Last year can be characterised as a year of strong growth for Fraport AG.
Addressing the company’s 10th annual general meeting, executive board chairman Stefan Schulte said: “This growth momentum has resulted in significantly improved profitability – which is important for dealing with the financial burden of Frankfurt Airport’s (FRA) huge expansion programme.”
All of Fraport’s business segments are on the right course. “Thanks to FRA’s capacity expansion resulting from the new runway, to be inaugurated later this year, and to our continuously improving operational performance, we are well positioned as one of the leading global aviation hubs to meet the competition for the expected growth in traffic,” stressed Schulte.
In 2010, Fraport AG’s Frankfurt Airport home base achieved a noticeable increase in passenger figures and cargo tonnage. Both FRA’s capacity expansion and the comprehensive programme for enhancing overall service quality are making tremendous progress. The group’s international business is also developing positively.
According to Mr Schulte, Fraport’s success is driven by the increase in traffic volumes as well as the good performance of the company’s international investment airports.
With a total of about 53 million passengers at FRA in 2010, Fraport saw traffic climb by more than four per cent year-on-year, even though European flights were grounded for several days due to the ash cloud crisis as well as the severe winter weather at the beginning and end of the year, he said.
The growth trend has also been continuing throughout the first months of 2011. Air cargo recorded an even stronger increase, rising by more than a fifth to 2.2 million metric tons last year. Frankfurt Airport not only achieved the highest cargo figure in its history but also confirmed its position as Europe’s leading air cargo hub.
Last year’s markedly climbing traffic figures led to a 9.2 per cent rise in group revenue to almost €2.2 billion. In view of the ongoing heavy investments at FRA – almost €775 million in 2010 for airport expansion – the increase in the operating result (EBITDA) was necessary to enable the company to bear the rising interest and depreciation costs resulting from these investments. Net debt amounted to €2 billion at the end of 2010. Thus, gearing was approximately 78 per cent, with equity amounting to about €2.7 billion and the equity ratio at 28.4 per cent.
Mr Schulte described the forthcoming opening of the new northwest runway as the most important contribution to securing Frankfurt Airport’s competitive future.
To cope with this growth, other areas of the airport infrastructure will be systematically expanded. For example, Schulte mentioned the westward extension of Terminal 1, known as Pier A-Plus.
Along with the expansion of the airport’s infrastructure, Fraport will also continue with its “Great to have you here!” initiative to enhance customer service and the airport experience at FRA. During the past year, the focus of the initiative was on shortening waiting times at security checkpoints in the terminals.
More than 90 per cent of all passengers now have to wait less than 10 minutes at the checkpoints. Newly-designed waiting and rest areas also provide a significantly enhanced passenger experience. In addition, cleanliness throughout the terminals has been improved.
Projects for 2011 include improving signage and wayfinding, redesigning the Terminal 1 forecourt and upgrading sanitary facilities, as well as the launch of a new FRA smartphone app to help passengers navigate their way through the terminals. Regarding Fraport AG’s inter-national airport projects, Mr Schulte said that investing in growth markets had already paid off. All 13 airports where the group is now engaged recorded in some cases significant growth in passenger numbers last year. In total, the group’s airports welcomed nearly 200 million passengers in 2010.
Schulte highlighted the positive development at Antalya Airport, Fraport’s largest investment.
After Fraport took over operations of Antalya’s second international terminal, the number of passengers doubled compared to 2009.
Antalya served a total of 22 million passengers in 2010. This represents an underlying increase of more than 18 per cent.