The strong recovery in demand for air travel brought the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport strong growth. In the seasonally strongest quarter from July to September, Fraport earned 420 million euros (EBITDA), almost as much as before the corona crisis. The outlook for the fourth quarter also remains optimistic.
In the first half of the year, the number of passengers at Frankfurt Airport was still 38 percent below the pre-crisis level of 2019. In the third quarter, the deficit was only 26 percent, and in October it was just over 23 percent. In the first nine months, Frankfurt Airport recorded a cumulative volume of 35,9 million passengers. For the year as a whole, the company expects up to 50 million passengers in Frankfurt after a good 70 million before the crisis. In contrast, the number of passengers at the international airport holdings rose sharply. At the 14 Greek airports alone, traffic volume in the summer was already three percent above the pre-crisis level of 2019.
Meanwhile, the volume of cargo at Frankfurt Airport fell by 12,9 percent. The reason for this is the overall economic situation and the further restrictions on airspace caused by the Ukraine war and comprehensive corona protection measures in China, according to the group in a broadcast.
The bottom line is that Fraport managed to return to the black in the third quarter. In the first nine months, the airport operator posted a 57,6 percent increase in sales to EUR 2,14 billion and an increase in operating earnings (EBITDA) of almost 33 percent to EUR 828,6 million. The consolidated result reached 98,1 (previous year: 118) million euros. The listed group, half of which is owned by the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt, will not pay a dividend for 2022 despite returning to profitability.
In line with the good development in the first nine months and the stable outlook for the fourth quarter, Fraport expects that the forecast adjusted in the half-year report will be achieved at the upper end: So far, the airport operator in Frankfurt has been expecting an annual volume of around 45 to around 50 million passengers. Sales for the current fiscal year are expected to be slightly over 3 billion euros. With annual sales of a good 3 billion euros, the Management Board now expects an operating profit of around 970 million euros. The consolidated group profit should reach around 100 million euros.