The French airport group Aeroports de Paris and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Group are to ‘enter into a long-term industrial cooperation’ and take out an 8% cross shareholding in each others’ operations, Schiphol said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agreement will run for an initial 12 years and ‘create a leading global alliance in the airport industry,’ Schiphol said.
The two airports have identified combined revenue and cost synergies of around €71 million a year by 2013 and expect to reduce capital expenditure by an average €18 million annually from that date onwards, the statement said.
Aeroports de Paris is listed on the stock exchange. Schiphol is still in the hands of national and local governments with around 20% owned by Amsterdam city council which has blocked the airport’s privatisation.
The Financieele Dagblad says a closer alliance between the two airports would also fit in with the Air France/KLM alliance. Air France officials already call Schiphol ‘Gare du Nord’ (north station), the paper says.
More to follow