This site is also available on:
Deutsch
The Fraport Group concluded the 2024 fiscal year with growth in its key financial indicators. The international airport operator increased traffic volume- and price-related revenues at Frankfurt Airport and in its international investment portfolio. This also benefited the Group’s net income, which increased by 16.6 percent to €501.9 million.
“Despite headwinds, we achieved solid business performance,” said Dr. Stefan Schulte, Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG. “While we still had growth rates of around ten percent in Frankfurt at the beginning of 2024, passenger volume declined gradually over the course of the year. In addition to bottlenecks in the availability of new aircraft, the still far too high government site costs are a key reason. If no political countermeasures are taken, regulated site costs will continue to rise in 2025, imposing an additional burden on airlines of EUR 1.2 billion. Encouragingly, many of our international airport holdings presented a more positive picture with dynamic growth rates. Our holdings in Lima, Ljubljana, Antalya, and Greece performed particularly strongly.”
Fraport records record highs in key financial indicators
Price effects and growing passenger volumes increased full-year revenue by 10.7 percent to a new record high of €4.43 billion (2023: €4.00 billion). Adjusted for revenue related to expansion investments in the international Group companies (IFRIC 12), revenue grew by 11.7 percent to €3.89 billion. Group EBITDA also climbed to a new record high of €1.30 billion, representing an increase of 8.1 percent (2023: €1.20 billion). Group profit increased by 16.6 percent to €501.9 million (2023: €430.5 million).
The ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA remained at the previous year’s level at 6.4 (2023: 6.4). The increase in operating cash flow by €315.9 million to €1,179.1 million was more than offset by high cash outflows, particularly investments in the completion of the major expansion projects in Lima and Frankfurt. Free cash flow declined slightly by 2.8 percent to €674.7 million (2023: €656.4 million).
Increases in passenger and cargo volumes
Passenger numbers increased across the Group in 2024. Leisure travel continued to dominate in Frankfurt. Demand for business travel also increased, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. At its home hub, Fraport welcomed a total of around 61.6 million passengers. This represented an increase of 3.7 percent compared to 2023. Domestic traffic rose by two percent, still well below pre-crisis levels. European traffic increased by 4.2 percent, with warm-water destinations and city breaks particularly in demand. Intercontinental traffic grew by 3.4 percent overall. The growth driver was Far East traffic, which increased by 13.3 percent. Traffic to China was a key driver here, recording the highest absolute increase. Higher traffic to Indian destinations also supported this development.
Cargo volume in Frankfurt increased by 6.2 percent year-on-year to approximately 2.1 million tons. Frankfurt, as Europe’s leading cargo hub, benefited from increased air freight demand driven by e-commerce. Capacity constraints in maritime transport as a result of the geopolitical crises were further drivers.
The majority of Fraport’s international airport portfolios also achieved growth. The strongest year-on-year growth was achieved by Lima (+15.2 percent), Ljubljana (+13.3 percent), Antalya (+6.5 percent), and the 14 Greek airports in Fraport’s portfolio (+6.4 percent). Overall, international passenger traffic exceeded the record level of the pre-crisis year of 2019 (+1.3 percent).
Major progress on important future projects
Fraport is entering the home stretch with major expansion projects: The opening of a new terminal in Lima is imminent. This will gradually nearly double the capacity of Fraport Airport in the Peruvian capital to 40 million passengers in the coming months. A comprehensive expansion program will also be launched at Antalya Airport before the start of the upcoming travel season. The warm-water destination on the Turkish Riviera will then be able to welcome up to 65 million travelers per year. Construction of Terminal 3 is progressing in Frankfurt. It is scheduled to open after Easter 2026.
At the same time, the airport operator is demonstrating that the two strategic goals of growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive: Fraport reduced its greenhouse gas emissions group-wide by around 14 percent in 2024. The Group plans to achieve further major milestones in this area in the coming years – particularly in the procurement of green electricity. These include the completion of a photovoltaic system comprising 37,000 solar panels along Runway West at Frankfurt Airport and the large-scale procurement of green electricity from an offshore wind farm in the North Sea starting in 2026.
Fraport has also expanded its sustainability goals. Previously, the measures focused on reducing CO2 emissions. The new approach goes much further and takes into account all climate-relevant greenhouse gases (=CO2 equivalents). By 2045, the Fraport Group is committed to achieving Net Zero status at all fully consolidated locations within Scopes 1 and 2. Net Zero means greenhouse gas neutrality. Furthermore, by 2030, Fraport will reduce CO2 emissions in Frankfurt to 50,000 metric tons and Group-wide to 95,000 metric tons.
Outlook
For the current financial year, the airport operator in Frankfurt expects passenger volume of up to 64 million. A moderate increase is forecast for Group EBITDA. The Group’s net income is expected to range from stable to slightly declining. This is due to the absence of a special effect from the sale of the minority stake in Pulkovo Airport, which contributed over €40 million to the Group’s net income in 2024. Due to the Group’s continued high level of debt, the Supervisory Board and Management Board have decided not to propose a dividend at this year’s Annual General Meeting. Instead, the retained profit will be allocated to retained earnings and strengthen the equity base.
