Frankfurt airport reported significant freight traffic growth in June and for the first half of 2005.
The airport handled more than 155,000 metric tons of air freight during the month, an 8.2 percent increase over the same period last year. The growth was paced by Middle East and Far East service.
Air cargo traffic was up 6.9 percent. However, Frankfurt reported a 16.6 percent decline in letter and package volume compared to last June due to the phased closing of its overnight domestic airmail hub. On the positive side, the cutback in this traffic resulted "in a noticeable reduction in environmental blight during the night," said Fraport, the operator of the airport.
The increase in freight comes after Frankfurt posted strong growth in April and May driven by a double-digit increase in freighter flights, which outweighed sluggish growth in belly cargo carried on passenger flights.
Air freight tonnage for the first half of the year was up 7.8 percent, reaching 900,101 metric tons.
Overall, Fraport reported air cargo traffic at all of the six airports it manages, including Lima, Peru, and Antalya, Turkey, was up 1.6 percent. Frankfurt-Hahn, an all-cargo hub, was up 13.8 percent, but Hannover declined 10.5 percent. For the first half of the year, the Fraport Group increased cargo throughput by 6.9 percent to more than 1.1 million metric tons.
Ed McKenna
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