RUSSIA. In what is described as the first sale of a Russian airport to a private overseas investor, Meinl Airports International has acquired a 100% stake in Ulan Ude Mukhino Airport in Siberia for US$24 million. Contracts were signed in early August, and the Russian anti-monopoly commission has now given its approval to the transaction and the acquisition of the airport. The company said: “This is a reference project for the Russian airport market.”
In future the airport will focus on flights to Europe and Asia. Beijing, for example, is just one hour away by air. In 2006, the airport Ulan Ude had a passenger volume of 150,000 passengers, most of them travelling inside Russia. It boasts a runway that is 3.3km long, so it can accommodate larger aircraft. The city of Ulan Ude is the capital of the Republic of Buryatia in Russia and lies close to Lake Baikal, a major visitor attraction in the region.
To promote tourism, the Russian government recently granted the region the special status of a “tourist development area”. In addition to a national investment programme, the Russian state intends to support investments by private investors, creating significant growth potential for the airport of Ulan Ude, said Meinl.
Meinl Airports Board Member Nadine Gilles said: “We consider the airport in Ulan Ude to harbour significant growth potential for the coming years. The Lake Baikal region is not only ideal for classic tourism, but is also the perfect destination for study trips, excursions and special-interest tourism due to the lake’s unique and unspoilt nature.”
Meinl Airports International was founded in June 2006, as a dedicated investor in airports and airport related businesses with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. The company said it was also targeting other investments in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Overseas interest in Russia’s airports is at an all-time high as the country experiences a travel boom driven by rising incomes and the oil and gas boom. Travel retailers such as Gebr Heinemann, Aer Rianta International and Dufry are keen to expand outside the major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Much of the interest in retailing lies at airports of 1 million passengers a year or more. But as tourist locations such as Ulan Ude develop, opportunities could also appear at Russia’s smaller regional airports.
