GERMANY. Frankfurt Airport owner Fraport Group has reported healthy increases in revenue and profits for the first six months of 2023, buoyed by fast-rising passenger traffic. Passenger numbers at Frankfurt Airport surged by +29.1% year-on-year to 26.9 million in the first six months – or around 80% of pre-crisis levels.
Retail & Real Estate revenue reached €235.4 million, up by +22.9% year-on-year, mainly due to higher retail and parking income. Net retail revenue per passenger was €3.14, ahead of the €3 figure in the same period last year. Despite higher personnel and material expenses, EBITDA in this segment of the business amounted to €179.1 million, up by +29.8%. Segment EBIT was €135.0 million, up by +43.2%.
Group revenue overall rose by +33.8% year-on-year to €1,804.3 million in the first six months. EBITDA reached €481.4 million, up +17.9%. Net profit climbed to €85 million in the period compared to a negative €53.1 million (due to a one-off effect) a year ago.
Fraport CEO Dr. Stefan Schulte said: “In the second quarter of 2023, the positive performance continued from the start of the year. We are seeing sustained recovery in passenger demand across our portfolio of global airports. At our home base in Frankfurt, passenger numbers recovered to 80% of pre-crisis levels in the first half of 2023.
“We expect passenger traffic to further grow at Frankfurt Airport during the full year – including a rise in the share of business travellers. Our leisure-dominated group airports worldwide have benefited most from the ongoing strong demand for holiday travel. This is particularly true for the Greek airports, which continued to clearly surpass the levels from pre-crisis 2019 during the first six months.”
European traffic benefited from strong demand for leisure travel. Business travel within Europe also gradually improved, particularly to and from Europe’s financial hubs, said Fraport. Intercontinental traffic saw high growth rates for holiday destinations in North and Central Africa and the Caribbean.
Traffic to and from North America also recorded strong passenger volumes, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels again. In contrast, traffic to and from China continued to lag behind the general trend, reaching only about one-third of the 2019 level.
At the company’s 14 Greek regional airports, accumulated passenger numbers surpassed pre-crisis levels by +7.8%, while Antalya Airport showed a 96.2% recovery rate, followed by Lima Airport, which reached 85.4% of 2019 figures. At the two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre, combined traffic recovered to 84.7% of the pre-pandemic level.
Fraport’s executive board has updated its 2023 full-year outlook for Frankfurt Airport. Passenger numbers there are now expected to reach around 85% of 2019 numbers (which hit 70.6 million).
EBITDA is set to reach the upper half of the previously projected range of between about €1,040 million and €1,200 million. New profit is now expected in the upper half of the expected range between €300 million and €420 million. ✈
