EANS-News: Record Year 2017: Flughafen Wien Group Handles 30.9 Million Passengers (+6.9%), Surpassing Threshold of 30 Million for the First Time

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Vienna Airport - Record Year 2017: Flughafen Wien Group Handles 30.9 Million Passengers (+6.9%), Surpassing Threshold of 30 Million for the First Time

* The volume of 24.4 million passengers (+4.5%) represents an all-time high at Vienna Airport

* Forecast for 2018: passenger growth of over 5% for the Flughafen Wien Group and more than 3% at the Vienna Airport site

* Financial guidance for 2018: revenue increase and significant rise in net profit planned to more than EUR 132 million despite developments at airberlin and NIKI

* Higher dividend expected for 2017

In spite of developments at airberlin and NIKI, 2017 will go down in airport history as a record year. The Flughafen Wien Group reported a passenger volume of over 30 million for the very first time in its history, and Vienna Airport site also exceeded the threshold of 24 million passengers for the first time. The outlook for 2018 is an optimistic one. The Flughafen Wien Group anticipates passenger growth of more than 5% as well as increases in its revenue, EBITDA and net profit. Passenger volume at the Vienna Airport site is expected to exceed 3% in the year 2018.

"2017 was a record year for Vienna Airport featuring new all-time highs for the number of passengers it handled in the Group and at Vienna Airport site. In particular, the growth drivers were Austrian Airlines, Eurowings and easyJet, and flight service on long-haul routes also developed very favourably. We are also optimistic with respect to 2018, and expect a passenger growth of more than 3% at the Vienna Airport site, with a substantial growth impetus from the Lufthansa Group and the low-cost segment, for example from new carriers such as Wizz Air, which will launch flight service from Vienna with three aircraft and 17 destinations. One downside is the development at airberlin and NIKI. Nevertheless, we hope that there will soon be legal certainty for a viable solution for the company and its employees", explains Julian Jäger, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG.

"In spite of turbulences in the airline sector, we will report a higher net profit for both 2017 and 2018. The net profit guidance for the year 2018 is in excess of EUR 132 million. The signs point to growth. Thanks to the establishment of new business locations and expansion projects, more than 1,000 new jobs will be created at Vienna Airport in 2018. DHL and cargo partner are opening their logistics facilities in the Vienna Airport Region. In spring we will already initiate our search for potential business partners for another hotel at the airport site. On balance, we will invest more than EUR 175 million in the Vienna Airport site this year", states Günther Ofner, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG.

Flughafen Wien Group handles 30.9 million passengers in 2017 (+6.9%)

The Flughafen Wien Group (Vienna Airport and the foreign strategic investments in Malta Airport and Kosice Airport) reported a total of 30.9 million passengers in the year 2017, comprising a year-on-year increase of 6.9%.

Vienna Airport: 24.4 million passengers (+4.5%) in 2017

Vienna Airport handled 24,392,805 passengers in 2017, comprising a rise of 4.5% from the previous year. In particular, long-haul routes had a positive impact on the airport's performance, as well as new flight connections and frequency increases on the part of the airlines. In contrast, developments relating to airberlin and NIKI negatively affected airport operations, but was more than compensated by the growth generated by Austrian Airlines, Eurowings and easyJet. The number of transfer passengers developed positively (+4.4%) as did local flight traffic (+4.5%). The number of flight movements (starts and landings) remained largely stable at minus 0.8%, and capacity utilisation of the aircraft (seat load factor) rose by 1.3 percentage points to 74.8%. Cargo volume developed positively in the course of the year, climbing by 1.9% to 287,962 tonnes.

Higher passenger volumes to Western and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia

The number of passengers departing for Western European destinations increased by 3.0% in 2017. Passenger traffic to Eastern Europe recorded strong growth of 9.4%. The number of passengers flying to the Far East climbed by 9.0%, compared to a 2.3% increase in passenger traffic to the Middle East. In contrast, passenger volume to North America declined by 2.9%, whereas the number of passengers flying to destinations in Africa was up 37.0% from the prior-year level.

