Some 18 months after the Fraport-led consortium was selected as the preferred investor for the concession of Kalamata International Airport “Captain Vassilis Konstantakopoulos,” the contract between the new Kalamata airport company and the Greek state is expected to be signed on June 22, during the Investor Summit organized by the Growthfund, which ran the tender process.
The signing of the 40-year concession, however, does not signal the immediate takeover of the management of the airport by Fraport AG and the Copelouzos and Konstantakopoulos groups; it will take six to seven weeks to complete the required procedures, including the ratification of the contract by Parliament and its conversion into state law.
However, the ground for the transition to the new regime has already been prepared. Since mid-March, a special team of Fraport executives has been established in Kalamata, undertaking the first adaptation work in view of taking over the management of the airport. At the heart of the interventions are the IT and telecommunications infrastructures.
With taking over operation of the airport, the implementation of an extensive investment program is underway to upgrade the infrastructure of the main air runway of the Peloponnese. The gradual improvement of the services provided and the expansion of capacity are estimated to add to passenger traffic, which currently approaches 380,000 passengers per year. The goal is to almost double this number by 2030.
