- Frankfurt airport handled 188,000 passengers in April – far less than on an average single day in 2019
- Negative free cash flow of around €155m per month
- Sufficient liquidity to survive the current situation for many months
Fraport chief executive Stefan Schulte has outlined the challenge facing the German airport group which owns Frankfurt airport.
In his speech to the virtual AGM, Schulte said:“We are in the midst of the severest crisis impacting modern aviation. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions worldwide have increased significantly since the beginning of March.
“For the entire month of April, Frankfurt Airport served only about 188,000 passengers – that’s far less that the passenger traffic we received on an average single day in 2019.”
Traffic at the company’s international airport locations has also largely come to a “standstill”.
Added Schulte: “We responded to this drop in traffic at an early stage and took comprehensive measures to reduce costs. Nevertheless, we now have negative free cash flow of around 155 million euros per month. Despite these massive cash outflows, Fraport has sufficient liquidity to survive the current situation for many months to come.”
Profit for Fiscal Year 2019 to Flow into Revenue Reserves
Against the background of this development, Fraport’s Executive Board and Supervisory Board will recommend to the AGM – despite the successful 2019 business year – not to pay the dividend for the past completed year.
Instead, the profit earmarked for distribution should flow into the revenue reserve and strengthen the equity base. In view of an expected negative Group Result for the current financial year, the Executive Board will also propose to the Supervisory Board and the Annual General Meeting not to distribute a dividend for the 2020 business year.
Outlook Remains Uncertain
Because of the ongoing high uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fraport cannot make a specific forecast at this time.
Fraport still anticipates “strongly negative traffic development” at Frankfurt. In line with this development, the executive board expects all financial performance indicators to decrease significantly for the 2020 financial year. Overall, Fraport expects Group-EBITDA and Group-EBIT to decline sharply, and the Group Result to be negative.
Said Schulte: “Also, the medium and long-term outlook is still very uncertain. Currently, we expect passenger traffic – even in 2022/2023 – to be below the previous high-levels. A decline of about 155 to 20% compared to the 2019 figure of around 70.6 million passengers in Frankfurt seems realistic. This is what we are preparing your company and Frankfurt Airport for.”
