Alterra to start on US$40mn terminal this year

Airport concessionaire Alterra Partners will begin construction by year-end on a new US$40mn terminal at the international airport on Curacao Island in the Netherlands Antilles, an Alterra spokesperson told BNamericas. The terminal is scheduled for completion within three years and will handle 1.6 million passengers annually over a 10-year horizon. Additional works will include redevelopment of the old terminal, to be launched after completion of the new facilities. San Francisco-based Bechtel and subsidiaries will head up construction. Alterra is moving forward on the works after finalizing terms of a 30-year concession to develop and operate the airport in Curacao, which has "very good potential for development and attracting new traffic," the spokesperson said. A presence in the popular Caribbean tourist destination, home to 130,000 people, creates symmetry in the Latin American and Caribbean region, where Alterra also operates Costa Rica's Juan Santa Maria international airport and Peru's Jorge Chavez International airport. The company is not looking for further Latin American concessions, but hopes to expand in Europe to balance its portfolio, the source said, adding Alterra focuses on airports that receive at least 1 million passengers a year, which is not always common in the region. The Curacao airport has the longest runway in the Caribbean at 3,410m and handled 1.2 million passengers last year. Besides tourism, Curacao has oil refining, offshore banking and phosphate production.