Munich Airport said its 2021 performance was still heavily influenced by the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic and while traffic is expected to improve this year, the gateway expects to return to the pre-Covid performance by 2024.

It said at 12.5 million, the number of passengers at the airport increased by more than 12% compared to the previous year, but remained well below the record figure of approximately 48 million in 2019.

A "significant recovery" in traffic development is emerging this year, the management of the Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) said during the company's annual press conference.

"With a total of around 13,000 flights, for example, traffic volume at Munich Airport during the recent Easter holidays already came to around 70% of the comparative figure from 2019," said Jost Lammers, chief executive officer.

"We expect a significant increase in aircraft movements and passengers in 2022 as a whole. In our estimation, Munich Airport can be expected to make a full return to pre-crisis levels in 2024," Lammers added.

FMG's Group-wide revenue amounted to EUR 601 million in the past year. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to EUR –286 million, an improvement of nearly EUR 120 million from the previous year.

Meanwhile, FMG posted earnings after taxes (EAT) of EUR –261 million, an improvement of around EUR 60 million or 19% on the previous year's loss.

Earlier, Munich Airport reported that freight volume at the airport "increased considerably" in 2021 as the number of cargo-only flights rose.

The airport — one of Germany's busiest cargo airports — saw airfreight volume last year 22,000 metric tonnes higher than the level seen in 2020.

Munich Airport said this corresponds to an increase in freight volume by just under 15% to a total of 167,000 metric tons.

"Airfreight increased considerably in comparison with 2020, particularly due to a significant increase in 'cargo-only' traffic," Munich added.