Investor presented plans for the reconstruction of the airport in Pardubice

Pardubice - The British investment company John Laing today confirmed its interest in investing billions of crowns into Pardubice Airport. At today's meeting with the city council leadership, it presented a plan, under which the airport should serve 3.5 million passengers annually by 2025. Three other interested parties are also showing interest in the airport. For example, the company Odien from the USA will outline its plans to the city next week, said Deputy Mayor Alexander Krejčíř to ČTK.
    "John Laing and Odien are the furthest along in negotiations. The other two interested parties from Ireland and Korea have not yet responded to our invitations. So, it will likely come down to the first two. However, I note that everyone has a chance," Krejčíř told ČTK.
    The company Odien took over the Daewoo-Avia car manufacturer at the end of 2004 in order to get it out of long-term loss. The British investment company John Laing has a presence in the Czech Republic and has been cooperating with Metrostav since February of this year, which is supposed to build the terminal in Pardubice.
    "Our vision is to create a strong regional airport that, thanks to its impeccable connection to Prague, will offer an alternative for airlines and attract further commercial opportunities," said Jan Martasek, the director of John Laing for Central and Eastern Europe, noting that they would like to start modernizing the airport this year. However, the entire project still needs to be approved by the British leadership.
    The Brits are striving for a majority stake in the company EBA, which manages the airport in Pardubice. The city council "has no problem" with the share distribution ratio, Krejčíř told ČTK. It is likely that the decision on a strategic partner who will ultimately modernize the terminal will be made by the Pardubice city council at a session in June.
    The airport in Pardubice handled a record number of passengers last year. Out of 75,000 people, the majority were travelers from Russia. Next year, the head of the civil airport, Vít Vavřina, estimates that they will handle 90,000 people.
    The city now has to equip the airport by the end of March next year to meet the conditions of the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of people; otherwise, it will lose the ability to transport passengers outside the European Union. If it cannot reach an agreement with investors in time, it is prepared to pay for a partial reconstruction costing 30 million crowns from its own resources.
    In five years, the airport should handle approximately 300,000 passengers annually. In the longer term, it was originally anticipated that it would handle millions of people per year, and the entire modernization was supposed to cost nearly a billion crowns. Given that negotiations with strategic partners by the former city leadership went nowhere, the city decided this year to start the modernization on its own.
    In the future, the airport should serve not only for passenger transport but also for cargo, and there could be manufacturing of aircraft components or a paint shop. A multiple increase in passengers and other investments in the airport area could significantly burden the local traffic. The head of the EBA company, Jan Andrlík, previously told ČTK that if sufficient transport infrastructure is not built, the airport cannot develop to full capacity.
    From 2010 to 2011, the connection around the airport will likely be in the preparation phase, said Bohumil Vebr, director of the Pardubice Road and Motorways Directorate to ČTK some time ago. "Of course, we do not hide from interested parties that further investments such as a paint shop or manufacturing of aircraft components cannot do without transportation bypass near the airport," Krejčíř told ČTK.