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Investing.com -- Fraport (ETR:FRAG) saw flat passenger growth in March 2025, with travel disrupted by a strike that affected about 140,000 passengers, the airport operator said in a statement on Friday.
The airport handled around 4.6 million passengers during the month, a marginal increase of 0.3% from the previous year.
Flight operations came to a near standstill on March 10 due to a full-day strike, disrupting travel for tens of thousands.
A similar disruption occurred in March 2024, when labor actions affected about 300,000 passengers.
However, last year’s numbers were boosted by the earlier timing of the Easter holidays, which fell in April this year.
Over the first quarter of 2025, passenger traffic at Frankfurt remained nearly unchanged year over year.
About 12.4 million travelers used the airport between January and March, a 0.9% decline from the same period in 2024.
Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte attributed the stagnation to high regulatory costs in Germany, which he said are limiting the country’s competitiveness in international aviation.
“The new German government is setting the right course by reducing the air traffic tax and eliminating the national blending quota for synthetic aviation fuels that are not yet available on the market,” Schulte said in a statement.
He added that these steps could support future growth, with seat capacity at Frankfurt expected to increase by 5% in the upcoming summer season.
While passenger numbers were steady, other operational indicators at Frankfurt showed growth. Aircraft movements rose 3.9% to 35,280 takeoffs and landings in March.
Cargo volumes, including airfreight and airmail, increased 3.2% to 184,679 metric tons. The airport’s accumulated maximum takeoff weights climbed 4.2% to about 2.2 million metric tons.
Across Fraport’s international portfolio, results varied by location.In Slovenia, Ljubljana Airport handled 94,532 passengers in March, a 2% year-over-year decline. Combined traffic at Brazil’s Fortaleza and Porto Alegre airports fell 3.2% to 986,389 passengers.
In Peru, Lima Airport recorded a 9.4% increase, serving roughly 2.1 million passengers. Fraport’s 14 Greek regional airports handled a total of 831,501 passengers, up 1.3%. Passenger traffic on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast rose 4.4% to 76,709 travelers at the airports in Burgas and Varna.
Traffic declined at Antalya Airport in Turkey, which served 1.1 million passengers in March, down 16.6% from the prior year. Fraport attributed the decrease partly to the early Easter holiday in 2024, which had lifted travel demand during that month.
Across all airports managed by the Fraport Group, passenger volume totaled approximately 9.8 million in March 2025, a 0.4% decline compared to the previous year.