Frankfurt Airport owner warns on risk to global connectivity after year of modest traffic growth

GERMANY. Frankfurt Airport passenger traffic climbed by +3.7% year-on-year in 2024 to 61.6 million, owner Fraport Group reported today. Despite the increase in volumes, the airport company warned that Frankfurt’s status as a leading hub for global connectivity is under threat.

Fraport said that Frankfurt remains the world’s leading airport in terms of hub connectivity, offering the largest number of destinations to transfer passengers on direct connecting flights. Last year, 99 airlines offered flights from Frankfurt to 311 destinations in 98 countries. Despite its status, passenger numbers in 2024 remained -12.7% below pre-pandemic 2019.

“With its large number of flight connections, Frankfurt Airport provides a positive and important locational advantage for the German economy,” said Fraport CEO Dr. Stefan Schulte.

“However, due to the sharp rise in government-induced location costs, presently reaching extremely high levels, we are increasingly at risk of losing this advantage of excellent hub connectivity for our country’s economy. Airlines are investing in locations with lower government-imposed fees, and we are feeling this effect here in Frankfurt. Our Group airports outside Germany are faring much better, with most of them growing faster than Frankfurt and many of them even setting new passenger records.”

Over the year, growth at Frankfurt was led by strong demand for medium-haul flights to warm-weather destinations, including Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In the long-haul market, North American routes remained popular, while flights to Asia and South America showed “dynamic growth”.

Group airports post solid growth

Most airports in Fraport’s global network grew their passenger traffic in 2024. Notable performances included Lima Airport, which registered a rise of +15.2% in 2024 for an annual record of 24.5 million.

Fraport’s 14 Greek regional airports also reached an all-time high in passenger traffic for the full year. Total passenger numbers at the Greek gateways grew by +6.4% to around 36 million.

Ljubljana Airport saw passenger numbers increase by +13.3% year-on-year to 1.4 million.

The two Bulgarian airports of Burgas and Varna saw traffic dip by -8.7% year-on-year in 2024, reaching 3.4 million passengers.

Antalya Airport on the Turkish Riviera posted a +6.5% year-on-year gain in passenger traffic to around 38 million.

The Brazilian airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre combined served about 9.5 million passengers in 2024. While this figure represents a -27.1% drop compared to 2023, the decrease was mainly due to the shutdown of operations at Porto Alegre between 3 May and 20 October following severe flooding in the region. Since 18 December the airport has been fully operational again, including for international flights.

The total number of passengers at all airports actively managed by Fraport increased by +3.7% year-on-year to 174.5 million in 2024.