Bruce Barnard | Feb 10, 2010 11:06AM EST
Frankfurt airport’s cargo traffic soared by a third in January from a year ago to an all-time high for the month that was driven by strong growth on long haul inter continental routes.
Europe’s biggest air cargo hub handled 157,637 metric tons in January, a 32.2 percent increase on the same period last year that overtook the previous record for the month of 156,020 metric tons in January 2008.
The increase was driven mainly by growth on routes to North America and the Far East, said Stefan Schulte, chief executive officer of Fraport AG, the airport’s owner.
The growth in Frankfurt’s cargo last month outpaced the 18.6 percent increase recorded by its major customer, Lufthansa Cargo.
Frankfurt’s cargo started growing in late 2009 following months of steep declines to total 1.92 million metric tons for the year, down 10.1 percent from 2.14 million metric tons in 2008.
The Fraport group airports – Antalya, Turkey, Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria and Lima, Peru as well as Frankfurt – boosted cargo traffic by 27.6 percent in January to 180,984 metric tons.
Frankfurt handled around 3.7 million passengers in January, an increase of 3.5 percent, while the total for Fraport rose 6.6 percent to five million passengers.
London Heathrow, Europe’s third largest cargo hub, boosted freight traffic by 14.8 percent in January to 106,299 metric tons and London Stansted, a freighter and express hub, booked a 14.2 percent increase to 15,165 metric tons.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.