New Zealanders set to invest in low-budget airport in Kraków

Heads of Terms have yet to be signed, but spokesmen from both Morrison/Infratil and the Krakowski Port Lotniczy (Kraków Airport Ltd) have expressed strong enthusiasm for the potential deal. The New Zealand firm looks to have edged it over the Danish airport operator Copenhagen Airports, after a tender procedure that originally involved fifteen bidders. The criteria for the successful offer included previous experience dealing with budget airlines, as well as having the appropriate financial resources. Speaking from Morrison & Co's Berlin office, development director for airports Matthias Seidenstücker stated that although "nothing has been signed at this point," his company "have certainly expressed interest" in the project and are prepared to "sign Heads of Terms." When asked to confirm that the firm would be spending between zł.70.5 and 117.5 million (€E15 and 25 million) on the terminal, he replied: "I'm not saying this is incorrect." Morrison & Co/Infratil has the majority shareholdings in both Wellington International Airport in New Zealand and Glasgow Prestwick International Airport in Scotland, along with other stakes in airports in Australia. In the case of Prestwick, which it acquired in 2001 from Stagecoach Holdings, Morrison/Infratil has developed a relationship with the Irish low-cost airline Ryan Air, which has contributed to a significant increase in the airport's volume of traffic. The Morrison website also claims that the firm has "considerable experience in public-private partnerships." Its involvement at Prestwick, Seidenstücker maintains, has given it the credentials to take on the Balice project successfully. "We know the low-cost business very well," he says. On its web site, Morrison & Infratil describe their investment strategy as "long-term" and which "requires no pre-defined exit mechanism." The Director of Kraków Port Lotniczy, Marcin Hydzik told Lokale that representatives from Morrison/Infratil were to visit Kraków this week to "find out more about the project." For his part, he believes that, as well as having the money for the investment, the New Zealanders' "experience with Ryan Air, is very significant," as is their previous work on military airfields in the Southern Hemisphere. "Balice Airport is very unique," he says, and is "very important as a NATO base," as well as for civilian air traffic. Copenhagen Airports, which, as well as the Danish capital's hub, has stakes in airports in Newcastle in the UK, Mexico, China and Norway, seems to have lost out in its bid for the project because it usually works with "more traditional terminals, like at Okęcie" airport in Warsaw, according to Hydzik. "They weren't quite as flexible as Morrison," he says, who offered "something different." Balice Airport is Poland's second largest after Okęcie and serviced 593,000 passengers last year. This year it is planning for that figure to increase to anything between 660,000 and 880,000. The new terminal is scheduled to begin dealing with air traffic by the end of this year.