Fraport posts core profit increase in first quarter as traffic rises despite Iran war (updated)

Fraport Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide AG

05/05/2026 06:41

Adds line on layoffs in paragraph 6

Traffic at Frankfurt airport falls in April

Lufthansa strikes and Iran war among factors

Core profit beats expectations on higher traffic elsewhere

By Simon Ferdinand Eibach and Danny Callaghan

May 5 (Reuters) -
Strikes at Lufthansa LHAG.DE and reduced travel to the Middle East region cut traffic at Frankfurt airport by at least 10% in April, operator Fraport FRAG.DE said on Tuesday, illustrating how the Iran war is affecting European travel patterns.

 Shares in Fraport, which apart from Frankfurt, Germany's biggest airport, also has operations in Brazil and Slovenia, have lost around 17% in value since the start of the conflict as
airlines
 limit capacity and raise their fares due to higher kerosene prices. The shares were down 1.15% at 1330 GMT.

 In Frankfurt, passenger numbers fell in the "low double-digit percentage area" in April, Fraport said in presentation slides published alongside first-quarter results in which core profit beat analyst expectations.

 Fraport now expects traffic in 2026 at Frankfurt airport to come in at the lower end of its outlook range of 65 to 66 million passengers, Chief Financial Officer Matthias Zieschang said on an investor call.

 Apart from traffic to the Middle East falling by around two-thirds, strikes at main carrier Lufthansa alone meant around half a million fewer passengers at Frankfurt airport, Fraport said.

In a Q&A session with analysts, Zieschang said that the company would reduce its workforce at Frankfurt airport from the middle of 2026 until 2030. He said that groundhandling positions would be affected, but did not specify how many.

 The company, on a group level, saw increased traffic to other regions, most notably Asia, in the January to March period, helping to offset the reduction in the number of flights to the Middle East.

 "Despite the outbreak of the Iran war, we saw growth across all our markets," Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said after presenting a 10.4% increase in first-quarter core profit to 196 million euros ($229 million), beating the 192.8 million euro LSEG consensus.

 Traffic at Frankfurt airport was up 2.3% in the period to reach 12.7 million passengers, contributing to a group-wide increase of 5.2% to 28.6 million.

 In a results presentation, Fraport said that there was a 70% decrease in passenger traffic volumes to Middle East destinations. However, flights to China, India, Thailand and Africa all grew by above 20%.

 "A solid start to the year despite headwinds," analysts at Metzler said.

($1 = 0.8565 euros)

Spot Amsterdam Rotterdam Antwerp (ARA) jet fuel prices in $ per metric ton https://www.reuters.com/graphics/ARAKEROSENE-PRICE/GRAPH/egvbeezjxpq/chart.png

(Reporting by Simon Ferdinand Eibach and Danny Callaghan, editing by Christoph Steitz and Keith Weir)

((simonferdinand.eibach@thomsonreuters.com))