The Fraport Group has seen its operating profits more than double from €52 million to €105.2 million in the first six months of 2011, thanks to continued growth in passenger traffic.

 

In its results for the first half of the year, Fraport also reported revenue increases of 11% - from €1.015 billion to €1.126 billion - while the EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) operating result for the group climbed 17.7% to €358.4 million, compared with the same time last year.

Dr Stefan Schulte, executive board chairman of Fraport, said: "In the first half of 2011 the Fraport Group also benefitted from the good positioning of its airports in the global air transportation market.

"Along with the Group-wide jump in passenger traffic, Fraport's key financial figures were positively affected by base effects, resulting from the revenue drop

precipitated by the volcanic ash cloud crisis in April 2010."

Frankfurt has attributed the growth in results to the significant increase in traffic figures during the second quarter of 2011.

The group's five majority-owned airports welcomed about 43 million passengers during the first half of 2011, up 11.4% year-on-year.

Additionally, Fraport's Aviation and Retail and Real Estate business segments each accounted for more than one-third of the revenue growth of the group.

Greater passenger volumes led to higher revenue from airport charges and also resulted in positive effects from the retail and parking businesses.

Elsewhere, total operating costs for the group also increased 6.5% over the period from €753 million in the first half of 2010, to €802 million during the first six months of this year.

For example, personnel costs for the group grew 3% to €462 million, as the upward increase in passenger traffic meant more operational staff were required at Frankfurt Airport and resulted in almost 600 new job hirings at the gateway.

Meanwhile, costs of materials and other operating expenses climbed by 11.4% to €339.3 million due to the higher traffic-related concession fees for Fraport's external business activities and because of special effects resulting from the sale of real estate at Frankfurt Airport.