Progression of traffic
Aeroports de Paris’ traffic was down by 2.1% (to 39.1 million passengers) during the 1st half of 2010: it fell by 1.9% at Paris-Charles de Gaulle (27.1 million passengers) and by 2.5% at Paris-Orly (12.0 million passengers). Excluding the volcano effect, Aeroports de Paris’ traffic increased by 1.4%.
After slight growth during the first quarter (+0.8%), and despite the continued recovery in passenger traffic during the second quarter (+3.3% in May and +2.3% in June), the 1st half was adversely affected by the consequences of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjoll (in April). During the 2nd quarter of 2010, traffic decreased by 4.5%.
The traffic mix improved, with international traffic outside Europe (40.0% of the total) growing by 0.5% during the 1st half of 2010, while overall traffic fell by 2.1%. The strong growth in the Middle East (+7.3%) and French overseas territories (+2.7%) routes, representing 8.8% of total traffic, and the slight growth in Africa routes (+0.9% and 12.0% of the total) compensated for the fall in North America (-1.7% and 9.4% of the total), Latin America (-4.7% and 3.5% of the total) and Asia-Pacific (-0.3% and 6.3% of the total) routes.
European traffic excluding France (40.9% of the total) fell by 3.3%. Domestic traffic (19.1% of the total) fell by 4.7%. The proportion of connections stood at 23.5%, compared to 24.4% during the first six months of 2009.
Low cost companies, which represent 12.6% of traffic, saw their traffic increase by 4.1% during the 1st half of 2010. This trend is due in particular to the dynamism of companies such as easyJet and Vueling. The number of aircraft movements was down by 7.0% at 343,945. Freight and post activity increased strongly (+14.3%) to 1,178 tonnes transported.
Pierre Graff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aeroports de Paris, said: “Traffic was severely disrupted in April by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjoll. Despite this, Aeroports de Paris Group’s results for the 1st half of 2010 are satisfying, due in particular to the increase in revenue per passenger achieved in shops within restricted areas. These results are due to the efforts made over a number of years to increase the contribution of retail, real estate and subsidiaries to the Group’s growth. Under these conditions and assuming passenger traffic in the same order of magnitude in 2010 as in 2009, we now anticipate a 2010 EBITDA in slight growth compared to 2009.
On 23 July 2010, Aeroports de Paris signed a new Economic Regulation Agreement with the State for the 2011-2015 period. During this period, the quality of service will be the strategic priority of the Company, which will tend to intensify its effort to reach the best standards among service companies in terms of customer satisfaction. Besides, the change in the regulated perimeter (commercial activities and diversification real estate will be out of the till), will constitute a key factor in encouraging improved performance and value creation on both the regulated and non-regulated perimeter."
Assuming passenger traffic in the same order of magnitude in 2010 as in 2009, Aeroports de Paris is maintaining its forecast of a slight increase in 2010 revenue compared to 2009. In the light of the performance achieved during the 1st half of 2010, Aeroports de Paris is now forecasting a better than expected EBITDA for 2010 i.e. a slight increase compared to 2009.
Vicky Karantzavelou - Thursday, September 02, 2010