Meinl Airports International: Initial stake of 24.9% in the airport of Bydgoszcz Increase to up to 49% depending on consent of Polish Civil Aviation Office

Commitment of EUR 23.5 million for the development of the airport

Significant growth potential based on local market – MAI’s expertise
will support the exploitation of the potential

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ots.CorporateNews transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for
the content of this announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

merger, acquisition and takeover/Participation

St, Helier Jersey (euro adhoc) - 10 March 2008 - Meinl Airports
International Ltd. ("MAI") has signed contracts for a participation
in the Polish airport of Bydgoszcz. In a first step, MAI will get a
stake of 24.9% in the airport. A further increase of the
participation to up to 49% is intended, but subject to the consent by
the Polish Civil Aviation Office. The participation(s) are being
conducted in form of a capital increase by the airport operating
company "Port Lotniczy Bydgoszcz S.A.".

MAI will invest a total of EUR 23.5 million in the development of
Bydgoszcz airport. Following the airport project in Sochaczew,
Bydgoszcz airport is already MAI´s second airport transaction in
Poland. Bydgoszcz is also the first operating international airport
in Poland, which forms such a Public Private Partnership with an
international investor. The airport has significant growth potential,
in particular due to the market potential of the Region, both
outgoing and incoming - based on local population, tourist potential
and businesses existing in the region. This is also underlined
through already existing and further increasing interest of airlines,
notably some low cost airlines. Ryanair, which is operating flights
into Bydgoszcz Airport since 2006, has recently announced new
destinations and increased frequencies from and to Bydgoszcz.
Furthermore, Polish Jet Air has recently started new operations as
well. For 2008, MAI expects that the airport will handle already
approx. 300,000 passengers - and further MAI intends to work with
local partners to increase the traffic by double digit growth rates
annually for the foreseeable future.

Participation of up to 49% in Bydgoszcz airport - expected IRR
exceeds 15%

MAI will invest EUR 23.5 million in the development of the aviation
and non-aviation infrastructure of the airport in Bydgoszcz. As a
part to this, MAI will receive in a first step 24.9% of the shares in
the airport through a share capital increase. Following this first
transaction, MAI will apply for approval from the President of the
Civil Aviation Office (CAO) of its intend to take up shares exceeding
the thresholds posted by Polish Law of 25% and later 33% of ownership
in the share capital of airports. After eventually having received
the consent of CAO, MAI will in consent with existing shareholders
through another capital increase at given time extend its stake to a
total of 49%, which is the legal limit for airport participation by a
foreign company according to Polish law. In its details related to
the CAO approval, the development of the non-aviation business will
be realised through a separate project company, in which MAI will
become majority shareholder.

Partners and co-owners of MAI, following the transaction(s), are the
City of Bydgoszcz, the Region of Kujawy-Pomerania, state enterprise
Polish Airport Operator (PPL), the Cities of Torun and Inowroclaw and
as well several other public and private Polish shareholders with
smaller stakes. All stakeholders are important partners to realise
the intended developments and a basis of common interest is formed to
enable prospering of the airport in future. This provides comfort in
ensuring successful growth of the airport. Roman Himmler explains:
"Bydgoszcz Airport serves an attractive local community and area with
high potential. The airport is a prerequisite for further successful
development. In the discussions and negotiations during the last
months, we have seen same intents and goals by our partners to make
use of the airport´s market backbone to form an excellent basis for
mutual benefit. MAI can and will assist in achieving the common goals
of development of the airport and - hence - the Region and its
cities."

The expected IRR for the participation will exceed 15%, based on the
realisation of the potentials.

Development of airport infrastructure could be supported by EU
funding

The funds, which are being brought to the airport company through
MAI´s participation will be used mainly to finance the intended
development and extension of the airport infrastructure parallel to
the increasing demand and the forecasted passenger growth. The
development should be carried out in several phases over the next
years. Furthermore, there exists the potential that funds originating
from European Union can be received.

The investments in the optimisation of the airport infrastructure and
airport extension includes plans for the extension and capacity
upgrade of the runway and the development of a new cargo terminal
beside other investments like development of an airport car park. A
long-term strategic plan also includes facilitating of airport
surrounding area. Additionally, new restaurants are planned and a
viewing terrace is going to be used more efficiently.

