Outlook for airports business to remain “volatile and dynamic” in 2022, says Fraport Group

Fraport Group said that inconsistent travel restrictions continue to put a heavy strain on the aviation industry (Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1A pictured)

GERMANY. Frankfurt Airport owner Fraport has said that the outlook for passenger traffic remains uncertain for the year ahead in the face of COVID-19 variants and related travel restrictions.

Fraport Group CEO Dr. Stefan Schulte said: “The situation for our business will remain highly volatile and dynamic in 2022. At this stage, no one can reliably predict how the pandemic will evolve over the coming months. The related – and often inconsistent – travel restrictions will continue to put a heavy strain on the aviation industry. Despite these uncertainties, we are taking an optimistic view of the year ahead. We are expecting air travel demand to rebound noticeably again in the Spring.”

Dr. Stefan Schulte: Optimism tempered with uncertainty about the months ahead

The group today revealed full-year traffic numbers, with Frankfurt Airport welcoming 24.8 million passengers in 2021 – a +32.2% increase compared to 2020 but still down -64.8% on 2019.

Fraport said in a statement: “After the third lockdown in May 2021, the easing of travel restrictions led to a noticeable recovery in demand for air travel. In particular, this positive trend was driven by European holiday traffic during the Summer season. Beginning in the autumn, passenger numbers were also boosted by intercontinental traffic again. The recovery slowed somewhat towards the end of 2021, due to the emergence of the new virus variant.”

Dr. Schulte added: “Throughout 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to have a massive impact on Frankfurt Airport. Passenger traffic recovered gradually in the course of the year – even rising threefold in the April-to-December 2021 period compared to 2020. But we are still far away from the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.”

Some 2.7 million passengers travelled via Frankfurt Airport in December 2021. This was a rise of +204.6% year-on-year compared to a weak December 2020 but down by -44.2% on 2019 levels.

Travel demand in December 2021 was tempered by rising infection rates and new travel restrictions imposed amid the spread of the Omicron variant, noted Fraport. However, growth in intercontinental traffic and holiday travel during Christmas meant that passenger traffic sustained the recovery that began last May.

Fraport Group passenger traffic in December and full-year 2021 compared to 2020 (click to enlarge)

Mixed picture for international portfolio

At Fraport Group’s airports around the world, traffic recovered faster at locations focused on tourism traffic, especially during the Summer season.

At Ljubljana Airport in Slovenia, passenger traffic in 2021 rose by +46.4% year-on-year to 421,934 (2019 comparison: -75.5%). The Brazilian airports in Fortaleza and Porto Alegre combined served about 8.8 million passengers in 2021, up +31.2% from 2020 (2019 comparison: -43.2%). At Lima Airport in Peru traffic grew +54% to reach 10.8 million passengers (2019 comparison: -54.2%).

Fraport’s 14 Greek regional airports benefited from resurgent holiday travel in 2021. Compared to 2020, traffic more than doubled to around 17.4 million passengers (2019 comparison: down -42.2%). On Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, the Twin Star airports of Burgas and Varna achieved an +87.8% increase to about 2 million passengers (2019 comparison: -60.5%).

With some 22 million passengers in 2021, Antalya Airport in Turkey recorded an increase of more than +100% compared to 2020 (2019 comparison: -38.2%). Tourist traffic made a “positive and strong” impact during the Summer months.

In Russia, St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport posted a 64.8% rise in traffic year-on-year to 18 million passengers (2019 comparison: -7.9%).

At Xi’an Airport in China, the traffic recovery underway during the course of 2021 plunged dramatically at the end of the year – due to a strict Covid-19 lockdown. For the full year traffic reached 30.1 million passengers, representing a decline of -2.9% compared to 2020. (2019 comparison: -36.1%).

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