European airport shares trade strongly - Airports Share Wrap
Copenhagen led a mixed day of share activity for European airports, up 3.8% on Wednesday. Italian airports operator, GEMINA, gained 3.3% while Aeroporti di Roma, 95.8% owned by GEMINA, also rose 3.3%. Turkish airports operator, TAV Airports, rose 3.0%.
Other European airport companies did not perform as well, with AdP down 0.5%, after signing a major real estate deal at the beginning of the week, while Hochtief lost 0.8%.
Meanwhile, airport privatisation in Europe has appeared to take a backward step, with the Czech lower house of parliament blocking a government plan to sell the country's main airport in Prague, voting in a bill requiring the airport to be owned by the state or a state-owned corporation. The planned sell off had been valued as high as USD3 billion.
Oct-2009 traffic at Prague Airport declined 5.2% year-on-year, as international traffic fell 5.3% and aircraft movements contracted 10.1%. However, cargo volume is picking up, climbing 3.4% compared to the same month in 2008.
Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 02-Dec-09
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance