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Petersburger Dialog 2009: Prof. Bender Signs MoU for Airport Concession in St. Petersburg

Dépèche transmise le 16 juillet 2009 par PRNewswire

FRANKFURT and MUNICH, Germany, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The chairman of the board of Fraport AG, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Bender, and the Governor of the city of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Petersburger Dialog 2009 in Munich, in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev. The declaration of intent expresses the efforts of the city of St. Petersburg and Fraport AG, to bring a successful conclusion to the negotiations concerning the concession contract for the development, modernisation and operation of the Pulkovo airport facilities.

This gives Fraport AG the best chances of taking over responsibility for the operation of Russia's fourth largest airport, Pulkovo, from 2010. The city of St. Petersburg, the current owner and operator of Pulkovo airport, named the "Northern Capital Gateway" consortium, in which Fraport holds a 35.5 percent stake, as the preferred bidder at the end of June, after an international call for tenders. "The signature of the MoU is another clear signal, which makes me confident, that the Fraport consortium will be awarded the contract in the end, after the final negotiations", said Fraport director Prof. Bender. "We want to put our worldwide recognised expertise to work to make Pulkovo airport the main transport node in one of the best-loved Russian tourist areas and to build on and operate the continually growing Russian air travel market. The signature of the memorandum forms a solid basis for successful cooperation between the companies within our consortium and the city of St. Petersburg."

The concession contract for the development, modernisation and operation of the airport in Russia's second largest metropolis is set to be signed by the end of the year and will run for 30 years. The first phase of the concession essentially consists of the construction of a new passenger terminal, the expansion of the apron, property development on the adjacent airport area and the modernisation of the existing infrastructure.

Pulkovo airport handled 7.1 million passengers in 2008, making it Russia's fourth biggest airport. It has showed continuous growth in passenger numbers over the last few years. Facilities include two independent takeoff and landing runways and both a national and international passenger terminal.

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Fraport AG Corporate Communications Press Office (UKM-PS) 60547 Frankfurt am Main Telephone: +49(0)69-690-70555 Fax: +49(0)69-690-55071

CONTACT: Fraport AG, Corporate Communications, Press Office (UKM-PS),60547 Frankfurt am Main, Telephone: +49(0)69-690-70555, Fax:+49(0)69-690-55071