Fraport Traffic Figures - December and Full Year 2009: Traffic at Frankfurt Airport Continues to Climb in December

PR Newswire

FRANKFURT, January 15

FRANKFURT, January 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Traffic figures at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) continued the pattern of recovery seen in previous months. Meanwhile, nearly all traffic categories are registering growth again. Well over 3.8 million passengers recorded at FRA, represent a 2.3 percent rise on December 2008. Fraport executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte said with satisfaction: "Despite adverse weather conditions, this has been the first increase in passenger figures at our Frankfurt home base since May 2008. Thus, we have finally emerged from the trough of recession in the air transportation business."

Rising by 6.3 percent, intercontinental traffic again was the major growth driver in the passenger business - a growth dynamics not seen in many years.

The airfreight segment also continued its upward trend. Almost all traffic regions experienced double-digit growth in airfreight tonnage in December 2009. "Nearly 174,000 metric tons of airfreight represent a significant 29.1 percent gain over December 2008 and a fourfold increase over the 7 percent rise in November 2009," said Schulte. Handling 8,429 metric tons on December 13, 2009, FRA recorded its second-busiest day ever for freight throughput. FRA only handled more freight in a single day on September 17, 2006 (8,477 metric tons).

December 2009 figures also contributed to stabilizing traffic development on an annual basis. More than 50 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport from January to December 2009. "With minus 4.7 percent on a moving annual total, passenger traffic performed better than originally expected," explained Schulte. Forecasts in October 2009 had still been for a loss of between five and six percent.

Nonetheless, traffic figures for the full year 2009 declined overall. Airfreight tonnage dropped by 10.1 percent to 1.8 million metric tons. Airmail tonnage declined by a calculated 11.3 percent to well over 80,000 metric tons. Aircraft movements slipped by 4.7 percent to about 436,000 takeoffs and landings. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) shrank by 4.2 percent to 27.2 million metric tons. "Because of the reconfirmation of a clearly upward trend in passenger and airfreight traffic in December 2009, however, we are starting the year 2010 optimistically," explained Fraport's CEO.

In addition to increases in passenger and freight traffic, FRA also registered 0.7 percent growth in airmail to over 9,400 metric tons as well as in accumulated MTOWs by 1.4 percent to about 2.2 million metric tons. Only aircraft movements declined because of adverse weather conditions, falling by 0.9 percent to nearly 36,000 takeoffs and landings.

The Fraport Group's five majority-owned airports (Frankfurt, Antalya, Lima, Burgas and Varna) welcomed a total of 5.1 million passengers in December 2009, up 4.3 percent year-on-year. Cargo throughput (airfreight and airmail) at these airports rose by 24.4 percent to almost 205,000 metric tons.

Aircraft movements climbed by three percent to well over 50,000 takeoffs and landings.

In the face of the overall economic situation, the Fraport Group closed the 2009 year with a slight 2.6 percent drop in traffic to about 73.7 million passengers. Cargo also declined by 9.7 percent to 2.1 million metric tons.

    Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures - December & Full Year 2009

                            Dec.    Change (2)      Jan. - Dec.     Change(2)
                           2009     Dec. 09             2009       Jan. - Dec.
                                   /Dec. 08                           09/08

    Passengers (1)       3,845,118    2.3 %         50,937,897       -4.7 %

    Airfreight (1)
    in metric tons         173,855   29.1 %          1,837,054      -10.1 %

    Airmail
    in metric tons           9,429    0.7 %             80,174      -11.3 %

    Aircraft Movements (3)  35,933   -0.9 %            463,111       -4.7 %


    MTOWs (3)
    in metric tons       2,172,772    1.4 %         27,186,902       -4.2 %

    Punctuality
    share of punctual
    arrivals and
    departures in
    percent                   66.5                        79.9


    1 Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit)

    2 Change over previous year

    3 Excluding military flights



                                         Cargo               Aircraft
                                                             Movements
    Airports        Passengers[1] Change in metric    Change           Change
                                         tons (incl.         absolute
                    absolute       in %   airmail)     in %              in %

    Frankfurt (FRA) 50,932,840    -4.7  1,887,718    -10.6   463,111    -4.7

    Antalya(2)(AYT) 11,012,854     5.2       n.a.     n.a.    78,572     3.6

    Burgas (BOJ)     1,704,634   -12.0      2,710     85.0    15,634    -7.8

    Lima (LIM)(3)    8,786,973     6.1    232,374     -2.8   104,966     6.3

    Varna (VAR)      1,220,181   -15.6         87    -17.5    12,699   -15.2

    Fraport Group   73,657,482    -2.6  2,122,889     -9.7   674,982    -2.5

    1 Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit).

    2 Effective September 23, 2009, includes all passenger terminals at AYT
      (adjusted for base value 2008).

    3 Figures provided by LIM.



    Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for 2009
    For Further information, Please Contact:
    Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
    Robert A. Payne, B.A.A. - Sr. Manager International Press
    Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS), Corporate Communications (UKM)
    60547 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany
    Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; Fax: +49-69-690-60548;
    E-mail: r.payne@fraport.de; Internet: http://www.fraport.com