Fraport posts traffic figures for May 2016

With 5.3 million passengers served in May 2016, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) saw passenger figures decline by 5.5% compared to the strong equivalent month of the previous year. This slowdown primarily reflects an ongoing restraint in holiday travel, particularly to destinations in Turkey and along the Mediterranean coast of northern Africa. As Germany’s largest intercontinental hub, Frankfurt Airport has also been particularly affected by the noticeable drop in tourist traffic from the Far East – especially Japan – following the recent terrorist attacks in Europe. In addition, the numerous public holidays in Germany led to a thinning out of the May flight schedule at Frankfurt. Furthermore, the number of weather-related flight cancellations at FRA was relatively high for a May month – affecting about 15,000 passengers alone during May 2016. With 41,181 takeoffs and landings, FRA also registered a 3.5% dip in aircraft movements. Cargo (airfreight + airmail) throughput also softened slightly to 177,536 metric tons, down by 1.3% year-on-year. In line with the trend, accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) fell by 1.5% to 2.6 million metric tons. Fraport AG’s international portfolio of airports continued to report mixed results in May 2016. Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia experienced a 9.3% slide in traffic, in Peru’s capital, Lima Airport (LIM) welcomed 1.6 million passengers – a significant 12.8% increase compared to the same month last year. Fraport’s two Bulgarian gateways at Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) saw their combined traffic jump by 36.5% to 229,375 passengers. At Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera, figures slumped by 37.2% to 1.9 million passengers in May 2016. Along with travelers’ concerns about terrorism, AYT was impacted by the ongoing political situation between Turkey and Russia. Passenger numbers at Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg dropped by 7.3% to 1.1 million. In northern Germany, Hanover Airport (HAJ) recorded a moderate 3.1% decline to 496,343 passengers, resulting solely from lower tourist traffic. In contrast, Xi’an Airport (XIY) in central China continued to follow a growth path. XIY served some 3.0 million passengers, an increase of 9.7% year-on-year.