Frankfurt's Fraport AG chairman Stefan Schulte announced at the annual general meeting that the results for 2015 were "successful" and were in keeping with the company's expectations, after the group's operating profit (EBITDA) rose 7.4 per cent year on year to EUR850 million (US$955.14 million) on the back of 8.5 per cent higher revenue at EUR2.6 billion.
The increase was attributed to the growth in passenger traffic, especially intercontinental traffic at Freeport's home base in Frankfurt, and also to low interest expenses in the course of lower net debts and declining interest rates.
In particular, results from the airports in Lima and Juliana, along with the US-based Airmall retail subsidiary more than compensated for the weak performance at Antalya and St Petersburg, reported American Journal of Transportation.
Dr Schulte also highlighted at the AGM that the development of Frankfurt airport's infrastructure remains one of the most important tasks of Fraport. Among the numerous measures, he said the construction of Terminal 3 was the most important.
Excavation work is finished and further construction steps are being tendered, or are at the planning stage.
Furthermore, by the end of this year, Fraport expects to take over operations of 14 regional airports in Greece, pending approval by the Greek parliament.
Dr Schulte described this as a win-win deal for both sides: "We have presented our company and project plans, both of which have been well received. We consider the Greek market, especially in terms of tourism, still to be very attractive. The closing for the Greek regional airports is expected by the end of the year."
Commenting on the outlook for the entire year, Dr Schulte added that the group result is expected to equal or exceed the 2015 level.