Due to the strong demand in summer, the number of passengers at Bavaria's second largest airport is increasing significantly. For the new year, the airport expects a return to almost pre-crisis levels.
Nuremberg (dpa/lby) - Despite the pandemic and energy crisis, Nuremberg Airport can look back on a successful year and is also expecting more passengers in 2023. According to the operator, it recorded around 3.3 million passengers last year. The target for the coming year is 3.9 million. "Above all, we are hoping that trade fairs will return. But we will also continue to look forward to air travel, as was shown in the summer," said Managing Director Michael Hupe of the German Press Agency.
A large part of the increased passenger numbers in 2022 had an unexpectedly high demand in the summer. In some cases, this was higher than in 2019, said Hupe. "At times almost everyone had to lend a hand - including management." As a result, around 200 new employees have been added since the autumn. At the end of the year around 1000 people were working at Nuremberg Airport. How sustainable the increased demand will be is difficult to predict, said Hupe.
At the same time, the pandemic has also caused permanent changes in Nuremberg. Many business trips would be questioned and partly replaced by digital communication channels, said Hupe. Domestic air traffic collapsed due to the pandemic and disappeared permanently from the Nuremberg timetable. "That makes a clear difference for us economically."
Before the pandemic, the airport handled around four million passengers a year. In 2020 and 2021, the number had fallen to around one million and at times fell to almost zero. In the 2021 financial year, the airport, which is supported in half by the city of Nuremberg and the Free State, was in the red. The balance sheet for 2022 is expected to be published in May.
