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.