Air cargo reaped the benefits from a ‘traffic boom’ at Munich Airport last year as air freight volume increased by 55 percent from 2021 to around 259,000 metric tonnes.

Munich Airport saw massive growth in all traffic figures in 2022 thanks to a busy summer, with passenger numbers jumping 19 million, or more than two-and-a-half-fold from a year ago, to a total of 31.6 million. This represents two-thirds of the airport’s record performance in 2019, pre-pandemic.

The number of aircraft movements nearly doubled compared with 2021 to more than 285,000 take-offs and landings. The seat load factor of aircraft in Munich saw the same record figure of 77.5 percent back in 2018.

Jost Lammers, CEO of Munich Airport, said “the gradual lifting of travel restrictions has re-awakened people’s desire to travel. This has prompted airlines to significantly expand their flight capacity. The bookings received by the airlines indicate that traffic growth at Munich Airport will continue in 2023.”

The airport said that traffic between Munich and US destinations has already been higher than the 2019 level since July. Traffic to destinations in India, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, meanwhile, saw the same trend at the start of the 2022/2023 winter flight schedule. Munich saw the most action during the third quarter after it logged 10 million passengers. It now links to 210 destinations in 63 countries.