Flughafen Wien Group announced operating results for the first quarter of 2017. “Passenger volume at Vienna Airport is developing excellently,” says Julian Jäger, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG.
“Following the good level of growth in the first quarter of 2017, we recorded a strong rise of 14.6% in april in the number of passengers, which is mainly due to the new offerings in the summer flight schedule and the Easter holidays. Flight traffic to Eastern Europe also expanded strongly, and we achieved growth of more than 35% to and from Russia in April 2017 due to the additional services offered. This good development is also reflected in rising income from the shopping and food & beverage businesses. The expected passenger growth of up to 2% in the entire year 2017 could be surpassed if the very favourable development at present continues. That is why more runway capacity on the ground will be necessary in the long term,” adds Julian Jäger.
The number of passengers handled at the Vienna Airport flight hub rose by 3.7% to 4,562,824 travellers from January to March 2017 in spite of the Easter holidays in April this year. The number of local passengers was up 4.5% in the first three months of 2017, whereas the volume of transfer passengers climbed by 0.8%. Passenger traffic to Western Europe was up 3.7% compared to the 3.6% increase in people flying to Eastern European destinations. Far Eastern destinations showed a 4.4% growth in passenger volume, and the number of passengers flying to the Middle East rose by 9.8% in this period. Due to seasonal capacity decreases and the deployment of smaller aircraft, the total number of passengers flying to North America fell by 19.4%. In contrast, passenger volume to Africa developed positively, expanding by 13.6%.
The number of flight movements fell by 2.0% in the period January to March 2017 from the prior-year level to 47,864 starts and landings. The average seat occupancy (seat load factor) showed a largely stable development at 66.7% in the first three months of the year 2017 compared to 66.8% in the previous year. Cargo volume (air cargo and trucking) increased by 1.4% in the same period to 65,440 tonnes.
Vienna Airport including its foreign strategic investments in Malta Airport and Kosice Airport handled 5.6 million passengers in the period January to March 2017, representing a 6.6% increase in passenger volume compared to the prior-year period.
The foreign strategic investments of the Flughafen Wien Group in Malta and Kosice Airports are also developing well. Malta Airport reported a strong rise in passenger volume of 22.2% to 981,955 passengers in the first three months of 2017. During the same period, Kosice Airport reported a considerable rise of 8.5% in a year-on-year comparison, handling a total of 76,472 passengers.
Revenue of the Flughafen Wien Group in the first three months of 2017 were up 4.3% to € 160.6 million, whereas EBITDA rose 1.6% to € 60.7 million. EBIT improved by 3.5% to € 26.0 million, and the net profit for the period increased by 9.8% to € 15.9 million in Q1/2017 due to the improved financial results. Net debt was reduced once again to € 324.6 million. The free cash flow totalled € 40.7 million (Q1/2016: € 116.2 million).
Passenger development to date in 2017 increases the probability that passenger development of Flughafen Wien AG will surpass the previous maximum expected growth of 2% in the original guidance for the entire year 2017 for Flughafen Wien AG and outperform the upper range of 3% forecast for the Flughafen Wien Group. Revenue is expected to rise to more than € 740 million, and EBITDA of more than € 315 million is targeted. From today’s perspective, the net profit after taxes should reach a level of at least € 120 million. The net debt of the company should be reduced below € 350 million.
