If the postponement of the decision to privatize or not ADP prevented him last year from launching the assault on his rival in airports, Vinci nevertheless won this year a battle over ADP. So far the world’s third largest airport operator, Vinci Airports, the airport subsidiary of the French construction and concession group, has exceeded ADP last year in terms of air passengers welcomed, and has risen to second in the world behind the public group Spanish, AENA, the manager of all Spanish airports. Number 1 last year, ADP moved to third place in the world, leaving its crown to AENA.
5.7% increase in traffic for Vinci
This Friday, Vinci announced that it had received 255 million passengers at the group’s 46 airports (+ 5.7%), better than the 246 million passengers announced earlier in the week by ADP: 108 million for Paris and Orly ( + 2.5%); 24.6 million for Santiago de Chile in which ADP holds 45% (+ 5.7%), 9 million for Amman (+ 5.9%) and 105.6 million for TAV, down 32.6% after the transfer activity on April 6 from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to a new airport belonging to another concessionaire. ATENA has not yet released its figures. But its 2018 performance (more than 260 million passengers) is already enough to be ahead of its two French rivals.
Making ADP lose around 50 million passengers in 2019, lA loss of Atatürk is one of the two explanations for this classification. The integration in May of London Gatwick Airport (almost 50 million on an annual basis) into the Vinci network is the other explanation. Relatively reduced today, the gap between the two French groups will widen further in 2020 when will be counted, in full year this time, the withdrawal of Atatürk for one, the arrival of Gatwick for the other.
ADP wants to be the world number 1 by 2025
For the time being, the two rivals are working to widen their perimeter. International in particular. Development in the airport sector is crucial for Vinci to compensate for the end of French motorway concessions after 2030.
“In the airport, we shoot everything that moves, except perhaps China because the market is not open,” said Vinci CEO Xavier Huillard on Tuesday when he said the press.
However, he will have to give up on Saint-Louis airport in the United States, which has stopped the privatization process. On the other hand, new opportunities will emerge, such as Tahiti or Nantes airport. For its part, ADP has great international ambitions. During an investor day last April, ADP said it was aiming for first place in the world by 2025, with traffic of 450 million passengers and 30 to 35 airports, compared to around 25 today.
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