Lufthansa Strike Causes Frankfurt Airport Passengers to Drop 11 Percent

Frankfurt Airport lost a lot of passengers in April 2026 after a Lufthansa pilots' and cabin crew's strike disrupted flight schedules at one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs.

Citing an Anadolu Agency report, Friday, May 15, Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport, reported that the number of passengers at Germany's main airport fell 11 percent compared to April last year.

Throughout April, around 4.8 million passengers were recorded traveling through Frankfurt Airport.

Fraport said the decline was mainly triggered by strikes by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union and the UFO cabin crew union at Lufthansa.

The strike lasted for six days and directly affected around 500 thousand passengers.

The disruption not only occurred in flight schedules and passenger queues. The cargo sector was also affected. The volume of air freight and mail fell 0.6 percent due to the strike at Lufthansa Cargo and reduced carrying capacity on passenger flights.

Across the airport network actively managed by Fraport, passenger numbers also fell 6.2 percent to around 12.2 million in April.