Business Development

Development at the Frankfurt site

In fiscal year 2022, 48.9 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport. The easing of travel restrictions worldwide accounted for the increase of more than 97% compared with the same period of the previous year. Compared to the same period in the pre-crisis year 2019, passenger traffic in Frankfurt reached a level of around 70%. In domestic traffic (+95.9%), secondary connections such as Hanover, Nuremberg, and Leipzig were particularly prominent. Due to the high demand for holiday travel beginning in April, European traffic increased strongly in the reporting period (+77.9%). Intercontinental traffic, which grew by more than 100%, also benefited from the rise in primarily tourist traffic. Connections with the Americas in particular picked up again, whereas Far East traffic continued to be affected by the fact that travel restrictions there were not relaxed or were relaxed much later.

Cargo volume was unable to match the record results of the previous year. Volume sank by 13.5% to around 2.0 million metric tons. Capacity reductions as a result of the Ukraine war and declines in demand, also due to recovering maritime traffic, weakened cargo volume.

Compared to the previous year, aircraft movements rose by 45.9% to 382,211 takeoffs and landings. Passenger flights increased by 57.0% and freight traffic decreased by 19.0% compared to the previous year’s figures. The occupancy rate for passenger flights reached 78.1% during the fiscal year, around 14 percentage points above the previous year’s figure. The ratio of passengers per passenger movement increased by 25.6% compared to the previous year to around 143.3. Maximum take-off weights increased by 37.1% to 24.2 million metric tons. The punctuality rate at Frankfurt Airport was 61.0% in the 2022 fiscal year, which was 13.1 percentage points below the previous year’s level. This was mainly due to operational challenges following the rapid restart of air traffic after the coronavirus pandemic.

Development outside the Frankfurt site

At the beginning of 2022, passenger traffic at Ljubljana Airport was still marked by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. After the easing of the infection situation in Europe towards the middle of the year, the airport in Ljubljana recorded an increase in the number of passengers. At just under 1.0 million passengers, passenger numbers more than doubled year-on-year (+0.5 million).

The two Brazilian airports, Fortaleza and Porto Alegre, were severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, particularly at the beginning of 2022 due to flight cancellations. However, both domestic and international air traffic gradually recovered in subsequent months. Some important routes, such as Porto Alegre – Lima or Fortaleza – Miami, were resumed during the year. Overall, a total of 12.4 million passengers used the two airports. This corresponds to growth of +41.0% compared to 2021. Fortaleza welcomed 5.5 million domestic passengers (+42.0%) and around 0.2 million international passengers (+>100%) in the year as a whole. Porto Alegre recorded 6.4 million domestic passengers (+33.4%) and around 0.3 million international passengers (+>100%).

Over the course of 2022, the volume of traffic at Lima Airport recovered considerably compared to the previous year. After the increase in coronavirus case numbers in January and February, the rest of the year was characterized by a gradual resumption of flight connections as the respective travel and entry restrictions were lifted. A total of 18.6 million passengers were counted in 2022, an increase of +72.0% compared to 2021. Domestic passenger operations recorded around 11.7 million passengers (+52.7%). International traffic also recorded a very positive increase and contributed to growth with 6.9 million passengers (+>100%).

At around 31.2 million passengers, Fraport Greece noted an increase of around 79.0% in the 2022 reporting period compared to the previous year. After the first three months of the year were marked by more cautious passenger bookings, passenger numbers developed positively from April onwards and reached or exceeded the pre-crisis level of 2019. This trend continued until late fall. Overall, domestic traffic was 56.1% above the previous year’s level, while international traffic grew by 85.9%. The largest number of foreign passengers in terms of total passengers in the 2022 reporting year came from Great Britain (around 20%), followed by Germany (around 15%), and Italy (around 7%).

At the airports in Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria, the number of passengers in 2022 increased to approximately 3.1 million, +59.2% above the previous year’s figure. The overall recovery in traffic in 2022 was weaker than at other tourist airports in Europe. From the end of February, the war in Ukraine resulted in a shortfall of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian passengers, which was partly offset by higher demand from Central and Eastern European countries. Additionally, more traffic was recorded in the off-season (spring, fall). For the year as a whole, this led to an increase in both domestic (+17.6%) and international passenger numbers (+63.8%). Most of the passengers came from Germany (around 20%), Poland (around 17%), and Great Britain (around 17%).

Passenger numbers at Antalya Airport in the 2022 fiscal year were around 31.1 million passengers (previous year: 21.9 million). International passenger traffic showed a growth rate of +47.3%, while domestic traffic grew by +21.6% compared to the previous year. Due to the impact of the war in Ukraine, there was a significant shift in passenger groups at Antalya Airport. The number of travelers from Russia decreased compared to the previous year, and almost no passengers were recorded from Ukraine. Instead, the share of passengers from Western, Central, and Eastern Europe increased. In many relevant markets, there was a clear year-on-year increase in demand for vacation travel to Türkiye. The largest passenger groups were travelers from Germany (approximately 27%), Russia (approximately 22%), and Great Britain (approximately 10%).

Passenger numbers in Frankfurt and at the tourist-oriented Group airports in Greece, Bulgaria, and Türkiye developed better than forecasted in the 2021 Annual Report. This was due to the fact that the recovery of traffic was faster than originally expected.