Frankfurt — German airport operator Fraport's latest figures show that the re-opening of the United States to travellers from Europe further helped Frankfurt Airport to exit a pandemic-related slump in passenger numbers.

Fraport counted around 2.9 million passengers in the past month, the operator said in Frankfurt on Monday. That was around half a million fewer than in October.

However, it was almost four-and-a-half times as many as in the weak November 2020 and only 42.8 per cent less than before the pandemic began in November 2019.

The company said its continued traffic recovery was driven by sustained demand for European holiday travel and a rise in intercontinental traffic, including North America.

For the current month of December 2021, traffic growth is expected to slow down again, as a result of the resurgence in coronavirus infection rates and related travel restrictions.

Due to the opening of the US to European travellers in November, Fraport chef executive Stefan Schulte said he expected close to 25 million passengers at Frankfurt Airport this year.

In 2020, traffic slumped to less than 19 million, after the airport had posted a record year in 2019 with more than 70 million passengers. Schulte said this level was unlikely to be reached again until 2025 at the earliest.

Meanwhile in terms of cargo traffic, there was a slight decrease in airfreight and airmail for the first time this year, slipping by 1.2 per cent year-on-year to 192,298 metric tons in the reporting month.

Aircraft movements continued to climb by 125.6 per cent year-on-year to 28,882 takeoffs and landings in November 2021.

Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) increased by 72.9 per cent year-on-year to around 1.8 million metric tons.

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