GERMANY. Munich Airport welcomed a record 18.6 million passengers during the first half of 2013, a slight increase on the previous corresponding period despite a significant decrease in aircraft movements.
Passenger traffic was up +0.3%, while aircraft movements were down -5.6% to 187,470. Meanwhile, the average load factor of aircraft was up by 0.8 percentage points in the first half of the year to a new record level of 74%.
The airport said the growth mainly resulted from gains in European traffic, with services between Munich and continental destinations used by more than 11 million passengers, up +2% year-on-year. Intercontinental was up only slightly to 2.8 million passengers.
However, domestic traffic was down -4% to 4.6 million passengers, with the airport attributing this to the harsh winter and numerous strikes in the first quarter, resulting in twice as many cancelled flights as in the first half of 2012.
 |
Passenger traffic reached 18.6 million in the first half of 2013 |
Munich Airport President and CEO Dr Michael Kerkloh said: “The +0.3% rise compared with last year is quite moderate, but when we look at the continuing economic difficulties in many European countries and the current turbulence in the airline industry, I think it’s remarkable that passenger demand continues to increase.”
Despite these challenging conditions, the airport today said that the number of employees at the hub has increased by nearly 2,800 since the end of 2009 to 32,250, meaning 2.5 jobs have been generated per day.
 |
32,250 people now work at Munich Airport |
The figures were revealed in the “˜Munich Airport: the Workplace’ study, which is based on data provided by 552 companies and public-sector employers operating at the airport.
With 10,800 employees, Lufthansa Group is the biggest employer at the airport, while operator Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) and its subsidiaries come next with 8,200 employees.
More than two thirds of the companies surveyed said that they expect to have more staff by the end of 2013. FMG alone, with its subsidiaries, will hire approximately 2,500 new employees over the next five years, with around half of them to fill new positions and the other half to replace departing employees.
 |
Work continues on the Terminal 2 satellite building |
One key ongoing piece of development at Munich Airport is the construction of the new Terminal 2 satellite building, due for completion in 2015.
As previously reported, the project is a response by Munich Airport and Lufthansa – which jointly operate the terminal – to strong passenger growth at the airport. It will increase the terminal’s capacity to 11 million passengers a year.
