Central German airports: traffic develop-ments between January and September

Significant growth at Leipzig/Halle Airport

Leipzig/Halle Airport welcomed 1,774,993 passengers during the first nine months of the year. This represents growth of 4.2 percent over the same period in the previous year. This growth is particularly due to the involvement of Ryanair and Turkish Airlines; Ryanair continued to ex-pand its services in 2012 and Turkish Airlines began flying to and from Leipzig/Halle this year. The increase in demand for tourist traffic also played a part in the positive developments. 271,839 passengers were registered at Leipzig/Halle Airport alone in September, which is an in-crease of 12.1 percent over the figure for the same month in the previ-ous year.

Ongoing double-digit growth in air freight volumes

The double-digit growth at Germany’s second-largest air freight hub continues unabated. The volume handled between January and Sep-tember rose by 14.5 percent to 639,047 tonnes when compared to the previous year. As a result, Leipzig/Halle forms a stark contrast to the declines experienced elsewhere in Europe and in Germany.

Dresden International sets a monthly record in September

Dresden International Airport registered 1,433,911 passengers by the end of the third quarter, 0.8 percent less than in the previous year. De-spite the discontinuation of some German domestic and European routes as a result of the insolvency of Cirrus Airlines, passenger numbers remained virtually constant.

The number of passengers passing through Dresden International Air-port in September set a new monthly record; the figure was 205,697. That means passenger numbers rose by 0.2 percent compared to the same month in the previous year.

“The volumes of traffic at Leipzig/Halle Airport and Dresden Interna-tional Airport are developing in a very promising way despite the diffi-cult general conditions for the whole aviation sector,” says Markus Kopp, CEO at Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG.

“The new and expanded services operated by Turkish Airlines and Rya-nair and the tour operators at Leipzig/Halle Airport are very well re-ceived by passengers in Central Germany, the Berlin-Brandenburg, Low-er Saxony and Bavarian regions and are responsible for the growth in passenger numbers,” says Markus Kopp.

Based on the positive developments in freight volumes, Markus Kopp further pointed out: “Thanks to the ongoing, double-digit growth in the freight sector, Leipzig/Halle Airport is one of the fastest growing air freight shipment centres in the world and it therefore confirms its role as Germany’s second-largest freight hub. Current developments separate the airport markedly from the general trend in the sector, so that we are expecting to set the eighth record in succession for freight traffic vol-umes in 2012. The figure should exceed the 800,000 tonne mark for the first time.”

With regard to Dresden International Airport, Markus Kopp summarised what has been happening: “Traffic volumes at Dresden International Airport are developing at a constant level despite the cancellation of routes and the airport even set a new monthly record in September. Once OLT Express and Yakutia Airlines start operating new and expand-ed services to European cities, the services at Dresden International Air-port will continue to grow. So I am confident as I look forward to the last quarter of the year.”

Source: Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding

Photo: Leipzig – Halle Airport