The catastrophe year 2020 is over, in 2021 things slowly went uphill, now Nuremberg Airport hopes to soon be close to the passenger numbers of before Corona. The Albrecht Dürer Airport was able to improve to at least 1.1 million passengers in 2021, said Airport Managing Director Michael Hupe on Thursday, the increase of 16 percent (2020) is gratifying. In Nuremberg, they are now counting on the pandemic remaining as subdued as it is at the moment. Huper, who is currently in isolation and himself infected with corona, was reasonably optimistic at the group’s virtual annual press conference.
Three million travelers are expected in 2022. The Easter business was already very gratifying, said Hupe. Before Corona – 2019 – 4.1 million travelers had flown via Nuremberg. In Corona year number one, 2020, just 917,000.
But with all the optimism: NUE continues to write losses. The group closed 2021 with a minus of 14.9 million euros. Mainly because of the consequences of the pandemic. In 2021, more people flew on vacation again in the summer, but still significantly fewer than before Corona – and not spread over the whole year. Especially in autumn, many people stayed at home again due to rising incidences and restrictions. Business trips were also still massively restricted in 2021. And here it is now apparent that many business trips no longer take place at all, and that a lot is done virtually, said Hupe. Nevertheless, in addition to more holiday flights from May, one is also hoping for trade fairs to start again.
Layoffs in Corona times
The fact that the group minus is not quite as massive as in 2020 with 26.3 million euros is also due to the fact that the group had laid off staff. Temporary contracts were allowed to expire and a so-called volunteer program was implemented, said Hupe. Now the airport has to stop again in order to be able to quickly process the summer travelers that are expected at the counters and security checks – because this is also considered an opportunity to increase attractiveness: whoever knows that departing from Nuremberg is quick and uncomplicated, books rather there than with the competition – or to take the train. Around 140 employees are now to be hired on the ground, said Hupe.
“We feel every day that the desire to travel is increasing,” he said, adding that a “catch-up effect” is noticeable. This is one of the reasons why there are more routes, more for holidays, Balkan destinations such as Tirana, Thessaloniki or Belgrade. Also because domestic flights had declined significantly. The main business, “the playground,” said Hupe, is Europe. So you also rely on proven destinations in Italy or on the Iberian Peninsula. Lisbon, however, said Horne, one would actually like to have, but the airport is simply overloaded.
There are now a total of 70 connections in NUE, about as many as before Corona. Including 20 new ones, for example to Valencia or Dublin. It’s common for connections to be made and shed again, and sometimes it involves canceling popular destinations for family visits. Lviv and Kyiv are currently affected, Wizz Air and Ryanair had flown to the Ukrainian cities.
When do you expect to make a profit again? Uncertain
Nuremberg Airport is still heavily influenced by two airlines: Ryanair and Corendon. But there is no longer an airline concentration like there was in the Air Berlin days, said Hupe, but other airlines have been included, including British Airways, especially for business travelers. Air Berlin once had a market share of more than 50 percent. When what was once the second largest German airline went bankrupt, the damage was also huge for Nuremberg.
British Airways has been flying to London Heathrow since the end of March for airline diversification. An opportunity for Nuremberg, as the international hub also offers better connections to the USA. With 33,094 flight movements in 2021, Nuremberg is one of the rather small airports in Germany. For comparison: At Frankfurt Airport there were a total of 256,240 flight movements in 2021, Allgäu Airport Memmingen reports a total of 20,777.
In order to keep up, NUE wants to become climate-neutral by 2045. Although emissions at the airport cannot be avoided, they can be offset, said Hupe. A photovoltaic system is now being built on a new parking garage, which in turn is only illuminated by LED light sources, and the intention is to replace all light sources with LEDs. In addition, the airport buildings are to be heated by a block-type thermal power station and in future gas will only be purchased for a few weeks in winter, but otherwise be independent of it. Wherever possible, airport traffic on the ground should be electrified, for example with baggage tractors. In addition, larger and more efficient aircraft are used, said Hupe, which means that the same number of travelers can be transported with fewer flights.
When the airport expects to make a profit again, horn left open. That depends on many factors and is difficult to predict – also with a view to the coming autumn, when Corona could return even more violently with a new variant.