Fraport’s masterplan for Greece’s 14 regional airports approved

The Ministry of Infrastructure finally approved Fraport’s masterplan regarding the necessary upgrade works that will be carried out by the new manager. This means that all construction sites will start operating soon, one after the other, signifying the beginning of the 340-million-euro worth projects, implemented by Intrakat contractor, that will have to be completed by Autumn 2021.

It is reminded that upgrade works concern the airports of Thessaloniki, Chania, Rhodes, Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini, Samos, Lesvos, Kos, Aktio, Kefalonia, Skiathos and Zakynthos.

According to Fraport’s estimations, some 600 new jobs are going to be created during the process. The new image of regional airports’ terminals stands out and will be achieved with the construction of new facilities in 5 cases (Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Airport is also included), whereas another 5 will be upgraded and expanded and the remaining 4 will be redesigned and modernized.

Interestingly enough, 2016 figures show that Fraport’s 14 airports, recorded a satisfying traffic of 25mn passengers (when they were still state operated). This figure is larger than Athens Airport traffic, which recorded last year, 20mn passengers. For 2017, the increase continued for the first 8 months, with +10.4% (or +1.85mn passengers), which is analyzed to 12.5% ​​for international flights and 4.3% for domestic flights.

With regard to Fraport’s flagship airport, “Makedonia” of Thessaloniki, it seems that there are expectations for its transformation into a large metropolitan airport. A downside is the expedient nature for the completion runway’s 10-28 upgrade work and, as the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Sprintzis said in his interview yesterday, there is a cooperation with the concessionaire to find the optimal solution that will allow projects to complete in a short time and the airport to operate as smoothly as possible. However, the issue is expected to be resolved in the coming days.