Hamburg Airport closes financial year 2015 with profit

Hamburg Airport reports that it has finished the 2015 financial year positively.

The airport achieved a good result amounting to €46.0 million. The figure for 2014 was €40.2 million. Turnover for the year was €288.1 million (2014: €271.3 million). A total of 15.61 million passengers used Hamburg Airport in 2015 (2014: 14.76 million passengers). This represents 5.8 percent growth and a new passenger record for the airport.

Commenting on the results, Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport, said: “For Hamburg Airport, 2015 was an eventful year with gratifying commercial success. The airport’s entire workforce has achieved a great deal, and I am proud of the team spirit and commitment of our employees. Together, we have achieved a new passenger record and a strong result, at the same time further enhancing the service for our passengers with innovative ideas. We have also seen how important the airport is for the economic development of Hamburg. This will not change in 2016, as we offer a continually growing selection of airlines with various price and comfort models. We expect growth of around two percent for the current year.”

The airport’s investment volume in 2015 amounted to €50.7 million (-2.1 percent). The largest investment projects were the construction of the replacement Air Cargo Centreand preparatory work for the comprehensive renewal of Apron 1. These investments result in a 7.4 percent increase in the balance sheet total to €500.8 million (2014: €466.2 million).

Passenger numbers up

More passengers flew from Hamburg in 2015 than ever before: A total of 15.610.054 million passengers used Hamburg Airport, around 850,000 more than in 2014. On average, around 42,800 passengers passed through Hamburg Airport every day in 2015.

“The deployment of larger, more modern, and more efficient aircraft from Hamburg Airport, combined with ever improving load factors, means that passenger numbers and aircraft movements are not directly proportional. Because the number of passengers per flight continues to rise, the number of aircraft movements per year is growing more slowly than the number of passengers,” explained Michael Eggenschwiler.

Compared to the previous year, the number of passenger movements in 2015 rose by only 2.9 percent; in November it actually sunk by four percent, and in December it grew by just one percent. The number of take-offs and landings in 2015 (158,390) was lower than the number recorded in the year 2000. Back then, though, only around ten million passengers used Hamburg Airport.

Flown air freight rose by 7.4 percent to around 31,292 tonnes, whilst air freight shipped by road declined by 13.7 percent to 21,365 tonnes. Hamburg Airport explained the reasons behind this strong flown air freight result are the positive development of the Hamburg-Dubai route operated by Emirates, and the deployment of larger aircraft with more cargo capacity on the Hamburg-New York Newark route operated by United Airlines. Lufthansa Cargo’s road freight will return to Hamburg Airport when the new Hamburg Airport Cargo Centre opens in the second quarter of 2016.

New destinations served this year

A total of eleven new destinations are being served from Hamburg in the 2016 summer timetable. French airline ASL Airlines France is launching three new routes to Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux. There are also more services from Hamburg to Eastern Europe. Both Blue Air and Tarom are flying to the Romanian capital, Bucharest, whilst Wizz Air is flying to Gdansk, Kiev and Skopje. Meanwhile, Air Serbia is launching operations to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. In addition, Eurowings has a new route to Cagliari, capital of Sardinia, and Germania is opening a service from Hamburg to Alanya, flying to the new, nearby airport of Gazipaşa. Both Germania and SunExpress are flying to the Turkish resort of Bodrum.

In addition to the new destinations, new airlines are adding services to seven successful existing routes. easyJet is expanding its network of routes from Hamburg by adding a service to Zurich. And in the summer timetable, easyJet is also adding two new summer holiday destinations: Pula in Istria County on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, and Olbia on the Italian island of Sardinia. Eurowings, too, is extending its European network with new services to Pisa and to the holiday island of Ibiza. The Irish carrier Ryanair is also extending its route network from Hamburg with a new service to Palma de Mallorca. SunExpress is adding a service from Hamburg to Varna on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

Furthermore, the Belgian carrier VLM began flights to Friedrichshafen in February 2016. Due to insolvency, Intersky had cancelled its flights on this route at the end of 2015.  VLM is suspending its flight between Hamburg and Rotterdam. British Airways is taking over the service between Hamburg Airport and London City Airport from its Danish franchise partner, Sun-Air.

Outlook for 2016

Michael Eggenschwiler points out that Hamburg Airport will be growing in 2016, too. The CEO expects an increase in passenger numbers of two percent for this year. “We expect stable demand, which will effectively consolidate the strong growth that we have seen in recent years. Hamburg Airport continues to be an important factor in setting the pace for northern Germany’s economy and a significant employer for Hamburg and the metropolitan region. Our environmental commitment means that, at the same time, we are also investing in sustainable development.”