EANS-News: Vienna Airport in 2016: Three Passenger Records in One Year - Best Month and Busiest Day Ever, Annual Threshold of 23 Million Passengers Surpassed for the First Time

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Vienna Airport in 2016: Three Passenger Records in One Year - Best
Month and Busiest Day Ever, Annual Threshold of 23 Million Passengers
Surpassed for the First Time

* 23.4 million passengers (+2.5%) at Vienna Airport in 2016, better
than expected - 28.9 million passengers (+3.8%) handled by the
Flughafen Wien Group (including strategic investments) * Forecast
for 2017: Passenger growth of 0% to +2% at the Vienna Airport site *
Financial guidance for 2017: Increased revenue, EBITDA and net profit
- further reduction of net debt * Significantly higher dividends
expected for 2016 * Major investment programme totalling EUR 1.6
billion by 2025 * The Airport City is growing: green light for Office
Park 4 and expansion of the Air Cargo Center

Vienna Airport set three new records in the year 2016. In addition to
the busiest day (September 16, 2016) and the best month ever (July
2016), Vienna Airport surpassed the threshold of 23 million
passengers in 2016 for the first time in its history, handling 23.4
million passengers. The Flughafen Wien Group, including its foreign
strategic investments in Malta Airport and Kosice Airport, handled
28.9 million passengers. The outlook for 2017 is optimistic. The
Flughafen Wien Group expects passenger growth of between +1% and +3%
as well as an increase in revenue, EBITDA and consolidated net
profit. The Vienna Airport site anticipates passenger volume to rise
by 0% to +2% in the year 2017.

"Geopolitical crisis situations such as in Turkey and Russia also
left their mark on the Vienna airport site. However, higher passenger
volumes, especially at low cost-carriers such as Eurowings and
easyJet, led to a record year at Vienna Airport. The month of
December 2016 was particularly strong, showing a 9.8% rise in the
number of passengers. Long-haul flight service also developed well.
The year 2017 will be very challenging, above all due to the
restructuring of airberlin Group. Nevertheless, we expect an increase
in the total number of passengers handled by Vienna Airport of 0% to
+2% in 2017, especially due to the growth impetus provided by
Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and easyJet", explains Julian Jäger,
Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG.

"Vienna Airport showed an excellent performance over the past year
and will achieve all its financial targets for 2016", says Günther
Ofner, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG. "For this
reason, we hold out the prospect of distributing a significantly
higher dividend to our shareholders for the 2016 financial year. In
order to remain on a success path in the future, we plan to implement
a far-reaching investment programme entailing EUR 1.6 billion in new
investments by the year 2025 (excluding investments in Runway 3). The
number of people working at the Vienna Airport site has increased.
Twelve companies with more than 600 employees have located their
business operations at the Airport City or in the vicinity of the
airport during the last twelve months. This underlines the great
importance of the airport as a job creator for the entire region. In
2017 we will already expand the cargo facilities of the airport, and
will construct the new Office Park 4 featuring 20,000 m² of
additional office space by the beginning of 2020", Günther Ofner
adds.

Flughafen Wien Group handles 28.9 million passengers (+3.8%) in 2016

The Flughafen Wien Group (Vienna Airport and the foreign strategic
investments in Malta Airport and Kosice Airport) reported 28.9
million passengers in 2016, comprising a year-on-year increase of
3.8%.

Vienna Airport: 23.4 million passengers (+2.5%) in 2016

Vienna Airport reported a total of 23,352,016 passengers in the year
2016, comprising a rise of 2.5% from the number of travellers it
handled in the previous year. In particular, new long-haul routes,
new flight connections and frequency increases on the part of the
airlines, particularly in the low-cost segment, had a positive impact
on passenger volume. In contrast, the crisis situations in Russia,
Turkey and parts of North Africa negatively affected airport
operations. In terms of traffic development, local flight traffic was
the key growth driver in 2016, rising by 4.3%, whereas the number of
transfer passengers fell by 2.0%. The number of flight movements
(starts and landings) remained stable for the most part, dropping
marginally by 0.2%, and capacity utilization of the aircraft (seat
load factor) fell slightly by 0.8 percentage points to 73.4%. Cargo
volume (air cargo and trucking) developed positively in the course of
the year, rising by 3.7% to 282,726 tonnes.

