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. The Executive Board now expects only the lower half of the previously announced range of 61 to 65 million passengers at Germany's largest airport. Another reason is further maintenance intervals for the Airbus 320. In the second quarter, however, things went better for Fraport than analysts had expected.

In the three months to the end of June, revenue rose by almost 11 percent to around 1.15 billion euros. 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 bottom line profit amounted to 134 million euros. A year earlier, this had amounted to 102 million euros. The management headed by Stefan Schulte confirmed the forecasts for the operating profit.

The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is no longer allowed to ramp up production of its medium-haul jets due to quality defects. And hundreds of Airbus planes will have to stay on the ground longer because engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has ordered their turbines back to the workshops ahead of schedule./lew/jha/