Frankfurt Airport reports new monthly traffic passenger record

Serving nearly four million passengers in February 2016, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) registered growth of 3.8% year-on-year – an increase of 134,000 passengers compared to the previous record February month posted in the 2008 leap year. Without the extra leap day, figures would have remained at the same level as last year. Accumulated Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) rose to about 2.2 million metric tons, which represents some 400 metric tons more than the previous February record reached in 2008. Thus, MTOWs grew by 6.2% compared to February 2015, or by 2.3% when excluding the February 29 leap day. FRA’s aircraft movements climbed by 3.5% to 34,097 takeoffs and landings, down by 0.2% when excluding the leap day. The over-proportional growth in MTOWs versus aircraft movements – and the resulting utilization of larger aircraft types – continued in February 2016. Cargo (airfreight and airmail) throughput continued the trend of recent months, dipping by 1.4% to 159,721 metric tons.
Fraport AG’s international portfolio of airports reported differing traffic performance in February 2016. At Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) traffic jumped by 7.9% to almost 78,000 passengers. In the Peruvian capital, Lima Airport (LIM) welcomed nearly 1.5 million passengers, an increase of 12.3% year-on-year. Together, the Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast received 34,864 passengers – the strong 21.8% growth can be attributed to a low base effect. Both Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey and St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport (LED) reported a continuing traffic slowdown despite the leap day. AYT received 663,402 passengers (down 3.4%), while LED had 703,709 passengers (down 4.0%). In northern Germany, Hanover Airport (HAJ) achieved an 8.5% traffic rise to 306,460 passengers. With about 2.9 million passengers, Xi’an Airport (XIY) in central China witnessed dynamic growth of 15.2%.