Flughafen Wien AG acquires additional shares in Košice Airport

On Monday, 16 June 2008, Flughafen Wien AG signed a contract for the purchase of the stake held by Penta Investments in KSC Holding a.s., which owns 66% of the shares in Košice Airport. This agreement is subject to the approval of the Slovakian cartel authorities. The agreed transfer of the shares owned by Penta Investments will raise the stake owned by Flughafen Wien in KSC Holding a.s. to 81%. RZB holds the remaining 19% of the shares.

“Košice Airport has proven to be an excellent investment with its high growth rates. For this reason, we have decided to increase our holding,“ explained Herbert Kaufmann, member and speaker of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG.
This assessment is underscored by the development of traffic at Košice Airport from January to May 2008, which shows a 60% year-on-year increase in the number of passengers to 200,326. Forecasts for the 2008 calendar year show an increase of 40% in passenger volume to 615,000.

The growth at Košice Airport was driven by three factors:

Direct connections were improved by the addition of flights to new destinations such as London and Dublin as well as new frequencies to Prague and Bratislava.
Austrian Airlines and CSA offer excellent connections to the European and international network through the hubs in Vienna and Prague.
The third growth factor is the catchment area. The Košice market has shown positive development as a destination for tourists as well as business travellers. Moreover, Košice Airport is establishing a position as the home airport for the neighbouring regions of Hungary and Poland.

In addition to scheduled traffic, the summer of 2008 is expected to bring roughly 390 charter flights to 16 destinations. Included here are Gerona (Spain) and Catania (Sicily) as well as two new and attractive tourism centres.
Flughafen Wien AG, Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) and the Slovakian private equity group Penta Investments are the shareholders of KSC Holding a.s., which won the tender for the privatisation of a 66% stake in Košice Airport during 2006.