Frankfurt Airport handled approximately 6.1 million passengers in September, up 1.6% year on year, as Fraport’s main hub approached the previous year’s traffic level despite Lufthansa strikes, geopolitical disruption and weaker domestic connectivity. Passenger traffic for the first nine months reached about 47.5 million, 0.2% below the same period a year earlier.
Fraport attributed the remaining shortfall chiefly to the strikes and wider geopolitical disruption. Lufthansa industrial action affected almost 700,000 passengers at Frankfurt between January and September; excluding that impact, traffic would have risen by about 1.3%.
The Middle East conflict and related airspace closures also weighed on performance. Traffic to and from the region fell 35% in the first half of the year to roughly 880,000 passengers. Some traffic was redirected through Frankfurt to Asia and Africa after Gulf hubs were affected, partly offsetting the decline.
Domestic feeder traffic remained a structural weakness. September flight movements fell 3.5% to 40,539 takeoffs and landings, while domestic traffic dropped 25.2%, notably after services to Bremen and Stuttgart ended. Lufthansa reduced loss-making feeder capacity and discontinued its CityLine hub-feeder operation in April, putting further pressure on Frankfurt’s transfer model.
Cargo offered some support, with September freight and mail volumes rising 2.5% to 174,773 tonnes. The figures point to resilient long-haul demand, but also to growing risks for the hub as connecting feed from German cities contracts.