Limburg to Take Over Maastricht Airport
THE HAGUE, 07/11/13 - The province of Limburg wants to take over Maastricht Aachen Airport for a symbolic sum and arrange concessions for the operation of the airport.
The plan is to buy the airport from the present owner, airport operator Omniport and Rotterdam building company Dura Vermeer, for one euro. An earlier attempt to find private investors for the airport was unsuccessful. Maastricht Aachen Airport is in heavy financial weather. In June, the province saved the airport from bankruptcy with a contribution of 4.5 million euros. Local newspaper De Limburger reports that the province wants to take on the costs of air traffic control itself. This would mean the government would be supporting the airport in an indirect manner, a method of operating currently under investigation by the European Commission. In order to be able to give the airport in Maastricht good opportunities in the market, its present organisation has to be unbundled, the province says in a press statement. “In this, the operation of the airport will be de-linked from the ownership and management of the infrastructure.” |