Costs impact Concepción airport concessionaire's Q1

Aerosur, the concessionaire which operates the Carriel Sur airport serving Chile's Region VIII capital Concepción, posted a 74.3mn-peso (US$116,000) net loss in the first quarter compared to a 31.7mn-peso net profit in 1Q03, Aerosur said in a statement to the country's securities regulator (SVS). For the period, operating profit dropped 21.1% to 148mn pesos and revenue grew 12.5% to 459mn pesos. Increased operating, administrative and sales, and financial costs offset the revenue gain. In 2003, Aerosur posted a 262mn-peso net profit, down 40.7% from the year before. In December 2003, local company Belfi and investment fund Fondo de Inversion Prime-Infrastructura purchased all of Aerosur's shares from the then-operating consortium made up of Mendes Junior, Ingecol, Sical and Brundl. The Mendes-led consortium had won a 16-year contract to renovate and operate the airport in 1999 after submitting an offer of US$24.6mn. The refurbished terminal opened in 2000. Carriel Sur is expected to handle some 1 million passengers/y starting in 2008, compared to the current 400,000/y. Concepción has some 500,000 residents and is the largest and most industrialized city in southern Chile.