DALLAS — Frankfurt Airport (FRA) recorded a total of 5.9 million passengers in August 2023, marking a 13% increase compared to the same month in 2022. While Fraport, the airport operator, welcomed this news, they noted that the August 2023 total is still 15.3% lower than the pre-pandemic levels of August 2019.

During the school holidays in the German state of Hesse (July 21–September 3), FRA handled over 8.6 million passengers and 58,300 aircraft movements. The demand for holiday destinations on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, Greece, and the Canary Islands surpassed the levels seen in the pre-crisis year of 2019.

Popular intercontinental destinations from FRA included North America and North and Central Africa, with Tunisia, Kenya, Cape Verde, and Mauritius exceeding 2019 levels.

Cargo volumes at FRA increased by 1.2% in August 2023, reaching 156,827 metric tons. The number of aircraft movements also grew by 10.9%, with 39,910 take-offs and landings during the reporting month. The accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) rose by 9.1% to around 2.5 million metric tons compared to August 2022.

Fraport Recovery

Fraport's Group airports worldwide also experienced growth, with Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia serving 149,399 passengers in August 2023, representing a nearly 20% year-on-year increase.

Traffic at the Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) remained stable at just over 1.1 million passengers, experiencing a slight drop of 0.1%. Lima Airport (LIM) in Peru handled around 2 million passengers in August, marking a 10.5% increase.

Additionally, the 14 regional airports in Greece saw a rise in passenger volumes to 6.1 million, a 4.8% increase. The Twin Star airports in Bulgaria, Burgas (BOJ), and Varna (VAR) experienced a significant surge of 11.6% with a total of 836,229 passengers. Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey's Riviera recorded 5.8 million passengers, a 10.9% increase compared to the previous year.

Overall, across all the airports managed by Fraport, the total number of passengers improved by 9% year-on-year, reaching 21.9 million travelers in August 2023.

Featured image: Lufthansa's fleet at Frankfurt (FRA). Photo: Christian Winter/Airways