Passenger traffic rises at Frankfurt Airport as Cargo throughput declines

In the first three months of 2019, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served almost 14.8 million passengers - an increase of 2.5 percent year-on-year. Aircraft movements rose by 3.0 percent to 116,581 takeoffs and landings. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) climbed by 2.9 percent to some 7.3 million metric tons. Only cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) declined by 2.3 percent to a total of 527,151 metric tons, reflecting the worldwide economic slowdown.

In March 2019, Frankfurt Airport recorded year-on-year traffic growth of 1.4 percent to about 5.6 million passengers. This increase was achieved despite the fact that, in March last year, traffic was additionally boosted by the earlier timing of the Easter school holidays, falling in April this year. Aircraft movements climbed by 2.1 percent to 42,056 takeoffs and landings, while accumulated MTOWs grew by 2.8 percent to about 2.6 million metric tons. Cargo throughput remained almost level compared to March 2018, rising by 0.2 percent to 202,452 metric tons.

Across the Group, the airports in Fraport's international portfolio largely performed well in the first quarter of 2019, even though the different timing of the Easter holidays had an impact on some airports serving tourist destinations. Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia closed the January-to-March period with an increase of 4.0 percent to 342,636 passengers (March 2019: up 3.0 percent to 133,641 passengers). In Brazil, the two airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA), combined, welcomed some 3.9 million passengers, posting a gain of 11.9 percent (March 2019: up 8.3 percent to approximately 1.2 million passengers).

Fraport's 14 Greek regional airports served some 1.9 million passengers overall in the first quarter of the year - an increase of 8.2 percent (March 2019: up 1.1 percent to a total of 713,045 passengers). The busiest airports in Fraport's Greek portfolio included Thessaloniki (SKG) with around 1.2 million passengers (up 20.3 percent), Chania (CHQ) on the island of Crete with 153,225 passengers (down 0.4 percent), and Rhodes (RHO) with 151,493 passengers (down 18.1 percent).

Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru advanced by 3.7 percent to some 5.5 million passengers (March 2019: up 2.2 percent to about 1.8 million passengers). Combined traffic at the two airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast slipped by 5.8 percent to 203,606 passengers (March 2019: down 9.9 percent to 74,102 passengers). Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey posted a 5.8 percent gain to more than 2.7 million passengers (March 2019: down 0.1 percent to nearly 1.1 million passengers). St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport (LED) in Russia grew by 14.7 percent to about 3.6 million passengers (March 2019: up 16.3 percent to approximately 1.3 million passengers). Almost 11.3 million passengers passed through Xi'an Airport (XIY) in China in the first three months of the year, representing an increase of 8.0 percent (March 2019: up 3.7 percent to nearly 3.8 million passengers).