Frankfurt Airport is still unable to match the numbers from before the pandemic. Nevertheless, the recovery is more dynamic than ever. The airport operator Fraport therefore expects more profits over the course of the financial year.

Despite the handling chaos of the past few weeks, significantly more passengers are using Frankfurt Airport again. The listed operator Fraport therefore raised its annual forecast significantly to 45 to 50 million guests on Tuesday. Previously, 39 to 46 million passengers were expected for the largest German hub. The pre-Corona year 2019 marked the record with more than 70 million passengers. In June, the 5 million monthly mark was exceeded again for the first time and thus more than 75 percent of the pre-crisis level was reached.

Almost 21 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport in the first half of the year. While still down 38 percent from 2019, this represented year-over-year growth of more than 220 percent. In June, for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the volume was almost 5 million passengers - more than 75 percent of the volume from the record year 2019.

"This very dynamic recovery demands a lot from us operationally and repeatedly leads to unsatisfactory unpunctuality," says Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG, on the current situation. "The overall stable and regulated operation at the start of the summer holidays shows that the measures introduced together with our partners in Frankfurt are having an effect, even if we are still far from our own quality requirements."

Cargo volume falls by 11,5 percent

In terms of cargo volume, Frankfurt reached around 1,0 million tons - a drop of 11,5 percent compared to the first half of 2021. In addition to a strong basis from the previous year, the main reasons for this were the restrictions in airspace as a result of the war in Ukraine and the numerous lockdowns through the strict zero-Covid strategy in China. Due to the stronger focus on tourism, the majority of the international Group airports developed better than Frankfurt in terms of passenger numbers in the first half of the year.

Special effects dampen profit expectations

Two special effects also influence profit expectations. The sale of the shares in Xi'an Airport in China is expected to increase consolidated earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to between EUR 400 and 520 million (previously: EUR 320-440 million). At the same time, however, Fraport has completely written off its commitment at the airport in St. Petersburg because of the sanctions against Russia. Therefore, the bottom line is that the consolidated profit will only reach 50 to 150 million euros instead of 100 to XNUMX million.

From an accounting point of view, Fraport has thus lost its loan claim of 163,3 million euros from Thalita Trading Ltd, which holds the stake in the operating company of the airport in St. Petersburg. Schulte explained that the value adjustment should not be confused with a sale of shares. “We fully adhere to our claims. Contractually, a sale is still excluded until 2025.”

In the second quarter, Fraport surprisingly increased its revenue by 90 percent to 809 million euros compared to the same period of the previous year, which was affected by the pandemic. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased by 14 percent to almost 338 million euros and were thus higher than average analysts had expected. However, the profit attributable to the shareholders fell by more than 30 percent to a good 59 million euros as a result of the Russia write-off.