Taxes and strikes slowing Frankfurt traffic recovery

Fraport expects passenger numbers at Frankfurt airport to increase to be between 61 and 65m this year, still leaving the Lufthansa hub airport some way short of the nearly 71m high it handled before the pandemic in 2019. Passenger traffic at the company’s flagship airport in Frankfurt rose to 59.4m, up 21% on 2022. While Fraport, which invests, owns and operates airports on five continents, says Frankfurt experienced the strongest recovery of all major German airports in 2023, it still left total passenger levels 16% lower than in 2019. “Traffic continued to develop dynamically throughout 2023,” Fraport CE Stefan Schulte said during a full-year earnings call on 19 March. “Fraport benefited from this trend particularly because of its broad international portfolio. Our airports in the Greek and Turkish markets even achieved new passenger records in 2023. Our home-base, Frankfurt airport, continued to experience the strongest recovery of all major German airports. However, with passenger levels at 84% of pre-crisis levels, Frankfurt still lagged clearly behind other European competitors.”<br/>