For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry
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Passenger numbers remain very low in Frankfurt – Repatriation of passengers largely completed – High demand for freight capacities – Some airlines use passenger airplanes as freighter-only aircraft – Continued reduction of cargo throughput, due to lack of belly freight (shipped on passenger aircraft)
| Week 17/2020 (April 20-26) | Week | Δ %* |
| Passengers | 45,270 | -96.80% |
| Cargo (airfreight + airmail) in metric tons | 33,694 | -12.90% |
| Aircraft movements | 1,605 | -84.00% |
| *Change compared to Week 17 of 2019 |
In November 2019, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed almost 5.1 million passengers – representing a 3.4 percent decrease compared to the same month last year. The thinned-out winter flight schedule and the two-day strike by Lufthansa cabin staff had a negative impact on passenger numbers. Without the strike effect, FRA’s passenger traffic would have declined only slightly by 1.1 percent year-on-year.
Intercontinental traffic to and from Frankfurt continued to grow robustly by 2.1 percent. In contrast, European traffic fell markedly by 6.5 percent due to airline bankruptcies and other factors.
Aircraft movements shrank by 5.8 percent to 38,790 takeoffs and landings. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) also contracted by 4.0 percent to around 2.4 million metric tons. Reflecting the ongoing slowdown of the global economy, cargo throughput (comprising airfreight and airmail) dropped by 5.0 percent to 186,670 metric tons.
Fraport’s executive board chairman, Dr. Stefan Schulte, commented:
“Following solid traffic growth this year so far, we experienced a noticeable decline in November, primarily due to strikes. As a result, we expect full-year passenger traffic at Frankfurt to grow at a slightly slower pace than our previous forecast of about two to three percent. Despite slightly slower traffic growth, we are maintaining our financial outlook for the full year 2019 – backed by the positive financial performance achieved to date in Frankfurt and with our international business.”
Across the Group, the airports in Fraport’s international portfolio largely performed well in November 2019. Affected by the bankruptcy of home-carrier Adria Airways and other factors, Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) reported a 27.0 percent decline in traffic to 85,787 passengers. Also the two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) saw combined traffic slip by 2.2 percent to just over 1.3 million passengers. This was primarily due to the bankruptcy of Avianca Brasil and to Azul airlines reducing its flight offerings.
Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) recorded a 6.9 percent jump in traffic to some 1.9 million passengers.
With 727,043 passengers overall, Fraport’s 14 Greek regional airports maintained last year’s level (up 0.1 percent). Bulgaria’s Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) airports registered a total of 83,764 passengers – growing by 22.7 percent, albeit on the basis of a low traffic November month in the previous year.
Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey welcomed almost 1.4 million passengers, representing a gain of 11.8 percent year-on-year. Traffic at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport (LED) in Russia registered a 6.8 percent increase to about 1.4 million passengers. At Xi’an Airport
(XIY) in China, traffic climbed 4.9 percent to nearly 3.8 million passengers.
For further information about Fraport AG please click here:
MEDIA CONTACT:
60547 Frankfurt, Germany
Telephone: +49 69 690-70555
E-mail: [email protected]
Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says Ocho Rios is gearing up to welcome 50,000 cruise ship passengers courtesy of the cruise line, MSC Meraviglia.
MSC Cruise, an over 300 year old company, entered the cruise business in 1988 and is now the world’s largest privately-owned cruise line and brand market leader in Europe, South America and Southern Africa.
Speaking at the welcome reception for the ship’s inaugural visit to Ocho Rios today, Minister Bartlett said, “With the additional call of the MSC Meraviglia, which holds 7200 passengers and crew, Jamaica’s cruise tourism is expected to end the year in a very strong position.
More importantly, this addition will see Ocho Rios welcoming 50,000 cruise ship passengers with 10 calls from now until April next year.”
The Meraviglia, which is a sophisticated combination of state of the art technology, design, comfort and practicality, joins Seaside, Divina and Armonia which have been visiting Ocho Rios and Falmouth.
“Jamaica’s cruise tourism will see a boost in arrivals and earnings in the next couple of years with more calls to all ports and the inclusion of Port Royal to the itinerary.
Within the context of reimagining the island’s tourism, we are now looking at cruise tourism specifically as to how we can build out more infrastructure and experiences to attract more visitors and retain more of the cruise dollar,” added Minister Bartlett.
Ocho Rios was just awarded the Caribbean’s leading cruise port at the World Travel Awards in Oman and recently won the Hospitality award for the best resort town.
For the period January to October 2019, Ocho Rios has seen an 11.9 percent increase in calls and 2.6 percent in passenger arrivals, representing a passenger count of 450,000. Ocho Rios is also expected to see a 4% increase in passenger arrivals by the end of the year, making it the number one port for visitors and calls in the island.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944
Airlines that are adding tracking at more points of the baggage journey are enjoying a huge improvement in bag delivery globally. The SITA 2019 Baggage IT Insights – officially launched at an event in Abu Dhabi International Airport today – shows that where tracking is done at check-in and loading onto the aircraft, the rate of improvement is as high as 66%.
These results come as the record drop in the baggage mishandling rate achieved globally over the past decade plateaus, with the rate steady at around 5.7 bags per thousand passengers over the past three years. In 2018, the rate was 5.69 per thousand passengers.
Over the past year, an increasing number of airlines and airports have started to introduce tracking at key points in the journey – check-in, loading onto the aircraft, transfers and arrival – to improve baggage management and further reduce the chances of a bag being mishandled. SITA’s research provides the first glimpse of the success of this tracking. It reveals that where bags were being tracked when loaded onto the aircraft, the rate of improvement ranged between 38% and 66% depending on the level of tracking introduced.