Tourist region with 2.1 million inhabitants - only civil airport in a
range of 110km

The airport of Bydgoszcz is the only commercial international airport
in a radius of 110km. The airport is located only 3km from the city
centre of Bydgoszcz, which is the capital of the Kujawy-Pomerania
Region and one of the fastest developing cities in Poland with at the
moment approximately 400,000 inhabitants. The whole region of
Kujawy-Pomerania has approximately 2.1 million inhabitants.

The airport is not only important due to increasing business travel
and outgoing leisure travel. The region of Kujawy-Pomerania is also
one of the main tourist regions in Poland. Torun, a city 50km from
Bydgoszcz is the home town of Copernicus and is famous for having
preserved almost intact its medieval spatial layout. It was inscribed
onto the World Heritage List of UNESCO in 1997. Historic architecture
can be also found in Bydgoszcz itself and in other cities in the
region: Bydgoszcz, the former German Bromberg, has a famous old town
with Gothic buildings.

Bydgoszcz hosts NATO Training Centre

The airport of Bydgoszcz is not only a fast growing airport for civil
air transport. Bydgoszcz also hosts in its vicinity the NATO Joint
Forces Training Centre, which is a further important element of the
airport´s current and future development: The airport does not only
generate revenues from the traffic from the training centre itself
but also benefits from the intended increase of traffic to and from
the training centre in possible air-route developments. Furthermore
the participants of such trainings are an important source for the
airport to boost the non-aviation business at and around the airport.

MAI expects the airport of Bydgoszcz to handle approx. 300,000
passengers in 2008

Poland´s current airport network consist of one central airport in
Warsaw, one regional central airport in Krakow and 10 regional
airports which have the status of an international airport. Among
these regional airports, Bydgoszcz is until now the 8th largest in
terms of passenger traffic. The airport terminal has been newly built
in 2004 and the technical infrastructure is one of the most modern
ones in the country.

Currently, Bydgoszcz airport is being served by the Polish LOT
(Bydgoszcz - Warsaw, 3 flights per day), Ryanair and Jet Air. Ryanair
has started operations in Bydgoszcz in 2006 and currently is handling
flights to London, Dublin and Liverpool. Ryanair also announced to
fly from Bydgoszcz to Düsseldorf Weeze. The airline expects that it
will handle approximately 60,000 passengers per year only on this
route. The Polish airline Jet Air, which is at the moment flying
certain routes from Bydgoszcz to Warsaw on behalf of LOT, has started
new operations at Bydgoszcz in January 2008, serving flights to
Katowice, Copenhagen and Berlin.

Passenger figures have increased with rates of +50% and more over the
last years: In 2004, the airport had only 25.000 passengers; in 2007
approximately 200,000 passengers have been handled already. MAI
expects that the passenger volume in Bydgoszcz will continue to
increase strongly over the coming years. Roman Himmler explains:
"Given the increasing interest from international low cost airlines
and taking into account the general growth in the Polish air travel -
which is with respect to the growth rates comparable with China - we
could imagine that by 2008, we will already handle 300,000
passengers. On the longer-term, a volume of more than 1 million
passengers has been forecasted."

Notes to the Editor:

MAI is a long term investor in airports, parts of airports or airport
related businesses in particular - but not limited to - in the growth
markets in Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe and
Russia. The Company was founded in 2006 and since April 2007 is
listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

MAI has been successful in acquiring already six assets and today MAI
is an active investor and a player to be reckoned with in airports
with more than 30 million annual passengers and that number is
growing. In Poland and Russia, MAI has been the first foreign
investor, which has been able to acquire a stake in an international
airport. Among others the Company´s current portfolio consists of
investments in "Lake Baikal Airport", Ulan Ude (Russia), TAV Airports
(Turkey), Airport Development Sochaczew (Poland) and Bydgoszcz
Airport (Poland).

Furthermore, MAI is evaluating more than 50 projects, most of which
are located in the Company´s main target region: Central, Eastern and
South Eastern Europe including the CIS countries.

end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ots Originaltext: Meinl Airports International Ltd.
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Nadine Gilles

Member of the Board / Meinl Airport Managers Ltd.

gilles@meinlairports.com

+421 911 500 730

Branche: Real Estate
ISIN: AT0000A053N4
WKN:
Index: other listings
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / Third Market