Top destinations in 2017: Western Europe - London, Eastern Europe - Moscow, long-haul routes - Bangkok

The highest number of passengers flying to any single destination was registered by London with 602,134 departing passengers, followed by Frankfurt with 597,923 travellers flying from Vienna Airport and Zurich with 496,935 passengers. Moscow was the most popular destination in Eastern Europe, attracting a total of 280,974 passengers, ahead of Bucharest with 204,539 departing passengers and Sofia with 158,436 travellers. Dubai was the top destination in the Middle East with 230,229 passengers, followed by Tel Aviv with 172,738 passengers leaving Vienna and Doha with 89,062 passengers. Bangkok was the most popular long-haul route, attracting 123,689 passengers, followed by Taipei with 78,763 and Beijing with 72,611 passengers respectively.

74 airlines serve 195 destinations in 70 countries

In the ranking of airlines as measured by their share of overall passenger volume, Austrian Airlines was in the number one position with a share of 48.4%, followed by Eurowings (and Germanwings) with 9.3%, Lufthansa with 3.7%, the easyJet Group with 3.3%, airberlin with 3.3% and NIKI with a share of 2.5%. The top ten airlines at Vienna Airport in 2017 also included Turkish Airlines, accounting for a 2.1% share of total passenger volume, along with British Airways, Emirates and SWISS, each with 1.9% of passenger traffic. In 2017, Vienna Airport was regularly served by 74 airlines, offering flight service to 195 destinations in 70 countries.

Positive cargo development: cargo volume up 1.9%

The cargo business at Vienna Airport developed positively in 2017, reporting a total cargo volume (air cargo and trucking) of 287,962 tonnes, a rise of 1.9% from the previous year. Air cargo alone was up 1.9% to 206,918 tonnes, whereas trucking increased by 1.7% to 81,044 tonnes.

Good development of international strategic investments

Malta Airport reported record traffic results in the year 2017, handling a total of 6,014,548 passengers, a rise of 17.5% compared to 2016. Kosice Airport registered a passenger volume of 494,640 travellers in 2017, comprising a year-on-year increase of 13.8%.

Predicted passenger development and financial guidance for 2018:

More than 5% passenger growth in the Flughafen Wien Group

The Flughafen Wien Group including its strategic investments in Malta Airport and Kosice Airport expects an increase of passenger volume of more than 5% in 2018. Accordingly, revenue is anticipated to rise to more than EUR 755 million, and an EBITDA of more than EUR 325 million is being targeted for 2018. From today's perspective, the consolidated net profit after tax should amount to at least EUR 132 million. Flughafen Wien AG plans to further reduce its net debt to a level below EUR 300 million and make investments of about EUR 175 million in the year 2018.

Growth in passenger volume expected to exceed 3% at Vienna Airport

The Vienna Airport site expects passenger growth to exceed 3% in the year 2018. From today's perspective, initial impetus to growth is likely to be provided by the launch of flight service to the destinations of Cape Town (ZAF) and Tokyo (JPN) by Austrian Airlines, the 17 destinations to be served by Wizz Air, the flights to twelve destinations offered by Eurowings as well as new routes and expanded frequencies on the part of Air Malta, easyJet, Volotea and Vueling.

Results in detail: Traffic development in December 2017:

