By the end of 2021, 5,32 million passengers had used Hamburg Airport, which is 69 percent fewer than in 2019. Even if the traffic balance shows a strong decrease compared to the pre-Corona year, the development compared to the previous year is positive.

After months of standstill, Hamburg Airport began to recover from summer 2021. The traffic figures rose gradually and reached their peak during the autumn holidays. But air traffic is still a long way from normal: With the start of the fourth corona wave, the number of passengers fell again and resulted in a traffic balance of around 2021 million passengers at Hamburg Airport in 5,32, which is thus below expectations. Compared to 2020, which was also affected by the effects of the Corona, the number of passengers rose slightly by 17 percent. With around 69.500 take-offs and landings, the total number of flight movements in 2021 increased by around 5 percent compared to the previous year (2020: around 66.300 take-offs and landings; 2019: around 155.200 take-offs and landings).

Despite the positive development, the overall traffic balance remains below expectations: at the beginning of the year, Hamburg Airport had planned to handle 8,5 million passengers. In the first half of the year, the forecast had to be reduced step by step, as demand recovered only slowly due to the pandemic-related travel restrictions. In the summer, the longed-for upswing was evident, and the traffic figures rose steadily. The positive signals from the airlines also increased: the A380 returned and capacities were increased. The trend peaked in autumn: In October alone, Hamburg Airport recorded 953.000 passengers - that is almost a fifth of all passengers in 2021.

Positive signal: air freight figures almost at pre-crisis level

While passenger numbers are only recovering gradually, air freight almost reached pre-crisis level: Despite fewer passenger planes, a total of 2021 tons of air freight could be handled in 21.800, only 20 percent less than in 2019 and 118 percent more than in the previous year (2020: 9.992 tons). The 2019 level was even reached in November. During the Corona crisis, pure freight machines regularly landed in Hamburg, transporting protective and hygiene goods, but also fashion and technology goods. The air freight flown has more than doubled since 2020. Compared to other German airports, a large part of the air freight from Hamburg Airport is transported by truck to and from other airports, where the goods are loaded or unloaded onto the aircraft.

Outlook for 2022: Accelerated recovery hoped for from Easter

Reliable forecasts for 2022 are still difficult in the current situation, according to the airport. "Based on initial feedback from the industry, however, we are assuming that by 2022 we will achieve up to 60 percent of the traffic volume of 2019," said Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO at Hamburg Airport. The hope rests on an accelerated recovery of traffic from Easter, so that around 11 million passengers could be reached in the new year. This would correspond to around twice as many passengers as last year, which was still very much affected by travel restrictions. The extent to which the prognosis will come true depends on the development of the pandemic and the associated restrictions. Therefore, careful planning is necessary again.