In November 2009 traffic development at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) received another strong push forward. “Traffic during the past month has impressively confirmed a clear growth trend and has even partly exceeded our expectations. Frankfurt Airport’s traffic figures are climbing noticeably,” explained Fraport executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte. In the reporting month, Fraport AG registered 3.9 million passengers at its Frankfurt intercontinental hub, only 0.2 percent fewer than in November 2008.

“Thus, Frankfurt Airport’s passenger volume almost reached last year’s level. Group-wide, Fraport even recorded a 3.3 percent jump in passenger traffic,” Schulte said with satisfaction. The growth driver at FRA was intercontinental flights, with routes to America and Asia experiencing particularly strong growth again.

November’s figures continued to diminish the traffic decline at FRA in 2009. Following the double-digit drop in passenger figures at the beginning of the year, the January-to-November 2009 period registered a total of about 47.1 million passengers or a drop of 5.3 percent. 

Airfreight figures showed even more noticeable growth in the reporting month. “Following Frankfurt Airport’s slight 0.7 percent increase in tonnage in October 2009 - the first positive month since  June 2008 - airfreight throughput experienced a strong 7.0 percent rise to 188,596 metric tons in November 2009,” said Schulte. In this case, the main driving force was European traffic, which achieved over-proportional growth of about 18 percent.

Airfreight is considered an important early indicator of worldwide economic development. FRA handled approximately 1.7 million metric tons of airfreight from January-to-November 2009, down 12.8 percent year-on-year. “This is also very good when you consider that we were experiencing declines in airfreight of up to 30 percent at the beginning of the year,” stressed Fraport’s executive board chairman.

Aircraft movements at FRA slipped in November 2009 by 0.9 percent to 38,385 takeoffs and landings.  Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) fell by one percent year-on-year to about 2.3 million metric tons.

At the Fraport Group’s majority-owned airports, almost all traffic segments experienced significant growth. In November 2009, Fraport recorded about 5.5 million passengers at these five airports, up 3.3 percent year-on-year. Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) welcomed about 762,000 passengers (up 13.3 percent) and Turkey’s Antalya Airport (AYT) received 771,000 passengers (up 13.6 percent). “The positive trend in air traffic is increasingly being confirmed and is a clear indicator that we have emerged from the trough of the recession,” concluded Schulte.