The 28 German commercial airports handled just over 78.7 million passengers in 2021 in its second year of the pandemic. The German Airports Association ADV considers it a success - even if the figures for 2021 are still a long way off the record set in 2019.
German airport traffic is still 68.6% compared with 2019. In the last year before the pandemic, German airports recorded 248.5 million passengers. At 2020traffic had fallen to 63.12 million passengers.
In fact, ADV notes that traffic only picked up in the second quarter of last year, and that for most of the year passenger traffic growth was severely hampered by the absence of intercontinental routes. Travelling to Asia in 2021 was virtually impossible. The United States and Canada did not open until the end of the year. On intercontinental routes, growth was just 8.4%This was mainly concentrated in the final quarter.
Europe has proved to be the bedrock of growth. Germany-Europe traffic grew by 38,4% compared with 2020. However, it remains nearly 64% lower than before the pandemic.
Competition with high-speed rail and environmental considerations in general have weighed heavily on domestic traffic. Intra-German traffic fell by 19.1% compared to 2020 and -79.5% compared to 2019.
180 million passengers forecast for 2022
The Lufthansa hub at Frankfurt saw very strong growth, with an increase of 32.2% last year. Whereas Munich, the company's second hub, was still below expectations with an increase of 12.5%. Berlin's performance was very disappointing, as it failed to break the 10 million passenger barrier, with traffic up by just 9.3% in 2021.
In 2022, ADV believes that the upturn in traffic will continue. The reopening of intercontinental routes - America and in part Asia and the Middle East - and demand for Europe during the summer with the easing of travel restrictions should boost passenger traffic. In a press conference held at the end of December 2021, Ralph Beisel, Managing Director of ADV, expressed the airports' optimism about traffic trends. "Even though in the winter months, traffic demand will still be determined by the pandemic situation and the resulting restrictions," he said.
For the current year, ADV is forecasting an additional 100 million passengers. That's around 180 million passengers. This would correspond to more than 70% of 2019 traffic.
Passenger traffic at German airports with more than 10 million passengers between 2019 and 2021 (in millions)
| Airport | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2021/2020 |
| Frankfurt | 70,56 | 18,77 | 24,81 | +32,2% |
| Munich | 47,94 | 11,11 | 12,49 | +12,5% |
| Berlin | 35,65 | 9,10 | 9,95 | +9,3% |
| Düsseldorf | 25,51 | 6,58 | 7,95 | +20,9% |
| Hamburg | 17,31 | 4,56 | 5,32 | +16,6% |
| Stuttgart | 12,72 | 3,21 | 3,57 | +11,4% |
| Cologne/Bonn | 12,37 | 3,08 | 4,25 | +38,1% |
(Source: ADV)
