Munich Airport Sets Record for Total Number of Passengers in 2012

In 2012, 38.4 million passengers chose Munich Airport as the arrival or departure point for their journey – a new all-time high.

The total represents an increase of 600,000 – or almost 2% – over the previous year's figure.

The latest annual statistics show that airlines are becoming increasingly efficient in using the range of services offered at the Bavarian hub through the deployment of larger aircraft as well as improved capacity utilization.

During the past year, the average load factor increased by nearly one percentage point to 74.5%. This was the highest utilization level since Munich Airport opened in 1992.

Against the backdrop of the current economic slump in Europe and heavy turbulence in the aviation sector, Dr. Michael Kerkloh, the CEO of FMG, the Munich Airport operating company, said he is very pleased with the traffic figures. "Despite the difficult conditions, our airport yet again saw an increase in passenger demand. Once again, Munich exceeded the Germany-wide average for traffic growth," he said.

In scheduled and charter traffic a total of 400,000 take-offs and landings took place in 2012: a decrease of 2.9% from the previous year. Almost all of the services cancelled by airlines were in off-peak periods. At peak times, Munich Airport still has no available slots for additional take-offs or landings.

"Due to the ongoing capacity crunch in our runway system, we can neither offer additional connections at high-demand periods nor allow new airlines to set up operations here. That means that the demand from airlines and their passengers can now no longer be met," explained the FMG CEO.

Amid the Europe-wide economic and financial crisis, Munich Airport saw a decrease in airfreight activity in 2012 as compared with the previous year. Total airfreight turnover amounted to more than 272,000 tons. Combined with airmail, the volume of flown airfreight topped 290,000 tons – a 4% decline versus 2011.

The increase in passenger figures in Munich in 2012 mainly resulted from the above-average gains in the European traffic segment. Services between Munich and continental destinations were used by nearly 23 million passengers. This represents a year-on-year gain of over 3%. With some 5.7 million passengers, the intercontinental segment showed a 1% increase last year. By contrast, traffic within Germany was down by nearly 2% to 9.6 million passengers.