GERMANY. Passenger traffic at Munich Airport climbed by +12% year-on-year in June to 3.2 million, and by +3% in H1 2010 to 15.8 million, as CEO Michael Kerkloh hailed the recovery of the business from a difficult 2009.
“The negative trend is clearly at an end,” he said, “and Munich Airport is again posting dynamic gains.”
The first-half growth of +3% was well ahead of the nation-wide increase among German airports of +1.5%, the company claimed.
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Munich Airport added: “The rise in passenger traffic in Munich is even more remarkable against the backdrop of the long, hard winter, a strike by airline pilots and the effects of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. These special factors resulted in a total of about 9,000 flight cancellations, which is equivalent to a decrease of some 800,000 in total passengers. Without these cancelled flights, the growth in passenger volume would have been more than twice as high.”
Booming long-haul segment
Among the factors driving the increase in passenger traffic in the first half of 2010 were new long-haul routes offered by Lufthansa and its partner airlines. The latest addition from the global Star Alliance, whose members include Lufthansa, is the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA), which operates daily flights between Munich and Tokyo.
The number of passengers flying to and from Munich on long-haul flights increased by +12% in the first half of 2010 to more than 2.4 million.
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Munich Airport expects to pass the figure of 34 million passengers in 2010, compared to 32.9 million in 2009 |
Kerkloh concluded: “The half-year results provide clear evidence that the aviation sector, like the economy as a whole, has overcome the turbulence and is on course for growth. At the airport we are clearly seeing that the upward trend has returned. We are experiencing it in the passenger and freight segments, but also in our parking facilities, shop and the airport’s bar and restaurants.”
He said the company expected to pass the figure of 34 million passengers in 2010, compared to 32.9 million in 2009.
