Frankfurt Airport.
Frankfurt and most of the Group airports record passenger growth.
Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed nearly 4.7 million passengers in January 2019, thus starting the year with 2.3 percent traffic growth. Without strike and weather-related flight cancellations, passenger traffic at FRA would have grown by about 4.3 percent.
Aircraft movements climbed by 2.3 percent to 37,676 takeoffs and landings in the reporting month. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) rose by 1.5 percent to about 2.4 million metric tons. Only cargo (airfreight + airmail) posted a decline in January 2019, dropping by 4.3 percent to 163,332 metric tons. Decisive factors affecting cargo traffic included weaker global trade and the resulting dip in demand. Most of the airports in Fraport's international portfolio also achieved growth in January 2019. Slovenia's Ljubljana Airport (LJU) served 103,653 passengers, a rise of 3.3 percent. The Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) registered combined traffic of almost 1.5 million passengers, up 10.5 percent year-on-year.
Total traffic for the 14 Greek regional airports reached 617,885 passengers, resulting in a 12.3 percent surge. The busiest airports included Thessaloniki (SKG) with 388,309 passengers, up 25.4 percent; Chania (CHQ) with 50,949 passengers, up 17.8 percent; and Rhodes (RHO) with 50,809 passengers, down 13.4 percent.
Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru, South America, saw traffic increase by 5.0 percent to around 1.9 million passengers. On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the Twin Star airports of Burgas (BOJ) and Varna (VAR) registered a total of 67,924 passengers, declining 6.8 percent. On the Turkish Rivera, Antalya Airport (AYT) received 877,161 passengers and recorded a 9.6 percent jump in traffic. Russia's St. Petersburg Airport (LED) advanced by 14.0 percent to some 1.2 million passengers. In China, Xi'an Airport (XIY) recorded a 13.9 percent gain to almost 3.8 million passengers.
Fraport and Volocopter are developing airport infrastructure and passenger processes for air taxi services
Fraport AG and Volocopter GmbH are pioneering mobility of the future. Together, they are developing concepts for ground infrastructure and operations required for air taxi services at airports. This cooperation focuses on smooth passenger handling and efficient integration into existing transport infrastructure. This will be examined using a so-called Volocopter Port. In the future, Volocopter Ports could link existing urban transportation junctions with one another and provide connections to and from Frankfurt Airport (FRA).
Fraport is a globally active airport manager with many years of expertise in airport operations – particularly in ground infrastructure, ground handling, and terminal and passenger services. Fraport can also leverage its extensive experience in unmanned flying. Via its FraDrones program, Fraport has already tested various scenarios for using drones for operational purposes. Volocopter has already proven that its electrically-powered vertical take-off multicopters meet the requirements of Urban Aerial Mobility in various test flights, most notably in Dubai. Based on drone technology, the Volocopter offers space for two people and is a suitable urban transport solution thanks to its quiet and zero-emissions flying. Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s most important aviation hub with more than 69.5 million passengers last year, offers the ideal conditions for this innovative partnership.
Anke Giesen, Fraport AG’s executive board member for operations (COO), explained: “Autonomous flying will fundamentally change aviation in the years to come. We want to be the first airport in Europe to harness the potential of electric air taxis in partnership with pioneer Volocopter – for the benefit of our passengers and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region. This partnership underscores Fraport AG’s role as a key driver of innovation in diverse fields.”
Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter GmbH, said: “Providing the ideal connection between the city center and the airport poses a huge challenge for the world’s major cities. Together with Fraport AG, we are excited to pioneer the implementation of an air taxi service at one of Europe’s most important airports. We will be tapping into Fraport’s wealth of experience to integrate the Volocopter Service safely and efficiently into the complex array of processes required at a major international airport.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
