Fraport traffic figures January 2022: Passenger traffic grows despite ongoing effects of the pandemic

Frankfurt Airport’s demand recovery dampened by the spreading Omicron variant – Fraport’s Group airports worldwide achieve a noticeable increase in passenger traffic

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 2.2 million passengers in January 2022 – a gain of 150.4 percent compared to January 2021 when demand was hit hard by travel restrictions.

The recovery in passenger demand slowed due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Nevertheless, FRA’s traffic performance in January 2022 benefited from passengers travelling home after the holidays and from rising intercontinental traffic, particularly to the U.S. Compared to pre-pandemic figures, Frankfurt’s passenger traffic rebounded in January 2022 to almost half the level recorded in the reference month of January 2019 (down 52.5 percent).¹

FRA’s cargo throughput (comprising airfreight and airmail) declined slightly in the reporting month by 0.9 percent year-on-year to 174,753 metric tonnes (compared to January 2019: up 7.0 percent). Aircraft movements, in contrast, grew strongly by 86.7 percent year-on-year to 24,639 takeoffs and landings. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) rose by 56.8 percent year-on-year to about 1.7 million metric tonnes.

Fraport’s Group airports worldwide continued to report a positive passenger trend in January 2022. Most of the Group airports achieved significant passenger gains, with some exceeding 100 percent growth year-on-year – albeit compared to the strongly reduced traffic levels in January 2021. Only China’s Xi’an Airport (XIY) registered a decline, with traffic falling by 92.3 percent year-on-year to 173,139 passengers due to strict lockdown measures.

Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) received 37,604 passengers in January 2022. In Brazil, combined traffic at Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) airports rose to 1,127,867 passengers. Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru served some 1.3 million passengers in the reporting month. The 14 Greek regional airports saw total traffic climb to 371,090 passengers. With a total of 58,449 passengers, the Twin Star airports of Burgas (BOJ) and Varna (VAR) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast also registered a traffic increase. Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera recorded 658,821 passengers. At St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport (LED) in Russia, traffic grew to almost 1.4 million passengers in January 2022.

Compared to pre-pandemic January 2019, the airports in Fraport’s international portfolio still had lower passenger figures in the reporting month – with the only exception being Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg (January 2019 versus January 2022: up 10.5 percent).

¹ Editorial note: For enhanced statistical comparison, our reporting of the Fraport Traffic Figures includes (until further notice) a comparison between the current traffic figures and the corresponding 2019 base-year figures, in addition to the regular year-on-year reporting.