Aopa Hellas

 

22 JUNE 2021 Update : Response to the subject AOPA Letter can be found attached at the end of this page.

 

FRAPORT Greece & General Aviation

20^th May 2021

Ref. 04/21

To: Dr. Stefan Schulte Chairman of the Executive Board

FRAPORT AG

60547 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

Cc:

Fraport Greece

CEO Alexander Zinell

COO Ilias Maragkakis

Cc: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Cc: Minister of Toursim Theocharis Theocharis

Cc: Minister of Transport Konstantinos Karamanlis

Cc: Governor of Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority George Dritsakos

Cc: AOPA Greece

Dear Dr Schulte,

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots’ Association of Greece, (AOPA Hellas, www.aopa.gr/en/ ) and the Hellenic Pilots’ Association (HPA, www.hellenicpilotsassociation.org/ ), represent more than 90% of the private and professional pilots and owners of General Aviation (GA) aircraft in Greece.

Both, AOPA Hellas and H.P.A. we are deeply concerned regarding the airport charges imposed to light General Aviation aircraft in the 14 Greek regional airports, operated by Fraport Greece.

Both associations, we had openly supported back in 2015, the prospect of Fraport Greece acquiring the operation of Greece’s 14 regional airports. Indeed, we believed that Fraport Greece would increase the airports’ quality and efficiency, by upgrading the terminal buildings and structures, by extending the airports’ hours of operation and by providing higher quality service to the millions of the tourists, particularly during the summer season. Financing would be and was provided mainly by loans from a Greek Bank (Greek taxpayers’ money).

Notwithstanding our support for the good work that has already been done in the infrastructure improvements of the 14 airports managed by Fraport Greece, also demonstrated by a proportionate increase of the touristic flow, it is notable that the GA customers, particularly those of light aircraft, have been greatly discouraged from using the Greek Fraport operated airports. Although not well known or widely publicized, this discouragement has resulted in a spectacular decrease of GA flight arrivals, both local and European. This was followed by an unexpectedly high barrage of bad critiques and negative comments against Greece, against its Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority and against Fraport Greece itself; frequently published on the pertinent internet sites/blogs.

Both AOPA Hellas and H.P.A. are recipients of numerous complaints from European fellow pilots and owners of GA light aircraft visiting Greece, expressing their disappointment and protest for the unjustifiably expensive landing and parking fees at these airports. The situation has been discrediting Greece as a country and has been curtailing the government’s efforts to promote the “Thematic Tourism of Aviation” (Greek law 4582/2018 Article 11 regarding thematic aerial tourism from 2018).

In light of the above, AOPA initiated subsequent meetings with Fraport Greece’s management, in Athens since 2018. Ref. www.aopa.gr/en/information/news-bulletins/866-fraport-meeting

During these meetings, it was explained by Fraport management that private light aircraft are indeed strategically discouraged from using the Fraport airports due to the nature of the Concession Agreement between Fraport with the Hellenic Republic, stipulating “the maximization of profit of every time-slot” and therefore, “light aircraft are to be charged and managed in such a way, in order to comply with the above principle”. It was also mentioned that “References to GA simply do not exist whatsoever in the Concession Agreement between Fraport with the Hellenic Republic”, a statement which is true if one reads through the subject document. Indeed, as a result of the above, the charges for light aircraft far exceed those of some of the busiest and most expensive main airports in Europe, like Geneva International airport, in terms of landing, parking, see indicative below table.

In addition to the high charges for the non-commercial General Aviation light aircraft, the discouragement is demonstrated via a profound lack of parking spaces assigned for light GA aircraft, as well as a lack of refueling facilities for light aircraft, disregarding Fraport’s obligation as per the MoU Master Plan between Fraport Greece and the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, dated 29/09/2017, article 11, stipulating the requirement for (Quote) “the provision of parking space for the GA aircraft including re-fueling facilities” to all Fraport airports.

It so happens that, the number of pilots and the number of light GA aircraft in Greece is small and therefore, insignificant to affect the financial operations of any airport in Greece in whatever way. However, the number of light aircraft operating in continental Europe, as well as the number of private pilots seeking experiences through aviation tourism, is quite significant and in the order of many tenths of thousands; (General Aviation in Europe is an 80 billion Euro turn-over industry).

It is well known and based on articles over the web, that the dream of every European aviator is to tour the Greek islands in a light aircraft and enjoy the views, the freedom, the weather, the culture, the civilization and the history of the places in the most liberating and yet efficient way. However, the stance of Fraport Greece causes all these light GA aircraft aviators coming from Continental Europe, to end their southbound journey in the GA-friendly Dubrovnik International Airport. This becomes a significantly lost opportunity for Greek high-end tourism, as well as a lost opportunity for additional revenue in the Fraport airports themselves.

The typical light GA 4 seater private aircraft total charges for a 2~5 days’ parking in a Fraport regional airport in Greece amount to 400 Euro per visit including landing, parking, handling, passenger and other fees. It is worth noting that this cost mounts up to more than double the hourly flight cost of any high-performance light GA aircraft and far more than Dubrovnik’s corresponding 80 Euros. These charges are by far disproportional to the standard of living in Greece when compared to by far more inexpensive airport fees presented in countries with a higher standard of living like UK, France and Germany.

The resulting situation appears to be a cause of concern with regards to restricting the inflow of high-end thematic tourism in Greece, given that tourism is the most important contributor to Greece’s annual GDP. It is a statistical fact that the spending power of a light aircraft traveler is a tenfold compared to that of a traveler arriving in a low-cost airline, such as Ryanair. It is also a cause of concern for us that Fraport Greece does not appear to face any competition from any other airport operator company in order to be motivated to align its prices with European airports. This policy of Fraport -unfair to the GA community of Greece- continues until today and it is encouraged by the silent and submissive observation from the responsible Civil Aviation Authorities of Greece.

Given that both Fraport AG and its affiliated Fraport Greece, claim to embrace Corporate Social Responsibility, we are kindly asking you for your assistance to our cause, which is to make the Greek Fraport Airports attractive and friendly towards the lower segment of the General Aviation, and not discriminate against private pilots and owners of non-commercial private light GA aircraft. This can be practically achieved in the following three ways:

1. By simply aligning the airport landing and parking fees to the corresponding regional airports or other Fraport airports in Europe.

2. By implementing additional parking spaces for light GA aircraft at the unexploited areas of the 14 airports’ real estate.

3. By providing light aircraft re-fueling facilities.

We believe that the above initiatives will increase the airport’s operator revenue, they will increase the airport’s value, and they will embrace the currently alienated GA community and its members. Most importantly, such favorable measures will align with the demands of the Greek economy, pertaining to the development of high-end thematic tourism (state law of 2018) and will silence the European GA community negative press against Greece and against the Greek Fraport airports.

We are hereby, copying the Ministers of Tourism and Transport of Greece, as well as the Prime Minister of Greece and the Hellenic CAA Governor, since it is critical for them to be made aware of a situation that has evolved and stagnated since the acquisition of these airports from Fraport Greece by the Greek State in 2017.

Finally, we would like to thank you for your valuable time in reading this letter and hope very much to have an opportunity for a meeting with you, to further explain the subject situation aiming to invent amicable ways forward for the benefit of both the airports’ operation and the GA operators.

Yours sincerely,

For AOPA Hellas                                                                                                            For Hellenic Pilot’s Association

President Kyprianos Biris                                                                                              President George Tsiprianis