Successful Opening for New International Airport at Athens-Spata, Greece

Frankfurt, Germany (ots/PROTEXT) - "The opening of the newAthens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport can be considered an overallsuccess," stressed Dr. Wilhelm Bender, Executive Board Chairmanof Fraport AG (Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide), whoparticipated in the official opening celebrations several daysago. A team of about 30 Fraport specialists has been supportingAIA during the first opening days of Europe's newest majorinternational airport, which has been built on a greenfield siteat Spata near Athens, Greece. Fraport AG is a shareholder and chief consultant of the newAthens International Airport S.A. (AIA) airport company, whichoperates Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport. Since June 1996,over 300 Fraport AG experts have supported and helped build upthe AIA company. Furthermore, Fraport AG has provided airportmanagement and operations training to almost 400 AIA staff. "This is an airport built to world standards. The highmotivation and preparedness of the AIA staff will help makeAthens' new airport an international success," said Dr. Bender.The Athens-Spata Airport has two runways that can been fully andsimultaneously utilized. With a current capacity of about 16million passengers per year, Athens-Spata Airport can be expandedto about 50 million passengers annually. Thus, Athens-SpataAirport is well positioned to become an air transportation hub inSoutheastern Europe. For more information, please contact:Fraport AG Attn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 (withvoice mailbox) Fax: +49 69 690 -60548 or -59632 E-Mail:r.payne@fraport.de Internet: www.fraport.de (click on "PressCenter")

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