March 2002 - FRA Traffic Figures: Recovery in Demand Continues

Frankfurt Airport 12. 4. 2002 (PROTEXT/ots) - owned andmanaged by Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide -also recorded a continuing recovery in demand for passengertraffic in March 2002. With a total of 4.0 million passengers inthe third month of the year, FRA registered a 3.9 percentdecline in passenger traffic compared to the correspondingmonth in 2001. However, March 2001 was an exceptionally strongmonth with a growth rate of 5.2 percent over March 2000.Intercontinental traffic continued to decline, while traffic toEuropean destinations in the Mediterranean recorded growth.Lufthansa (which accounts for about 60 percent of the traffic andis Fraport AG's main customer at FRA) actually reported a 10.6percent drop in passenger traffic worldwide in March 2002. Thisalso shows that traffic at the Frankfurt hub has not beenreduced as much as at other airports. Although air cargo tonnagestill declined - above all because of the weak global economy -by 6.5 percent to 133,830 metric tons, the stabilizing trend seenin the previous month continued into March 2002. March 2001 alsoshowed above average growth in the cargo sector, increasingalmost eight percent to 143,605 metric tons. Decreases arestill being recorded in European, Latin American, North Americanand African traffic, while cargo volume to and from the Far Eastincreased noticeably, especially to China, Hong Kong, India,Korea, and Singapore. Experts have evaluated this Far Eastdevelopment as a positive sign for the beginning of a generalchange in trend, particularly since all early economicindicators currently point to a rebound in the global economy.In March 2002, FRA recorded 37,461 takeoffs and landings(aircraft movements), down 3.6 percent from the same month lastyear. Maximum Takeoff Weights (MTOWs) shrank by 7.9 percentbecause the airlines used smaller aircraft to adjust to demandand the prevailing economic situation. As a result, the airlineseat- load factor increased. The number of freighter flights atFRA continued to decline because of the lack in demand. As aresult, MTOW tonnage dropped faster than the number of aircraftmovements. Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures for March 2002

March 2002 Change 2

Jan. - March Change 2

March 02/ March 01 2002

Jan. - March02/01 Passengers in millions 4.0

-3.9 %

10.5-4.4 % Airfreight in thousands of metric tons

133.8

-6.5 %

353.0

-7.3 %Airmail in thousands of metric tons

12.1

-5.9 %

35.5

-1.4 %Aircraft Movements 1 in thousands

37.5

-3.6 %

106.9

-2.4 %MTOWs in thousands of metric tons

2,005.8

-7.9 %

5,707.4

-6.9 %Punctuality share of punctual arrivals and departures in percent

83.5

79.2

1Excluding military flights 2 Rate of change based on unroundednumbers ots Originaltext: Fraport AG Im Internetrecherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de For More Information,Please Contact: Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services WorldwideAttn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press 60547Frankfurt am Main, Germany Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 (withvoice mailbox) Fax: +49 69 690 -60548 E-mail:r.payne@fraport.de Internet: www.fraport.com (click on "PressLounge")

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