Munich Airport

Munich Airport again sets records for passenger traffic and cargo

Passenger figures up by 13 percent in first half of 2011 to 18 million

Munich Airport recorded a massive increase in traffic in the first half of 2011. The total of just under 18 million passengers handled in Munich represented an increase of more than 13 percent over the same period in 2010. "This is the highest number in the history of Munich Airport. We have never before counted this many passengers in the first half of the year," said Dr Michael Kerkloh, the CEO of FMG, the airport operating company, who was on hand at the Munich Press Club today to present the airport's half-year figures.

The number of take-offs and landings increased by more than 9 percent to a new record of 202,000. This performance places the traffic growth in Munich well above the average increases seen at German and European airports. Among the 10 European airports with the highest traffic figures, only Barcelona posted a higher percentage gain than Munich in the first half of 2011.

The robust growth that was already very much in evidence in the second half of last year, gained even more momentum in the first half of 2011. Munich Airport saw particularly strong gains in the number of travelers on flights to and from the "BRICS" countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all of which areposting GDP growth rates in the 5–10 percent range. Each of the BRICS countries, which together represent 40 percent of the world's population, is the destination of at least one flight per day from Munich Airport. The passenger volume on routes to these five growth markets increased by an average of 26 percent during the first half of the year to a combined total of more than 900,000 passengers.

On Friday, June 10, 2011, the departure date for many Whitsun holiday travelers, a new all-time record was set, as Munich Airport handled more than 130,000 passengers on a single day for the first time in its history. The cargo segment at Munich Airport achieved even stronger growth than passenger operations. Never before has Munich Airport handled this much cargo in the first half of a year: The new record is now 144,600 tons of flown airfreight, a 14 percent increase over the same period a year earlier.

For airport CEO Kerkloh, the traffic boom was an occasion to reaffirm the importance of the two key strategic expansion projects at Munich Airport. He stated that the airport can continue to perform its very important function as an international air transportation hub in the future only with the construction of the planned third runway and the now approved development of a satellite facility for Terminal 2. These two expansion projects will guarantee the urgently needed capacity and will secure the airport's competitiveness in the long term, explained Kerkloh. Kerkloh summed up his perspective by adding, "For Munich Airport, it's now a matter of maintaining our high quality standards – even and especially if we are moving up a level in terms of traffic volume. Building quantity while securing quality – that is the task we face in the coming years."

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• Posted 11/07/2011