Russia to sell 100% of its shares in Sochi airport in 2006

RIA Novosti
14:37 | 20/ 09/ 2006

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government plans
to sell 100% of its shares in Sochi International Airport, on the
country’s Black Sea coast, during 2006, the Cabinet press office
said Wednesday.

Sochi has been short-listed as a host city for the 2014 Olympic
Winter Games, along with Austria’s Salzburg and South Korea’s
PyeongChang. The city bid for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics,
but was rejected largely due to its poor-quality Soviet infrastructure.

Sochi International Airport received unwelcome publicity in May as
the destination of an Armenian airliner that crashed into the Black
Sea in stormy weather, killing all 113 passengers and crew on board.

Following a government order passed on July 3, 2006, the airport was
included on a list of federal unitary companies to be privatized in
2006. The airport has since been converted into a joint-stock company,
with 100% state ownership.

The government’s privatization plan for 2006, announced last year,
listed 885 federal unitary companies and 383 joint-stock companies.

Sochi International Airport has air links to 120 cities in Russia
and abroad. During the first eight months of 2006, the airport served
975,570 passengers.