Athens International Airport S.A. or AIA is the airport authority that owns and manages
Athens International Airport
Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' ( el, Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών «Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος», ''Diethnís Aeroliménas Athinón "Elefthérios Venizélos"''), commonly initialised as ...
.
History
AIA was created in 1996 with the Greek government as a majority stakeholder (55%) and
Hochtief
Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The airport was built in preparation for the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
. AIA holds a 30-year concession on the Athens airport, concession that will expire in 2026.
In October 2012, AIA launched the largest unified
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
installation at any airport worldwide, an 8 MWp and 160,000 square meter project that cost 20 million euros and is expected to provide 20% (11 million kWh) of the airport's annual energy consumption.
In March 2013, AIA reduced its airport fees (the highest in Europe then) in a move to increase traffic.
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...
publicly attacked the airport operator and its high fees, arguing that those were to be blamed for the drop of air traffic in recent years.
In May 2013, Hochtief sold its 40% stakes of AIA to Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) for 1.1 billion euros.
In February 2014, a Chinese consortium consisting of FPAM and the
Shenzhen Airport
Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (formerly Shenzhen Huangtian Airport) is the airport serving Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is located on the east bank of the Pearl River near Huangtian and Fuyong villages in Bao'an District, and is n ...
company expressed its intention to buy the 55% shares held by the Greek government.
In September 2014, a Greek court found that Hochtief did not pay VAT in Greece for more than 20 years, holding the German company accountable for reimbursing 500 million euros to the Greek government, even though a British court ruled in favor of Hochtief in March 2013.
In the midst of the Greek government-debt crisis, Europe has constantly advised the Greek government to privatize AIA SA, yet political resistance has led this recommendation unenacted.
In June 2019, Greece's
HRADF
The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A. (HRADF; el, Ταμείο Αξιοποίησης Ιδιωτικής Περιουσίας του Δημοσίου, ''Tameio Axiopoiisis Idiotikis Periousias tou Dimosiou'') or TAIPED ( el, ΤΑΙΠ ...
invited schemes to submit an
Expression of Interest
An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...
(Phase A) for the acquisition of a 30% stake in Athens International Airport SA. The deadline (initially until September 2019) expired on October 29, 2019 and ten investment schemes expressed their interest, including Groupe ADP, APG Asset Management, AviAlliance GmbH,
Vinci Airports
Vinci (corporately styled VINCI) is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale d'Enterprises. Its head office is in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris. Vinci is listed on Euronext's Paris stock ...
First State Investments
First Sentier Investors, formerly known as Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Australia and First State Investments elsewhere, is a global asset management business that manages US$134.4 billion (as at 30 September 2022) in assets ...
,
Global Infrastructure Partners
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is an infrastructure investment fund making equity and selected debt investments. GIP's main headquarters are located in New York City and its equity investments are based on infrastructure assets in the energ ...
and a consortium of Ardian Infrastructure Fund S.C.A., Sicar and Ardian Infrastructure Fund V B S.C.S. SICAV – RAIF, another consortium of KKR- EGIS and a consortium of MEIF 6 Attic Investment, RAFFLES INFRA HOLDING and Chengdong Investment Corporation.