Airport Financials FY2022 – more ‘back to black’ for most operators but Asia Pacific still lags

Summary

• Review of sample financial results from airports across the world for the year ending Dec-2022 shows more airports back in the black by multiple measures.
• But Asia Pacific continues to lag behind in many countries, and results there are unlikely to improve dramatically in the short term.
• While some European airports performed better than anyone could have anticipated during the COVID-19 pandemic years, there are odd examples where overexposure to other regions continues to have a negative impact.
• Profits were up at large group operators in Latin America, whether they are 'local' or 'global' ones.

Black ink continues to be more in evidence, but exceptions remain

CAPA has habitually provided extensive tables of airport financial statements since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a marker of to what degree the recovery from it is under way in differing regions.

The most recent one, Back to black: 70% of surveyed airport operators reporting improved financial results in 1H2022, in Sep-2022 and covering 1H2022 financials in many parts of the world, reported that 70% of the results showed improved results in that period and that the sector was heading 'back to black.'

This latest report covering - in most cases - the full calendar and financial year 2022, ending on 31-Dec (several are for six months and one for a different 12-month period), shows that the position improved further still in the full year 2022, with a few exceptions in Asia Pacific, and even in Europe.

The often detailed statements issued by airport operators have been pared down to state revenues and any or all of EBITDA, operating profit and net profit, together with the size of the increase or decrease compared to the previous year.

In the case of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) - which is the alternative but very much go-to measure of profitability to net profit, as it attempts to represent cash profit generated by the company's operations - the EBITDA margin (a measure of a company's operating profit as a percentage of its revenue) has been calculated where appropriate, and comments made accordingly.

The statistics have been separated into three regions - Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

It will be evident that the USA is missing from the Americas section. With very few privatised airport entities, the local and regional authorities that operate airports in the US are historically cagey about making such information public; they have varying financial years, and even in the case of those where the year ends on 31-Dec, they are often slow at divulging the information - it can take up to a year.

Similarly, very few public statements are made about the finances of Middle East airports, the majority of which are in public ownership, even though there are isolated examples of concession agreements.

Europe

There were no negative results in Europe apart from Munich Airport (a much reduced net loss) and Finavia (reduced operating and net loss, with the continuing losses attributed directly to diminished numbers of transfer passengers at Helsinki Airport, where Europe-Asia services continued to be curtailed).

The notable positive results include the EBITDA margin exceeding 50% at London Heathrow Airport in the UK, one which was particularly adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even more so at London Gatwick Airport - which suffered even worse than Heathrow, its long haul services decimated in 2020/1 - yet it being an airport where revenues rose by over 300% in the period. Gatwick recorded an EBITDA margin of more than 57%, and with strong operating and net profit results.

Flughafen Zürich also recorded a positive EBITDA of 55%, while Flughafen Wien's net profit grew by 1840%.

Results by airport (group): reporting period, revenue, EBITDA and comparison with previous year (p-c-p is previous comparable period)

Airport (group)	Country	Currency	Reporting period	Revenue/ +/-previous year and percentage	EBITDA/ +/- previous year and percentage	EBITDA margin	Operating profit/ +/- previous year	Net profit/ +/- previous year	Notes
Avinor	Norway	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	1000/+11.5%	300.7/ (+0.4%)	30.07%	-	-
Heathrow Airport	UK	GBP (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	2913/ +140.0%	1629/ +209.1%	55.9%		114, compared to a loss of 1613 in p-c-p
London Gatwick Airport	UK	GBP (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	776.6/ +303.0%	446.3, compared to a loss of 26.3 in p-c-p	57.47%	251.6, compared to a loss of 201.1 in p-c-p	196.5, compared to a loss of 370.6 in p-c-p
Billund Airport	Denmark	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	108.53/ +130.6%				3.07, compared to a loss of 10.88 in p-c-p
Dublin Airport	Ireland	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	752/ +132%	249, N/A	33.1%		98, compared to a loss of 101 in p-c-p
SAGAT SpA (Turin)	Italy	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	86.1/ +131%	17.4, compared to a loss of 5.1 million in p-c-p	20.2%		11.9, compared to a loss of 8.4 in p-c-p
Munich Airport	Germany	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	601/ +97.7%	239, compared to a loss of 46 in p-c-p	39.8%		(-59), compared to a loss of 261 in p-c-p
Airport (group)	Country	Currency	Reporting period	Revenue/ +/-previous year and percentage	EBITDA/ +/- previous year and percentage	EBITDA margin	Operating profit/ +/- previous year	Net profit/ +/- previous year
Geneva Airport	Switzerland	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	421.5/ +102%	157.8, N/A	37.44%		61.6, N/A
Finavia	Finland	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	298.4/ +105.3%			(-52.3), compared to a loss of 130.7 in p-c-p	(-57.9), compared to a loss of 143.8 million in p-c-p	The company stated that the loss was due to the cash flow generated by transfer passengers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport remaining low, with Finavia dependent on the airport's revenues to fund the operations of "several" regional airports.
Isavia	Iceland	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	256.6/ +75.1%			8.4, N/A	4.3, N/A
Toscana Aeroporti	Italy	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	90.4/ +86.3%			7.2, compared to a loss of 9.2 in p-c-p	4.7, compared to a loss of 5.3 in p-c-p	Net figure is for the group.
Aeroporto di Bologna	Italy	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	134.6/ +130.1%			36.0, compared to a loss of 8.4 in p-c-p	31.1, compared to a loss of 6.7 in p-c-p
Flughafen Zurich	Switzerland	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	1000, +50.5%	553.5/+85.7%	55.35%		206.2, N/A
Copenhagen Airports	Denmark	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	474.7/ +101%	55.6, N/A			27.8, N/A	EBITDA here is actually EBIT (so no EBITDA margin).
Aeroporti di Roma	Italy	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	643.7/ +116.8%	299.6/ +14.7%	46.54%		45.1, compared to a loss of 38.0 in p-c-p
Flughafen Wien	Austria	EUR (million)	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	692.7/ +70.2%	295.9/ +91.7%	42.7%		128.1/ +1840.9%
Shannon Airport Group	Ireland	EUR	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	60.7/+76%	16.5/+92%	27.2%

