Genoa Airport, due diligence underway to establish its value

Genoa airport recorded an all-time record of 1.57 million transited passengers in 2025, representing the best result ever. The company managing Cristoforo Colombo, 60% controlled by the Genoa and Savona Port Authority and 40% owned by the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, is aiming at relaunching the airport, thanks to a project to modernise the air terminal, worth a total of €27.6 million, which has already led to the inauguration, in 2025, of the new east wing (an operation worth around €15 million), while the remaining restyling plan, worth €12.6 million (all already financed), aims to entirely redesign the aerodrome's appearance.

The project was launched after the capital increase of about EUR 3 million, subscribed by Adsp (EUR 1.8 million) and Cciaa (EUR 1.2 million) in 2024; but an important knot still remains to be untangled: that of the entry of a private industrial partner, after the exit of Aeroporti di Roma two years ago. Preceding the last round of investments, however, was the renovation of the airport's runway.

"With regard to the privatisation of Genoa airport," says Matteo Paroli, President of the Adsp, "we are completing the due diligence, in order to define the company's value in a timely manner, so that we can assess the next steps in full agreement with the Chamber of Commerce, with which we have a constant and shared dialogue. This is a strategic asset that we want to make the most of. The objective is to arrive at an updated evaluation of the company's asset together with the Cciaa. We are also evaluating the hypothesis of a call for tenders that could envisage the sale of a stake and, at the same time, favour the entry of private and public partners (we mean the Municipality of Genoa and the Liguria Region, ndr) in a relaunch path, based on a serious and concrete investment plan, capable of sustaining our airport's growth prospects. As repeatedly stressed, it is an airport that goes well beyond the role of a city airport, having all the potential to serve a large area of territory'.

The path could lead to having, in the corporate structure of Genoa Airport, the public bodies Municipality and Region, as well as a strongly downsized Port Authority and a Cciaa that should, in turn, decrease in shares. As for the private partner, it will have to be seen whether it will arrive before or after the renewal of the airport's concession, which expires in 2029. In the meantime, the structure in 2025 achieved, explains the president, Enrico Musso, 'revenues of 25.3 million, against 23.1 in 2024), while Ebitda stood at 1.5 million (down from 2.3 million the previous year) and net profit fell to 105 thousand euro (it was 255 thousand in 2024). The goal of an airport, however, is not to make a profit but to increase traffic'. Since the airport will have a handling capacity of 3 million passengers once its redevelopment is completed.

The most positive fact, explains Musso, "is that traffic has marked +18.1% in 2025, when in 2024 it had done +4.3%, and the trend for the first quarter of 2026 shows an increase of around 20% compared to the same period last year, which confirms the structural nature of the airport's development path". The growth forecasts for the 2026 summer season, "are with a plus sign," says Musso, "with over 1.37 million available seats, +10% compared to 2025. The results of 2025 and the novelties of 2026 show that the network development work is yielding concrete results, despite a highly competitive context. The launch of connections such as Budapest, Warsaw, Krakow and Madrid, together with the presence of an Aeroitalia base with two aircraft and the new summer routes, represent very positive signs. It is crucial to continue strengthening the attractiveness of Genoa and Liguria, also by working with the territory'.