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GERMANY. The Fraport Group today revealed the impact of COVID-19 on passenger traffic in 2020. Frankfurt Airport served 18.8 million passengers, a decrease of -73.4% from 2019.
After a sharp drop in mid-March, traffic dropped to -98% between April and June. After a slight upturn in traffic in the third quarter of 2020, a further rise in coronavirus infection rates has led to intensifying travel restrictions. This led to a further decline in passenger numbers in September and a low level for the remainder of the year until 2021.
As vaccine deployments accelerate, Fraport Group anticipates a rebound in passenger volumes in the second half of the year, which should boost retailing at Frankfurt Airport, its partnership with Gebr Heinemann
Fraport AG Chairman of the Board, Dr. Stefan Schulte, said: “The year 2020 has brought extreme challenges to the entire aviation industry. In Frankfurt, passenger volume fell to a level last seen in 1984. “
Looking to the future, Dr Schulte said: “Due to the recent launch of vaccination programs in many countries, we are optimistic that travel restrictions will be phased out from the spring. Therefore, we expect Frankfurt passenger traffic to rebound significantly in the second half of 2021. Nonetheless, we must realize that a difficult year awaits us. Although we are confident that passenger traffic will exceed last year’s level, we still expect Frankfurt to reach only 35-45% of 2019 level. ”
The other airports in the Fraport Group portfolio also saw a sharp drop in passenger traffic in 2020 due to travel restrictions and temporary closures in several, including Ljubljana, Antalya and Lima.
Traffic at Ljubljana Airport fell 83.3% last year to 288,235 passengers. The Brazilian airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre together handled around 6.7 million passengers, a decrease of -56.7% year-on-year. Lima Airport reported a -70.3% drop in traffic to around 7 million passengers.
With 8.6 million passengers in 2020, the 14 regional airports in Greece experienced a traffic drop of -71.4%. Combined traffic at the Twin Star airports of Varna and Burgas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast decreased by -78.9% to around 1 million passengers.
Antalya Airport in Turkey recorded a -72.6% drop in traffic to around 9.7 million passengers, while St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport saw traffic drop -44.1% to about 10.9 million.
In China, Xi’an airport made a slight recovery during the year, following a sharp reduction in traffic in the spring. In 2020, the airport recorded around 31 million passengers – a decline of -34.2% year-over-year, with December traffic only declining -14.8%.
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