The dramatic fall in airline passenger traffic triggered by the coronavirus crisis along with costly job cuts have pushed Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport deeper into the red.
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The operator reported on Wednesday a bigger-than-forecast third-quarter loss of 304 million euros (356 million dollars) after posting a 222-million-euro profit a year earlier.
Fraport’s planned cuts of about 4,000 jobs by 2021 as a result of the pandemic alone are expected to cost the company 280 million euros, it said in a statement.
The group’s third-quarter earnings also fell well short of the 171.7-million-euro loss forecast by analysts, with the company’s chief executive Stefan Schulte warning of the airport’s gloomy prospects.
“Our industry continues to navigate through a very difficult situation,’’ said Schulte.
“With infection rates rising again across Europe in the past few weeks, governments have largely reintroduced or widened travel restrictions.
“Airlines are downsizing their flight schedules even more.
“Currently, we do not expect a recovery until at least the summer season of 2021.’’
The company also expects the number of passengers passing through Frankfurt airport in 2020 to be between 18 million and 19 million, which represents a 70-per-cent fall compared with 2019.
For 2021, it expects only 35 to 45 per cent of the passenger volume of 2019.
Air passenger at Fraport alone fell by 83.4 per cent in October compared with 2019.