Indian engineering firm and airport operator GMR Group has partnered with Greek construction firm GEK Terna Group to submit a bid for the design, construction and operation of a new greenfield airport near the city of Heraklion on the island of Crete, Greece.
The concession will run for a period of 35 years and requires the airport operator to hold a minimum of a 10% equity stake in the winning consortium. The current airport, Heraklion International, is currently operating at maximum capacity and will be closed once the new airport is completed. The bid from GMR and GEK Terna is said to be the only proposal submitted for the project.
A spokesperson from GMR said, “The bid is in line with the GMR Group’s asset light growth strategy. Rather than just holding equity, GMR will leverage value from the airport platform, leading to enhanced revenue based services.”