In the first three months of 2021, the financial performance of the Fraport Group continued to be severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. With passenger traffic still down at Frankfurt Airport and across the Group's airports worldwide, Group revenue declined by more than 40 percent year-on-year in the January-to-March reporting period. Fraport posted a net loss of €77.5 million.
Fraport AG's executive board chairman, Dr. Stefan Schulte, said: "The aviation industry still did not see any noticeable recovery during the first quarter of 2021. This was not unexpected considering the global pandemic situation. Nevertheless, we are confident that we are now re-emerging from the bottom of the trough. Vaccination campaigns in Germany and many other countries are gaining momentum. Moreover, a number of Covid-19 testing options are now available. People still have a strong desire to travel and explore the world. Therefore, we are expecting passenger numbers to increase noticeably during the summer months – particularly on European routes at first, but also for intercontinental destinations over the long run. At the same time, we have leveraged the crisis to substantially reduce costs and realign our company to become leaner and more agile for the future."
During the first three months of 2021, the Group's Frankfurt Airport home base saw passenger traffic drop by 77.6 percent year-on-year to just under 2.5 million travellers. Compared to the first quarter of the 2019 pre-pandemic year, this represents an even stronger decline of 83.2 percent. In contrast, FRA's cargo throughput in the first quarter grew by 21.6 percent year-on-year to 565,497 metric tons (up 7.3 percent compared to Q1/2019).
At Fraport's Group airports worldwide, traffic also dropped overall in the first quarter, with year-on-year declines ranging from about 50 percent to 90 percent at some airports. Supported by strong domestic traffic, only two gateways performed better: St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport in Russia (down 18.3 percent) and Xi'an Airport in China (up 40.7 percent).
Reflecting the overall traffic development, Group revenue decreased by 41.8 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to €385.0 million. Adjusting for revenue from construction relating to capacitive capital expenditure at Fraport's subsidiaries worldwide (based on IFRIC 12), Group revenue was down 41.9 percent to €344.7 million. An agreement reached in the reporting period between Fraport and the German Federal Police on the remuneration of aviation security services – provided by Fraport in the past – generated additional revenue of €57.8 million, which positively impacted EBITDA by the same amount.
Across its Group companies in Frankfurt, Fraport reduced operating expenses by around 28 percent – primarily achieved via strict cost management, the implementation of short-time work (under Germany's Kurzarbeit program), and ongoing staff reductions through socially-responsible measures.
Fraport has launched an extensive cost-reduction program, and has made savings of between €100 million and €150 million yearly. Simultaneously, Fraport scaled down or cancelled a number of investments, particularly at its Frankfurt home base – thus reducing related capital expenditure by about €1 billion over the medium and long-term.
Fraport raised about €1.9 billion overall in additional financing during the first quarter of 2021. Financing measures included the placement of a corporate bond, issued in two tranches with a total volume of €1.15 billion. Backed by these measures, Fraport's liquid funds and secured credit lines amount to some €4.4 billion (as of March 31, 2021).
After conclusion of the first quarter, the Fraport executive board is maintaining its outlook for the entire 2021 business year. Passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport is forecast to range from under 20 million to 25 million. Group revenue is expected to reach approximately €2 billion in 2021. The company is forecasting Group EBITDA in the range of about €300 million to €450 million.