Central German airports: volume of traffic in the first six months of 2024 – a significant boost to tourist traffic
Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG
Overall, 1,328,949 passengers passed through the airports of Leipzig/Halle and Dresden during the first half of the year, an increase of 6.3 percent over the figure for the same period in 2023.
The number of aircraft movements, 46,896 take-offs and landings, was 4.7 percent below the level in the previous year.
Leipzig/Halle Airport
The number of passengers at Leipzig/Halle Airport rose by 10.9 percent to a figure of 939,493 during the first half of the year. Tourist travel to holiday destinations accounted for almost three quarters of all the passengers.
The volume of freight at Leipzig/Halle Airport was approximately 703,000 tonnes between January and June and was therefore 2.2 percent higher than in the previous year.
The number of aircraft movements during the first half of the year fell to a figure of 37,326, 5.9 percent lower than in the previous year.
June, 3.3 percent fewer than in the same period in 2023. The reasons for this decline are the loss of the daily scheduled KLM flights to Amsterdam, which have been halted since March, the discontinuation of Ryanair’s flight to London and the general weaker recovery in demand for domestic scheduled flights across Germany. Most of the passengers using Dresden Airport fall into this category and this is leading to a slower recovery in the total numbers of travellers.
However, the number of those using tourist flights, particularly to Turkey, is developing in a positive manner. The services available to the popular holiday destination of Antalya are being further expanded during the current summer season. The Sun Express airline, for example, is increasing its services from Dresden by 40 percent to 65,000 seats. It is planning to raise this figure even further to 90,000 seats for the 2025 summer season. Air Anka is another airline that is starting to operate flights to Antalya this season.
The number of aircraft movements during the first six months of 2024 was similar to the level in the previous year – 9,570 take-offs and landings.
Background: the trend in the sector
The recovery in the German air traffic sector is progressing more slowly than in other European countries. Nearly every European nation has already exceeded the pre-Covid passenger numbers, but the figure for Germany is still more than 20 percent lower. The main reason for this is the significantly higher government airport charges because of higher taxes and fees when compared to neighbouring countries. This has a considerable negative effect on the attractiveness of the German market for airlines and in turn creates a competitive disadvantage, particularly in comparison with airports in neighbouring countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland.
New services in the summer timetable from Leipzig/Halle
WIZZ Air is launching two new destinations – to Bucharest and Tirana – in the timetable during the current summer season. The airline has already been connecting Leipzig/Halle with Bucharest on Thursdays and Sundays since 20 June. WIZZ Air will offer flights to Tirana from 30 September onwards. The airline will then connect Central Germany with the Albanian capital every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
New tourist services from Dresden
A new service started from Dresden Airport at the end of June: Sundair launched flights to Monastir in Tunisia. It now flies to the sunshine destination non-stop every Tuesday. Sundair is the number one airline among the holiday carriers operating from Dresden. In addition to Tunisia, the airline is flying to destinations in Egypt, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria during this season.
Fly Lili is a new airline operating from Dresden and is providing flights to Burgas in Bulgaria on behalf of the tour operator, DER Touristik, every Monday and Saturday in June and July.
Air Anka is also a newcomer to the airport. The holiday airline will connect the Saxon state capital with Antalya in Turkey from 13 September onwards.