Peter Drummond, Director of Baggage at SITA, said: “While the mishandling rate has started to plateau over the past few years, this comes against a continued growth in passenger numbers and their bags. In 2018, 4.36 billion travelers checked in more than 4.27 billion bags. More bags makes things more challenging. Everyone across the industry needs to look beyond the process and technology improvements made in the past decade and adopt the latest technology such as tracking to make the next big cut in the rate of mishandled bags.”
Ahmed Juma Al Shamsi, Acting Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “For our passengers the timely delivery of baggage is key to ensuring a seamless passenger experience and therefore an area in which we continue to make further improvements. Looking forward, baggage tracking is fundamental to driving more accurate bag delivery not only at Abu Dhabi International Airport but across the entire passenger journey. We have led the way with the introduction of tracking on arrival and we have already seen significant improvements.”
Transferring baggage from one aircraft, or airline, to another remains a pinch point in the journey and in 2018 it was again the main reason for bags being mishandled. Transfer bags accounted for 46% of all mishandled bags.
Drummond added: “Transfer is by far the most difficult stage to track a bag as there are multiple airlines and airports involved. However, data from this year’s report shows that tracking at key points in the journey, such as transfers, will go a long way to eliminating mishandling and will allow airlines and their passengers to keep tabs on where their bags are at every step of the way.”
Over the past decade, total number of mishandled bags per annum has plummeted 47% from 46.9 million in 2007 to 24.8 million in 2018, while the annual bill footed by the industry has shrunk 43% to $2.4 billion, down from $4.22 billion in 2007.
Many of us traveling around the globe on business have travel stories to tell. I spend more than 100 fully-paid nights every year in Hyatt Hotels around the world. Doing this, you get to know a brand more closely.
I am collecting my own list of heroes and honoring each of them eTN Heroes. You cannot buy eTN Heroes, and this title is a publisher’s recommendation based on personal experience.
I realize there are so many heroes in the hospitality industry and even more in the rest of the travel and tourism industry, so my personal experience is only a very small token of well-deserved recognition.
Today, I would like to introduce Cordelia Igel, a senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, Berlin, Germany as the latest eTN Hero.
Travelers like me experience hotels as a second home. When something doesn’t make sense, I am always outspoken and hope my criticism is heard. I want the businesses that cater to my travel to do well.
Loving my espresso every day is a passion many fellow travelers share. For me, it doesn’t make sense when international hotels cannot see that good espresso is a major selling point. For me, it’s a major buying point when selecting a hotel.
For example, I stopped staying at the Marriott Newark Airport where the Starbucks in this hotel is only open from 6 am to 10 am.
It boggles my mind because people come in 24 hours a day because after all, it’s an airport hotel.
With travelers arriving or leaving this hotel don’t always go by Eastern Standard time.
A good cup of coffee becomes as important as a good bed or a hot shower.
The same goes for food. I select hotels where I can get my breakfast, lunch, or dinner 24/7 because my body time clock is not always synchronized with the time in the destination.
Mistakes happen, especially when you’re jetlagged. One of the worst was when I picked up a suitcase that belonged to another passenger in Tokyo after arriving from Abu Dhabi and showed up at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo with the wrong luggage. Takashi Kai, Assistant Manager at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, was my first eTN Hero that day and managed this impossible and frustrating situation for me.
Here why I am so thankful to Cordelia Igel, the senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, my latest eTN Hero.
In March during ITB I stayed at the hotel for 8 nights.
The hotel has a fantastic breakfast and a great pool/gym area along with a very central and exciting location close to Potsdamer Platz.
Rooms are a little small and average in Berlin, but acceptable. I may have been spoiled. I stayed at the Hyatt Haus Duesseldorf before arriving in Berlin during the same trip and also one night at the Park Hyatt Hamburg and loved my apartment and hotel suite. My apartment at Duesseldorf Hyatt Haus was over the top – washer, dryer, living room, bedroom, and an outside patio with a million dollar view, and enough space to entertain 100 people.
Here is why Cordelia at the Grand Hyatt Berlin is my hero. Attending a very busy trade show is always a challenge when managing a busy scheduled and sleep. My morning espresso is of utmost importance. In the past, when staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin, I went to Starbucks across the street from the hotel, but this year, Starbucks was no longer there.
What were my options? As a Globalist member in the Hyatt loyalty program, my breakfast is always included. Hyatt Germany is not one of the hotels forcing Globalists to take their breakfast only in the Club lounge.
The continental breakfast at the Hyatt Grand Clun is usually not comparable with the wide variety of food found at VOX restaurant.
So everything was perfect in the morning, right? Wrong!
When trying the Club lounge espresso, I should have known it wasn’t up to my standards as it was served from a push-button machine. However, not all Grand Clubs are the same. At the Grand Hyatt Seoul, Korea the Espresso machine is the best I found in the Hyatt system so far.
At the Grand Hyatt Berlin, when dining in the hotel’s 5-star restaurant VOX, a 3-star espresso is served from a push-button machine.
When I asked the lead server, Cordelia, why they are serving such a superb breakfast and offer only a push button machine-made espresso she offered a solution.
The only good espresso machine in the hotel not using push-buttons was at the hotel bar. Cordelia went to the hotel bar and personally hand-crafted a cup of real espresso for me. She also managed to bring it back within one minute after pouring. Magical!
Every morning after that, Ms. Igel knew what to do. And for that extra touch of service and not hesitating a second to go above and beyond, Vielen Dank Frau Igel, you are my eTN Hero today.
