Andorra's National Heliport moves steadily. The Minister of the Presidency, Economy and Business, Jordi Gallardo, signed the concession contract last Thursday with Antoni Rebés, representative of the UTE Heliand Helinord, the company that will build and operate it. After signing the concession, the project declaration of national interest (PIN) will arrive and all the information will be sent to the community of La Massana so that it can issue a binding report. Having a national heliport is an old aspiration that had never been achieved and seems essential to improve the mobility and competitiveness of the country.
Going ahead with the concession means that the UTE Heliand Helinord will build and manage the heliport during the 30 years that the contract is expected to last. The company that holds the ownership of the agreement will also enjoy a preference for the future exploitation, if it arrives, of the regular routes that can be established. In infrastructure management, the concession establishes the collection of aeronautical fees (for parking, takeoff, landing, passengers), which will be set by the Administration. The concession will also obtain other income, coming from the rental of spaces and the sales canon of the businesses that are established.
For its part, the Andorran Government guarantees an exclusive hangar space for State aircraft, which will also have technical units and accommodation for when guard duty is required. These State aircraft will not pay parking, takeoff, landing or passenger volume fees.
The future heliport will have a central runway of 100 × 20 meters, which could be extended to 130 × 25 meters. And it will also have an additional runway dedicated to medical emergencies and rescue flights. There will be three paved parking positions and a hangar of more than 800 square meters compartmentalized to house up to seven aircraft.
The complex will also have other infrastructures. A terminal and commercial building of 900 square meters with two different areas: an area for commercial activities and an attached car park with 60 parking spaces will be built. The terminal building and the main hangar are integrated into a single construction. The ground floor includes the hangar and passenger service areas. The upper floor will include offices, offices and a 240 m² restaurant with a terrace.
Gallardo advanced that the complex is conceived as a "passive building", which will imply that materials "that integrate it with the landscape" will be used in its construction.
The economic exploitation of the future heliport provides that the concessionary joint venture can obtain benefits from both aeronautical activity and other types of services. For this reason, if the benefits are below 15% of the billing, it has been determined that the concessionaire will pay a fee of between 10 and 15% of the ebitda, the ratio that companies use to efficiently verify their degree of of profitability analyzing the benefit before subtracting the interest that must be paid for contracted debts, business taxes, depreciation and amortization of investments.
If profits exceed 15% of revenue, the additional difference would go to reinvestment in the heliport or would be transferred directly to public coffers.
In the event that the management of the infrastructure is deficient, the Government is responsible for covering the losses up to a limit that is set at 75% of the annual amortization of the infrastructure. As Minister Gallardo indicated, "the contract provides for the Government to compensate the UTE with a maximum of 7,627,034 total euros if the operating results are negative." "In the worst case, the Government would have to pay that figure, but then it would recover an infrastructure that, to build it, would have cost more than ten million," Jordi Gallardo pointed out.
With the future reality of a national heliport, Andorra rounds off its plan to improve air mobility, key to the socioeconomic development of the country. The steps started last year with the air connection with Madrid go in that direction. Air Nostrum flights have been a complete success, which will be expanded this year. The desire is also to establish connections with Paris and Lisbon, in order to have a guaranteed air connection both with Europe and with the rest of the continents that in turn connect with those capitals.
