The Colombian government has decided to take over the administration of Atlántico department capital Barranquilla's Ernesto Cortissoz international airport, which national aviation authority Aerocivil will begin operating on February 29.

The decision was made following a year-long review process. Aerocivil concluded that the current operator, Aeropuertos del Caribe (Acsa), failed to meet the necessary standards, a spokesperson for the agency told BNamericas.

Acsa is controlled by the Barranquilla chamber of commerce, cement firm Cementos Argos, fuel distributors Promigás and Terpel del Norte, Sociedad Portuaria de Barranquilla and Guido Nule, a member of the Nule group.

Aerocivil had awarded the 15-year concession to Acsa in 1997 for 9.4bn pesos based on a 1996 exchange rate (US$5.2mn today). The contract included an option to extend the concession, which was denied by Aerocivil in September 2010, according to the agency's website.

The agency found that the revenue generated by the terminal was not enough to proceed with the necessary upgrades, local daily El Tiempo reported.

Acsa filed a lawsuit against Aerocivil for 40bn pesos in damages and loss of income. The concessionaire won the lawsuit in the first hearing, after which Aerocivil appealed.

The national aviation authority has pledged to invest 13bn pesos in improvements at Barranquilla airport this year, mostly for maintenance and the purchase of new firefighting equipment, a press release from the transport ministry (Mintransporte) reads.

RE-CONCESSION

The government has appointed national infrastructure agency ANI as the entity in charge of the airport's re-concession process.

"This is the first airport concession that the agency will be in charge of," ANI spokesperson Javier Mozzo told BNamericas, adding that for the moment, no date has been set for the bidding process.

ANI replaced national concessions institute Incoç as the official entity in charge of infrastructure concessions in November last year. The presidential decree that created the new agency stipulated that ANI will absorb Aerocivil's role in airport infrastructure over the next two years.