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17-Dec-2014 10:30 AM

EU-funded airport infrastructures are poor value for money: European Court of Auditors

European Court of Auditors, in a 'Special Report' entitled 'EU-funded airport infrastructures: poor value for money', stated (16-Dec-2014) EU-funded investments in airports have not generated the expected results and have produced poor value for money. Due to a lack of adequate planning and forecasting, say EU auditors, some of the funded airports were situated too close to one another, while some of the construction projects were too big for the numbers of planes and passengers involved. Details include:

  • The EU auditors examined investment projects at 20 airports - in Estonia, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain - which received more than EUR600 million of EU money from 2000 to 2013;
  • The auditors found that only half of these airports could show the need for EU-funded investment and that funded infrastructure was often underused, with some EUR38 million worth not being used at all;
  • The report found that for most airports there was little evidence of an improvement in customer service or of regional socio-economic benefits, such as the creation of additional jobs;
  • The report noted that seven of the airports, mostly those with fewer than 100,000 passengers p/a, are not financially self-sustainable and will struggle to remain in operation without more public money. In Greece, for example, Kastoria's revenue of EUR176,000 for 2005-2012 was dwarfed by the EUR7.7 million it cost to keep the airport open over the same period. The auditors concluded that a further EUR16.5 million invested in an extension to Kastoria's runway (which has never been used for the type of aircraft for which it was built) cannot be considered an effective use of public fund. [more - original PR - Report] [more - original PR]

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