Airport El. Venizelos: Sail for 30 million passengers and large markets in Asia – America – How is the expansion plan progressing

26.04.2024

El. Venizelos Airport of Athens has set sail to overcome the barrier of 30 million passengers for 2024. This was announced at the first regular general meeting of Athens International Airport (IAA), after listing on the Stock Exchange.

The CEO of the company, Yannis Paraschis, said from his side that the first quarter was quite positive as the airport’s passenger traffic increased by 16.5% compared to 2023.

As he noted, the major global concerns from China, India, USA and Canada are now being targeted. “We will invest in the development of medium and large investment destinations,” he said characteristically. In fact, he did not fail to mention the investments of Aegean which have the possibility of journeys of up to 7.5 hours, which gives it the possibility to reach the major markets of Asia.

With regard to the expansion of the airport, according to the investment plan mandated by the Master Plan, an increase in commercial spaces of over 60% is also foreseen. At this time, the first phase of the expansion begins, architects and architects are selected for the design of the new spaces. At the same time, moves are being made to secure financing from credit institutions at home and abroad.

In order to keep revenues high, AIA will keep airfares stable. If, next November, the airport modernization and development fee is reduced from 12 euros per departing passenger to 3 euros, the loss will be equalized by charges to passengers and companies. It is noted that the airline fees correspond to 5% of the price of the air ticket.

As Mr. Paraschis explained, it still aims to exhaust the maximum cumulative return of 15% on the initially deposited capital, based on the regulatory framework. At the same time, the highest returns in the airline business to date are achieved by recovering unrealized profits from previous years, with management expressing confidence that this will also happen in 2024.

The third axis is the recovery of operating costs and investments, based on the airport’s “dual till” regulatory framework. Today, the company has a healthy financial position with net debt of €649.7 million and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.8. “There is no risk of overexposure to financial costs”, estimated Mr. Paraschis, expressing the intention not to increase the ratio above 2.5 to 3.

The 2024 outlook for El. Venizelos Airport includes the maintenance of high operational productivity and healthy profit margins with the adjusted EBITDA index exceeding 60%. For 2023, adjusted EBITDA was €367.2 million, up 16.7% compared to 2022, while adjusted EBITDA margin was 62.9%. Also, with the ongoing investments in clean energy, Athens Airport is expected to reach the goal of net zero in 2025.