OREANDA-NEWS. Fraport Group's Airport in Xi'an (China) Records Double-digit Growth FRA/gk-rap - Passenger numbers at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) continued to advance in February 2015: Germany's largest aviation hub welcomed some 3.8 million passengers, representing an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year. Passenger growth was largely attributable to increased domestic traffic and a rise in demand for tourist destinations in Europe and North Africa - as well as the non-recurrence of strikes which negatively impacted FRA's traffic volumes in February 2014. Cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) also grew in the reporting month, climbing by 1.8 percent to 162,068 metric tons.

Aircraft movements continued to decline by 1.5 percent year-on-year to 32,951 takeoffs and landings, reflecting the deployment of larger aircraft and higher seating densities. Simultaneously, accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) increased by 2.5 percent to more than 2 million metric tons. Thus, the average MTOW per aircraft movement significantly increased from 119.9 to 124.8 metric tons.

The airports in Fraport's international portfolio reported varying traffic results, with overall positive growth in February 2015. Slovenia's Ljubljana Airport (LJU) saw a 3.8 percent decline in passenger numbers to 72,265. Serving a total of 1.3 million passengers in the reporting month, Lima Airport (LIM) in the Peruvian capital city achieved ongoing strong passenger growth of 9.6 percent.

Combined, the Fraport Twinstar airports of Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast served 28,627 passengers - an increase of 2.8 percent year-on-year. On the Turkish Riviera, Antalya Airport (AYT) registered 686,814 passengers - representing a gain of 6.2 percent. St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport (LED) in Russia received 733,936 passengers in the reporting month, down 2.5 percent. With 282,442 passengers,  Hanover Airport (HAJ) in northern Germany achieved a gain of 2.7 percent. Xi'an Airport (XIY) in China recorded particularly strong growth, with traffic soaring by 18.6 percent to 2.5 million passengers.