Where we are in the world
Greece experiences a significant economic crisis in 2008 which left the government with litter levers to support business and growth throughout the country. To boost foreign funding, the Greek government privatized 14 airports throughout the country, selling them to a company called Fraport. The deal was inked in 2015 and included many large airports throughout the country except the largest – Athens International Airport.
To see other maps about airports, check out DCA Perimeters and ORD Expansion!
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
Fraport Greece is partially owned by the German government
Fraport is technically a German company based in Frankfurt – their primary operations are operating the Frankfurt Airport, one of the largest in Europe. The company is 31% owned by the German State of Hesse. In addition to this, the company has acquired the rights to operate and gain profitfrom several other airports around the world (in various ownership levels, including:
- Antalya Airport (Turkey) – 51% ownership
- Ljubljana Airport (Slovenia) – 100% ownership
- Delhi Airport (India) – 10% ownership
- Fortaleza Airport (Brazil) – 100% ownership
- Porto Alegre Airport (Brazil) – 100% ownership
Along with these assets, the partially Germany government-owned company created “Fraport Greece” – an entity to manage its 14 purchased Greek airports:
- Aktion Airport
- Cephalonia Airport
- Chania Airport
- Corfu Airport
- Kavala Airport
- Kos Airport
- Mytilene Airport
- Mykonos Airport
- Rhodes Airport – the busiest of the 14, with 5.8mn passengers in Jan – Nov 2022
- Samos Airport
- Santorini Airport
- Skiathos Airport
- Thessaloniki Airport – the 2nd busiest of the 14, with 5.5mn passengers in Jan – Nov 2022
- Zakynthos Airport
Fraport paid EUR 1.2bn to purchase the rights to the 14 Greek airports
The privatization deal negotiated between Fraport and the Greek government was worth EUR 1.2bn to operate and manage all 14 airports, along with a fixed rental fee of EUR 23mn per year. The privatization of industries, including transportation, was a condition that Greece agreed to as part of their economic bailout from the European Uinon after the 2008 economic crisis. The sale of the airports to Fraport Greece represents ~3% of the original EUR 50bn target of Greek state asset sales to private corporations.
Fraport Greece airports are a key factor in the economic growth of the entire country
About 1/5 of Greece’s GDP come from the travel & tourism industry, and all of these 14 airports are key hubs for inbound tourism, especially international tourism. In fact, 80% of all passenger traffic through these 14 Fraport Greece airports is international, with the leading flight arrival countries of origin being UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
Additional links and sources
- Fraport Greece official website (link)
- Article on the initial sale of airports to Fraport (link, published in 2016)
- Stats on the performance of the airports in 2022 vs. 2019 (link, published in 2022)
Have you ever travelled through a Fraport-operated airport in Greece?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
4 thoughts on “Fraport Greece: Greek airports owned by the German Government”
Comments are closed.