Centerlines - March 2009 - (Page 20) ON MANAGEMENT TAKING BIG CHANCES N Vancouver Airport Services Ltd. is expanding on its winning customer service BY J OD I RI CHARD S orth America’s largest airport operator, Vancouver Airport Services Ltd., hasn’t begun to digest its Chicago Midway International Airport acquisition as it now eyes London’s Gatwick Airport. It is now projected that Vancouver Airport Services will take over the operations of Midway in April pending final approval by the Federal Aviation Administration. Vancouver Airport Services and Chicago last September agreed to a $2.5 billion, 99-year lease. Once the deal is complete, Midway will be the largest privatized airport in the United States. In January, Vancouver Airport Services, as part of a consortium, submitted a bid to buy Gatwick from Ferrovial. Press reports speculate that the five firms are each bidding in excess of $2.8 billion. Vancouver Airport Services is always looking for potential opportunities that “make sense” for it, said CEO George Casey. When the firm is reviewing opportunities to expand the network, the company looks for airports “that will benefit from our operating philosophy and brand.” In both the Midway and Gatwick deals, Vancouver Airport Services has partnered with Citi Infrastructure Investors and John Hancock Life Insurance Company. Vancouver Airport Services is a 50-50 joint venture of Vancouver Airport Authority and Citi Infrastructure. The airport management company is governed by a separate board of directors and independent governance from Vancouver Airport Authority, which manages and operates Vancouver International Airport, Canada’s second-largest airport. Citi Infrastructures is a unit of Citi Alternative Investments, a division of Citigroup. Citi Infrastructures manages equity investments in infrastructure assets and oversees a management company focused Airports Vancouver Airport Services Ltd. manages: Canada: • Cranbrook Airport, Cranbrook, B.C. • Fort St. John Airport, Fort St. John, B.C. • Kamloops Airport, Kamloops, B.C. • John C. Munro Hamilton International, Hamilton, Ontario • Greater Moncton International Airport, Moncton, N.B. The Caribbean: • Lynden Pindling International, Nassau, The Bahamas • Dominican Republic Airports • Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Jamaica • Providenciales and JAGS McCartney International Airports, Turks & Caicos Islands Europe: • Larnaka and Pafos International Airports, Cyprus South America: • Arturo Merino Benitez International, Santiago, Chile 20 CENTERLINES | MARCH 2009
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