FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport is feeling the effects of the problems at Boeing. Due to delivery bottlenecks for aircraft for the main customer Lufthansa, fewer passengers will be handled in Frankfurt this year than previously hoped, as Fraport announced in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Another reason is additional maintenance intervals for the Airbus 320. Meanwhile, Fraport performed better than analysts had expected in the second quarter. The MDax-listed share fell in morning trading.

It recently lost around 1.3 percent on Tuesday morning. The downward trend that began in June thus continued. Since then, the share has lost almost 18 percent. The losses have been somewhat higher since the turn of the year.

This year, the Fraport Executive Board expects only the lower half of the previously announced range of 61 to 65 million passengers at Germany's largest airport. The pre-crisis level of 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic, is therefore receding a little further into the distance. At that time, Fraport counted around 70.6 million passengers - more than ever before. In 2023, 59.4 million passengers were traveling through Frankfurt. In 2025 or 2026, Frankfurt Airport is expected to have as many passengers again as before the coronavirus pandemic.

The reason for the sluggish recovery is the problems at US aircraft manufacturer Boeing. It is not allowed to continue ramping up production of its medium-haul jets due to quality defects. And at Airbus, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, hundreds of planes have to stay on the ground longer because engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has ordered its turbines back to the workshops ahead of schedule.

After an increase in traffic of 10.4 percent in the first quarter, the trend in Frankfurt is declining, said Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte according to a press release. Between April and June, traffic volume only increased by 4.5 percent. According to Fraport, the high costs in Germany also had a dampening effect.

However, Fraport's day-to-day business performed better than expected in the second quarter. JPMorgan analyst Elodie Rall attributed this primarily to developments in international business. This also included compensation payments from insurance companies amounting to 9 million euros because flight operations in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre had to be suspended until further notice due to heavy rainfall and flooding.

Group-wide revenue at Fraport rose by almost eleven percent to around 1.15 billion euros in the three months to the end of June. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to just under 355 million euros. Fraport reported a Group result of around 148 million euros and the profit attributable to shareholders amounted to 134 million euros. A year earlier, this had amounted to 102 million euros.

The management around CEO Schulte confirmed the forecasts for the operating profit, but refrained from the most optimistic scenarios. This is a gentle but expected update, wrote Jefferies analyst Graham Hunt. It reflects Fraport's difficult operating environment.

The Fraport Executive Board now expects the middle of the forecast ranges for both key figures. This is between 1.26 and 1.36 billion euros for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and between 435 and 530 million euros for the Group result./lew/mne/jha/