Frankfurt Airport: 2002 Traffic Figures Clearly Exceed Forecasts / Upward Trend Accelerated in December - Double-digit Increase Over Christmas - Excellent St

FRANKFURT (Germany) 17. 1. 2003 (ots/APROTEXT) - FrankfurtAirport's (FRA) 2002 traffic growth in all segments clearlyexceeded annual forecasts by aviation industry experts. Forexample, in mid-2002 Fraport AG still expected about a three-percent decline in passenger traffic for the year. With 48.5million passengers in 2002, FRA's actual results indicate only aslight 0.2 percent decline over 2001.

Fraport AG's executive board chairman, Dr. Wilhelm Bender,emphasized that the figures show "just how well our company hasbeen able to cope in difficult times and to handle a crisis-prone environment. If someone had said a year ago that FrankfurtAirport would reach the same passenger level in 2002 as in 2001,we would have considered this wishful thinking. Following the9/11 events and the ensuing strong traffic decline, FRA'spassenger figures in 2002 even clearly exceeded optimisticexpectations." December also contributed significantly to theunexpected positive traffic results for the year 2002. Growingto 3.4 million in December 2002, passenger traffic saw a strongeight-percent increase over the comparable month of 2001. Duringthe last two weeks of 2002, some 11.1 percent more passengersused Frankfurt Airport than in the same period of the previousyear.

In terms of passenger volume, Fraport AG performed muchbetter in 2002 than many airlines on a worldwide level. Thisproves that Frankfurt Airport is benefiting from the airlines'policy to concentrate traffic at the so-called hub airports indifficult times. Thus, FRA showed noticeably higher trafficgrowth than other German airports.

With over 1.5 million metric tons handled, airfreightactivity at Europe's most important cargo airport was up by 1.4percent in 2002. This positive figure is also noteworthy in viewof the weak global economy. In December, cargo throughput at FRAgrew 2.2 percent to about 126,300 metric tons over the samemonth in 2001. The major growth factors were strong increases incargo tonnage carried on Far East and Atlantic routes. With141,000 metric tons handled in 2002 - a slight 0.1 percentdecrease - FRA's airmail tonnage was almost back to the previousyear's level. The total number of aircraft movements last yearincreased by 0.4 percent to 458,359 take-offs and landings. Thesefigures also demonstrate that expansion of Frankfurt Airport isindispensable. Maximum Take- off Weights (MTOWs) dropped 2.5percent to about 24.9 million metric tons.

Since November2002, the negative gap between aircraft movements andcorresponding MTOWs has gradually been narrowing. This positivetrend continued in December, when Fraport AG registered about36,000 aircraft movements at FRA, 6.5 percent more than in thesame month of 2001. MTOWs grew even stronger during this period,up 6.4 percent to about two million metric tons. Whether theairlines will again deploy larger aircraft over the long termdepends on market demand in the coming months.

In percentage terms, passenger traffic at Frankfurt-HahnAirport showed even stronger growth. In 2002, about 1.5 millionpassengers used this airport in the Hunsrück region west of FRA.This represented a 226 percent or more than threefold increaseover the previous year's figure. This impressive trafficdevelopment is particularly due to overproportional growth ratesin the so- called low-cost passenger segment. Fraport AG owns73.07 percent of Frankfurt- Hahn Airport. Fraport will issuetraffic figures for all airports of the Group on January 31.

"I am extremely confident that 2003 will be a successful yearfor Fraport, despite all the difficulties," said Bender. "Thenoticeable growth during the last few months and the positivetraffic results for all of 2002 prove that Fraport - the airportmanager - has been able to deal with the post-9/11 aviationcrisis markedly better than other companies and competitors inthe industry. At Frankfurt, we have created an excellentstarting position for the months ahead."

Fraport's executive board chairman also said that theaviation industry in general was increasingly confident that airtravel would gradually return to the steady growth of previousyears. Of course, this expectation was based on the hope that nonew terrorist attacks would occur, that military conflicts wouldbe avoided, and that the world economy would develop ongoingimprovement and stability.

Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures for 2002 and December2002

Jan. - Dec.

Change 2 December

Change2

2002

2002/2001 2002

Dec.02/

Dec. 01 Passengers

48.5

-0.2 %

3.4

8.0 % in millions Airfreight 1,514.8

1.4 %

126.3

2.2 % in thousands of metric tons Airmail

141.0

-0.1 %

13.7

0.0 % in thousands of metric tons Aircraft

458.4

0.4 %

35.9

6.5 % Movements 1 in thousands MTOWs

24,926.9

-2.5 % 1,998.6

6.4 % in thousands of metric tons Punctuality 77.9

70.5 share of punctual arrivals and departures in percent ots Original Text Service: Fraport AG Internet: http://www.presseportal.de For More Information, Please Contact: Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide Attn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press 60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 Fax: +49 69 690 -60548 E-Mail: r.payne@fraport.de Internet: www.fraport.com

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