MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - With the removal of travel restrictions, passenger numbers at Munich Airport have risen sharply. In 2022, it counted 31.6 million passengers. That was a good 19 million more than the previous year, according to Tuesday's announcement. However, the airport is far from the pre-Corona level: in the record year 2019, 47.9 million passengers were counted.

The number of aircraft movements almost doubled compared to the previous year to 285,000, which also shows a clear gap to 2019, when it was more than 417,000. In contrast, the flight load factor reached 77.5 percent, matching the previous record set in 2018.

"The gradual removal of travel restrictions has reawakened people's desire to travel. This has led to a significant expansion of flight offerings on the part of the airlines," said airport CEO Jost Lammers. He expects the trend to continue in the new year: "Bookings received by airlines indicate that traffic growth at Munich will continue in 2023."

Air freight also increased. Including airmail, the airport reported 266,707 tons. That was almost 54 percent more than in the previous year. Here, too, the figures are well below those of the pre-Corona year 2019, when a good 350,000 tons were moved./ruc/DP/jha