Throughput of Frankfurt airport dropped 16.8 per cent in January to 141,340 tonnes due to fewer imports from Asia and night flight ban.

Airport owner Fraport was cited by Newark's Journal of Commerce as saying the decline in Asian imports was mainly owing to "the shuttering of factories during China's two week-long New Year's festival.



And the night flight ban, which has been introduced to reduce aircraft noise since last October, has curtailed the airport's cargo handling volumes by 10.8 per cent year on year in November and 6.5 per cent in December as it mainly affected Lufthansa Cargo freighter services.



Germany's highest administrative court will decide whether the night flight ban should become permanent in March



Cargo traffic at Fraport's five majority-owned airports - Frankfurt, Lima in Peru, Antalya in Turkey, as well as Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria - also decreased 13.8 per cent year on year at 167,415 tonnes.