Frankfurt am Main Airport (FRG) handled 48.918 mln passengers in 2022, which was 97.2% higher than the previous year.
At the same time, passenger traffic remains 30.7 percent below the pre-pandemic 2019 figure, according to a press release from operator Fraport.
“2022 was a very tumultuous and challenging year for the entire aviation industry,” said Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte. – After lockdowns at the beginning of the year, the sudden and dramatic increase in demand was a heavy burden for all partners ramping up operations. Due to the complexity of the systems at many airports, including Frankfurt, the resumption of air traffic was unstable.”
Nevertheless, the group’s airports in other countries that focus on tourist traffic performed well. In Greece, among others, performance even surpassed pre-demic levels, the head of the company said.
“Looking ahead, we are confident there will be further growth in 2023. People want to travel, and we are working at full capacity to provide passengers with the best airport experience possible. Nevertheless, the situation remains challenging,” he noted.
The number of aircraft takeoffs and landings jumped 45.9 percent last year to 382,211,000. Relative to 2019 levels, the figure was down 25.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the volume of freight and postal shipments decreased by 13.3% year-on-year to about 2 million tons. Compared to the pre-season year, shipments decreased by 5.6%.
Four million people used the airport’s services in December, up 46.2 percent from the same month a year earlier. The number of takeoffs and landings increased by 7.9% to 30,157,000. Cargo and mail traffic dropped by 19% to 159,671,000 tons.
Fraport Group also released data on airports in other countries it manages.
Thus, at the airport named after Jože Pučnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia) the group served 970.15 thousand passengers in 2022 (more than doubling over the previous year), and in two airports in Brazil (Fortaleza and Porto Alegre) – 12.4 million passengers (+41%).
In Lima, Peru, passenger traffic jumped 72% to about 18.6 million.
In Greece, where Fraport operates 14 airports, traffic has increased by 79% to 31.2 million passengers.
The combined passenger traffic of the airports in Varna and Burgas (Bulgaria) increased by 59.2% to around 3.1 million passengers.
Antalya Airport (Turkey) served about 3.1 million people last year, which is 41.8% more than in 2021.
The PR Group (Lviv), implementing a project on construction of the Sigma Park Yarychiv industrial park in Lviv region, plans to build at least 10 industrial parks with a gross area of almost 2,000 ha in two years and enter the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange (SGX). “In addition to the park in Yarychiv, there will be 10 more industrial parks. The largest project for 560 hectares is located on the border of Lviv region in Rivne region. In Yarychiv there will be the smallest one – 15.7 hectares. In general, the entire portfolio of industrial parks is designed for almost 2,000 ha. We are planning to start all projects in two years. We are trying to make a stake on the social component. One of the projects will be located near Chervonohrad, Sokal, where the mines are closed and new jobs need to be created,” Managing Partner and co-owner of PR Group Roman Protsak told reporters on the sidelines of the Industrial Development and Construction Forum in Kyiv.
He said that the development company PR Development, which is part of the group, accompanies development of industrial parks. All the facilities will be united under the Sigma Park joint brand with the prefix of the name of the settlement near which they are located. This year, the company plans to provide two industrial parks for registration at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and in 2019 to launch Sigma Park Yarychiv.
“There are already participants interested in locating their production facilities. Negotiations are currently under way with 48 companies. We will attract them on competitive terms. Each of them will present a development plan for the next 10 years, including offering the best conditions for employees’ salaries, Protsak said.
According to him, in August-September, the company will announce a tender for occupying land parcels in Sigma Park Yarychiv, in which only the food industry will be represented. The implementation of this project (greenfield) is at the utilities design stage. In other parks, the automotive, pharmaceutical, and other industries are located.
“We are currently using our own funds. We are not attracting credit resources, but we plan to enter foreign markets to raise funds through the sale of bonds… There are plans for two platforms – Frankfurt, Singapore and possibly additionally Warsaw. We plan to enter them in 2019-2020. One of our investment funds that deals with real estate in Ukraine and abroad will enter [the exchanges],” the co-owner of PR Group said. He said that the company had previously specialized in the construction of residential real estate, but three years ago, the co-owners decided to switch to commercial and industrial real estate.
FRANKFURT, INDUSTRIAL PARKS, OWNERS, SIGMA PARK, SINGAPORE, YARYCHIV
Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air is expanding its flight network from Kyiv, boosting the total number of destinations from 21 to 23. According to the booking system of the airline, the new flights are scheduled for Vienna, Berlin and Frankfurt on the Main, although WizzAir would not fly to Frankfurt-Hahn. Wizz Air Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Stephen Jones said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday that last year the airline carried around 30 million passengers, and in 2018 it plans to carry 35 million passengers using 100 planes. “Our fleet consists of 96 Airbus aircraft, the 100th will come in June this year. We have about 4,000 employees. We have 28 bases in 16 countries, and the next base will be opened in Vienna,” he said.
With regard to Ukrainian flights, Stevens said that in Frankfurt the company will fly to the main airport, going from the Frankfurt-Hahn airport.
According to the booking system, it is planned that flights to Frankfurt and Berlin (Schoenefeld) will be launched from July 1, and first two week will be made four times a week, and then on a daily basis. The flights to Vienna will start from the winter navigation schedule at the end of October and will be serviced daily. He recalled that the airline will expand the fleet in the base in Kyiv from two to three aircraft, which will add $100 of investment and create about 100 jobs in the crew and support staff.
Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) is located in the business center of the capital, seven km from the city center. It is the second largest airport in Ukraine in terms of the number of flights and passenger traffic. The airport has three terminals with a total area is 21,000 square meters. Terminal B is separate facility for business-class service, it is part of the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) system. The airport’s runway is able to handle B-737 and A-320 aircraft.
BERLIN, FLYING, FRANKFURT, INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, VIENNA, WIZZ AIR
