Fraport's Max Conrady set to quit air cargo

Max Phillip Conrady, head of cargo development and management at Fraport, is to leave the company after nearly 19 years. 

Mr Conrady is due to leave in the second half of the year, according to Fraport. He has reportedly got a new management role at Regionaltangente West Planning (RTW), which is constructing a new regional urban rail link in Rhine-Main.

Mr Conrady became SVP cargo for Fraport in November 2018, going on to become VP cargo development at the start of 2021. A spokesperson for Fraport, which had its AGM today, thanked Mr Conrady for his “great work”. 

Fraport told The Loadstar: “Under his leadership, the cargo business became even more central to the core aviation business. We see the cargo business as an essential part of Fraport…We will continue to develop the cargo division and consistently open up new business potential.  

“We are in the process of recruiting a replacement, both internally and externally. We will inform about the new appointment at a later date.” 

Meanwhile, the AGM attendees heard that Germany’s aviation market was experiencing the lowest recovery rates in Europe.  

CEO Stefan Schulte said Fraport’s other airports worldwide, including in Brazil and Slovenia, saw “great progress”, but that was not repeated in Frankfurt, where ebitda was 12% below the pre-pandemic level. 

Mr Schulte explained: “The proportion of levies and fees imposed by regulators in Germany has increased to over 30% of all location-specific costs incurred by airlines. After civil aviation taxes were raised again, as of 1 May this year, the overall share of regulatory costs has now more than doubled in comparison with 2019.

“This is particularly counterproductive in light of our commitment to decarbonisation. All of us in the aviation industry are pursuing net-zero operations, but we also need the necessary financial background to do so.” 

However, he added that the company’s international portfolio would boost net profits to between €435m ($473.5m) and €530m this year.