مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Since May 2010, “Greece has been receiving financial support from Euro Area Member States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cope with its financial difficulties and economic challenges. This support comes in the form of economic adjustment programs, which include measures to support the Greek government’s efforts to address economic imbalances, tackle social challenges, and pave the way for sustainable economic growth and job creation” (EU, 2016). In an effort to meet economic reform targets, the Greek Government invited on March of 2013 private investors to submit offers for the concession of the right to use, operate, manage and exploit 14 out of the 38 Regional Airports owned by the Greek State (Hellenic Republic Asset Development FundHRADF-2013a,b,c).1 In December 2015 HRADF (HRADF, 2015) and a consortium comprising of the German group Fraport and Slentel (a unit of the Greek Kopelouzos energy group) signed an agreement for the concession of 14 regional airports. This was ratified by the Greek Parliament in June 2016. The privatization is still in progress and is expected to be finalized in autumn 2016.

Over the years, Greek airports have been owned and managed by the Greek Government through the supervision of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA-YPA in Greek), which is a public authority under the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. HCAA was established in 1926 and its mission was the organization, development, and control of the country’s air transport infrastructure, as well as the research concerning the overall air transport policy. Despite changes that occurred due to Greece entering the EU in 1981, the Greek state has been solely responsible for the maintenance, development and management of Greek airports, with the exception of the new Athens International Airport (AIA) which became the country’s first international airport under private management in 1995.

Greece’s geomorphology includes 80% mountainous terrain and about 1400 islands, of which about 227 are inhabited and vary greatly in size, population, and development. Due to the insular specificity, Greece has an impressively large number of airports relating to its size: 39 airports used for civil aviation in total countryarea of 131,957 sq. km whereas Spain, for instance, has only 50 airports in a total area of 505,951 sq. km (Eurostat, 2014). As a result, air transport is a critical factor both for the social coherence and economic development of the country. It is characteristic that only in 2014 the air transport sector accounted for 807 million Euros of Greek national generated income, recording a 15,7% increase of its contribution over the years of 2010e2014 (Elstat, 2015).