by Victor Goury-Laffont
(Reuters) – The ADP group (formerly Aéroports de Paris) published on Wednesday a turnover for the first nine months of the year higher than expectations, traffic returning to levels close to what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recovery in traffic continued to reach, over the first nine months of 2023, 97.9% of the traffic for the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the vast majority of aircraft at the start 2020.
Traffic at the group’s airports in the Paris region returned to 91.4% of the pre-pandemic level, ADP said.
The operator of Orly and Roissy-Charles-De-Gaulle airports forecasts that the group’s traffic will reach 95% to 105% of 2019 levels for the whole year.
The association of airport companies ACI Europe expects a full recovery of passenger traffic in 2024.
Philippe Pascal, deputy chief executive of ADP, however said in a conference call that he did not expect a full recovery in China in 2024 due to “massive disruptions” in the Chinese tourism sector and inflation.
During the third quarter, Chinese traffic at Paris airports represented 37.3% of 2019 levels.
ADP remains “cautious” on spending levels per passenger in 2024, said deputy financial director Christelle Jacquemet, who cited a “volatile macroeconomic context” as well as work at Paris-Charles-De-Gaulle airport.
The group is also facing plans for a new tax unveiled last month by the French government on long-distance transport infrastructure.
The tax would have a negative impact of around €90 million on the group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in 2024, the majority of which is expected to be passed on to airlines.
“We must mechanically increase our prices by 6%,” declared Philippe Pascal, adding that this could not be done all at once and refusing to specify the amount of the increase which would be applied in 2024.
ADP, which says it is focused on preparing to host the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, achieved a turnover of 4.12 billion euros over the first nine months of 2023, against an average estimate of analysts of 4.07 billion euros according to a consensus provided by the group.
( Diana Mandiá)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
