Annual Report 2012 (PDF) - Hamburg

Economic Situation Report
for the 2012 financial year
Overall economic developments
and status of the industry
In 2012, once again, the budgetary crisis faced by the Euro
nations and some financial institutions dominated economic
development. In this difficult economic environment,
Germany showed itself to be an overwhelmingly robust
economic location, with the growth from previous years
(2011: 3.0 %) continuing, albeit noticeably subdued. On the
basis of preliminary calculations from the German Federal
Statistics Office, the real gross domestic product increased
by an average of just + 0.7 % over the 2011 figures.
The aviation industry was not exempt from the overall
economic developments within Europe; the sector was hit
hard at the beginning of the year when a number of airlines
were faced with bankruptcy (Spanair, Cirrus, Malév). On top
of this, the European airlines – almost exclusively – were
forced by the European Union to purchase emission rights
for aviation from January 2012 on, subjecting them to an
additional burden. As a consequence of the overall development
of the legislative and regulatory environment for the
aviation sector, almost all airlines have put cost cutting programmes
in place and begun examining the profitability of
individual routes.
German aviation was not shielded from this development
and achieved only moderate growth in demand. The
German Airports Association (ADV) thus reported a growth
in passenger numbers of 1.1 % at Germany’s international
commercial airports.
According to a study conducted by the German Aerospace
Industries Association (BDL), the dampening effect
of the Aviation Tax, introduced in 2011 and only applying in
Germany, has prevented higher traffic growth rates.
Traffic development at
Hamburg Airport
In 2012, Hamburg Airport achieved moderate growth
in line with the ADV average, closing the year successfully
with 13.7 million passengers, an increase of + 1.0 % over
2012. The trend towards larger average aircraft size and
higher load factor continued in 2012, so that the number of
passengers per aircraft movement reached a historical high
water mark of 100 (previous year: 96 passengers per aircraft
movement), whilst the number of commercial aircraft
movements declined slightly by 2.9 % to 137,200 take-offs
and landings.
Business development and earnings situation
In comparison with the previous year’s figures, sales revenue
for Flughafen Hamburg GmbH, Hamburg (hereinafter “FHG”)
declined slightly by 1.8 m EUR (0.7 %) to 251.5 m EUR.
In line with the mild traffic growth, revenue in the Aviation
Division rose by 1.3 m EUR (1.0 %) to 132.0 m EUR. This
represents a contribution to total revenue of 52.5 % (previous
year: 51.6 %).
In terms of non-aviation revenue, income from fixed
rent, turnover-based rent and rent-related services remained
constant at the same level as the previous year. Income
from other services declined by 2.7 m EUR to 8.8 m
EUR, due substantially to non-recurring effects in the previous
year: income of 1.2 m EUR from German Air Traffic
Services (DFS) for the planning, acquisition, construction,
integration and commissioning of an Advanced Surface
Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS). Further,
maintenance revenue declined by 0.6 m EUR from
the previous year. These developments constitute the reason
for the reduced contribution of 30.0 % (previous year:
30.8 %) made by the non-aviation segment to total revenues.
Income from Ground Handling was 44.0 m EUR, which
is 0.6 m EUR (1.4 %) lower than the previous year’s figures.
This development is largely attributable to a slight loss in
market share in the first half of the year, with an annual figure
of 89 % for 2012, in an area of business highly dependent
on volume. FHG was able to prevent a more significant
decline in revenue by means of indexed price increases and
an expansion in the service portfolio; as a consequence, the
increase in average revenue per handling instance that has
been seen in recent years continued. Balanced with income
from aircraft de-icing, 21.4 % above the previous year’s figure,
the contribution made by the Ground Handling segment
to total revenue, at 17.5 %, was almost unchanged
(previous year: 17.6 %).
Other operating revenues amounting to 2.9 m EUR are
listed, consisting essentially of income from the liquidation
of reserves (1.5 m EUR) and the reinstatement of building
expenditure (0.7 m EUR). The high figure from the previous
year (10.9 m EUR) was dominated by special items, consisting
in particular of the reduction of provisions established
the year before for mandatory noise protection measures,
of appreciation on real estate based on a valuation, and of
the retroactive activation of demolition work.
Expenditure for materials is listed at 104.4 m EUR, 2.5 m
EUR (2.4 %) above the previous year’s value. Substantial factors
in this development are the increased maintenance expenditure
and weather-related higher costs for gritting and
spraying materials along with de-icing fluid for surface and
aircraft de-icing. Maintenance expenditure was higher, due
in particular to the renewal of the runway system in the year
under review. This was countered by a reduction in aviation
services bought in from ground handling subsidiaries due to
a lower ground handling volume resulting from the decrease
in aircraft movements and in ground handling market share.
Personnel costs rose by 4.7 m EUR (13.6 %) over the previous
year to 39.5 m EUR. This is due to an increase of 2.4m
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