Fraport's October passenger levels hold steady

FRANKFURT - German airport operator Fraport AG said Wednesday its October group passenger levels were nearly unchanged from a year ago, while cargo levels improved for the first time in more than a year.

Fraport, based in Frankfurt, said the group transported 7.5 million passengers for the month, just 0.1 percent below October 2008 levels.

Cargo levels at the main Frankfurt hub improved by nearly 1 percent to 196,200 tons (178,000 metric tons), while group cargo levels improved by 1.5 percent. It is the first time since June 2008 that cargo levels have shown growth at Frankfurt.

Fraport operates a number of European and global airports, including Frankfurt, the continent's second largest after Paris' Charles de Gaulle. Other stakes include airports in Antalya, Turkey and Lima, Peru.

"October 2009 continued the positive trend in traffic development that we have seen during the course of the year," Fraport's Chief Executive, Stefan Schulte, said in the company's report.

"Following a 10.9 percent drop in passenger traffic in the first quarter, the decline shrank to 5.6 percent in the second quarter and narrowed to only 2.8 percent by the third quarter. October 2009 figures indicated that the decline in traffic is increasingly lessening," Schulte said.

One of the factors contributing to this improvement is intercontinental traffic, which recorded particularly strong growth on Asian and Central African routes, Fraport said.

Shares of Fraport were unchanged at euro32.90 in Frankfurt afternoon trading.

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