newstodate.aero
Nov 09, 2011 (newstodate): The Lithuanian government is now to make its second attempt to obtain the parliament's approval of a proposal to change the status of the country's three international airports from direct state ownership to public limited companies.
-The proposal now on the table is to turn each airport into a separate plc. The issue will soon enter the agenda of the parliament, and we might expect a decision after some three to six months of negotiations and further analysis, says Rimvydas Vastakas, Vice-Minister of Transport and communication.
-Once the proposal has gained approval and takes effect, two options are then open for development of the airports. One alternative is to attract an experienced airport company to take responsibility for managing one, two or all three airports in order to build up new routes, attract new airlines and grow the business.
-The other alternative, which would require a renewed parliamentary decision, would be to allow for part of the state-owned shares in the plc to be sold in the market as an effort to bring in fresh investments to further boost the development of the airports. This would, however, be still some time in the future, if proposed at all.
-In either case, we are very satisfied with the strong development seen in Lithuania's commercial aviation. Counted together, the performance of the three airport in terms of passenger volumes in 2011 is now on a par with pre-crisis levels, thanks to new traffic by carriers like Ryanair and WIZZ Air and despite the fact that we have still not seen the emergence of a carrier to take over the role formerly played by the now-defunct national carrier flyLAL, says Mr Vastakas.
-The proposal now on the table is to turn each airport into a separate plc. The issue will soon enter the agenda of the parliament, and we might expect a decision after some three to six months of negotiations and further analysis, says Rimvydas Vastakas, Vice-Minister of Transport and communication.
-Once the proposal has gained approval and takes effect, two options are then open for development of the airports. One alternative is to attract an experienced airport company to take responsibility for managing one, two or all three airports in order to build up new routes, attract new airlines and grow the business.
-The other alternative, which would require a renewed parliamentary decision, would be to allow for part of the state-owned shares in the plc to be sold in the market as an effort to bring in fresh investments to further boost the development of the airports. This would, however, be still some time in the future, if proposed at all.
-In either case, we are very satisfied with the strong development seen in Lithuania's commercial aviation. Counted together, the performance of the three airport in terms of passenger volumes in 2011 is now on a par with pre-crisis levels, thanks to new traffic by carriers like Ryanair and WIZZ Air and despite the fact that we have still not seen the emergence of a carrier to take over the role formerly played by the now-defunct national carrier flyLAL, says Mr Vastakas.