Fraport Traffic Figures - September 2009: Passenger Figures Nearly at Last Year's Level

FRANKFURT, September 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Frankfurt Airport's (FRA) traffic results continued to develop positively in August 2009. Germany's largest airport registered about 4.9 million passengers, down only 0.4 percent year-on-year. Fraport executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte is optimistic that the decline has bottomed out. Commenting on the actual traffic figures Schulte said: "From month to month the traffic decline is lessening. In the passenger segment, we have almost reached the previous year's level during August 2009 - especially because of the base-year effect from the weakening economy in the second half of 2008. With improving positive development, we have a good chance of ending the year with a passenger decline of only five to six percent. Up to now, we had been expecting six to nine percent fewer passengers than in the previous year."

FRA handled 156,627 metric tons of airfreight in August 2009, representing a five percent year-on-year decline. Aircraft movements dropped five percent to 39,663 takeoffs and landings. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) fell by 3.2 percent to approximately 2.4 million metric tons.

Cumulative figures for the first eight months of 2009 show an average decline of 6.3 percent for passenger traffic, 18 percent for airfreight tonnage, and 5.6 percent for aircraft movements.

Fraport registered a new punctuality record for arrivals and departures at Frankfurt Airport. With a flight punctuality rate of 85.9 percent, operations and ground handling services ensured the best August ever.

At Fraport's majority-owned foreign airports Lima Airport (LIM), in particular, continued to report stable traffic with 783,001 passengers served - down 0.2 percent compared to August 2008. Medium-haul destinations in the Mediterranean felt the consumer restraint of vacation travelers. Some 1,322,596 passengers used the terminals at Antalya Airport (AYT), down 3.7 percent from the previous year. On Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, Burgas Airport (BOJ) served 491,254 passengers (down 9.3 percent) and Varna Airport (VAR) received 290,591 passengers (down 17.4 percent).

The Group airports welcomed a total of about 7.8 million passengers in August 2009, 2.3 percent below the previous year's figure.

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    Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for August 2009

    Airports  Passengers(1) Change Cargo in   Change Aircraft     Change
                                   metric            Movements
              absolute      in %   tons abs.  in %                in %
                                   (+                absolute
                                   airmail)
    Frankfurt
    (FRA)     4,894,872     -0.4   159,628    -6.1    39,663       -5.0
    Antalya
    (AYT)(2)  1,322,596     -3.7      n.a.     n.a.    8,801       -3.5
    Burgas
    (BOJ)       491,254     -9.3       380     n.a.    3,583       -9.9
    Lima
    (LIM)(3)    783,001     -0.2    21,606     0.8     9,228        5.1
    Varna
    (VAR)       290,591    -17.4         9   -49.9     2,292      -16.7
    Fraport
    Group     7,782,314     -2.3   181,624    -5.1    63,567       -4.2

    (1) Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit)
    (2) Terminal 1 + domestic terminal
    (3) Figures provided by LIM



    Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures - August 2009

                                 Change (2)              Change (2)
                       August    August 09/ Jan. - Aug.  Jan. - Aug.
                                 August 08  2009         09/08
                       2009

    Passengers (1)     4,895,177    -0.4 %    33,953,299   -6.3 %
    Airfreight (1)       156,627    -5.0 %     1,135,423  -18.0 %
    in metric tons
    Airmail                5,569   -19.6 %        50,498  -14.0 %
    in metric tons
    Aircraft
    Movements (3)         39,663    -5.0 %       307,969   -5.6 %
    MTOWs              2,374,667    -3.2 %    18,025,660   -5.2 %
    in metric tons
    Punctuality share       85.9                    82.4
    of punctual arrivals
    and departures in
    percent

    (1) Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit)
    (2) Change over previous year
    (3) Excluding military flights



    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