OREANDA-NEWS. Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed 27.8 million passengers in the first six months of 2014 - up 2.4 percent year-on-year - a new historic half-year passenger record. Cargo (airfreight and airmail) throughput at FRA reached 1.1 million metric tons in the first half of 2014, up 2.2 percent compared to the previous year. Despite this growth, aircraft movements at FRA remained stable with 229,039 takeoffs and landings (down 0.1 percent) for the same period. Due to the deployment of larger aircraft, accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) at Frankfurt Airport climbed by 1.9 percent to 14 million metric tons. "This growth is developing within the expected range. Further gains in efficiency, the ongoing replacement of older planes with new-generation quieter aircraft, as well as the stability and reliability of Frankfurt's flight timetable contributed to this satisfying development at Frankfurt Airport," explained Fraport AG's executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte.

With 5.6 million passengers served in June 2014 (up 3.3 percent year-on-year), FRA recorded its busiest June in the history of the airport. Accumulated MTOWs at Germany's largest airport hit 2.6 million metric tons (up 2.3 percent).

Cargo (airfreight and airmail) dropped by 3.5 percent to 178,384 metric tons, while aircraft movements slipped by 0.4 percent to 41,949 takeoffs and landings at Frankfurt.  Fraport AG's international Group airports also reported a gain in passenger traffic. Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) received 7.4 million passengers (up 4.1 percent) in the first six months of 2014 and 1.2 million passengers (up 2.1 percent) in June 2014.

On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the airports in Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) together had 1.1 million passengers in the first half (up 6.7 percent) and 756,187 passengers (up 8 percent) in June 2014. On the Turkish Riviera, Antalya Airport (AYT) saw traffic rise by 6.5 percent in the first six months of the year to 11 million passengers and by 8.3 percent in June 2014 to 3.8 million passengers.

Russia's St. Petersburg Airport (LED) generated noticeable double-digit growth of 12.8 percent in both June 2014 (1.6 million passengers) as well as the first half of the year (6.4 million passengers). Welcoming 13.7 million passengers from January to June 2014, Xi'an Airport (XIY) in central China reported a 10.6 percent jump in traffic. In the reporting month, XIY greeted 2.4 million passengers, an increase of 9.4 percent year-on-year. Only Fraport's minority-owned airport in Hanover (HAJ), Germany, experienced declining passenger figures, with 2.3 million in the first half (down 2.3 percent) and 497,555 in June 2014 (down 3.7 percent).