Fraport AG completed a record 2005. A total of 52,219,412 passengers used Frankfurt Airport (FRA), an increase of 2.2 per cent on the 2004 record year. Airfreight also grew robustly at the FRA international aviation hub, jumping 8.1 per cent to 1,892,100 metric tons - another new peak figure.

Aircraft movements at FRA climbed 2.7 per cent last year to a total of 490,147 takeoffs and landings. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) - which are important for calculating landing fees - even grew by 3.4 per cent and achieved a new annual peak figure of 28,160,324 metric tons.

As expected, airmail declined in 2005 to 99,437 metric tons. This 15.6 per cent drop in tonnage resulted from the phased closing of FRA’s overnight domestic-airmail hub.

The best December traffic results in FRA’s history also contributed to the overall success of 2005. Frankfurt Airport served 3,682,908 passengers during the Christmas month of December.

Compared to the already strong December 2004, this represented a further increase of 1.5 per cent, whereby the December growth was generated by international traffic. In particular, European traffic was in the forefront, with Eastern Europe alone climbing by 10 per cent. In intercontinental traffic, the Middle East region stood out once again as a dynamic growth market, recording double-digit growth for nearly all destinations in this region.

For the first time in two years, FRA registered a slight decline in aircraft movements (down 1.1 per cent to 37,433 takeoffs and landings ) as well as in MTOWs (down 1.4 per cent to 2,164,912 metric tons) due to a thinning out of the flight schedule after Christmas. However, weather-related cancellations were within the normal seasonal range.

Like the passenger category, airfreight also achieved a new December peak figure of 170,269 metric tons - representing an increase of 8.6 per cent. FRA’s jump in airfreight tonnage was driven by the 20 per cent increase in intercontinental traffic to and from Asia. Strong North Atlantic business resulted in a two per cent increase again.

The Fraport Group’s other airports in Germany also enjoyed a successful year in 2005. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (HHN) served 3,075,561 passengers, an increase of 11.9 per cent. During the same period, Hanover Airport (HAJ) registered 5,637,382 passengers and 7.4 per cent growth. Saarbrucken Airport’s (SCN) traffic grew 5.7 per cent to 486,230 passengers.

While annual figures for Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru climbed 11.6 per cent to 5,662,288 passengers last year, Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey registered 5,058,012 passengers at Fraport’s Terminal 1, a decline of 59.2 per cent. AYT has been impacted since the beginning of last spring by the opening of a second competing passenger terminal.

The Fraport Group’s six airports welcomed a total of 72,138,885 passengers in 2005. Due to the traffic development in Antalya, this resulted in a drop of 6.4 per cent compared to 2004. In 2006, a new arrangement for sharing passenger traffic is planned at Antalya Airport.

This should result again in greater utilisation of Fraport’s terminal there. All airports in the Group reported unabated growth in cargo tonnage in 2005, reaching 2,385,560 metric tons, a jump of 7.6 per cent.
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