Fraport AG has reported a positive set of financial results for fiscal year 2022 with business performance improving significantly overall and high travel demand boosting all of the group’s key financial figures.

The Frankfurt Airport operator’s Retail & Real Estate division generated revenues of €446.4 million/$466.3 million, an increase of +39.9% over the previous year.

Retail alone accounted for €154m of the total, with net retail revenue per passenger at €3.33, versus €3.30 in 2021.

For full-year 2022, 48.9 million passengers travelled through Frankfurt Airport – an increase of +97.2% year-on-year (but still -30.7% down on pre-Covid 2019).

Group revenue rose 49% year-on-year to €3.1bn. Adjusting for revenues resulting from construction and expansion measures at Fraport’s subsidiaries worldwide (in line with IFRIC 12), group revenue grew by 50.6% to €2.8bn.

Group EBITDA increased by 36% year-on-year to €1.03bn. Net profit soared 81.5% to €166.6m in fiscal 2022 (up from €91.8m in 2021), despite the negative one-off effect from the write-off of the group’s investment at St. Petersburg Airport.

Building resilience

Fraport CEO Dr Stefan Schulte commented: “We’re moving in the right direction. In the past fiscal year, we’ve seen particularly strong demand for air travel from leisure passengers and vacationers. Our Group airports worldwide also benefitted from this trend.

“While demand was still restrained at the start of the year, passenger numbers in Frankfurt saw rapid growth of up to +300% from April onwards. In mid-2022, traffic surges with three-digit growth rates, combined with staff shortages, occasionally brought us to our limits when ramping up operations.”

Referencing the year ahead, Schulte noted: “During the summer we expect passenger traffic to further grow by about +15% to +25% compared to 2022. All process partners continue to be fully committed to ensuring that more resources are available for the upcoming travel season.”

He concluded: “Our primary goal is to maintain stable operations and enhance our resilience in responding to irregular situations. This remains a challenging task in view of the structural factors we are facing, such as the geopolitically related airspace restrictions and the current constraints on the German labour market.”

PAX tipped for 80-90% of pre-Covid levels

The group’s airports serving holiday destinations recovered strongly. Ranking first were the Greek airports, serving nearly +4% more passengers in 2022 than in pre-pandemic 2019, and achieving a new all-time record.

Fraport’s latest passenger numbers show that last year’s growth momentum has continued into 2023 with Frankfurt Airport welcoming 3.4 million passengers in February, a surge of +60.9% year-on-year.

This positive trajectory has also continued at Fraport Group’s airports worldwide. Its 14 Greek airports, for example, saw passenger numbers rise to 558,902 in February, an increase of +42.5 %.

For fiscal year 2023, Fraport’s executive board expects passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport to reach around 80%- 90% of the level seen in pre-crisis year 2019 (57m to 63m passengers).

Group EBITDA is projected to reach between €1,040m and €1,200m. Net profit is forecast to range from €300m to €420m.

In response to the recovery in passenger numbers, Fraport plans to hire around 1,500 additional staff members to be employed in aircraft ground handling.

The group is in the process of acquiring 24 new CT scanners for security checkpoints, which will allow liquids and electronics devices to remain in hand luggage.

Lastly, the project to  transform Terminal 1 has been launched, with the aim of significantly enhancing the passenger experience.