______________________________________________________________________________ | .| December 2017| Change in %| January -| Change in %| |______________|_______________|_______________|__December_2017|_______________| |Vienna Airport| |(VIE)_________| |Passengers____|______1,757,611|___________+0.9|_____24,392,805|___________+4.5| |Local | 1,365,068| +0.3| 17,844,391| +4.5| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Transfer | 383,180| +3.4| 6,442,112| +4.4| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Flight | | | | | |movements | 16,490| -2.9| 224,568| -0.8| |(arrivals and | | | | | |departures)___|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Cargo in | | | | | |tonnes (air | 24,481| +12.0| 287,962| +1.9| |cargo and | | | | | |trucking)_____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| | | |Malta Airport | |(MLA, fully | |consolidated)_| |Passengers____|________377,526|__________+14.3|______6,014,548|__________+17.5| |Local | 375,026| +15.7| 5,978,559| +18.0| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Transfer | 2,500| +20.5| 29,106| +149.8| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Flight | | | | | |movements | 3,011| +17.8| 42,987| +15.0| |(arrivals and | | | | | |departures)___|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Cargo in | | | | | |tonnes (air | 1,155| -12.7| 14,625| +2.9| |cargo and | | | | | |trucking)_____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Kosice Airport| |(KSC, | |consolidated | |at_equity)____| |Passengers____|_________30,688|___________+4.4|________494,636|__________+13.8| |Local | 29,323| +4.6| 481,688| +14.3| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Transfer | -| -| -| -| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Flight | | | | | |movements | 421| -5.6| 6,305| +9.8| |(arrivals and | | | | | |departures)___|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Cargo in | | | | | |tonnes (air | 3| -40.9| 44| -49.6| |cargo and | | | | | |trucking)_____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Vienna Airport| |and strategic | |investments | |(VIE, MLA, | |KSC)__________| |Passengers____|______2,165,825|___________+3.1|_____30,901,989|___________+6.9| |Local | 1,769,417| +3.3| 24,304,638| +7.7| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Transfer | 385,680| +3.5| 6,471,218| +4.6| |passengers____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Flight | | | | | |movements | 19,922| -0.3| 273,860| +1.6| |(arrivals and | | | | | |departures)___|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________| |Cargo in | | | | | |tonnes (air | 25,639| +10.6| 302,631| +1.9| |cargo and | | | | | |trucking)_____|_______________|_______________|_______________|_______________|

Note:
* Total number of passengers includes local, transfer and transit passengers. * Retroactive adjustment of comparative figures for 2016 and transit volumes in Kosice.

VIE-Results in detail: Traffic development in 2017:

______________________________________________________________________________ |_________________________|_____________________2017|______Change_in_%_vs._2016| |Passengers_______________|_______________24,392,805|______________________+4.5| |Local_passengers_________|_______________17,844,391|______________________+4.5| |Transfer_passengers______|________________6,442,112|______________________+4.4| |Flight_movements_________|__________________224,568|______________________-0.8| |MTOW_in_tonnes___________|________________8,834,035|______________________+2.1| |Air cargo and trucking in| 287,692| +1.9| |tonnes___________________|_________________________|__________________________| |Air_cargo_in_tonnes______|__________________206,918|______________________+1.9| |Trucking_in_tonnes_______|___________________81,044|______________________+1.7| |Number of departing | |passengers_per_region____| |Europe___________________|_______________10,509,797|______________________+4.2| |Eastern_Europe___________|________________2,087,591|______________________+9.4| |Western_Europe___________|________________8,422,206|______________________+3.0| |Schengen_________________|________________7,535,941|______________________+3.5| |EU_______________________|________________8,055,384|______________________+3.3| |Far_East_________________|__________________463,307|______________________+9.0| |Middle_East______________|__________________633,335|______________________+2.3| |North_America____________|__________________323,673|______________________-2.9| |Africa___________________|__________________209,833|_____________________+37.0| |Latin_America____________|___________________11,731|______________________-3.3|

______________________________________________________________________________ |Top destinations per| |region and number of| |departing_passengers| |.___________________|.______|____________________2017|____Change_in_%_vs._2016| |Eastern_Europe______|Moscow_|_________________280,974|___________________+34.7| |Western_Europe______|London_|_________________602,134|____________________-0.3| |Middle_East_________|Dubai__|_________________230,229|____________________+8.4| |Long-haul___________|Bangkok|_________________123,689|___________________+11.5|

Traffic forecast and financial guidance for 2018:

Traffic forecast for 2018 Flughafen Wien Group Vienna Airport (VIE) Passenger development more than +5% more than +3%

Financial guidance Flughafen Wien Group for 2018 Revenue > EUR 755 mill. EBITDA > EUR 325 mill. Consolidated net profit > EUR 132 mill. Net debt < EUR 300 mill. CAPEX > EUR 175 mill.

end of announcement euro adhoc

issuer: Flughafen Wien AG
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phone: +43 1 7007 - 22826
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mail: investor-relations@viennaairport.com
WWW: http://viennaairport.com/unternehmen/investor_relations ISIN: AT00000VIE62
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Rückfragen & Kontakt:

Investor Relations:
Mag. Judit Helenyi (+43-1)7007-23126; j.helenyi@viennaairport.com
Mario Santi (+43-1)7007-22826; m.santi@viennaairport.com