São Paulo – Foreign airport management companies are eyeing concessions of Brazilian terminals to private companies. In the near future, the federal government aims to promote auctions of Guarulhos airport, in São Paulo, Viracopos, in Campinas, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, and Brasília. There are no restrictions to the presence of foreign capital.
The minutes of the calls to tender forecast that the holders of the concessions will be responsible for expansion and operation of the terminals for 20 years in the case of Guarlhos, 25 in Brasília and 30 in Viracopos. The Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), the current administrator of the airports, will have a share of up to 49% in the business.
Among the foreign companies interested is Fraport, which operates 13 airports in different countries, the most famous in Frankfurt, Germany, one of the busiest in the world.
“Fraport is certainly interested in bidding for Brazil’s airports,” said the company to ANBA by e-mail, through its press department. “Brazil is well displayed on our radar screen. We already manage airports in other BRIC nations (Russia, India and China) and Brazil is the only missing ‘brick’,” it adds.
In September, the German company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian Ecorodovias aiming at participating in the airport concession process. The partners of the latter include Brazilian construction company CR Almeida and the Italian Impregilo group, and operates in the area of highway concession in Brazil.
Another company interested in Brazil is the Turkish TAV Airports, which operates terminals in four countries, including those in Istanbul and Ankara, in Turkey. “We believe that Brazil possesses an undiscovered potential in the aviation sector, which may be activated after the planned concessions take place,” said the company to ANBA through its press department.
To TAV, the number of passengers in Brazil is low if compared to other countries with similar characteristics. Apart from the repressed demand, he points out that the country will have “great potential” with the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Fraport points out that it is experienced in airport operation in “high-peak traffic periods”, like during great sports events.
Emerging markets
Apart from Turkey, TAV manages airports in Tunisia, Georgia and Macedonia and recently won, in partnership with two Saudi companies, the right to expansion and operation of Medina airport, in an enterprise evaluated at between US$ 1 billion and US$ 1.5 billion. TAV Construction, the group’s construction company, also participates in large projects in Qatar and Oman.
Although Frankfurt Airport is its main window, Fraport also manages terminals in developing countries, like those in Lima, Peru, Antalya, in Turkey, New Delhi, in India, Xian, in China, Cairo, in Egypt, Jeddah and Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, and Dakar, in Senegal.
Both companies state that the main business opportunities today are in emerging nations. “Emerging markets are of particular interest because of the growth potential and the need for infrastructure development,” said Fraport.
“Emerging markets are promising markets at the moment. They may be considered as risky, but return and risk are positively correlated in most of the investment schemes,” said TAV. “In Turkey, we have already experienced a very pleasant outcome after the liberalisation of the aviation sector and completion of the concession of major airports with the triple growth of total number of passengers since 2000,” added the Turkish company.
State-owned
The privatisation of the terminals in Guarulhos, Campinas and Brasília will not be the first in Brazil. In August, the government promoted the auction of São Gonçalo do Amarante airport, in Rio Grande do Norte, won by a consortium that includes the Brazilian Engevix and the Argentine Corporacíon América. The latter manages terminals in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Armenia and Italy.
In the case of Rio Grande do Norte, however, there is no Infraero participation, as the airport does not exist yet, just a runway, different from the case of the three to be tendered in the near future.
To Respício do Espírito Santo, Air Transport professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the compulsory presence of the state-owned operator may cool the appetite of foreigners in Brazilian auctions.
“Brazilian airports are attractive, after all, it is a market that is growing steadily and has great potential,” said the professor. “Or it could be, if the participation of Infraero was not compulsory. This obligation reduces the activity a little,” he added.
The fact is that, despite having a minority share in future airport concessions (of up to 49%), Infraero is responsible for coordination of “Airport Authorities”, recently established by the government to “improve the management of airports, coordinating actions, sharing information and integrating systems,” according to the Civil Aviation Secretariat, an organisation connected to the Presidency of the Republic.
ANBA got in contact with the British BAA, which manages airports in London, among others, with its controller, the Spanish Ferrovial, and with Corporacíon América to know whether they are interested in the Brazilian market, but there was no reply.
The Australian Map Airports informed that it has sold its share in European airports to turn its full attention to Sydney Airport and, thus, does not plan to acquire new concessions in the near future. The Canadian Vancouver Airport Service (YVRAS) said it will not comment on the topic for the time being.
*Translated by Mark Ament
