Copenhagen Airports to revamp retail at Black Sea airports

Tina Milton

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The group has confirmed to RavenFox.com that it is to finalise terms for the management of Varna and Bourgas airports next month

Copenhagen Airports has confirmed that retail renovations are among its investment plans for Varna and Bourgas airports. The group told RavenFox.com that it had won the contract to run the two Bulgarian airports and that it is looking for other eastern European airports to manage.

Vice president Flemming Petersen confirmed the company has won the 35-year contract to operate and expand the airports, with an option to extend it for a further 15 years. "The contract will include everything from ground-handling to retail," said Petersen. "I think it was a combination of our business plan and our design ideas that enabled us to clinch the deal. We are willing to invest a lot in the airport."

Petersen was unable to reveal the financial details of the deal but local reports indicate Copenhagen's investment programme included an offer to pay two and a half times above the concession fee. It will contribute a one-off fee of €3m ($3.85m) after the deal is signed and €106m ($136m) over the first three years.

Petersen said that Copenhagen Airports has plans to revamp the retail offer at both airports. "We want to create something new and different as the retail space there is fairly small. We will have to build a new terminal at Varna, but we're not sure what we'll do with the old one yet. There are also plans for expansion at Bourgas."

The final terms of the contract will be finalised with the Bulgarian Government over the next month.

Copenhagen fought off competition from other four frontrunners for the contract. They are; a joint bid between Hochtief airport and Bulgarian tour operator Albena; Vinci airports-Vinci Concessions; a partnership between Fraport -Frankfurt Airport Services and Bulgarian company BM Star; and a French and Kuwait consortium lead by Aéroports de Paris and Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons.