Strikes and IT problems at Frankfurt Airport weighed on the first quarter. However, operator Fraport is optimistic that it will be able to organize stable operations in the summer.
After a bumpy start to the year, the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport still sees itself on course. “The direction is right,” explained Fraport boss Stefan Schulte in view of a more than doubled operating profit (Ebitda) of a good 158 million euros in the first quarter of 2023.
The turnover of the MDax group rose by around 42 percent year-on-year to just under 766 million euros. A net loss of just under EUR 22 million, which is quite typical for the season, was attributable to the shareholders (same period last year: EUR 108 million).
The management therefore sees itself on course and left the forecast for the year as a whole unchanged. After that, the operating result (Ebitda) should increase to a total of between 1.04 and 1.2 billion euros. The group result should land between 300 and 420 million euros.
The figures from Frankfurt were not well received on the stock exchange. With a price drop of around 7 percent in the meantime, the share is almost at the end of the middle market segment. In a report, the US analysis firm Jefferies criticized the fact that the airport operator had disappointed in view of cost inflation. But the prospects remained intact.
Record year 2019 clearly missed
Strikes and a serious IT breakdown at the main customer Lufthansa slowed passenger growth at Germany’s largest airport at the beginning of the year. In the first three months, without these events, growth of 60 percent would have been possible compared to the same period last year, which was still affected by Corona, the MDax group complained. The number of passengers in Frankfurt increased by 56 percent to around 11.4 million.
The record year 2019 with 70.6 million guests was again clearly missed. With an increase in passenger numbers of 15 to 25 percent in the summer, Fraport expects to have handled between 56.5 and 63.5 million passengers by the end of the year. That would correspond to 80 to 90 percent of the pre-crisis level. According to preliminary figures, in April the number of passengers reached 80 percent of the 2019 level.
Fraport boss Schulte was optimistic that he would be able to organize more stable operations in the coming months than last year, when the Frankfurt hub was one of the least punctual airports in Europe. Schulte said: “The stable performance during the Easter holidays makes us cautiously optimistic. The recovery has made further progress at our international airports, which are mainly used for tourism. In addition to Greece, other airports will come close to the pre-crisis level over the course of the year.”
Source: Stern
