Fraport Free Cash Flow Rises 23.6% to €461.1 Million in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Fraport reported on November 4, 2026, that free cash flow rose to €461.1 million in the third quarter, compared with €373.0 million in the same period of 2025, an annual increase of 23.6%. The company's interim results also showed an improvement over the first nine months, although the period's performance differed from that of the quarter alone. Free cash flow for the nine months reached €93.2 million, against €48.2 million a year earlier, an increase of 93.4%. But this improvement coincided with declines in cash flow from operating activities and the group's net result, presenting a mixed picture of the company's cash and financial performance.
Third-quarter revenue reached €1,396.9 million, up 3.5% from €1,350.3 million in the third quarter of 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to €595.4 million from €593.1 million, an increase of just 0.4%. By contrast, the group result fell to €262.9 million from €342.9 million, a decline of 23.3%. The figures show that revenue growth was not matched by a similar increase in operating earnings, while the group's bottom-line result declined. Over the first nine months, the group result fell to €314.5 million from €441.5 million in the same period of 2025.
The company attributed the decline in the group result over the first nine months to higher depreciation, amortization and interest expenses related to the opening of the terminals in Frankfurt and Lima. Over the same period, cash flow from operating activities fell by €179.1 million to €826.5 million, from €1,005.6 million a year earlier. Fraport said the decline was mainly due to a €110.8 million increase in net cash outflows for interest, alongside a negative working-capital effect of €57.6 million. This places the third-quarter rise in free cash flow alongside pressure on operating cash flow over the nine-month period. Other operating income included €24.0 million from the sale of the company's stake in joint venture Medical Airport Service GmbH during the first nine months.
The group's liquidity stood at €3,887.7 million on September 30, 2026, while net financial debt reached €8,262.7 million. Cash and cash equivalents, according to the cash flow statement, totaled €1,044.6 million on the same date, compared with €827.8 million on September 30, 2025. For the first nine months, revenue adjusted under IFRIC 12 rose to €3,350.1 million from €3,198.5 million, an increase of 4.7%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization also rose to €1,177.7 million from €1,154.3 million, an increase of 2.0%. Passenger traffic varied across airports: Frankfurt Airport handled 47,491,815 passengers, down 0.2%, while traffic rose 2.8% to 19,608,829 passengers in Lima and 5.1% to 33,412,717 passengers at the Greek airports.
In the third quarter alone, passenger numbers in Frankfurt rose 0.9% to 18,595,337, while they fell 1.2% to 16,536,741 in Antalya. The executive board said it had left its key forecasts for the group's operating results, assets and financial position in 2026 unchanged at the end of the first nine months. It expected passenger numbers in Antalya to be below the previous year's level, citing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The company set November 12, 2026, as the date for publishing October passenger traffic figures, the next data release that will provide a more recent reading on traffic after the interim results.