Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 18.8 million passengers in 2020, representing a decrease of 73.4% compared to 2019. With the outbreak of the Covid-19 global pandemic, the airport started to experience a major decline in passenger traffic in mid-March 2020. Between April and June, traffic almost came to a complete standstill – with weekly passenger figures plummeting by up to 98% year-on-year. Following a slight traffic recovery in the third quarter of 2020, a new rise in corona-virus infection rates led to intensified travel restrictions. This resulted in passenger numbers falling sharply once again in September and remaining low for the rest of the year.
Aircraft movements at Frankfurt Airport contracted by 58.7% year-on-year to 212,235 takeoffs and landings in 2020. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) shrank by 53.3% to about 14.9 million metric tons. In comparison, cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) registered a relatively minor dip of only 8.3% year-on-year to just under 2.0 million metric tons.
In December 2020, FRA’s passenger traffic slumped by 81.7% to 891,925 travelers. With 13,627 takeoffs and landings, aircraft movements declined by 62.8% compared to December 2019. MTOWs were down 53.6% to about 1.1 million metric tons. Cargo throughput grew by 9.0% to 185,687 metric tons in December 2020, rising for the third consecutive month.
Across the Group, the airports in Fraport’s international portfolio also recorded a sharp decline in passenger traffic during 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the individual Group airports to varying degrees over the months. At times, regular passenger operations were even suspended at some airports (Ljubljana, Antalya and Lima). In addition, wide-ranging travel restrictions affected most of the Group airports beginning in the spring.
Traffic at Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) fell by 83.3% last year to 288,235 passengers (December 2020: down 93.7%). The Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) together received about 6.7 million passengers, representing a 56.7% decrease year-on-year (December 2020: down 46.2%). Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) reported a 70.3% slide in traffic to around 7.0 million passengers (December 2020: down 61.6%).
Serving a total of about 8.6 million passengers in 2020, the 14 Greek regional airports experienced a 71.4% plunge in traffic (December 2020: down 85.3%). Combined traffic at the Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast decreased by 78.9% to about 1.0 million passengers (December 2020: down 69.7%).
Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey registered a 72.6% decline in traffic to about 9.7 million passengers (December 2020: down 69.8%). Last year, Russia’s Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg saw traffic drop by 44.1% to about 10.9 million passengers (December 2020: down 38.5%). Xi’an Airport (XIY) in China achieved a slight recovery in the course of the year, following a strong reduction in traffic during the spring. In 2020, XIY registered about 31.0 million passengers – a 34.2% decrease year on year (December 2020: down 14.8%).