Higher passenger volumes to Western Europe, North America and Asia

The number of passengers departing for Western European destinations
rose by 3.4% in the year 2016. This was in contrast to a slight
overall drop of 0.5% in passenger traffic to Eastern Europe in 2016,
although passenger volume to this region recovered somewhat,
especially in the second half of the year. The number of passengers
flying to the Middle East was up 6.2%, compared to a 0.2% increase in
passenger traffic to the Far East. Passenger volume to North America
increased by 2.4%, in contrast to the 13.1% decline in the number of
passengers flying to destinations in Africa, which is primarily
attributable to the crises in Egypt and Tunisia.

Top destinations in 2016: Western Europe - London, Eastern Europe -
Moscow, long-haul routes - Bangkok

The highest number of passengers flying from Vienna Airport to
Western European destinations was registered by London with 604,168
departing passengers, followed by Frankfurt with 591,631 travellers
flying from Vienna Airport and Zurich with 492,252 passengers. Moscow
was the most popular destination in Eastern Europe, attracting
208,622 passengers, ahead of Bucharest with a passenger volume of
199,145 travellers and Sofia with 157,415 departing passengers. Dubai
was the top destination in the Middle East with 212,457 passengers,
followed by Tel Aviv with 166,011 and Doha with 84,961 passengers
departing from the airport. Bangkok was the most popular long-haul
route, registering 110,959 passengers from Vienna, ahead of Chicago
with 68,065 and Taipei with 63,939 passengers.

Austrian Airlines Group accounts for the largest share of passengers

A ranking of the airlines by the number of passengers flying to/from
Vienna Airport shows the Austrian Airlines Group in the number one
position with 44.5% of all passengers, followed by NIKI with 9.2%,
airberlin with a 6.2% share, Eurowings (and Germanwings) at 5.5% and
Lufthansa with 3.9%. The top ten airlines at Vienna Airport also
include the easyJet Group with an overall share of 2.7% of passenger
volume, British Airways accounting for 2.2% of passenger traffic,
Turkish Airlines with a 2.0% share, Emirates with 1.8% and SWISS with
1.7% of passenger volume handled by Vienna Airport. In 2016 Vienna
Airport was regularly served by 74 airlines, offering flight service
to 186 destinations in 72 countries.

Good cargo development: cargo volume up 3.7%

The cargo business at Vienna Airport developed positively in 2016,
reporting a total cargo volume (including trucking) of 282,726
tonnes. This represents a rise of 3.7% from the prior-year level. Air
cargo alone was up 3.4% to 203,033 tonnes, whereas trucking increased
by 4.4% to 79,693 tonnes.

Traffic development of international strategic Investments

Malta Airport reported record traffic results in 2016, with the
number of passengers reaching an all-time high of 5,080,169
travellers, a rise of 10.0% compared to 2015. Kosice Airport handled
436,696 passengers in 2016, comprising a year-on-year increase of
6.4%.

Predicted passenger development and financial guidance for 2017

The Flughafen Wien Group including its strategic investments in Malta
Airport and Kosice Airport expects an increase in passenger volume in
the range of +1% to +3% in 2017. Accordingly, revenue is anticipated
to rise to more than EUR 740 million, and an EBITDA of more than EUR
315 million is being targeted for the 2017 financial year. From
today's perspective, consolidated net profit should amount to at
least EUR 120 million. Flughafen Wien AG plans to further reduce net
debt to under EUR 350 million and make investments (CAPEX) of about
EUR 100 million in 2017.

The Vienna Airport site expects an increase in the total number of
passengers in the range of 0% to +2% in 2017. From today's
perspective, initial impetus to growth is expected to be provided by
the launch of flight service to Los Angeles (US), Mahé (SC), Burgas
(BG) and Gothenburg (SE) by Austrian Airlines, flights offered to 19
destinations by Eurowings as well as expanded frequencies and new
routes on the part of Volotea, Flybe/Stobart Air, Germania, S7
Airlines and SunExpress.

