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Fraport Traffic Figures - February 2006: Frankfurt Airport's Passenger Figures Steady, Airfreight Rises 8.6 Percent

Posted on: Monday, 13 March 2006, 03:03 CST

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The number of passengers at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) remained nearly unchanged in the reporting month of February 2006, while airfreight grew noticeably again. Some 3,432,246 passengers used Germany's biggest airport in February 2006, only 0.1 percent less than in the same month last year. In particular, flight cancellations caused by severe winter conditions with heavy snowfall throughout Europe negatively affected traffic results. Increases were registered for international passenger traffic in February 2006, primarily to South Africa, Asia, and the Gulf States.

FRA's pattern of unabated growth in airfreight continued in the reporting month. The amount of airfreight handled at FRA in February 2006 jumped by 8.6 percent to 150,749 metric tons compared to February 2005. This was the busiest February for airfreight in FRA's history. Large airfreight volumes were registered especially on routes to and from the Middle East, the Far East, and Africa.

Because of the closure of FRA's overnight domestic airmail hub in summer 2005, overall airmail tonnage declined further by 15.9 percent to 7, 411 metric tons in February 2006.

Aircraft movements increased slightly despite adverse winter conditions , the end of military charter flights in the wake of the closure of the U.S . Rhein-Main Air Base at the south side of Frankfurt Airport, and despite capacity bottlenecks. In February 2006, FRA's takeoffs and landings rose by 0.4 percent to 36,039. This also represented a new historic February record. Maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) - important for calculating airport charges - slipped by 0.6 percent to 2,011,709 metric tons last month. Without the negative effect from the termination of U.S. military charter flights, FRA's MTOW figure would have clearly grown again.

The Fraport Group's six airports together welcomed 4,445,868 passengers in February 2006, down 5.3 percent from the same period in 2005. Like in the previous months, the reason for this drop was Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey, where passenger figures at Fraport's terminal have declined strongly since the opening of a second competing international passenger terminal in 2005. Fraport's Terminal 1 in AYT registered only 33,647 passengers in February 2006; the 90.2 percent drop in passengers also reflected a general

weakness in tourist traffic to Turkey since the first cases of avian flu became public. Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) served 435,784 passengers in February 2006, up 5.2 percent. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (HHN), Fraport's low -cost airport in the Hunsrück region of Germany, continued to see traffic climb by 17.5 percent to 224,609 passengers. Hanover Airport's (HAJ) traffic rose 3.4 percent to 302,914 passengers and Saarbrücken Airport's (SCN) traffic dropped by 14.6 percent to 18,253 passengers.

In February 2006, total cargo (airfreight and airmail) tonnage handled at the Fraport Group's airports increased by 8.4 percent over the same month last year to 187,050 metric tons.

Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Figures - February 2006 February Change(2) Jan. - Feb. Change(2) 2006 Feb. 06/ 2006 Jan. - Feb. Feb. 05 06/05 Passengers(1) 3,432,246 -0.1 % 7,138,858 -0.3 % Airfreight(1) in metric tons 150,749 8.6 % 296,145 7.9 % Airmail in metric tons 7,411 -15.9 % 15,482 -14.2 % Aircraft Movements(3) 36,039 0.4 % 73,791 -0.3 % MTOWs(3) in metric tons 2,011,709 -0.6 % 4,163,003 -1.1 % Punctuality share of punctual arrivals and departures in percent 71.1 72.1 (1) Total traffic (arrivals + departures + transit) (2) Change over previous year (3) Excluding military flights Fraport Group - Traffic Figures for February 2006 Airports Passengers(1) Change Cargo Change Aircraft Change Absolute in % absolute in % Movements in % in metric absolute tons (Airmail + freight) Frankfurt (FRA) 3,430,661 -0.1 155,936 7.4 36,039 0.4 Antalya(2) (AYT) 33,647 -90.2 n.a. n.a. 320 -86.2 Frankfurt-Hahn(3) (HHN) 224,609 17.5 18,357 20.0 2,734 29.3 Hanover4 (HAJ) 302,914 3.4 1,275 -13.8 4,671 1.3 Lima (LIM) 435,784 5.2 11,482 9.2 5,474 11.6 Saarbrücken (SCN) 18,253 -14.6 0 -100.0 879 -1.1 Fraport Group 4,445,868 -5.3 187,050 8.4 50,117 -1.2 (1) Passengers (commercial traffic: arrivals + departures + transit) (2) Terminal 1 passengers only (3) Frankfurt-Hahn: includes cargo transported by truck (4) Hanover: commercial movements only

Fraport AG

CONTACT: For More Information, Please Contact: Fraport AG, Robert A.Payne, B.A.A. - Manager International Press, Press Office (Dept. UKM-PS),Corporate Communications (UKM), 60547 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic ofGermany; Tel.: +49-69-690-78547; Fax: +49-69-690-60548; E-mail:r.payne@fraport.de; Internet: http://www.fraport.de/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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