Remote chance of IPO for airports
Wrocław's airport is one of the fastest growing regional airports in Poland. The 800,000 passengers served last year are expected to grow to one million this year and 1.6 million in 2008. The airport is planning to invest in a new terminal, apron and conference center.
"'There is substantial interest in Polish airports," says the airport's vice president, Zbigniew Sałek, "but there are issues that may deter potential investors." These issues include an unsettled dispute with the Military Property Agency over land ownership. "This is a problem for many airports, including ours," says Sałek.
Administrative decentralization is also key to development. "There ought to be a general tendency to decentralize airport management and reduce the influence of the state, along with institutions such as 'Polish Airports' State Enterprise (PPL)," suggests Sałek. "Regional airports should cooperate more closely with local governments. It might be desirable to privatize airports and, in the long run, enter the stock market."
Attractive as it may seem, entry to the stock market is a remote, if not obscure idea for regional airports. The president of Gdańsk's airport, Włodzimierz Machczyński, is thinking of finding a private investor first. However, this strategy might also meet with obstacles. "We do not have any issues with the Military Property Agency," he says. "We are struggling with complicated regulations and a human reluctance to privatize."
Finding a private investor is also an attractive solution for the airport in Bydgoszcz. "We are looking for someone from the branch with the right know-how," says its spokesman, Mariusz Kończak.
For the local-government-owned airport in Łód, the only regional airport in which PPL is not an investor, listing on the bourse is neither possible nor necessary at the moment. "We would have to transform into a joint-stock company first, and the procedure itself would be too costly for us," points out Elżbieta Gamus, the airport's financial director. "As for private investors, we had several offers last year but haven't made any decision yet."
"The idea of issuing shares is definitely too far-fetched," claims Rzeszów airport's president, Wiesław Mardosz. "We are fully owned by the 'Polish Airports' State Enterprise." This year, however, the airport has plans to transform into a joint-stock company.
Many regional airports are either partially or fully owned by PPL, which currently takes a dim view of privatization. "The prospect of entering the stock market, or complete privatization, is beyond our consideration at the moment," stated Artur Burak, a spokesman for PPL.
