by Matina Harkoftakis
Athens International Airport has revised upwards its outlook for the entire current financial year, taking into account the positive performance achieved in the first quarter of 2024.
“Passenger traffic recorded an increase of 16.5% in the first three months of this year, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. This is a significant growth, which was also reflected in the financial figures. This leads us to a review towards on the forecast for the overall course of the year”, noted a while ago the managing director of AIA, Yannis Paraschis, in the context of the first general assembly held after the entrance of the country’s largest airport to the Athens Stock Exchange months ago.
“Our target is to exhaust 15% of the return on the deposited capital, which based on the regulatory framework is the return that we have the possibility to realize from the aviation activities. But beyond 15%, in recent years we have shown a better profitability than the airline activities as we cover unrealized profits or unrecovered costs on previous flights mainly due to the period of the corona virus pandemic. Therefore, for the year 2024, we expect amounts that we will recover from the above part, so there is no question of covering the 15 % “, pointed out Mr. Paraschis.
As far as airline fees are concerned, the company’s program foresees maintaining them at the same levels, implementing 15% and recovering the operating costs as well as the financial costs of the investments.
At the same time, the head of the AIA noted that the process for the implementation of the first phase of the large investment program (50MAP Master Plan) planned by the Athens International Airport, El. Venizelos, based on which the gradual increase in the capacity of the country’s largest airport is foreseen with the ultimate goal of being able to serve 50 million passengers by 2046.
Currently, the final stage of the architectural competition is underway to select the office that will undertake the design of the first and second phases of the airport expansion. We remind you that the first phase, which will increase the capacity from 26 million today to 33 million passengers by 2028, will require funds of the order of 650 million euros, while the second phase, which requires funds of more than 700 million. euros, is expected to increase capacity to 40 million passengers by 2030. As Mr. Paraschis mentioned, he has already started the process of seeking capital from both domestic and foreign sources of financing.
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