Fraport Traffic Figures - February 2012: Passenger Traffic and Cargo Volume Affected by Strike and Economic Slowdown

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served approximately 3.6 million passengers in February 2012 - a slight increase of 0.7 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.  Due to a strike conducted by the German union of air traffic controllers (GdF) in a dispute over pay and conditions, almost 1,700 flights were cancelled in February causing a loss of some 170,000 passengers.  The negative impact of the strike far outweighed the positive effect on passenger traffic resulting from the extra day gained in February due to leap year.  For the period spanning the first two months of the year 2012, however, Frankfurt Airport still recorded an increase in passenger traffic of 3.2 percent to 7.7 million passengers year-on-year in total.

Aircraft movements at Frankfurt Airport declined by 4.6 percent to 34,392 takeoffs and landings compared to February 2011, due the GdF strike and adverse winter weather in the first half of the month.  This corresponds to a cumulative decrease of 1.9 percent.  Total accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) slipped by 2.2 percent to approximately 2.1 million metric tons.  In the airfreight segment, traffic dropped by 9.1 percent to 155,105 metric tons year-on-year.  The decline in airfreight was only half of that in January 2012.  This, however, was exclusively due to the extra day (leap year), plus the impact of the two-week-long Chinese New Year's festival.  Last year the festival fell completely in the month of

February, this year it commenced on January 23 and ended in early February.  Airmail, by contrast, posted a visible gain of 7.1 percent to some 6,000 metric tons year-on-year.

Fraport's majority-owned airports around the world served a total of 5.3 million passengers in the reporting month - growing by 2.5 percent year-on-year.  Around 1 million passengers passed through Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) in February 2012, representing an increase of almost 15 percent.  With 608,000 passengers, Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera recorded a decline of 3.2 percent on the previous year.  On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, traffic surged at Burgas Airport (BOJ) by 77.4 percent to some 19,000 passengers.  This rise can be attributed partially to the diversion of traffic from Varna Airport (VAR), which has been temporarily closed for reconstruction work from October 15, 2011, to February 28, 2012.

Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for February 2012

                                      Cargo in
                                       metric              Aircraft
                 Passengers[1] Change tons abs.  Change    Movements   Change
                                         (+
    Airports       absolute     in %  airmail)    in %     absolute     in %
    Frankfurt
    (FRA)          3.599.475    0,7    158.695    -8,4      34.392      -4,6
    Antalya
    (AYT)            608.327   -3,2        n.a.    n.a.      4.959      -0,8
    Burgas
    (BOJ)[3]          18.698   77,4         63   -92,8         401      16,9
    Lima
    (LIM)[2]       1.039.504   14,8     15.862   -12,5      11.154      11,4
    Varna  
    (VAR)[3]              67  -99,6          0   -98,5           6     -98,4
    Fraport
    Group          5.266.071    2,5    174.620    -9,2      50.912       1-7

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

2 Figures provided by LIM

3 VAR was closed from 15.10.2011 to 28.02.2012; VAR flights were handled by BOJ.

Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures - February 2012

                                 Change [2]              Change [2]
 
                                  Feb. 12/  Jan. - Feb.  Jan. - Feb.
                       Feb. 2012  Feb. 11       2012      2012/2011

      Passengers [1]   3.599.961    0,7%     7.676.590      3,2%

      Airfreight [1] 
      in metric tons     155.105   -9,1%       296.444    -12,9%

       Airmail [1]
      in metric tons       6.024    7,1%        12.925      4,9%

    Aircraft Movements    34.392   -4,6%        72.043     -1,9%

          MTOWs
      in metric tons   2.088.296   -2,2%     4.324.072     -1,9%

    Punctuality
      share of punctual
      arrivals
      and departures in
      percent               76,7                  81,1

1. Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit)

2. Change over previous year

For Further Information, Please Contact:
Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
Robert A. Payne, B.A.A. - Senior Mgr. International Press & PR
International Spokesman, Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS),
Corporate Communications, 60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany    
Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; E-mail:  r.payne@fraport.de; Internet: http://www.fraport.com