A YEAR OF GROWTH FOR THE VINCI CONCESSIONS NETWORK
2024 was a year of rapid development for VINCI Concessions, with success stories and acquisitions in major markets – Europe, the United States and Brazil.
VINCI Airports has added two new sites to its network. By acquiring a 20% stake in the concession company for Budapest Airport in June, VINCI Airports has become the operator of Hungary’s largest airport. The concession has a remaining term of over 55 years and is set to expire in 2080. VINCI Airports also brought Scotland’s biggest airport, Edinburgh, into the network in June 2024 after signing an agreement to acquire a 50.01% stake. This brings the number of airports that the network owns in the United Kingdom to three, with Edinburgh joining London Gatwick and Belfast International. VINCI Airports is harnessing its airport management know-how to develop these sites’ potential on and off the runway by opening up new routes and making additional investments. The company is also using its environmental expertise to improve Edinburgh airport’s already impressive CSR indicators. For the VINCI Highways network, 2024 marked a scale-up, with two strategic acquisitions. In the US, it finalised the acquisition of 100% of NWP HoldCo LLC, the concession holder of a 14-km toll road section of the Denver ring road, in April 2024. VINCI Highways immediately launched an integration programme to improve the infrastructure’s performance in both operational and environmental management terms. Sliding scale toll charges - with one price applied at night and another by day - were introduced to optimise revenue and reduce congestion.
Next steps will involve modernising back office solutions and installing a new photovoltaic power system to boost solar energy generation along the highway. And in September, VINCI Highways won a call for tender launched by Brazil’s National Road Transport Agency for the concession of a 594-km section of the Via Cristais highway toll road between Belo Horizonte and Cristalina, southeast of Brasília. This new concession was integrated in record time, with operations taken over just a month after the contract was signed. To take on this challenge, VINCI Highways launched a comprehensive action plan: a large-scale recruitment campaign to form and train a new team of almost 300 employees; the restoration of toll collection systems that had not been used on this stretch for over six months; the definition of the first works to carry out in 2025; and the launch of a call for tender to find building companies.
BUDAPEST
DEVELOPING TOURISM POTENTIAL
With 17.5 million passengers in 2024, Budapest Ferenc Liszt International is the biggest and busiest airport in Hungary and the 12th most popular for tourism in Europe. It is located around 16 km southeast of the centre of the Hungarian capital.