The operator of Frankfurt Airport Fraport AG expects a high number of passengers in the summer after two years that have been heavily impacted by Corona.

At the general meeting held online, however, CEO Stefan Schulte admitted openly that there were currently not enough staff to be able to offer the quality of service and handling that one is actually striving for.

Fraport is therefore anticipating bottlenecks even during the holiday season.

Jochen Remert

Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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The Frankfurt airport managers expect 70 to 75 percent of the passenger volume of the last year before the crisis, 2019. The "Ramp up 2022" program is trying to close the staff gap that arose in the course of cutting around 4,000 jobs, which can be used to quickly reduce costs wanted to mitigate the fatal consequences of the corona pandemic.

With up to 100 hires per week, Fraport is now reacting to the strong growth, especially in tourist flights.

Question about Supervisory Board Feldmann

For the current financial year, Fraport expects a profit of 50 to 150 million euros.

Schulte justified the large range with the imponderables resulting from the Ukraine war and the burden of the still strict corona restrictions in China.

According to the information, there are also the burdens of inflation and high energy prices.

There will be no dividend this year either.

When asked, Schulte said again that the minority stake in the Russian airport Pulkovo in St. Petersburg, which had been frozen since the beginning of the war, should not be sold for contractual reasons until 2025 at the earliest.

After value adjustments, the commitment currently accounts for 58 million euros with a residual value of 111 million.

Schulte did not rule out further write-downs, he also thinks expropriation is possible after threats against Western companies had been made by the Russian side.

On the question of military flights, Schulte explained that there was no evidence of this, and that there were also military airports in the area around Pulkovo, which argued against using the civilian airport.

As far as government flights via Pulkovo are concerned, these cannot be ruled out.

The Russian government's readiness to fly is stationed in Moscow.

Finally, one shareholder wanted to know whether Frankfurt's mayor, Peter Feldmann (SPD), who is facing charges of corruption, could still be a member of Fraport's supervisory board.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Hessian Finance Minister Michael Boddenberg (CDU) only said that the Management Board and the Supervisory Board are committed to the principles of responsible corporate management and control.

The procedure mentioned does not concern the House and no comments are made on it.