AN EXTRAORDINARY general meeting of shareholders in the state-run company Letisko M.R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava, will be held on September 9. The board of directors convened the meeting at the request of the government privatisation agency, the National Property Fund (FNM), the majority shareholder representing the state. The airport’s minority shareholder, the Transport Ministry, will also be represented, according to the SITA newswire.
One of the core points on the agenda will be the dismissal and subsequent election of members for the board of directors and the supervisory board of the Bratislava Airport company. Other points on the agenda are the financial and economic situation of the company, and contracts concluded before July 31 of this year.
One of the reasons for the general meeting is believed to be questions that have been raised over the terms of a land-swap contract affecting the airport that was concluded just prior to the June 12 general election. Also, the airport has not yet released a report of its financial results for 2009 and the first half of 2010.
Airport Bratislava is wholly owned by the state, with the FNM managing 51 percent of the shares and the Ministry of Transport the remaining 49 percent. The last government, led by Robert Fico (Smer) halted the privatisation of Bratislava Airport that had been planned by its predecessor, the government of Mikuláš Dzurinda (SDKÚ), and insisted that the state was able to secure the financing necessary to develop an airport that could truly rival Vienna’s.
In the first half of 2010, Bratislava Airport served 678,830 passengers, 8.1 percent down on a year earlier. However, in June, the airport served nearly 179,000 passengers, just 0.4 percent fewer than in the same month last year.
“The 8-percent annual year-to-year decline was caused mainly by the decreasing interest of the travelling public in national links and the paralysis of air transport due to the increase of volcanic activity in Iceland in May,” the company said.
