Airfreight Grows Strongly Again - Passenger Figures Return to Previous Year's Level

FRANKFURT, December 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FRA/rap> In November 2009 traffic development at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) received another strong push forward. "Traffic during the past month has impressively confirmed a clear growth trend and has even partly exceeded our expectations. Frankfurt Airport's traffic figures are climbing noticeably," explained Fraport executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte. In the reporting month, Fraport AG registered 3.9 million passengers at its Frankfurt intercontinental hub, only 0.2 percent fewer than in November 2008.

"Thus, Frankfurt Airport's passenger volume almost reached last year's level. Group-wide, Fraport even recorded a 3.3 percent jump in passenger traffic," Schulte said with satisfaction. The growth driver at FRA was intercontinental flights, with routes to America and Asia experiencing particularly strong growth again.

November's figures continued to diminish the traffic decline at FRA in 2009. Following the double-digit drop in passenger figures at the beginning of the year, the January-to-November 2009 period registered a total of about 47.1 million passengers or a drop of 5.3 percent.

Airfreight figures showed even more noticeable growth in the reporting month. "Following Frankfurt Airport's slight 0.7 percent increase in tonnage in October 2009 - the first positive month since June 2008 - airfreight throughput experienced a strong 7.0 percent rise to 188,596 metric tons in November 2009," said Schulte. In this case, the main driving force was European traffic, which achieved over-proportional growth of about 18 percent.

Airfreight is considered an important early indicator of worldwide economic development. FRA handled approximately 1.7 million metric tons of airfreight from January-to-November 2009, down 12.8 percent year-on-year. "This is also very good when you consider that we were experiencing declines in airfreight of up to 30 percent at the beginning of the year," stressed Fraport's executive board chairman.

Aircraft movements at FRA slipped in November 2009 by 0.9 percent to 38,385 takeoffs and landings. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) fell by one percent year-on-year to about 2.3 million metric tons.

At the Fraport Group's majority-owned airports, almost all traffic segments experienced significant growth. In November 2009, Fraport recorded about 5.5 million passengers at these six airports, up 3.3 percent year-on-year. Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) welcomed about 762,000 passengers (up 13.3 percent) and Turkey's Antalya Airport (AYT) received 771,000 passengers (up 13.6 percent). "The positive trend in air traffic is increasingly being confirmed and is a clear indicator that we have emerged from the trough of the recession," concluded Schulte.

                      November   Change (2)  Jan. - Nov.   Change (2)
                      2009       Nov. 09/    2009          Jan. - Nov.
                                 Nov. 08                   09/08

    Passengers (1)    3,904,958   -0.2 %      47,092,779    -5.3 %

    Airfreight (1)
    in metric tons      188,596    7.0 %       1,663,198   -12.8 %

    Airmail
    in metric tons        7,384   -2.8 %         70,745    -12.6 %

    Aircraft
    Movements (3)        38,385   -0.9 %        427,178     -5.0 %

    MTOWs
    in metric tons    2,261,853   -1.0 %     25,014,130     -4.7 %

    Punctuality
    share of punctual
    arrivals
    and departures
    in percent             77.4                    81.1


    1) Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit)
    2) Change over previous year
    3) Excluding military flights

    Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for November 2009

    Airports          Passengers(1)  Change    Cargo in metric tons
                      absolute       in %      abs. (+ airmail)
    Frankfurt (FRA)   3,904,691      -0.2      192,799
    Antalya (AYT)(2)    771,415      13.6      n.a.
    Burgas (BOJ)          4,759     107.2           25
    Lima (LIM)(3)       762,468      13.3       24,653
    Varna (VAR)          24,463       1.3            4

    Fraport Group     5,467,796       3.3      217,482

                       Change      Aircraft Movements       Change
                       in %        absolute                 in %

    Frankfurt (FRA)    6.0         38,385                  -0.9
    Antalya (AYT)(2)   n.a.         6,125                  10.7
    Burgas (BOJ)       n.a.           434                 118.1
    Lima (LIM)(3)      4.6          9,069                  11.5
    Varna (VAR)      -48.8            469                  -2.7

    Fraport Group      5.9         54,482                   2.6


    1) Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit)

2) from October 2009, includes all passenger terminals (adjusted base-year value 2008)

3) Figures provided by LIM

Print-quality photos of Frankfurt Airport and Fraport AG are available free for downloading via the Internet at www.fraport.com (Menu: select Press Center > then Photo Service). For TV news and information broadcasting purposes only, we also offer free footage material for downloading via http://fraport.cms-gomex.com.

    For Further Information, Please Contact:

    Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
    Robert A. Payne, B.A.A. - Sr. Manager International Press
    Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS), Corporate Communications (UKM)
    60547 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany
    Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; Fax: +49-69-690-60548;
    E-mail: r.payne@fraport.de; Internet: http://www.fraport.com

SOURCE Fraport AG

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