The regional airport in Rhineland-Palatinate has filed for bankruptcy.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn GmbH in Hunsrück has filed for bankruptcy. Hahn operations manager Christoph Goetzmann told the German Press Agency on Tuesday that the bankruptcy petition had been submitted to the Bad Kreuznach district court. The “Wirtschaftswoche” had previously reported on it.
According to a communication from the court, the “provisional administration” – as the technical term is used – was ordered on Tuesday morning. So far, there has been no indication of any possible restrictions on operations on the airport’s website.
What ultimately triggered the bankruptcy remains open for the time being. It stands to reason, however, that it was the mixture of the massive economic problems facing the main owner, the Chinese HNA group, and the aftermath of the pandemic.
The airport, located around 120 kilometers west of Frankfurt am Main, has been 82.5 percent owned by a subsidiary of the HNA Group since August 2017. But this has been broke since the beginning of the year. The state of Hesse still holds 17.5 percent of the airport company.
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The management of the airport had long hoped that the bankruptcy of the major shareholder would pass the regional airport largely without consequences. The last available numbers seemed to confirm that too. The freight business – an important pillar for the airport – grew by 17.5 percent to 22,288 tons in August compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Airport Association (ADV).
Traffic figures recently rose again in Hahn
The passenger business is also slowly returning, as Goetzmann recently reported to the dpa. The former US military airport depends heavily on tourism and here on destinations such as the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Italy.
According to ADV statistics, the airport was able to increase the number of passengers in August by 86.4 percent to 110,665 compared to the same month last year. The management had also managed to steer the airport through the long crisis without subsidies or short-time work.
But in the end it will have become more and more difficult to secure the necessary liquidity without the support of the HNA Group. Mainly because the medium-term prospects are not particularly good. The Federal Gazette shows that the management is assuming that it will not be able to achieve a positive consolidated annual result until 2024.
The sword of Damocles hovered over the airport from bankruptcy in the summer. An unknown creditor had filed for bankruptcy, but later withdrew it.
The pandemic is particularly hard on the regional airports, which, like Frankfurt-Hahn, have been dependent on subsidies for years anyway. Paderborn Airport, for example, had to file for bankruptcy, but has since abandoned the procedure and is working on a new start with a significantly reduced team.
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