If an additional proof was needed that the Hellas she has recovered strongly, this one gave her the biggest one public registration (IPO) company in the country for more than two decades, Bloomberg reports in its report on the sale of 30% of the airport’s shares “El. Venizelos».

Investors’ interest in the sale of 30% of Athens International Airport was so great that demand exceeded the deal size a few hours after opening the books, he notes.

The state pumped 784.7 million euros by selling its stake in the airport, with the IPO price set at €8.2 per share, the high end of the price range.

“This is a landmark transaction for Greece,” said Thanasis Drogosis, head of investment banking at Pantelakis Securities. “It is a quality asset that enhances the reach of the Greek capital markets, attracting new categories of investors and serves as a substitute for Greek tourism, the country’s heavy industry,” he added.

The very successful IPO followed the first new issue of a 10-year Greek government bond after regaining investment grade, which attracted demand of 35 billion. euros, a historically high amount, and is yet another milestone boosting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after his re-election in June, the report said, adding that “Greece’s economy outperformed most European countries last year, making it the crisis of the country more than 10 years ago a distant memory”.

Greece’s biggest IPO since 2000 will help expand the country’s biggest airport as tourist arrivals hit new records. Athens Airport, which connects Greece with 155 cities worldwide, handled more than 28 million passengers in 2023, an increase of 24% compared to the previous year. About 19 million of them came from abroad, which shows its central role in Greece’s crucial tourism sector. By November, Greece had welcomed a total of around 32 million visitors from other countries.

“The entrance of Athens airport to the stock exchange is one of the factors that will help it to promote its investment activity, with the aim of increasing its capacity,” said Ilias Kikilias, director general of INSETE.

“The outlook for the airport is very positive and is linked to the wider outlook for tourism, which is also very good,” added Mr Kikilias.

Greece’s tourism sector set another record last year. Tourism revenue reached 20 billion euros at the end of November, more than 15% higher than in 2022 and almost 13% more than the same period in 2019, just before the pandemic. Early indications are that 2024 will also be a very good year, with scheduled airline bookings for February 18% higher than the same month last year and 14% higher for March, according to Mr Kikilia.

In many ways, Athens Airport is more than just a place for passengers to arrive and depart, as it controls a wider area around the terminal with a hotel, exhibition spaces and large shopping malls, Mr Kikilias said. This means, he said, that it actually serves an area with almost 6 million inhabitants, i.e. more than half the population of Greece.

The airport expansion is planned in three phases and aims to increase the capacity of the terminal to 50 million passengers by 2046.

Over the past five years, 69 new destinations have been added to the airport’s network and partnerships with 32 new airlines, making it the “El. Venizelos” the 9th busiest airport in Europe, according to the OAG Megahubs 2023 ranking.

The expansions and improvement plans come as some travelers complain that Eleftherios Venizelos doesn’t offer anything special to travelers.

The airport is working to change that, welcoming tourists with an interactive video wall to the baggage claim area.