Frankfurt Airport has emerged somewhat from its Corona low in 2021. Thanks to increased travel demand in the summer and the opening of the USA in the fall, Germany's largest airport counted around 24,8 million passengers for the whole year, almost a third more than in the first Corona year of 2020, the operating group announced on Monday. As expected, the volume was at the upper end of the forecast issued by the management board, but still almost two-thirds lower than before the pandemic: In 2019, almost 70,6 million passengers were handled at the airport - more than ever before. In December, there was a stronger recovery from the crisis - despite new travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Fraport counted 2,7 million passengers, a good three times as many as a year earlier, but still 44 percent fewer than in December 2019. Things went much better in the cargo business, which is experiencing a real boom as a result of the pandemic and its consequences. In 2021 as a whole, Frankfurt Airport handled around 2,27 million tons, almost 19 percent more than in 2020 and almost 9 percent more than in 2019. Despite the challenges, Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG, is optimistic about the future: "The situation will remain highly dynamic in 2022. Nobody can predict exactly how the pandemic will develop in the coming months. The associated and often unfortunately inconsistent travel restrictions will continue to place a great deal of demand on the entire aviation industry. Despite these uncertainties, we are optimistic about the future and expect demand to pick up again significantly from spring onwards."