Germany’s Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is to be bought out of insolvency by the Triwo Group, a real estate company.
Formerly a military air base, Frankfurt-Hahn gained its civil aviation status in 1993. The first scheduled passenger airline service to the airport, located in central Germany about 75 mi. from Frankfurt, was Ryanair in April 1999. The airport is primarily serviced by LCCs and freight carriers.
Since entering insolvency in October 2021, insolvency administrators have been trying to find new owners. Twice, it appeared as though they had done so, only for a German bidder to fail to produce the asking price, and then for a second prospective owner, a Russian billionaire, to be blocked by creditors from taking over the facility.
Prior to its insolvency, China’s HNA Airport Group held a 82.5% stake in the Flughafengesellschaft Frankfurt-Hahn airport company, with the German region of Hesse holding the remaining 17.5%. In 2019, the airport recorded a passenger throughput of 1.5 million, a considerable drop from previous years, when traffic had hovered around the 2.5 million mark.
The insolvency administrator for the Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Group, Jan Markus Plathner, has now agreed that Germany-based Triwo should acquire the airport. The purchase price and other details of the deal, which is subject to final conditions being fulfilled, have not been released. However, the purchase price has already been transferred to an escrow account.
Flight operations will continue under the oversight of the insolvency practitioners until the contractual conditions are met and will then be taken over by the acquiring company. If no unexpected hurdles are encountered, this is expected to occur within the next few weeks.
“We have implemented a whole bundle of reorganization measures that have made Hahn Airport more attractive again for airlines and passengers,” Plathner said in a statement issued by the airport. Importantly, the airport no longer operates at a loss.
“I am pleased that we have managed the turnaround together after a sometimes rocky road,” Plathner added. “However, it is now also important that a new operator takes the helm.”
Plathner said that while all four parties in the final bidding process would have made good custodians of the airport, but that the price offered by Triwo proved decisive.
Under the agreement, Triwo will take on Frankfurt Hahn’s 400 employees. Triwo is active in commercial and industrial real estate, automotive testing, mechanical engineering and airports.
In Triwo’s airport business segment, the group operates and develops airports for customers from general aviation and business aviation at three German sites—Zweibrücken, Oberpfaffenhofen and Egelsbach. Triwo also supports companies interested in locating and expanding at the airports.
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