Fraport Expects 14 Greek Airports to Record Rise in 2018 Passenger Numbers

The Macedonia Airport in Thessaloniki is under the operation and management of Fraport Greece. Photo: GTP

Greece’s 14 regional airports are set to record a high single digit rise in passenger numbers this year, according to Fraport Group, which announced a 13.0 percent increase in group revenue to 1.532 billion euros for the first six months of 2018.

The Frankfurt-based mother company of Fraport Greece, currently managing 14 airports across the country, said during the announcement of its first half results that the increase was driven by traffic growth which boosted gains from airport charges and security services, a rise in charges from ground services and infrastructure, as well as higher parking revenue.

The group’s international activity also contributed “significantly” to revenue growth for the January-June 2018 period, with Fraport Greece bringing in an additional 83.5 million euros, followed by its Brasil operation at 76.4 million euros.

“Outside Frankfurt, the contributions to revenue growth came primarily from Fraport Greece, which took over of operations in the second quarter of 2017, and also the Group companies Fortaleza and Porto legre, which had not taken over of operations yet in the previous year’s reporting period,” the company said in its Interim Report Q2/6M 2018.

Frankfurt Airport served 32.7 million passengers in the first half of 2018, up by 9.1 percent against the same period last year, while all of the group’s airports posted strong passenger growth.

Traffic to holiday destinations around the Mediterranean and to Eastern Europe saw the fastest growth. As a result, routes to Southern Europe grew by 21.9 percent, with Greece (+38.4 percent), Italy (+27.3 percent) and the Canary Islands (+25.6 percent) heading the list.

Photo source: Fraport Group

However, higher investments at Frankfurt Airport and Fraport’s international Group airports, resulted in free cash flow dropping by 221.3 million euros to minus 23.2 million euros in the first six months of 2018. The drop in cash flow was also due to the one-off payment of approximately 1.2 billion euros for the operational takeover of the 14 Greek regional airports, which increased investments in airport operating projects.

Meanwhile, turnover for Fraport Greece in the first half of 2018 came to 141.7 million euros, up by 83.5 million euros compared to last year. Operating costs came to 101.1 million euros and EBITDA (profit before deducting interest, tax and amortization) at 41.3 million euros. However, according to the interim report, after deducting all charges, Fraport Greece generated a result of –20.7 million euros.

During the reporting period, passenger volume at Fraport Greece reached approx. 10.6 million (+11.0 percent). This growth was primarily the result of a significant growth in international passenger traffic (+16.8 percent) of travelers from Germany, the UK and Poland.

The Greek airports run by Fraport also recorded increasing freight traffic with the total volume of cargo reaching 2,175 tonnes in the second quarter of 2018 against the same period last year, up by 46.9 percent, the group said in its interim report.

“For the 14 Greek regional airports, the Executive Board expects a rise in passenger numbers in the upper single-digit percentage range in 2018,” the company said in its report. The forecast in Fraport’s 2017 annual report referred to an increase of around 5 percent.