LONDON – 2022 may be a golden year for Europe’s 5-star airport in terms of recovery as the pandemic effect is still felt in 2021.
2022 is a year of improvement and the airport is expected to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.
The year 2021 was tapped to be the year of recovery, but like many airports, are still absorbing the impact of the pandemic, with variants emerging, vaccine inequality, and inconsistent border policies hampering growth in that previous year.
2021 Performance…
2021 saw 12.5 million passengers, which is a 12% bump from 2020 but remained below the 48 million passenger mark in 2019.
Munich’s airport group FMG (Flughafen München GmbH) announced a EUR 601 million in revenue in 2021. Earning Before Interest and taxes (EBIT) totaled EUR -286 million, an improvement of EUR 120 million from 2020.
FMG’s earnings after taxes (EAT) of EUR -261 million means loss were shredded by EUR 60 million or 16% from 2020.
It seems that time will only help improve the low passenger traffic situation.
At the company’s annual conference, the group CEO Jost Lammers stated that the airport is experiencing a significant improvement. He also added “We expect a significant increase in aircraft movements and passengers in 2022 as a whole. In our estimation, Munich Airport can be expected to make a full return to pre-crisis levels in 2024,”
Passengers’ levels crept up in 2021, but the airport’s cargo division had more reason to remain optimistic. Freight handling at Munich airport increased considerably in 2021 as cargo-only flights boomed during the midst pandemic.
The airport welcomed 167,000 metric tons s worth of cargo volumes in 2021 which is an increase of 15% or 22,000 metric tonnes higher in 2020.
Welcoming back passengers…
Known as Europe’s 5 stars airport and being the secondary Lufthansa hub does not fail to awe its passengers. The pandemic allows the management to rethink its business model and the airport’s position in the longer term.
Adjacent to the increase in passenger traffic, the airport is witnessing an upward trend in the ‘end-customer business’.
A number of stores and restaurants have changed after the pandemic and adapted to the new consumer behavior.
Jan-Henrik Andersson, FMG’s Managing Director for Commercial and Security said that “The engagement of these brands shows that the market continues to find our airport highly attractive as an important location for stores and restaurants, which is also attracting business models that were not represented at the airport before,”
Nathalie Leroy, FMG’s Chief Financial Officer and Director of Infrastructure stressed that Munich Airport is well-positioned to maintain its competitiveness
“We are therefore well equipped for the challenges we are facing to re-establish our Munich Airport as a premium hub for international aviation.”
Munch Airport is recovering and healing from the pandemic and will maintain its position as Europe’s business-friendly, efficient and premium airport.