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation News/Airport Profiles

Americas

In Canada a debate has resurfaced as to whether or not the major gateway airports should be privatised, along with one on the very high ground rents charged by the government.

Both the Montreal and Toronto authorities saw EBITDA margins back at a norm of around 50%, while the operating profit of Corporacion America (which operates mainly in South America together with a handful of assets in Europe and West Asia) grew by more than 300%.

There were no negative results from this small sample from the region.

The Americas: results by airport (group), reporting period, revenue, EBITDA and comparison with previous year (p-c-p is previous comparable period)

Airport (group)	Country	Currency	Reporting period	Revenue/ +/-previous year and percentage	EBITDA/ +/- previous year and percentage	EBITDA margin	Operating profit/ +/- previous year	Net profit/ +/- previous year	Notes
Aéroports de Montréal	Canada	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	483.6/ +134.8%	240.2/ +409.2%	49.67%
Greater Toronto Airports Authority	Canada	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	1100/+80.4%	552.4/ +138.3%	50.2%		52.6, compared to a loss of 255.1 in p-c-p
Corporacion America Airports	Argentina	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	1378.7/ +95.0%			304.6, compared to a profit of 6.5 in p-c-p	168.2, compared to a loss of 117.8 in p-c-p
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico	Mexico	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	1400/+44.0%			686.9/+56.0%	456.7/ +52.0%

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation News/Airport Profiles

Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific region is the only one to record a significant number of losses, with revenues continuing to fall and operating and net losses worsening in China at the main Beijing and Shenzhen airports.

That was not the case in Vietnam though, where revenues grew by more than 200% and operating profit by 1000% as the country exited most of its pandemic restrictions well ahead of China.

New Zealand (six months to end Dec-2022 financial statements) is an interesting case, in that while Auckland Airport increased revenues by 128%, EBIT reduced by 76% and net profit by 96%. New Zealand felt the COVID-19 pandemic impact as much as did China, and some key long haul services are only now being reinstated.

Those figures also shed some light on why the Auckland City Council has decided to proceed with its intention to sell its shares (22%) in the airport, to cover a funding gap in its annual budget.

Queenstown Airport Corporation on the South Island was able to increase revenues by a lesser amount (+136%), but EBITDA by 256% and net profit by 1320%. Probably the most telling figure is the EBITDA margin there of 75.3%, which is much more in keeping with the pre-pandemic levels in New Zealand (and in Australia), where there is a very light regulatory touch applied to airport charges in both countries.

On the other hand, Airports of Thailand, which was heavily reliant on tourism from China, Australasia and long haul flights from Europe, was able to increase revenues but it saw operating and net losses perpetuating, although slightly reduced in the year to end Sep-2022.

Asia Pacific: results by airport (group), reporting period, revenue, EBITDA and comparison with previous year (p-c-p is previous comparable period)

Airport (group)	Country	Currency	Reporting period	Revenue/ +/-previous year and percentage	EBITDA/ +/- previous year and percentage	EBITDA margin	Operating profit/ +/- previous year	Net profit/ +/- previous year	Notes
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad	Malaysia	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	710.8/ +86.9%			79.4, N/A	42.6, N/A
Beijing Capital International Airport	China	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	331.5/ (-33.3%)			(-543.5), N/A	(-524.0), N/A
Shenzhen Airport Company	China	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	396.8/ ( -19.2%			(-210.4), N/A	(-167.6), N/A
Airports Corporation of Vietnam	Vietnam	USD	12 months ended 31-Dec-2022	651.2/ +200%			320.1/ +1000%		Operating profit is shown as profit before tax.
Auckland International Airport	New Zealand	USD	6 months ended 31-Dec-2022	174.9/ +128%	17.7/ (-75.7%)			2.9/ (-95.6%)	EBITDA here is actually EBIT (so no EBITDA margin).
Queenstown Airport Corporation	New Zealand	USD	6 months ended 31-Dec-2022	18.2/ +136.3%	13.7/ +256.0%	75.3%		7.0 / +1320.1%
Airports of Thailand	Thailand	USD	12 months ended 30-Sep-2022	482.9/ +133.7%			(-318.8), N/A	320.1, N/A

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation News/Airport Profiles