MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – Munich Airport is recording significant growth rates in passengers, flight movements and air freight. People wanted to travel again, the demand was greater than the airlines’ supply, said airport boss Jost Lammers on Tuesday. Last year, the number of passengers in Munich rose from 12.5 to 31.6 million, already reaching 70 percent of the level before the Corona crisis. With the recovery of traffic to China, 80 percent should be reached in the current year, said Lammers.
Economically, too, things are looking up again for Germany’s second-biggest airport: sales doubled last year to 1.2 billion euros, and losses after taxes shrank from 261 million to 59 million euros. This year, Lammers expects another strong increase in sales and hopes to be “back in the black for the fourth year since the start of the worst crisis in the history of aviation”.
Traffic to North America made a particular contribution to the positive development. As of July 2022, traffic between Munich and US airports was above pre-pandemic levels. “We saw the same thing in the first three months of the current year with the connections between Munich and Singapore and other Asian destinations in India, South Korea and Thailand,” said Lammers.
Munich has regained its role as an international hub and occupies an excellent fifth place in a global comparison of the flight destinations on offer. After the end of the zero-Covid policy in China, Lammers expects “catch-up effects” and a rapid increase in traffic if Lufthansa
Long-distance travel in particular is in high demand again, and business travelers are also coming back, said Lammers. But “supply cannot keep up with demand.” If supply is tight, the airlines could push through higher ticket prices on the market. Nevertheless, the number of passengers in Munich in the first quarter increased by 70 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year to seven million passengers.
A chaos with leftover suitcases like last year should not be repeated, at least in Munich. The search for staff is not easy, but “this summer we feel well prepared,” said the airport manager.
Munich Airport employs around 9,000 people and is 51 percent owned by the Free State of Bavaria, 26 percent by the federal government and 23 percent by the city of Munich
AXC0187 2023-04-18/14:31
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