Frankfurt achieves continuing robust cargo growth – Traffic decreases reported at most of the Group airports worldwide
In February 2021, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served 681,845 passengers – a decline of 84.4 percent compared to the same month last year. FRA’s accumulated passenger traffic for the first two months of the year fell by 82.6 percent year-on-year. This low demand still resulted from the ongoing travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In contrast, cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) rose by 21.7 percent to 180,725 metric tons in the reporting month – despite the ongoing shortage of belly capacity normally provided by passenger aircraft. Thanks to this robust growth, Frankfurt Airport recorded its highest February cargo month ever.
Aircraft movements decreased by 69.0 percent to 11,122 takeoffs and landings, while accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOW) contracted by 56.7 percent to 961,684 metric tons year-on-year.
The airports in Fraport’s international portfolio continued to report mixed results for February 2021, with traffic performance depending largely on the pandemic situation in the respective region. All of Fraport’s Group airports worldwide – except Xi’an in China – recorded traffic declines compared to February 2020.
In Slovenia, Ljubljana Airport (LJU) saw traffic sink by 93.1 percent year-on-year to 5,534 passengers during February 2021. The two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) registered combined traffic of 553,336 passengers, down 54.6 percent. Traffic at Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) dropped by 83.9 percent to 320,850 travelers.
Total traffic figures for the 14 Greek regional airports declined by 84.1 percent to 93,813 passengers in February 2021. On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the Twin Star airports of Burgas (BOJ) and Varna (VAR) together received 16,914 passengers, down 77.6 percent year-on-year. Traffic at Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey shrank by 64.8 percent to 292,690 passengers.
Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg, Russia, welcomed 716,739 passengers, down 38.9 percent. The only Group airport to record traffic growth was Xi’an Airport (XIY) in China. Traffic at XIY rebounded markedly in the reporting month, rising by 272.2 percent to over 1.7 million passengers compared to February 2020 – when China was already hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
