Fraport traffic figures – April 2015

With more than 5 million passenger served in April 2015, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) saw the busiest April month in its history. Growth was driven by high demand for destinations in the Far East, as well as by a strong increase in domestic traffic. The high passenger growth rate of 7.5% was attributable to the non-recurrence of a pilot strike in April 2014. When taking into account this non-recurring event as well as the different timing of the Easter holiday season, passenger traffic at FRA grew at an underlying rate of approximately 2.5%. Cargo (airfreight + airmail) throughput recorded a slight increase in the reporting month, rising by 0.8% year-on-year to 173,274 metric tons. Contrary to the trend of previous months, the number of aircraft movements increased in April 2015, climbing by 5.9% year-on-year to 39,858 takeoffs and landings. Adjusting for the non-recurrence of last year’s pilot strike, aircraft movements recorded underlying growth of approximately 0.3%. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOW) continued the positive growth trend of previous months. Expanding by 7.7% year-on-year to 2,476,798 metric tons, MTOW even set a new record in April 2015, exceeding the previous record of April 2011. The airports in Fraport’s international portfolio reported varying traffic results, with overall positive growth in April 2015. Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia’s capital city welcomed 112,310 passengers in the reporting month – posting a double-digit increase of 13.3% on the previous year. In Peru, Lima Airport (LIM) also recorded positive passenger growth, serving a total of 1,280,540 passengers (up 7.6%). At Fraport’s two Twinstar airports on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast – Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) – combined passenger numbers declined by 13.1% to 51,542 passengers, while traffic at Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera dropped by 7.4% to 1,603,832 passengers. This was partly due to a decrease in the number of Russian passengers as a result of the weak ruble. The devaluation of the Russian currency also affected Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg, where traffic contracted by 5.7% to 937,061 passengers. Germany’s Hanover Airport (HAJ) registered only a slight decline of 0.2% to 434,360 passengers. In China, Xi’an Airport (XIY) recorded particularly strong growth, with traffic soaring by 15.9% to 2,739,238 passengers.