09/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Increasing private sector presence in European airports. Around 41% of European airports, 205 in all, are partially or entirely privately owned, according to a report published by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI-EUROPE) presented to the 8th ACI Airport Economics & Finance Conference on 8 March in London. Olivier Jankovec, director general ACI EUROPE was pleased to announce that in just 6 years the number of European airports with private shareholders had more than doubled. This figure only stood at 22% in 2010. Close to 39% of these airports (79 airports) have full private ownership, while 61% (126 airports) are 'public-private partnerships' involving a combination of private and public shareholders. Airports with private participation now handle close to 75% of passenger traffic. ACI EUROPE explains that the big airports tend to be more open to the private sector, as opposed to the regional airports of which an overwhelming majority are not very profitable or are indeed not making profits at all. (PH)