Fraport Interim Report - Nine Months 2010: Satisfying Business Development During January to September

FRANKFURT, Germany, November 4, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fraport AG has left the economic crisis well behind and continues to record increasing traffic volumes. In the first nine months of 2010 the company's Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base welcomed some 40 million passengers, despite extraordinary disruptions to airport operations caused by strong winter weather, the pilot strike and the multi-day volcanic ash crisis. Thus, FRA reported a four percent jump in passenger traffic from January-to-September 2010 compared to the same period last year.

Nearly 69 million passengers - an increase of 8.8 percent year-on-year - used the Fraport Group's majority-owned airports of Antalya (AYT), Burgas (BOJ), Frankfurt (FRA), Lima (LIM), and Varna (VAR) in the first nine months of 2010. The majority of the Group's passenger growth came from AYT (up 18.6 percent) and LIM (up 15.5 percent).

Fraport's financial figures also reflect this traffic increase. In the first three quarters of 2010, Fraport's revenue rose by approximately 8.5 percent to EUR1.64 billion. Operating results or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) surged by more than 24 percent to about EUR567 million and net profit rose by well over one-quarter to about EUR162 million. The strong third quarter contributed significantly to this positive development. Frankfurt Airport achieved its best quarterly traffic results ever: with the passenger volume rising by 8.2 percent to 15.6 million and maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) increasing by 6.3 percent to 7.6 million metric tons during July to September 2010. The EBITDA margin reached 42 percent. Despite slightly higher depreciation, Group profit climbed by about EUR50 million to EUR109.6 million - an increase of about 76 percent.

Presenting the 2010 nine-month traffic and financial results, Fraport executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte explained that the company's external business - particularly, the strong growth at Lima and Antalya airports - accounted for approximately two-thirds of the EBITDA improvement.

Overall, Schulte expressed satisfaction with Fraport's business development this year to date: "During the first three quarters of this year we have already exceeded the operating result and net profit of the entire 2009 financial year. Because of the ongoing positive business development, we have raised our full-year 2010 forecast. We now expect FRA's passenger traffic to grow by well over four percent and Fraport's operating result to hit about EUR700 million - versus about EUR570 million in 2009 - and, as announced after the first half, we expect net profit to reach some EUR152 million, despite the high investment volume compared to last year's level."

This forecast is supported by the continuing strong development in air traffic. For example, preliminary figures for the just-completed month of October 2010 indicate that FRA's passenger figures rose by 8.5 percent. Cumulative figures for the January-to-October 2010 period show that FRA's passenger volume climbed by 4.4 percent year-on-year. For the new Frankfurt Airport Winter Timetable 2010/2011, airlines have increased their demand for slots (takeoff and landing rights) by 3.9 percent - whereby the number of seats being offered for the winter schedule has climbed by 6.4 percent.

In conclusion, Schulte gave an optimistic outlook regarding further capacity expansion at FRA. Currently, the airlines are not only using every available slot in the schedule for new connections but they are also deploying larger aircraft. "Frankfurt Airport's new Runway Northwest will be inaugurated at the end of October 2011. This capacity expansion will secure our future competitiveness and will offer the airlines new growth opportunities at Frankfurt Airport," stressed Schulte.

To meet the corresponding challenges, Frankfurt Airport is moving full-speed ahead to handle the expected growth in traffic volumes with the usual precision. Thus, the number of security control stations in the terminals will be expanded by about 25 percent to almost 80 stations. "We will also be offering more jobs. On the basis of current plans, we expect at least 600 new jobs to be added at FRA in the coming year," said Schulte.

Note to Editors:

Fraport AG's interim report for the first nine months of 2010 (first three quarters) is available via http://www.fraport.com (see Investor Relations section of our Web site), along with other related information.

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Print-quality photos of Frankfurt Airport and Fraport AG are available free for downloading via the Internet at http://www.fraport.com (Menu: select Press Center > then Photo Service). For TV news and information broadcasting purposes only, we also offer free footage material for downloading via http://fraport.cms-gomex.com.

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    For Further Information, Please Contact:
    Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
    Robert A. Payne, B.A.A. - Senior Mgr. International Press & PR
    International Spokesman, Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS),
    Corporate Communications
    60547 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany
    Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; Fax: +49-69-690-55071;
    E-mail: [email protected]; Internet: http://www.fraport.com

SOURCE Fraport AG