Egypt open to private management of its airports; will increase capacity to over 100mppa by end 2030

For the second time in a few months, and the third in a year, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry has let it be known openly that it intends to 'privatise' its airports in line with similar moves in other sectors of the economy.

But while emblazoning 'Not for Sale' on bid documents before they have been printed, the Ministry tacitly suggests that the offer may amount to no more than a series of management contracts of the variety that have been tried in the past, including at Cairo International, which is the African continent's busiest airport.

Egypt does have a fully privately owned airport at Marsa Alam. It has had its ups and downs, but right now it is performing, if anything, slightly better than the state-owned ones, and most of them are doing very well.

The ministry could be bold and go for an AENA-style IPO and concession procedure while still holding 51% of the equity, but that is not the way of things in Africa and the Middle East.

So, on the surface it might appear that there is little here to entice international investors, but the ministry has also revealed that it wants to increase airport capacity by 50% by 2030 to cater for burgeoning tourism, especially at the resort airports.

To do that it will need a lot more than a handful of management contracts.