Flughafen Köln/Bonn, operator of Germany’s Cologne Bonn Airport, has reported on a return to profit in its 2022 financial year, following the losses of 2021. Cargo volumes were down slightly.
With after-tax profit of €17.2m, the company recorded its best earnings of this century. The 2021 loss was €14.5m.
Cargo traffic remained relatively stable at a figure of 971,000 tonnes.
The previous year’s figure was 986,000 tonnes, the slight decrease the result – the airport operator said – of a difficult global economic and political situation that included the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, an energy crisis and staffing shortages.
The airport is anticipating a small increase of approximately 2% in cargo volumes – to 985,000 tonnes – this year.
Thilo Schmid, chief executive of Flughafen Köln/Bonn, commented: “We owe our very successful economic developments to our business model, which consists of two central pillars: passenger traffic, which recovered faster than expected last year in Cologne Bonn, and cargo, which we were able to stabilise at a very high level.
“The profit enables us to make important investments in things like climate protection and sustainability, and to further develop the airport.”
Director Torsten Schrank observed: “The rapid recovery in passenger traffic and the ongoing success in the cargo business played a significant role in the results.
“We were able to bounce back quickly from the crisis years and are doing very well financially, even compared to other industry competitors”, Schrank added.
