Specifically, between January and June 2016, 9.64 million passengers passed through the 14 airports now managed by Fraport Greece. More than half of those passengers, in fact, were recorded in June, the first month of Greece’s tourism “high season”.
June 2017 posted a 16-percent increase in passenger traffic compared to the same month in 2016.
All of the airports, with the exception of Mytilene (Lesvos), posted higher passenger traffic figures. The airport on the latter island, the hardest hit from the refugee/migrant crisis that spilled over from neighboring Turkey in 2015, showed a decrease in passenger traffic by 5.3 percent.
The biggest increases among Fraport’s stable of Greek airports were in jet-setting Mykonos (31.6 percent), followed by the Ionian holiday island of Zakynthos (24.9 percent) and the equally well-known Dodecanese destination Kos (up by 22 percent).
Awarding a 40-year concession for the 14 regional airports around Greece has been one of the landmark privatizations achieved during the crisis years in the country, along with the concession for the Piraeus Port Authority. (Article: 13 out of 14 Fraport -managed regional airport post higher passenger traffic in H1 2017 via naftemporiki)
Greece formally completed the transfer of 14 regional airports to a consortium led by Germany’s Fraport AG, in a privatization that was a key element of the country’s bailout program.
The consortium has paid a 1.23 billion-euro ($1.3 billion) lump sum.
The 14 airports are Thessaloniki — Greece’s second largest city — Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Corfu, Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Kos, Lesbos, Skiathos, Samos, Chania, Kavala and Aktio.
The moment the trasnfer was finalized, Fraport Greece raised the fee charges for passengers departing from these airports.
PS See? The moment tourists heard, the regional airports were sold to Fraport and the charges went higher, they started booking their Greek vacations. Or not?
Well I was in Mykonos last weekend and it was absolute paradise. The only bad part of it was the infrastructure. So I think fraport taking over Mykonos Airport will improve the airport and give a better experience to tourists, which means yes, more will come as Mykonos will be more pleasant!
Greece may have many islands, but none of them match Mykonos for its jetsetness !
HA! you don’t pay your DEH bill but go to Mykonos over the weekend. Typical neoliberal!
Fraport acquired the airports virtually for free (see the full agreement and you will realise what I mean). A small investment – funded by the Greek banks and probably not paid back – of course will increase their profits but will do nothing for us or the state. Have no doubt: colonies are here to be exploited and drained, not to be “developed” or “modernised”.