Fraport Traffic Figures – September and First Nine Months 2016

Frankfurt Airport reports 1.2 percent decline in passenger traffic during the first nine months of 2016, despite achieving a new September record – Cargo volumes continue to rise Frankfurt Airport (FR

Frankfurt Airport reports 1.2 percent decline in passenger traffic during the first nine months of 2016, despite achieving a new September record – Cargo volumes continue to rise Frankfurt Airport (FRA) has set a new September record, welcoming a total of 5.9 million passengers in September 2016. However, this positive result was helped by the fact that in the same month of the previous year, a strike had led to a noticeable reduction in passenger volumes. Without this base effect, passenger traffic would have remained almost level year-on-year.

Cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) at FRA was positively impacted by the slight recovery of the global economy, resulting in a gain of 5.9 percent in September 2016.


Despite the rise in passenger and cargo volumes,aircraft movements shrank by 0.6 percent to 41,973 takeoffs and landings. Adjusted for the base effect (pilot strike in September 2015), aircraft movements saw an underlying decline of 2.3 percent in September 2016.

Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) expanded by 1.8 percent to almost 2.7 million metric tons, thus also posting a new September record.

During the January-to-September 2016 period, Frankfurt Airport served a total of 46.7 million passengers, representing a 1.2 percent decrease compared to the previous year. This development can partly be attributed to the ongoing geopolitical situation, which has led to a reduction in air travel bookings worldwide.

FRA welcomed some 18.0 million passengers during the holiday months from July to September 2016 – a 1.8 percent drop compared to the summer period of 2015.

In contrast, cargo volumes increased 1.3 percent to just under 1.6 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2016. MTOWs continued their upward trend, reaching a new record high of 22.6 million metric tons (up 0.6 percent) in the reporting period. Aircraft movements, however, declined by 1.4 percent to 353,449 takeoffs and landings in the year to September 2016.

Airports in Fraport AG’s international portfolio registered diverging traffic development during the first three quarters of 2016. At Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) traffic fell by 5.0 percent(September 2016: down 3.7 percent to 151,658 passengers).

At Peru’s capital city airport in Lima (LIM) traffic climbed by 10.9 percent to 14.0 million passengers (September 2016: up 8.7 percent to almost 1.6 million passengers). Similarly, the combined traffic figures for the Twin Star airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast grew by a noticeable 22.5 percent to 4.4 million passengers(September 2016: up 26.8 percent to 691,780 passengers).

Due to the international geopolitical situation in the region as well as Russia’s sanctions, Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera reported a 34.2 percent decline to about 15.1 million passengers(September 2016: down 31.7 percent to 2.5 million passengers).

In St. Petersburg, Russia, Pulkovo Airport (LED) welcomed nearly 10.2 million passengers, a 6.1 percent drop compared to the same nine-month period last year (September 2016: down 0.9 percent to almost 1.4 million
passengers). Although northern Germany’s Hanover Airport (HAJ) achieved positive results in September 2016 (up 2.3 percent to 586,181 passengers), cumulative traffic for the first three quarters of the year dipped by 0.8 percent to about 4.2 million passengers.



In China,Xi’an Airport (XIY) again achieved strong double-digit growth of 11.3 percent to 27.6 million passengers (September 2016: up 13.1 percent to 3.3 million passengers).

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...