Greece aviation and tourism - Part 2: Airport privatisation prospects improve as the market grows

Part 1 of this report on Greece reviewed the status of these key industries, which account together for over a fifth of the country's GDP and in many ways represent one of the key areas of hope for Greek employment and economic growth.

The other part of the equation is the ownership of the country's airports, still mostly in government ownership.

On 11-Jul-2015, the European Union delivered a new bailout offer to the Greek government; this included a requirement to sell down a range of government owned infrastructure, including its airports. This offer is still subject to ratification on both sides, but if finally agreed should stimulate considerable interest from investors.

As Part 1 described, passenger growth at several of these airports has been impressive over the past two years, generating some hopes for strong valuations. The Greek air travel market comprised 38.6 million passengers in 2014, an increase of 15% over 2013, as new airline capacity was added, largely by Aegean and Ryanair.