Fraport traffic figures growth front widens

Fraport AG registered noticeable growth in almost all traffic categories at its Frankfurt Airport home base in 2010 – a year of great turbulence for the international air transportation industry, a company spokesman said.

FRA welcomed more than 53 million passengers last year, an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to 2009. Frankfurt achieved a new historic record for airfreight tonnage, which jumped by 21.5 per cent to 2,231,348 metric tons in 2010.

Aircraft movements at FRA grew by 0.3 per cent last year to 464,432 takeoffs and landings. This modest increase in movements can be attributed to the numerous air traffic disruptions, including weather disturbances in Germany and the rest of Europe. Thus, FRA registered a total of 22,000 flight cancellations throughout 2010 – 15,000 more than the annual average during the past decade – which corresponds to an estimated loss of 1.4 million passengers.

Fraport AG executive board chairman Stefan Schulte when commenting on the 2010 traffic results said: “We completed the year with positive results overall, despite the onslaught of severe winter weather at the beginning and the end of 2010, despite strikes by airline staff and air traffic controllers in numerous European countries, and despite the multi-day shutdown of European airspace due to the ash cloud crisis.

In the reporting month of December 2010 airfreight at FRA rose by 3.3 per cent to 179,673 metric tons year-on-year. Similar to many other European airports, FRA’s passenger figures dropped in December 2010 due to the harsh onslaught of winter weather.