Serbia awards Belgrade airport concession to France's Vinci (updated)

Aerodrom Nikola Tesla ad Beograd

06/01/2018 11:30

(Adds details, background) 
    BELGRADE, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Serbia awarded a 25-year 
concession to run Belgrade airport Nikola Tesla  AERO.BEL  to 
French construction and engineering group Vinci  SGEF.PA , which 
offered to pay 501 million euros  ($603 million), President 
Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday.  
    Vinci, Europe's biggest construction and concessions 
company, pledged to invest another 732 million euros over the 25 
years, Vucic said.  
    He added Vinci had committed to keep all employees currently 
working at the airport.     
    Traffic at Belgrade airport has increased since 2013 when 
Abu Dhabi's Etihad bought a 49 percent stake in indebted flag 
carrier JAT, rebranding it as Air Serbia and introducing new 
routes. 
    Once closed to international air traffic during a decade of 
war and sanctions under late Serbian strongman Slobodan 
Milosevic, the number of passengers using the airport hit five 
million in December. 
    Belgrade airport's CEO told a local news agency in December 
he expected profit to rise to 29 million euros in 2017 from 26 
million euro a year earlier.  
    The government holds a 83.1 percent stake in Belgrade 
airport, while small shareholders own the remaining shares.      
    ($1 = 0.8314 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Mark Potter) 
 ((ivana.sekularac@thomsonreuters.com; +381 11 30 44 930; 
Reuters Messaging: 
ivana.sekularac.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SERBIA AIRPORT/CONCESSION