International Group airports report differing traffic development Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed more than 6.9 million passengers in the reporting month, up 0.8 percent compared to the already heavily-traveled July holiday month last year. For the first seven months of the year, passenger traffic at FRA rose by 2.6 percent. Aircraft movements in July 2019 climbed by 1.0 percent to 47,125 takeoffs and landings, while accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) expanded by 2.4 percent to over 2.9 million metric tons. FRA's cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) also grew by 1.5 percent to 178,652 metric tons.
Across the Group, airports in Fraport's international portfolio reported differing development in passenger traffic. Slovenia's Ljubljana Airport (LJU) achieved a 4.2 percent jump in traffic to 207,292 passengers. Fraport's two Brazilian airports in Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) together received about 1.3 million passengers - a decline of 9.9 percent year-on-year. This decline, among other things, can be attributed to the bankruptcy of Avianca Brasil - whereby other carriers temporarily were unable to fully absorb the traffic volume.
On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) together served about 1.2 million passengers. The resulting 13.2 percent drop in passengers is a continuation of the consolidation trend seen in previous months, following the rapid passenger growth in figures at the Twin Star airports in recent years. In contrast, Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera reported almost 5.4 million passengers, again recording strong growth of 11.7 percent in July 2019. Registering some 2.2 million passengers, Russia's St. Petersburg Airport (LED) also achieved growth of 4.9 percent. Traffic at China's Xian Airport (XIY) almost reached 4.3 million passengers, a 7.4 percent gain compared to the same month last year.