Fraport Traffic Figures 2003: Frankfurt Airport Reaches Previous Year's Passenger Level
Frankfurt Main , Germany (ots) -
- Airfreight Tonnage Climbs 2.2 Percent
- Traffic Growth for Fraport Group
- Forecast for Financial Results Achieved
Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served almost 48.4 million passengers in 2003, nearly equaling the previous year's passenger level. Despite the difficult market conditions, Germany's largest airport registered only a slight 0.2 percent drop in passengers in 2003 versus 2002. The share of transfer passengers at FRA grew by one point to 54 percent in 2003 - further increasing FRA's importance as a major hub in the international air transportation system.
Fraport also met the forecast for its 2003 annual financial results, despite the many negative effects on global aviation; As planned, Fraport expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to reach about 500 million for 2003.
At the beginning of the 2003, fears of the Iraq war dampened travel activity. Then in March, the Iraq conflict and the infectious Asian SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) disease from Asia intensified the downward trend in air travel. This was further exasperated by the slackening world economy. By the middle of the year, however, there was an indication of a light recovery in passenger volume. With passenger traffic growing again in October, FRA was able to reach the previous year's passenger level for 2003. In the fourth quarter, passenger figures even exceeded the comparable quarter of the previous best year. Intercontinental traffic proved to be the growth engine here. As the SARS crisis dissipated, the particularly important Asian market began to stabilize.
In December 2003, FRA welcomed over 3.5 million passengers - a new record figure for this month. The passenger volume increased 2.8 percent over the corresponding month in 2002. FRA's cargo throughput increased by 4.5 percent in December to approximately 132,000 metric tons.
Airfreight handled at FRA in 2003 almost reached 1.55 million metric tons, a 2.2 percent increase over 2002. Above all, intercontinental routes also generated growth in the cargo segment. Asia - accounting for 49.4 percent of total cargo tonnage - was by far FRA's most important airfreight market. The amount of airfreight shipped to and from the U.S.A. remained constant, although the strong euro increasingly made German exports more expensive. Airmail tonnage declined by 10.1 percent to126,700 metric tons, due to service reductions of the domestic overnight airmail network since April 2003. Frankfurt Airport recorded 458,900 takeoffs and landings in 2003, a 0.1 percent increase over 2002. The maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) - i.e., the total weight of all aircraft serving FRA - grew by 1.9 percent to 25.4 million metric tons.
Together, the six airports of the Fraport Group - Frankfurt (FRA), Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN), Hanover (HAJ), and Saarbrücken (SCN) airports in Germany, as well as Antalya Airport (AYT) in the Turkish Riviera, and Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru - had about 70.6 million passengers in 2003, 1.9 percent more than in the previous year. With over 2.4 million passengers, Frankfurt-Hahn recorded double-digit growth of 67.3 percent. Despite the market collapse resulting from the Iraq war, Antalya welcomed some 9.7 million international passengers in 2003, just 0.4 percent below the previous year's level. Hanover increased its passenger volume by 6.2 percent to about 5 million and Lima by 5.1 percent to over 4.5 million. Total airfreight tonnage for the Fraport Group climbed 3.4 percent to almost 1,985,700 metric tons in 2003.
Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures - December 2003 & Total 2003
| December 2003 | Change(2) Dec. 03/ Dec. 02 | Jan.-Dec. 2003 | Change(2) Jan.-Dec. 03/02 | |
| Passengers(1) | 3,514,955 | 2.8 % | 48,359,320 | -0.2 % |
| Airfreight(1) in metric tons | 131,974 | 4.5 % | 1,548,014 | 2.2 % |
| Airmail in metric tons | 12,846 | -6.1 % | 126,726 | -10.1 % |
| Aircraft Movements(3) | 35,510 | -1.2 % | 458,865 | 0.1 % |
| MTOWs(3) in metric tons | 2,005,404 | 0.3 % | 25,398,908 | 1.9 % |
| Punctuality share of punctual arrivals and departures in percent | 77.4 | 78.1 |
(1) Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit, incl. general aviation)
(2) Change over previous year
(3) Excluding military flights
Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for 2003
| Airports | Passengers(1) Absolute | Change in % | Air- freight (metric tons absolute) | Change in % | Air- craft Movements absolute | Change in % |
| Frankfurt | 48,351,664 | -0.2 | 1,650,601 | 1.2 | 458,865 | 0.1 |
| Antalya (2) | 9,741,763 | -0.4 | n.a. | n.a. | 59,363 | -5.0 |
| Hahn(3) | 2,425,684 | 67.3 | 159,179 | 14.1 | 31,058 | 21.5 |
| Hanover | 5,044,840 | 6.2 | 15,202 | 15.9 | 86,449 | 0.9 |
| Lima | 4,536,314 | 5.1 | 160,329 | 17.3 | 70,239 | -0.1 |
| Saarbrücken | 457,965 | -0.7 | 372 | 124.1 | 15,011 | -1.0 |
| Fraport Group | 70,558,230 | 1.9 | 1,985,683 | 3.4 | 720,985 | 0.5 |
(1) Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit)
(2) International passengers and movements only
(3) Hahn cargo (incl. cargo transported by truck)