The biggest increase of the number of passengers, new working positions in the region, investments already this year. Plus: railway connection between the centers and airports in both Bratislava and Vienna.
The Consortium TwoOne, composed of Flughafen Wien, AG, the bank group Raiffeisen, and the private equity group Penta, offered six billion Slovak Crowns as a purchase price for 66% shares of the Bratislava airport, i.e., the highest price offered according to the officially published information. The total amount is a Slovak state budget income. Another 7.9 billion SKK is intended for financing investments in the form of an increase of a share capital of the Bratislava airport.
Owing to the intended investments of the consortium TwoOne in the Bratislava and Košice airports in Slovakia, the total amount invested by 2015 will reach 20 billion SKK. Representatives of the consortium today acknowledged to provide for surveying of both Slovak airports for passenger transport.
Guaranteed investments
A contract with the state guarantees investments of 9.37 billion SKK in 2006-2010. If the consortium fails to invest the intended amount, the consortium will pay the difference to the state. The guaranteed investments are intended exclusively for projects directly relating to the operation of the airport (terminal, runways, aprons and so on). It concerns 22 partial projects concerning the Bratislava airport and 10 partial projects concerning the Košice airport, each one with precise financial plan and time schedule.
Better services, more passengers
Massive investments in extending the airport will correspond to the development of the number of passengers: the consortium TwoOne expects that more than 5 million passengers will use the Bratislava airport in 2010 – even due to significantly improved offer. Mag. Herbert Kaufmann, Board Chairman of Flughafen Wien, AG: “According to the study of EU INTERREG III-A, Bratislava will procure more destinations, higher frequency of flights, and more passengers, compared to any other solution.”
A successful cooperation of other airports having the same owners, for instance in London (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead), Paris (Charles de Gaulle, Orly), or in Milan (Linate, Malpensa) is an example for Kaufmann.
Boom for the region
The development of the airport means the development of the entire region. Economic computations indicate that every single million of passengers creates thousand of new working positions in the location of the airport. Based on the above-mentioned study INTERREG III-A, up to 35 thousand working positions may be created in the region by virtue of the cooperation.
“The decision in favor of TwoOne and associated partnership between the Vienna and Bratislava airports would help better integration and development of the Bratislava-Vienna region. The cooperation hides a great opportunity for the entire region and its inhabitants,” says the Board Chairman of RZB Karl Sevelda. Big projects aimed at infrastructure such as this one enable better development of the entire potential of geographical vicinity of Bratislava and Vienna. This brings not only greater and simpler opportunities for flying but also better and faster traffic channels increasing an overall value of the entire region. The region thus becomes more marketable place for living whereby economic development is also supported.
Optimum connection
“In this regard it is particularly important for us that Eastern Slovakia gets an optimum connection to this force field through Košice,” points out Mag. Herbert Kaufmann.
Great opportunities offered by the vicinity of Bratislava and Vienna are indicated by modern fast-train connection CAT (City Airport Train), for which the consortium TwoOne makes plans for 2009. Kaufmann: “Less than one hour from the center of Vienna to the Bratislava airport, or from the center of Bratislava to the Vienna City – there is no one who may offer such a connection to the Vienna market.”
For further information, contact:
Michael Kochwalter Tel.: +43 1 7007 22300
Hans Mayer Tel.: +43 1 7007 23000
Flughafen Wien AG
A-1300 Wien-Flughafen
Andreas Ecker-Nakamura
Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB)
Am Stadtpark 9 – A-1030 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-717071753
andreas.ecker@rzb.at
Andrea Straková
PR Manager and Spokeswoman of the Penta Group for Slovakia
Penta Investments, a.s.
Križkova 9
811 04 Bratislava
tel.: +421 2 5778 8190
fax: +421 2 5778 8051
e-mail: strakova.andrea@penta.sk