FRA sees 24.6% rise in cargo volumes during March 2021

Cargo throughput at FRA continued to rise by 24.6 percent year-on-year to 208,506 metric tonnes during March 2021, up 3 percent compared to March 2019. Frankfurt’s robust growth was achieved despite the ongoing shortage of belly capacity normally provided by passenger aircraft. Aircraft movements decreased by 40.1 percent year-on-year to 13,676 takeoffs and landings. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) contracted by 30.3 percent to about 1.1 million metric tonnes.

The airports in Fraport’s international portfolio reported mixed results for March 2021. Cargo throughput for Fraport Brasil dropped 10.4 percent to 5675 metric tonnes while that for its airports in Greece increased 10.5 percent to 489 metric tonnes in March 2021.

Passenger traffic, however, remained largely affected by the pandemic situation across regions. In March 2021, passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) continued to be severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Serving 925,277 passengers in the reporting month, FRA posted a 56.4 percent decline compared to March 2020 when the onset of the coronavirus crisis already reduced traffic significantly.

Some of Fraport’s Group airports worldwide even posted growth compared to March 2020, albeit on the basis of noticeably reduced traffic volumes already in that month. When compared to March 2019, all Group airports registered noticeable passenger declines in the reporting month.

Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) saw traffic sink by 78.3 percent year-on-year to 7,907 passengers in March 2021. Combined, the two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) received a total of 330,162 passengers, down 57.7 percent. Traffic at Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) dropped by 46.2 percent to 525,309 passengers.