April 2002 - FRA Traffic Figures: Recovery in demand stalls in April

Frankfurt, Germany (OTS) - Airfreight continued to stabilize

In April 2002, passenger figures at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) did
not continue the clearly improving trend seen in previous months.
Some 3.9 million passengers used Germany's busiest airport last
month, 6.5 percent less than in April 2001.

One reason for standoffish demand for flights and package tours
continued to be the sluggish economic development and the ensuing
consumer caution. Thus, for example, all classical tourist
destinations in the Mediterranean were running low in April.
Long-distance travel did not improve decisively, either. Destinations
in North America, the Near East and North Africa continued to be
depressed. Only domestic traffic improved noticeably over the
previous months.

However, May 2002 gives rise to some optimism again: Passenger
levels during first two weeks of May 2002 fell only slightly short of
the comparable period in 2001.

In contrast to passenger figures, airfreight activity in April
continued the stabilizing trend seen since the beginning of the year.
FRA handled 120,541 metric tons of cargo in April 2002, only 2.1
percent less than in the same month last year.

Airline capacity reductions at Frankfurt Airport - which set in
during the 2001/2002 winter timetable season in response to declining
demand after September 11 - continued into the first month of the
2002 summer season. Thus maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) dropped by
7.1 percent from April 2001 to approximately 2 million metric tons.
FRA recorded 37,222 takeoffs and landings (aircraft movements) in
April 2002, down 1.3 percent from the same month last year. Like in
the previous months, airlines preferred to adjust to slowly
recovering demand by increasing the aircraft load factor rather than
raising flight frequencies and / or using larger aircraft.

Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures for April 2002

April Change (2) Jan. - April Change (2)
2002 April 02/ 2002 Jan. - April
April 01 02/01

Passengers
in millions

3.9 -6.5 % 14.4 -5.0 %

Airfreight
in thousands of metric tons

120.5 -2.1 % 473.6 -6.0 %

Airmail
in thousands of metric tons

11.4 2.3 % 46.9 -0.5 %

Aircraft Movements 1
in thousands

37.2 -1.3 % 144.2 -2.1 %

MTOWs
in thousands of metric tons

1,993.3 -7.1 % 7,700.7 -6.9 %

Punctuality
share of punctual arrivals
and departures in percent

82.2 80.0

(1) Excluding military flights
(2) Rate of change based on unrounded numbers

ots Original Text Service: Fraport AG

For More Information, Please Contact:

Rückfragehinweis:

Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
Attn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press
60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 (with voice mailbox)
Fax: +49 69 690 -60548
mailto:[email protected]
Internet: http://www.fraport.com (click on "Press Lounge")

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