Chinese company to buy Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, Germany

It has been announced by local government officials in Germany that the finance ministry in Mainz, the capital of the Rhineland-Palatinate region, is to sell its 82.5% stake in the loss-making regional Frankfurt Hahn Airport to China’s Shanghai Yiqian Trading Company for a figure reported to be in the low two-digit millions of euros. The neighboring Hesse region is also completing negotiations for the sale of the remaining 17.5% to the same buyer, which currently operates in the field of logistics and construction.
The airport is located approximately 75 miles equidistant between Frankfurt and Luxembourg. Up until now the airport’s main user has been Ryanair, the low-cost carrier, along with Wizz Air and SunExpress, though the new buyers intend to increase passenger traffic. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport was at one time owned by Fraport – the operators of Frankfurt Airport, and had been intended to be a major hub for low-cost cargo traffic. In recent years it has witnessed a reduction of approximately 36% in cargo traffic after a number of notable changes, including Etihad Cargo which moved operations to Frankfurt in 2013. In March 2015 Yangtze River Express switched to Munich Airport shortly after Qatar Airways and Aeroflot also ceased cargo operations at Frankfurt-Hahn.
Fraport sold their 65% holding in the airport to the federal state for the sum of €1.00 plus a debt of €120 million in 2009. By 2014 further accumulated debts had risen to €125 million, and in March 2015 it was decided the airport should be sold. In April this year the airport announced it had received three bids, all of which were from Chinese companies.