Results in detail: Traffic development in December 2016:

December 2016 Change in% January - Change in%
December 2016
Vienna Airport(VIE)

Passengers 1,741,325 +9.8 23,352,016 +2.5
Local
passengers 1,360,910 +11.1 17,078,214 +4.3
Transfer
passengers 370,450 +5.0 6,172,666 -2.0
Flight

movements (arrivals and departures) 16,977
+3.0 226,395 -0.2 Cargo in tonnes (air cargo and

trucking) 21,835 -2.2 282,726 +3.7

Malta Airport(MLA. fully consolidated)

Passengers 326,309 +32.2 5,080,169 +10.0
Local
passengers 324,235 +31.7 5,068,515 +10.2
Transfer
passengers 2,074 +179.5 11,654 -32.5
Flight

movements (arrivals and departures) 2,417
+23.3 35,806 +4.6 Cargo in tonnes (air cargo and

trucking) 1,324 -21.2 14,210 -5.0

Kosice Airport(KSC.consolidated at equity)

Passengers 29,506 +14.7 436,696 +6.4
Local
passengers 29,506 +14.7 436,696 +6.4
Transfer
passengers - - - -
Flight

movements (arrivals and departures) 553
+4.1 9,367 +11.2 Cargo in tonnes (air cargo and

trucking) 5 -43.1 88 -65.1

Vienna Airportand strategic investments(VIE. MLA. KSC)

Passengers 2,097,140 +12.8 28,868,881 +3.8
Local
passengers 1,714,651 +14.6 22,583,425 +5.6
Transfer
passengers 372,524 +5.4 6,184,320 -2.0
Flight

movements (arrivals and departures) 19,947
+5.1 271,568 +0.8 Cargo in tonnes (air cargo and

trucking) 23,182 -3.5 297,024 +3.2

VIE-Results in detail: Traffic development in 2016:

2016 Change in % vs. 2015
Passengers 23,352,016 +2.5
Local passengers 17,078,214 +4.3
Transfer passengers 6,172,666 -2.0
Flight movements 226,395 -0.2
MTOW in tonnes 8,653,173 +3.1
Air cargo and trucking in
tonnes 282,726 +3.7
Air cargo in tonnes 203,033 +3.4
Trucking in tonnes 79,693 +4.4

Number of departing passengers per Region

Europe 10,089,085 +2.6
Eastern Europe 1,908,559 -0.5
Western Europe 8,180,526 +3.4
Schengen 7,277,851 +2.8
EU 7,797,392 +4.3
Far East 425,090 +0.2
Middle East 619,297 +6.2
North America 333,262 +2.4
Africa 153,164 -13.1
South America 12,133 +11.0

Top destinations per region and number of departing passengers

Eastern Europe Moscow 208,622 -18.1
Western Europe London 604,168 +18.0
Middle East Dubai 212,457 -5.9
Long-haul Bangkok 110,959 -1.6

Traffic forecast and financial guidance for 2017:

Traffic forecast for 2017 Flughafen Wien Group Vienna Airport (VIE)
Passenger development +1% to +3% 0% to +2%

Financial guidance Flughafen Wien Group for 2017

Revenue > EUR 740 million
EBITDA > EUR 315 million
Consolidated net profit > EUR 120 million
Net debt < EUR 350 million
CAPEX > EUR 100 million

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

end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: Flughafen Wien AG
Postfach 1
A-1300 Wien-Flughafen
phone: +43 1 7007 - 22826
FAX: +43 1 7007 - 23806
mail: investor-relations@viennaairport.com
WWW: http://viennaairport.com/unternehmen/investor_relations
sector: Transport
ISIN: AT00000VIE62
indexes: ATX Prime
stockmarkets: official market: Wien
language: English

Original-Content von: Flughafen Wien AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell