Santiago Airport gains new terminal; consortium continues to lose in concession stakes

During the last two years of pandemic numerous airport infrastructure projects have been progressing quietly, under the radar, and attracting local attention.

One of them is in Santiago, Chile, where the French-Italian consortium that took over the management of the main airport there on a 20-year concession has delivered a new, state-of-the-art terminal in five years.

Whether or not this investment will help establish Santiago as a true hub for the South American continent is still to be revealed. That depends on whether there is a growth in travel across the South Pacific, because the city is too far to the west for passengers coming from other directions.

But before then there are pressing financial issues to deal with because concession payments have become onerous in comparison to the reduced income during the pandemic - a difficulty encountered by numerous airports across the continent that were concessioned out during the last decade.