FRANKFURT, Germany, April 16/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FRA/th-rap> Frankfurt Airport (FRA) registered new record figures for passengers and airfreight in the first quarter of 2007. Aircraft movements and maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) also reached a new all-time high in the January-to-March 2007 period. In March alone, 4,445,996 passengers passed through the FRA air transportation hub, an increase of more than 260,000 passengers compared to the previous record March in 2005. Versus last year, the March 2007 figures represent an increase of 8.9 percent. With 11,826,098 passengers using FRA in the last three months, passenger figures rose by 5.4 percent on the comparable period in 2006 and exceeded the previous record level of 2005 by some 480,000 passengers. Passenger growth was stimulated by a large number of new flight connections and accelerating growth dynamics in intercontinental traffic.

In March 2007, Frankfurt Airport again registered a slight 0.3 percent increase in airfreight tonnage. With 184,937 metric tons of airfreight, FRA achieved a new March record and even exceeded the previous record figure of March 2006 by 523 metric tons. In the three-month period from January to March 2007, FRA handled 491,518 metric tons of airfreight - 2.3 percent more than in the same period last year. This also presents a new first quarter record. In keeping with expectations, airmail traffic dropped by 5.5 percent to 8,074 metric tons in March. For the first quarter of 2007 FRA's airmail traffic dropped to 23,075 metric tons or by four percent.

Aircraft movements and maximum takeoff weights also developed positively: With 41,874 takeoffs and landings in March, activity was 4.4 percent above the previous year's level. From January to March, FRA recorded 116,694 movements - 2.4 percent more than in the first quarter of 2006 and about 2,200 more takeoffs and landings than in the hitherto best first quarter in 2005. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights expanded by 3.5 percent to 2,378,782 metric tons in March 2007. A total of 6,633,695 metric tons for the first three months of the year represent an increase of 2.7 percent on the comparable period last year. The previous first quarter record was achieved in 2005 with 6,534,875 metric tons.

Major factors promoting this extraordinarily positive traffic development at FRA included good weather conditions and, in particular, the early Easter vacation, which fell on the last weekend in March this year. However, the earlier start of the Easter travel season will affect April passenger figures, which are expected to decline compared to the previous year.

Passenger traffic at Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN) Airport rose 17 percent to 311,070 passengers in March 2007; in the first quarter HHN, Fraport's booming low-cost airport in Germany's Hunsruck region, welcomed 843,178 passengers, 20.1 percent more than in the previous year. At Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey, Fraport-owned International Terminal One registered 194,456 passengers in March 2007, a jump of 162,8 percent; and from January to March the Fraport terminal received 495,589 travelers (up 226.2 percent). Fraport's two new tourist airports in Bulgaria also registered noticeable traffic growth - although on a relatively low absolute level. Bourgas reported a 203.7 percent jump to 1,078 passengers in March 2007, while traffic at Varna rose 50.9 percent to 19,495 passengers. In the first quarter of the year Bourgas had 3,201 passengers (up 99.4 percent), while Varna welcomed 46,612 passengers (up 54.1 percent). Peru's Lima Airport (LIM) also continued to grow, serving 611,342 passenger in March, an increase of 24.6 percent, and a total of 1,699,109 passengers in the first quarter of 2007, a rise of 22.2 percent on the comparable period last year.

Overall, the Fraport Group's airports served 5,582,661 passengers in March 2007, an increase of 13.3 percent. From January to March 2007 Fraport welcomed a total of 14,912,262 passenger or 10.5 percent more than in the comparable period last year. Declining by a slight 0.1 percent to 214,477 metric tons, overall cargo tonnage (airfreight and airmail combined) of the Fraport Group dropped slightly below the previous year's level. However, since the beginning of the year, cargo activity has increased slightly by 2.2 percent to 574,089 metric tons.