Global cargo players have been working especially closely together since last year, and that collaboration has paid off, says Pierre Dominique Prümm, executive director for aviation and infrastructure at Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport
2020 will go down in history as aviation’s worst crisis since World War II. No one would have ever imagined such a worldwide collapse of passenger traffic. Closed borders, grounded aircraft, and many people losing or fearing for their jobs: these are some of the negative experiences that all partners in the aviation industry had to deal with. And it looks as if it will take a long time for the aviation sector to get back to what could be considered normal.
Nevertheless, there were also positive developments during these challenging times. The air cargo business proved its vital role for supplying the world’s population with urgently needed goods – such as protective masks and other medical equipment or technical products to enable remote work. At Frankfurt Airport, in December alone almost 181,000 tonnes of air freight were handled – the second highest volume since 2007. I believe, this is a great success that we can be proud of.
Closer collaboration
One important prerequisite for this success is the special cargo team spirit here in FRA. We are very proud of all of the global cargo players who are working closely together to ensure best results. Especially in 2020, all partners involved showed their flexibility and, in the end, that collaboration paid off. The pandemic put air cargo into the focus.
We at Fraport believe that the current situation shows that close collaboration of cargo and passenger marketing is indispensable to strengthen Frankfurt Airport as a whole. We work hard to ensure that Germany’s biggest airport comes out of this crisis even stronger than before. One step to reach this is intensifying the possible synergies. That is why from this year on, we will concentrate the cargo and the passenger development team under one management in the aviation division. That way, we can strategically further improve Frankfurt Airport’s attractiveness for all our customers – regardless of whether their business is focused on the cargo or the passenger area.
We want to bundle our expertise to continuously unlock new potential, by, for example, offering digital solutions. And we want to ensure that the best people of our organisation are working for our customers – no matter whether cargo or passenger airline. Even if the pandemic will further impact the aviation business in 2021, air traffic will remain a growth market in the long term.
