Fraport reports passenger, freight growth

Fraport welcomed more than 4.1 million passengers at its Frankfurt Airport home base in November, up nearly six per cent compared to the same period last year.

January to November 2010 cumulative figures at Germany’s leading aviation hub advanced by 4.5 per cent year-on-year to approximately 49.2 million passengers.

“We are very satisfied that passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport continued on a noticeable growth path again in November,” said Fraport AG executive board chairman Stefan Schulte. “Currently, our efforts are focused on mastering the weather-related challenges at FRA and the resulting impact on our passengers,” stressed Mr Schulte.

Airfreight at FRA hit a new historical November record of 198,333 metric tons, up 5.2 per cent year-on-year. For the January-to-November 2010 period, FRA handled 2,051,675 metric tons of airfreight – a 23.4 per cent surge compared to the same period in 2009.

Aircraft movements climbed by 1.5 per cent to 38,959 takeoffs and landings in the reporting month. Fraport registered a total of 430,308 movements (up 0.7 per cent) for the January-to-November 2010 cumulative period.

Because the airport is operating a near full-capacity, the airlines are increasingly deploying larger aircraft at FRA to meet the growing demand, said Mr Schulte.

This affects the maximum takeoff weights. FRA achieved a new historic Mtow figure of 2,317,103 metric tons in November 2010, exceeding the previous November peak in 2007 by about 6,000 metric tons.

Fraport’s majority-owned airports all recorded passenger growth.

Antalya Airport on the Turkish Riviera served approximately 21.6 million passengers from January to November 2010 – an 18.9 per cent jump year-on-year. Peru’s Lima Airport registered almost 9.4 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2010 (up 16.5 per cent year-on-year). “Along with excellent passenger growth, Lima was recently voted best airport in South America, highlighting its popularity among travellers and securing its position among the top Latin American airports. Indeed, 2010 is the second year in a row that Fraport’s LIM aviation hub earned top honours in the Skytrax passenger survey.

Fraport’s two airports on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast also experienced growing passenger volumes.