Night flight ban: Frankfurt August cargo off 4.1pc to 164,406 tonnes

FRANKFURT airport, Europe's second largest air cargo hub, has posted a 4.1 per cent drop in August freight shipments to 164,406 tonnes year on year, blaming the year-long night flight ban and the continuing euro crisis.

Yet year-to-date totals marked an improvement on the nine per cent year-on-year decline over in the first six months of 2011. Nonetheless, airport owner Fraport has decided to delay investment because of the night flight ban that hits freighters hardest.

Fraport-controlled airports, Antalya, Turkey; Lima, Peru; and Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria, also posted a combined decline of 2.3 per cent in August which together with the Frankfurt result came to 195,776 tonnes in August.

Only Lima continued to buck the downward trend, with cargo traffic increasing 11.5 per cent to 27,106 tonnes in August.

But Frankfurt's passenger numbers were up in August at 5.6 million travellers despite the eight-hour strike by Lufthansa cabin crew that cut traffic by 28,000 seats.