By Justin Lee (Singapore)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
AviAlliance is an airport investor and operator headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. The company was founded in 1997 as Hochtief AirPort, a subsidiary of the international construction service provider Hochtief to assume management for the newly acquired Athens International Airport concession.
With the acquisition of its first airport management concession in 1997, Hochtief AirPort gradually expanded its portfolio of airport shareholdings around the world and also earned a reputation for itself as a consultant in the air transport sector.
In 2013, Hochtief sold all its shares in Hochtief AirPort to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) of Canada. Following the sale, Hochtief AirPort was renamed AviAlliance.
AviAlliance now holds stakes in the airports of Athens(40%), Budapest (55%), Düsseldorf (30%), Hamburg (49%) and San Juan (40%).
The disruption of global air travel due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has affected the airports owned and operated by AviAlliance in both operational and financial terms.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
At Athens International Airport, passenger traffic in the year 2020 fell by 68.4% to reach 8.1 million while the airport’s turnover fell by 62.5% to EUR 194.4mn. The airport’s EBITDA saw a 79.6% decline from EUR 348.8mn in 2019 to EUR 71.1mn in 2020.
At Budapest International Airport which saw a 75.9% decline in annual passenger traffic to 3.9 million, the airport generated a turnover of EUR 116.4mn, which was 64.8% lower than that generated in 2019. EBITDA at Budapest International Airport fell by 84.4% to EUR 38.1mn in 2020.
Düsseldorf Airport handled 6.6 million passengers in 2020, 73.6% lower than the 25.5 million passengers it handled in 2019. Its turnover for 2020 was EUR 187.3mn, 60.4% lower than that generated in 2019. While the airport had generated an EBITDA of EUR 187.8mn in 2019, it made a loss of EUR 70.1mn in 2020.
A total of 4.6 million passengers were handled at Hamburg Airport in 2020, 73.1% lower than the 17.3 million passengers handled in 2019. The airport generated a turnover of EUR 119.3mn in 2020, 56.6% lower than that generated in 2019.