FRANKFURT (Germany) 14th January (ots/PROTEXT) - AirfreightTonnage Climbs 2.2 Percent - Traffic Growth for Fraport Group- Forecast for Financial Results Achieved. Frankfurt Airport(FRA) served almost 48.4 million passengers in 2003, nearlyequaling the previous year's passenger level. Despite thedifficult market conditions, Germany's largest airportregistered only a slight 0.2 percent drop in passengers in 2003versus 2002. The share of transfer passengers at FRA grew byone point to 54 percent in 2003 - further increasing FRA'simportance as a major hub in the international airtransportation system.
Fraport also met the forecast for its 2003 annual financialresults, despite the many negative effects on global aviation;As planned, Fraport expects earnings before interest, tax,depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to reach about 500million for 2003.
At the beginning of the 2003, fears of the Iraq war dampenedtravel activity. Then in March, the Iraq conflict and theinfectious Asian SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)disease from Asia intensified the downward trend in air travel.This was further exasperated by the slackening world economy. Bythe middle of the year, however, there was an indication of alight recovery in passenger volume. With passenger trafficgrowing again in October, FRA was able to reach the previousyear's passenger level for 2003. In the fourth quarter,passenger figures even exceeded the comparable quarter of theprevious best year. Intercontinental traffic proved to be thegrowth engine here. As the SARS crisis dissipated, theparticularly important Asian market began to stabilize.
In December 2003, FRA welcomed over 3.5 million passengers -a new record figure for this month. The passenger volumeincreased 2.8 percent over the corresponding month in 2002.FRA's cargo throughput increased by 4.5 percent in December toapproximately 132,000 metric tons.
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