Passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport exceeds 60 million mark again

In 2016, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served a total of 60,792,308 passengers, thus surpassing the 60 million passenger mark once again and remaining almost at the previous year’s level (down 0.4%). Following a slowdown in the summer period of 2016 caused by geopolitical factors, passenger traffic clearly picked up again towards the end of the year. Without weather and strike-related flight cancellations, passenger numbers would have risen by approximately 0.4% during 2016. FRA’s cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) advanced by 1.8% to some 2.15 million metric tons in 2016. While accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) increased by 0.4% – reaching a new record level of about 29.7 million metric tons – aircraft movements declined by 1.1% to 462,885 takeoffs and landings in 2016. Without the effects resulting from strike and weather-related flight cancellations, the number of aircraft movements would have seen a decline of only 0.3%. The average number of passengers per flight continued to rise from a record 140.2 in 2015 to a noticeable 141.0 in 2016, reflecting the efficiency-enhancing consolidation activities of airlines. Airports in Fraport’s international portfolio reported diverging traffic figures for the 2016 calendar year. Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia received about 1.4 million passengers, down 2.3% compared to the particularly strong 2015 traffic year. Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru’s capital recorded a 10.1% rise in traffic, with a total of 18.8 million passengers served in 2016. The Fraport Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast combined welcomed some 4.6 million passengers, thus achieving a 21.5% surge in traffic year-on-year. In Turkey, the country’s security situation as well as strained relations with Russia had a dampening effect on tourism and corresponding leisure air traffic. As a result, Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera experienced a 30.9% decline in traffic to about 19 million passengers in 2016. Since the beginning of September 2016, when charter flights were officially restarted from Russia, AYT has seen a noticeable recovery trend in its Russian traffic. Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg, Russia, posted a 1.7% decline in traffic to 13.3 million passengers. In northern Germany, Hanover Airport (HAJ) also registered a slight drop of 0.8% to 5.5 million passengers. In contrast, China’s Xi’an Airport (XIY) achieved significant double-digit growth of 12.2% to 37 million passengers.