Frankfurt Airport booms

Operator Fraport said Tuesday its hub Frankfurt Airport experienced an unparalleled boom in July, seeing its passenger numbers at Germany's largest airport hitting an all-time record.

The aviation hub in the western German state of Hesse recorded 5.9 million passengers in the month under review, marking a 2.3-percent increase from levels reached in the same month a year earlier. It remains Europe's third-busiest airport, behind London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

Fraport said on its home page the surge could be attributed mainly to summer school holidays starting in July in all 16 German states.

Flourishing cargo business

The company added that the resulting increase in flights booked by family holiday makers more than offset the negative impact of weather-related flight cancellations in July.

Frankfurt Airport's airfreight and airmail volumes grew modestly by 1.1 percent in July year on year, totaling over 180,000 metric tons.

Fraport added its international operations boomed as well, with Peru's Lima Airport logging a 3.8-percent rise in passenger numbers last month and Antalya Airport in Turkey recording 9.3 percent more passengers. Russia's Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, in which Fraport also has a stake, even recorded double-digit passenger growth of 13.5 percent in July.