Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 48.9 million passengers in 2022 – nearly doubling the figure for 2021 and resulting in an increase of 97.2 percent. At the start of the previous year, demand was still restrained over concerns about the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. However, from March 2022 until the end of the year, passenger traffic saw very dynamic growth. Leisure travel benefited from a rebound in demand as anti-Covid measures and travel restrictions were gradually lifted. Throughout the main vacation periods of 2022, monthly traffic in Frankfurt saw strong triple-digit growth rates compared to 2021 – reaching a peak of over 300 percent in April. In the fourth quarter, passenger traffic continued thriving at a monthly rate of between 40 and 50 percent. Demand for business travel also recovered steadily towards the end of the year. Compared with the 2019 pre-crisis level, FRA’s passenger volume was still down by 30.7 percent in 2022. Commenting on the traffic figures, Fraport AG’s CEO, Dr. Stefan Schulte, said: “2022 was a very turbulent and challenging year for the entire aviation industry. Following the lockdowns at the start of the year, the sudden and sharp increase in demand put a heavy strain on all process partners ramping up operations. Due to the complexity of the system, air traffic operations had a shaky restart at many airports – including in Frankfurt. On the positive side, our worldwide Group of airports focusing on tourism traffic showed a highly encouraging performance in 2022. The airports in Greece even exceeded pre-crisis levels, for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. Looking ahead, we are confident to see further growth in 2023. People are eager to travel, and we are working full speed to ensure that passengers have the best possible airport experience. Nevertheless, the situation remains challenging.”