Cargo traffic continues to increase at Frankfurt Airport in H1 2017

August 03, 2017: Frankfurt Airport (FRA) cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) climbed by 5.3 percent year-on-year, to nearly 1.1 million metric tonnes. Hence, cargo traffic continued its growth trend from the second half of 2016, in tandem with economic growth.

The gateway served some 30 million passengers in the first half of 2017, thus posting a new historic record and exceeding the previous year's level by a noticeable 4.5 percent.

In the first six months of the 2017 business year (January to June), Fraport AG Group revenue advanced to almost EUR1.4 billion, an increase of EUR130.6 million or 10.7 percent year-on-year. 

Beyond Frankfurt, revenue growth was driven, in particular, by the Group's Fraport Greece subsidiary, which commenced operations on April 11, 2017, and Fraport's Lima Airport subsidiary.

Commenting on the Group's positive operational and financial performance in the first six months of the year, Fraport AG's executive board chairman, Dr. Stefan Schulte, said, "We are looking back on a successful first half 2017. Our business areas have developed well, both at Frankfurt Airport and our Group airports worldwide."

Passenger numbers also increased across the Fraport Group's international portfolio of airports. Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia's capital welcomed some 723,000 passengers in the first six months of 2017, an increase of 20.8 percent compared to the same period last year. The 14 Greek regional airports welcomed more than 9.6 million passengers, up 11.9 percent. Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru continued to record noticeable traffic growth of 8.4 percent to almost 9.7 million passengers.  The airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast saw combined traffic grow by 9.4 percent year-on-year to some 1.3 million passengers.

Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey registered traffic growth of 29.4 percent to about 9.5 million passengers. Almost 7.1 million passengers passed through Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg, Russia, representing a gain of 25.4 percent. Hanover Airport (HAJ) in northern Germany received some 2.6 million passengers in the first half of 2017, up 4.9 percent. Xi'an Airport (XIY) in China continued to achieve dynamic growth, with traffic rising by 14.4 percent to about 20.1 million passengers.

In view of the robust demand for air travel, Fraport AG's executive board has revised Frankfurt Airport's traffic outlook for the 2017 business year slightly upward, with passenger figures expected to increase by approximately five percent. Despite this, Fraport's financial outlook remains unchanged, as the executive board expects non-capitalizable start-up costs of up to EUR15 million for the two Brazilian airport concessions won in business year 2017.

In view of the upcoming takeover of Fortaleza (FOR) and Port Alegre (POA) airports in Brazil and the investment programme planned for these gateways, Fraport AG's executive board expects the Group's overall net financial debt to rise to some 1.2 billion during the full year 2017 - in line with the outlook already reported in Fraport's First Quarter 2017 Interim Release.