German Fraport Calls on Greece to Respect Airport Contract

Chania Airport.

Frankfurt-based transport company Fraport is calling on Greece to honor a 1.2 billion euro deal set to close in October, for the management of 14 regional airports, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Under the deal, the German airport operator will lease and run 14 local airports in leading tourist destinations jointly with Greek energy giant Copelouzos.

Fraport’s finance chief said on Saturday, that he expects the newly-elected Syriza government to respect the agreement, one of the biggest since the crisis, despite the Greek government’s plans to halt all privatization projects estimated at some 5.4 billion euros, among them the sale of the Greece’s largest port.

The new government is aiming to renegotiate the terms of a bailout plan set out by its international lenders.

Fraport’s CFO, Matthias Zieschang, told German financial paper Boersen-Zeitung that a possible Grexit may prove beneficial for the Greek economy in the long term as it would boost tourism, assuming that the Greek national currency would be devalued against the euro.