Fraport cargo traffic strong despite dips in pax numbers

Fraport, which operates Frankfurt Airport, and owns a 50 percent stake in Turkey’s Antalya Airport, among others, missed its passenger targets in the second quarter of 2016, but it still registered an uptick in its cargo over the same period. At Frankfurt, Q2 cargo increased by 2.3 percent, year-over-year, to 528,712 tonnes and was up by 0.4 percent for the first half of 2016, reaching just over 1 million tonnes.

Despite the increase in cargo traffic, total group revenues decreased by 17.1 percent, y-o-y, during the first half to €1.2 billion, while net profits were down 3.3 percent to €99.7 million.

The most notable increases in inbound cargo came from Europe and the Middle East, which beat the previous year’s numbers by 2.7 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. While freight dipped by 1 percent, y-o-y, during the first three months of the year, it rebounded thereafter, recording growth of 2.3 percent.

Fraport credited an “upturn in the German logistics market and a rise in export forecasts in the German industrial sector,” for the improvement.

Fraport has a stake in airports all over the world, so the company’s report provides an interesting perspective on the global aviation sector, and specifically developments in air cargo. In the airport operator’s preliminary half-year report, Lima airport saw y-o-y air cargo fall by 6.4 percent to 123,000 tonnes in Q2. This figure is indicative of regional economic trends, in which lack of diversification left economies such as Peru’s particularly exposed to commodity super cycles.

At India’s Delhi Airport, where Fraport has a 10 percent stake, cargo was up 10.9 percent, y-o-y, for the first six months. Xi’an Airport saw its cargo rise 15 percent to 139,065 tonnes over the same time period.