Volume growth slows at Fraport’s airports in October

The steady growth story at Fraport Group’s airports appears to be winding down at last, as cargo volumes at Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) rose by only 0.7 percent, year-over-year, in October to 192,263 tonnes.

The slowdown in growth is hardly cause for alarm, however, as October’s total cargo volumes at FRA rank as the second-highest month all year for the airport, after the strong numbers from March 2017. Instead, October faced the toughest y-o-y comparison at the airport after the industry began its turnaround in September and started posting regular growth numbers in excess of 5 percent.

Fraport also announced new freighter service at FRA with the addition of Royal Air Maroc’s twice-weekly 737 freighter service from Frankfurt to Casablanca. Beginning in the first quarter of 2018, Royal Air Maroc will increase capacity on the route by instead operating a 767 freighter, and plans to add two additional freighters at FRA over the next couple of years.

Two of Fraport’s other fully consolidated airports did experience strong y-o-y growth, but for much smaller volumes. Cargo volumes at the Ljubljana airport in Slovenia increased 55.6 percent, y-o-y, to 1,449 tonnes, and volumes at Bulgaria’s Varna airports – one of Fraport’s Twin Star airports, alongside Burgas Airport, also in Bulgaria – increased by 85.1 percent to 20 tonnes for the month. Burgas Airport cargo volumes rose 11.3 percent, y-o-y, to 1,414 tonnes, while Lima Airport, in Peru, reported a 0.8 percent increase to 29,515 tonnes.

At Fraport’s equity-consolidated airports, Hanover Airport, in Germany, reported a 20.7 percent decrease in cargo volumes to 1,075 tonnes, and cargo volumes at China’s Xi’an Airport rose by 5.8 percent to 21,728 tonnes, compared to the previous October.