Leipzig/Halle Airport
The number of passengers using Leipzig/Halle Airport between January and June rose to a figure of 1,086,247. This represents an increase of 5.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. Passenger numbers rose to 265,332 in June, an increase of 5.3 percent over the same month in 2017. The number of aircraft movements increased to 38,324 take-offs and landings during the first six months. This represents growth of 17.2 percent.
Air freight volumes continue to grow significantly
Air freight volumes at Germany’s second-largest air cargo hub grew by 12.1 percent compared to 2017 during the first half of 2018; the figure this year was 606,491 tonnes.
The figure for June was roughly 103,867 tonnes, 9.8 percent higher than the amount recorded in June 2017.
The volumes handled by DHL are particularly the growth driver at the airport. The company has maintained the largest hub within its global network at Leipzig/Halle since 2008 and has invested EUR 655 million in establishing its centre. The freight charter business for other logistics providers also continued to register above-average growth. The network for air cargo traffic now covers more than 270 airports around the globe and more than 50 freight airlines operate flights to them.
Dresden Airport
792,446 passengers passed through Dresden Airport during the period between January and June. This figure was 2.2 percent lower than in the previous year. This development was particularly due to the bankruptcy of Air Berlin. The airline had been operating a scheduled service to Düsseldorf as many as four times a day until the beginning of June 2017. This situation was aggravated by cancellations due to strikes and bad weather during the first half of 2018 as well as the closure of the local air space for several days because a bomb was discovered in the centre of Dresden.
167,629 passengers passed through Dresden Airport during June this year; this represents an increase of 5.7 percent compared to the previous year.
14,401 aircraft movements were registered during the first half of the year – meaning that the number of take-offs and landings fell by 2.3 percent compared to the figure in 2017.
The growth at both airports is being supported by positive developments in tourist traffic.
The number of passengers travelling to destinations like Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Italy and the United Arab Emirates from Leipzig/Halle Airport all rose.
The launch of the scheduled service to Moscow Vnukovo also had positive effects. The Russian budget airline Pobeda has been connecting Leipzig/Halle with the Russian capital three times a week since April this year.
Passenger volumes at Dresden Airport to destinations in Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Greece as well as Italy and Dubai all registered growth. Germania is the largest holiday airline operating from Dresden. The airline has increased the number of its services from 18 to 27 destinations compared to the summer timetable last year. As a result, the following destinations are new this summer from Dresden: St. Petersburg, Barcelona, Thessalonica, Monastir, Athens, Bastia and Burgas.
Condor is also operating a weekly flight to Dubai during the summer season timetable. This is the very first non-stop flight to the Emirate from Dresden.