The airport in Santiago de Chile, a key part of the VINCI Airports international expansion strategy
26 November 2015 - Projects update and handover - Chile
Together with its partners ADP and Astaldi, VINCI officially won the concession contract for the Santiago de Chile airport on 21 April of this year and began operation on 1 October 2015. The construction of a new terminal building, to be carried out over the next five years, will double the airport’s capacity.
Arturo Merino Benítez Airport in Santiago de Chile served more than 16 million passengers in 2014, only slightly fewer than the Lisbon airport, the largest such facility managed by VINCI Airports to date. The purpose of the concession won by the Nuevo Pudahuel consortium (Aéroports de Paris, VINCI Airports and Astaldi) is to support the expansion of the Santiago airport, where traffic grew an average of 9% over 20 years, in line with the growth of the Chilean economy. In a country that attracts large numbers of people and lends itself to air transport, the Santiago airport holds a strategic position, accounting for 60% of the country’s domestic air traffic and 98% of its international traffic. The extension programme, designed to boost the airport’s capacity to 30 million passengers, covers construction of a new international terminal and refurbishment of the current facility, which will become the domestic terminal. The Group’s winning bid offered detailed phasing and prospects for further expansion of both traffic and non-aeronautical activity. “Our bid probably won because it was backed by in-depth analysis showing very substantial potential for activity growth,” says VINCI Airports project manager Astrid Tran Ba Huy.
The concession-construction model serving Santiago de Chile
VINCI will apply its integrated construction-concession model to the project. “This project epitomises the Group’s ability to combine construction and concession capabilities,” says Pierre Coppey, Chairman of VINCI Concessions and Chief Operating Officer of VINCI.
This is VINCI’s largest building project outside France to date. It will be completed on a very tight schedule (less than one year to finalise the design, 48 months to carry out the construction work), but the Group is experienced in working together on this type of project. The excellent fit between VINCI’s expertise and that of its partners ADP (for concession and airport operations) and Astaldi (for construction) is a further strength ensuring the project’s success.
The project will use BIM (Building Information Modelling) to facilitate integrated operation.
BIM is a key tool combining technologies and working methods based on shared information and transparency. In a multicultural context, BIM gives the various project participants access to the same level of information and it updates and pools the models daily.
The construction joint venture’s lead team is already at work at the site. In just over a year, it will have to put together a construction company made up of more than 200 people to oversee a workforce of about 2,000.
Their colleagues in operations are also working at top speed. Within a very short timeframe, they will have to adapt to a new environment with specific operating methods. VINCI Airports will also face the challenge of rolling out a new management system.
“VINCI Airports benefits from the VINCI genetic code: the VINCI Group has always placed concessions at the heart of its strategy and, over time, has developed comprehensive, integrated expertise as a concession holder, investor, project manager, builder and service operator. This model (…), applied to VINCI Airports, has enabled it to quickly become a significant international player in the airport market, as the award of the project in Santiago de Chile confirms. We are building the airport project references that will enable us to roll out our model even more broadly in future,” says Nicolas Notebaert, Chairman of VINCI Airports.
Subscribe
16,1 million passengers in 2014
The airport will have a 30 million passenger capacity once the new terminal has been completed
About 2,000 people will be working on the construction project
98% of Chile’s international traffic uses the Santiago airport
Media contacts
Stéphanie Malek
Tel: +33 1 57 98 66 28
media.relations@vinci.com