Nearly 59.4 million travellers passed through Frankfurt Airport (FRA) during 2023, marking an increase of 21.3 per cent compared to 2022.
However, the number of passengers was still 15.9 per cent less than in 2019, the pre-pandemic year.
CEO of Fraport, Stefan Schulte, noted that 2023 has been a challenging year for the aviation industry, particularly in Europe.
He explained that besides the ongoing Ukraine war, airspace restrictions were due to the ‘Air Defender’ NATO exercise in Germany.
The complex and interconnected system of international air traffic was also disrupted by a number of strikes throughout 2023, including walkouts by French air traffic controllers.
CEO Schulte said that despite challenges, they managed to stabilise operations in the Frankfurt airport.
In addition to the number of passengers, the air traffic saw an increase of 12.6 per cent compared to the previous year. More specifically, Fraport recorded 430,436 takeoffs and landings in 2023.
Meanwhile, in terms of cargo, Fraport experienced a 3.9 per cent year-on-year decrease and a 9.3 per cent decrease compared to 2019.
Factors contributing to this slowdown included the airspace restrictions across Europe and a sluggish economy resulting from global geopolitical uncertainties.
FRA Experienced Strong Traffic Increase in December 2023
In December 2023 alone, the Frankfurt Airport welcomed nearly 4.6 million passengers. Such a figure represented a 15.2 per cent increase compared to 2022, while it was six per cent less compared to 2019.
Thus, passenger traffic in December 2023 saw the strongest growth momentum since the pandemic, recovering to 94 per cent of pre-crisis levels.
Furthermore, Fraport operated 33,534 takeoffs and landings in December 2023, 11.2 per cent more than in 2022.
During this month, cargo also experienced a 7.2 per cent growth, reaching 171,118 metric tons. Fraport attributes this growth, consistent with previous years, to demand during the Christmas season.
In addition to the passenger traffic, Fraport revealed that a majority of the airports within Fraport’s international portfolio experienced an increase in traffic throughout 2023.
Despite being below 2019 levels in terms of passenger traffic, during the first three quarters of 2023, Fraport achieved a net profit of €357.0 million, surpassing the levels recorded in 2019.
In November last year, Frankfurt also became the first airport in Europe to offer an utterly contactless travel experience to all of its passengers, using face biometrics as identification from check-in to boarding the aircraft.
