Fraport Traffic Figures – January 2019: Starting the New Year on a Growth Path
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.