Fraport Traffic Figures - February 2005: Growth Dampened by Special Effects
As expected, Frankfurt Airport�'s (FRA) traffic figures for February 2005 did not grow as strongly as in the past. Absence of the leap day, which occurred in February 2004, alone resulted in nearly a four percent drop in passenger traffic - without this leap-day effect passenger figures would have been level. However, in February 2005 traffic slipped 3.8 percent to 3.4 million passengers compared to the corresponding month last year.
Other factors contributing to dampened growth in February 2005 included the strong and prolonged winter worldwide, especially in many regions of Europe as well as North America. As a result, FRA was also somewhat affected by flight cancellations and delays. Furthermore, President George W. Bush�'s visit to Germany on February 23 led to the temporary closure of FRA�'s runway system, which caused some additional flight delays and cancellations.
Winter holiday regions favoured by Europeans - particularly Turkey, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and North Africa - also registered noticeable increases. However, intercontinental traffic to South Africa and South America remained the growth engine.
Airfreight continued its positive growth trend, increasing by about one percent to 138,802 metric tons in February 2005. The increase was lower than in 2004, because the reporting month did not have a leap-day and because the days of the week fell differently. February 2004 had five of the typically traffic-intensive Sundays, compared to only four in February 2005. Furthermore, this year the Chinese New Year�'s festival fell in February. As a result, production in Asian growth markets stopped and less airfreight tonnage was shipped.
Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) continued to increase in February 2005, climbing by one percent to two million metric tons - confirming the tendency of airlines to continue using larger aircraft at FRA. The number of aircraft movements decreased slightly to 35,906 takeoffs and landings. As expected, the total volume of airmail also dropped in February 2005 by about 13 percent to 8,808 metric tons, due to the ongoing phase-out of FRA�'s domestic overnight airmail network.
The Fraport Group�'s six airports welcomed about 4.7 million passengers in February 2005, representing a 1.9 percent year-on-year decline. Airfreight (including airmail) tonnage for the Group grew by 1.5 percent to 172, 259 metric tons. Antalya Airport (AYT) profited from being a preferred winter-vacation destination by recording strong single-digit growth in passenger traffic. Despite the missing leap-day, the number of passengers at AYT climbed in February 2005 by 9.2 percent to 342,100.
The consolidation of flight offers in the low-cost carrier (LCC) market made a noticeable showing on Frankfurt-Hahn Airport�'s (HHN) figures. In February 2005, HHN�'s traffic grew by a moderate three percent to 191,585 passengers. The cargo volume at HHN grew markedly faster, increasing by eight percent to 15,011 metric tons - mainly because of strong growth in freighter flights. Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru, South America, registered a 4.9 percent jump in traffic to 414,605 passengers. Strong exports led to double-digit growth of 11.6 percent in cargo at LIM, with some 10,510 metric tons handled in the reporting month.
Frankfurt Airport�'s Traffic Figures - February 2005
| February 2005 | Change 2 Feb.05/Feb.04 | Jan. - Feb. 2005 | Change 2 Jan.Feb 05/04 | |
| Passengers 1 | 3,434,410 | -3.8 % | 7,159,335 | -0.3 % |
| Airfreight 1 in metric tons | 138,802 | 0.9 % | 274,509 | 8.8 % |
| Airmail in metric tons | 8,808 | -12.9 % | 18,048 | -13.2 % |
| Aircraft Movements 3 | 35,906 | -0.3 % | 74,004 | 1.5 % |
| MTOWs 3 in metric tons | 2,023,277 | 1.0 % | 4,208,562 | 3.8 % |
| Punctuality share of punctual arrivals and departures in percent | 67.1 | 69.9 |
1 Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit, incl. general aviation)
2 Change over previous year
3 Excluding military flights
Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for February 2005
| Airports | Passengers[1] absolute | Change in % | Airfreight in metric tons (incl. Airmail) | Change in % | Aircraft Movements absolute | Change in % |
| Frankfurt (FRA) | 3,433,905 | -3.8 | 145,256 | 0.1 | 35,906 | -0.3 |
| Antalya2 (AYT) | 342,100 | 9.2 | n.a. | n.a. | 2,289 | 8.3 |
| Frankfurt-Hahn3 (HHN) | 191,585 | 3.0 | 15,011 | 8.0 | 2,114 | -8.3 |
| Hanover (HAJ) | 293,006 | -2.2 | 1,479 | 21.6 | 5,453 | -2.8 |
| Lima (LIM) | 414,605 | 4.9 | 10,510 | 11.6 | 4,905 | -15.6 |
| Saarbrücken (SCN) | 21,379 | -10.1 | 2 | -50.0 | 889 | -12.4 |
| Fraport Group | 4,696,580 | -1.9 | 172,259 | 1.5 | 51,556 | -2.5 |
1 Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit)
2 International passengers and movements only
3 Frankfurt-Hahn: includes cargo transported by truck