Amsterdam airport to pay 1 bln euros to owners

AMSTERDAM, March 31 (Reuters) - Amsterdam airport Schiphol [SCHP.UL] plans to pay extraordinary dividends of up to 1 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in 2008 and 2009 while maintaining an A credit rating, it said on Monday. Schiphol plans to pay 500 million euros this year to its shareholders, the Dutch state and the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

It plans to pay an extraordinary dividend of up to 500 million euros again in 2009 but the exact amount will depend on what is possible while maintaining an A credit rating from Standard & Poor's, Schiphol said. Its current rating is AA minus, two notches above A.

A Schiphol spokesman said the company would have to borrow the money but had not yet decided whether this would be in the form of a bank loan or bonds. Shareholders still have to approve the proposal at a meeting on April 17. (Reporting by Niclas Mika; Editing by Paul Bolding)