport deal with Fraport

The consortium that has won the 40-year concession for 14 Greek regional airports is asking for more guarantees and there are doubts whether the government will receive the 1.2 billion euros it was expecting from the project this year.

A decision published in the Government Gazette on Monday indicated that the current coalition is ready to move ahead with the deal, which was struck in 2014 but had been in doubt until recently.

Germany’s Fraport and Greek energy firm Copelouzos had agreed with the Greek privatisation agency last year that they would run the 14 airports around the country.

Under the terms of the deal, the German-Greek group was expected to spend about 330 million euros in the first four years to upgrade the airports, which would be leased for 40 years.

However, Kathimerini understands that the consortium is asking for more guarantees from the Greek government following the uncertainty of the last few months. The group is also facing greater financing costs due to the higher country risk associated with Greece.

This has raised doubts about whether Greece will able to reach its bailout target of receiving 1.2 billion euros from the agreement by the end of the year.

“The Greek government’s decision is not tantamount to the conclusion of a contract but rather offers a basis for the resumption of negotiations,” Joerg Machacek, a Fraport spokesman, told Bloomberg on Tuesday. “We are building up from where we left off.”