Fraport traffic figures 2010 – Growth front widens

Fraport AG registered noticeable growth in almost all traffic categories at its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base in 2010 – a year of great turbulence for the international air transportation industry. FRA welcomed more than 53 million passengers in 2010, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to 2009. Frankfurt achieved a new historic record for airfreight tonnage, which jumped by 21.5 percent to 2,231,348 metric tons in 2010.

Aircraft movements at FRA grew by 0.3 percent last year to 464,432 takeoffs and landings. This modest increase in movements can be attributed to the numerous air traffic disruptions, including weather disturbances in Germany and the rest of Europe. Thus, FRA registered a total of 22,000 flight cancellations throughout 2010 – 15,000 more than the annual average during the past decade – which corresponds to an estimated loss of 1.4 million passengers.

Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) at FRA amounted to 27,963,744 metric tons from January to December 2010, a 2.9 percent rise year-on-year. Frankfurt’s 2010 airmail tonnage dropped by 4.7 percent year-on-year to 76,445 metric tons.

“The aviation rollercoaster of 2010 at times paralleled the stock market fever on hectic trading days,” said Fraport AG executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte when commenting on the 2010 traffic results. “We completed the year with positive results overall, despite the onslaught of severe winter weather at the beginning and the end of 2010, despite strikes by airline staff and air traffic controllers in numerous European countries, and despite the multi-day shutdown of European airspace due to the ash cloud crisis,” explained Schulte. “With the inauguration of our new Runway Northwest in October of this year – at the start of the Winter Timetable 2011/2012 – we will create the prerequisites for Germany’s leading air transportation hub to meet growing traffic demand in the future,” Schulte stressed.

In the reporting month of December 2010 airfreight at FRA rose by 3.3 percent to 179,673 metric tons year-on-year. Similar to many other European airports, FRA’s passenger figures dropped in December 2010 due to the harsh onslaught of winter weather. Frankfurt Airport welcomed 3,785,631 passengers in December 2010, a 1.6 percent decline year-on-year. Aircraft movements also dropped by five percent to 34,124 takeoffs and landings in the last month of 2010. MTOWs slipped in December 2010 by 0.1 percent year-on-year to 2,170,460 metric tons.

Fraport’s five majority-owned airports all recorded passenger growth in 2010. Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera served 22,144,161 passengers in 2010, an 18.5 percent increase year-on-year. Lima Airport (LIM) in the capital city of Peru (South America) served 10,278,463 passengers in 2010, up 17 percent year-on-year. Fraport’s two airports on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast also experienced passenger growth in 2010: Burgas Airport (BOJ) reported an 11.1 percent rise to 1,894,109 passengers while Varna Airport (VAR) saw traffic climb slightly by 0.6 percent to 1,227,442 passengers.

Traffic throughput for the Group’s majority-owned airports reached a total of 88,553,426 passengers in 2010, rising 8.9 percent compared to 2009. “These positive figures for our Group airports show that Fraport is well positioned internationally. The strong performance of our international business confirms our strategy to continue expanding. Our External Activities and Services segment now accounts for about 20 percent of the Fraport Group’s revenue and 30 percent of its operating results,” concluded Schulte.