FRA/rap> Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served 3.6 percent more passengers in the first quarter of 2008.  A total of 12,248,854 passengers used the FRA global air transportation hub during the first three months of the year.  Airfreight throughput at FRA rose by 4.4 percent to 513,331 metric tons from January to March 2008.  Airmail slipped, as expected, by one percent to 22,846 metric tons.  The number of aircraft movements declined by 0.3 percent to 116,288 takeoffs and landings, while the accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) increased by 1.7 percent to 6,749,557 metric tons.

In the first quarter of 2008, the Fraport Group's majority-owned airports (Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Hahn, Antalya, Lima, Burgas and Varna) welcomed at total of 16,100,323 passengers (up 4.4 percent) and handled 615,915 metric tons of cargo (up 7.3 percent). The number of aircraft movements climbed by 2.8 percent to 160,423 takeoffs and landings. 

In March 2008, Frankfurt Airport reported a slight 0.2 percent decline in traffic to 4,438,327 passengers.   Airfreight rose during the same period by two percent to 188,557 metric tons, hitting a new record for the month of March.  FRA's 7,462 metric tons of airmail represented a calculated 7.6 percent slide.  Frankfurt Airport registered 40,187 takeoffs and landings, a four percent drop in aircraft movements.  Warning strikes by public service workers and adverse weather conditions resulted in about 300 flight cancellations during the month of March 2008. Accumulated MTOWs reached 2,352,898 metric tons, down 1.1 percent year-on-year.

Due to the Easter travel wave, tourist destinations in Southern and Southeastern Europe as well as North Africa experienced exceedingly positive growth last month.  Intercontinental traffic, which grew by 1.9 percent, continued to drive FRA's passenger growth.  Contributing significantly to this development, South American traffic jumped by 36.9 percent because of  expansion of the timetable.

Passenger traffic at Fraport's international locations developed positively in March 2008.  Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) achieved a 15 percent gain in traffic to 696,201 passengers.  Serving 395,397 passengers, Fraport's terminals at Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey registered a 7.1 percent year-on-year rise.  The strongest growth rates were recorded by Fraport's two holiday airports on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast:  Burgas Airport (BOJ) registered 1,354 passengers last month (up 25.6 percent), while Varna Airport (VAR) had 22,751 passengers (up 16.7 percent).  In contrast, Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN) experienced a slide in passenger traffic.  HHN welcomed 289,253 passengers (down seven percent) in March 2008. A total of 5,842,886 passengers (up 1.6 percent) used the Fraport Group's six majority-owned airports last month. Cargo (airfreight and airmail) throughput for these airports hit 223,071 metric tons in  the same period (up four percent). 

Traffic Figures FRA
Traffic Figures Fraport Group