Fraport CFO Matthias Zieschang: "Wir brechen niemals eine Guidance" - Börsenradio to go

Good day, my name is Matthias Zieschang. I have been the CFO of Fraport AG since 2007 and I am pleased to discuss the figures with you today.

It was a great joy, especially after that year when everything was at stake. The crisis was the biggest and worst for the aviation industry. When air traffic was grounded in March 2020, nobody knew how it would continue. To have come through it without state aid was a joint achievement. When this award came as a surprise, it was the icing on the cake. It pleased me personally very much.

Lufthansa is our largest customer with a market share of over 60%, and that has been the case for decades. We have a system partnership; we depend on each other. The people at all levels have known each other for years. It usually works excellently; sometimes there are conflicts, but that's normal. This system partnership since the mid-1950s is a unique success story that is far from over.

2019 was a record year for aviation. Then came Corona. Now we are moving back up. We reference everything to 2019. We are still slightly below in traffic, with strong structural differences. Private travel is already back to 2019, but business travel is still much lower. Financially, companies have become leaner but carry a huge debt backpack from Corona. It will take a few years to restore the balance sheet, even though the P&L already looks good.

A passenger is a passenger, but spending also depends on purchasing power. In private travel we have largely reached pre-Corona levels, and in places like Greece we are above, despite airfares being 30–50% higher. Price elasticity is low because air travelers are from upper income groups. For business travel, video conferencing has changed things; we are at about 60% of pre-Corona. I expect it to reach 80–85% in 12–18 months, but not return fully. That doesn't matter because private travel and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) are strong. VFR is growing the most because it has the lowest price elasticity. These segments compensate for the structural decline in business travel.

We no longer have passenger flights to Russia. Western tourism to places like Saint Petersburg has dropped to nearly zero. Russians now fly via Istanbul or Abu Dhabi. There are strong relocation effects. We have fully written off our Russian engagement; the book value is zero and loans are written down. We cannot donate the asset because of breach of trust and sanctions, and selling is complicated. We move on very thin ice legally.

They are doing excellently. In terms of passenger numbers, they are even better than Frankfurt because these airports have few business travelers, so private travel recovery is complete. Greece is clearly above pre-Corona, Antalya passed the 2019 level in July, and others are at 85–90%. We now earn half of our result abroad, and due to higher growth rates in emerging markets, we expect to benefit disproportionately in the coming years.

We have a clear principle: we never break a guidance. We are conservative. We want to avoid ever having to lower guidance. Our adjustments reflect that philosophy. We have built trust over 10–15 years and don't want to jeopardize it. Investors can assess that we tend to be a bit better; Fraport always delivers what it promises.

We are confident that the terminal will open with the summer flight schedule 2026. We monitor construction progress closely; the project is on time and within budget—around four billion euros. We are absolutely sure to meet both the timeline and the budget, unlike some other major projects in Germany.

It was the other way around. The Federal Police had the responsibility. Long waiting times at security were the biggest complaint. We wanted to take over management to improve efficiency, but the condition was that we could no longer directly employ our own security staff. So we sold 51% of FraSec to Securitas and now have three external service providers. We book the costs with zero margin to the airlines. The result: we have already ordered new scanners, so passengers can keep liquids and electronics in their bags, reducing unpacking and wait times. The feedback shows significantly shorter waiting times.

No, it cannot be ruled out. It could happen here just as well. We do the maximum possible security-wise. We have 30 km of perimeter fence with cameras and detection, but we cannot build a new Berlin Wall. These are clear breaches of the law and must be dealt with accordingly. I have zero tolerance for these criminal activities.