Frankfurt, Jan 18 (IANS): Passenger numbers at Frankfurt airport picked up in 2021 after the easing of some Covid-19 restrictions, it announced in a statement.

As one of the busiest airports in Europe, Frankfurt received some 24.8 million passengers in 2021, up by 32.2 per cent from 2020, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

However, these figures were still well below pre-pandemic levels, it said.

There was a noticeable upswing in demand for air travel from April to December in 2021, with passenger numbers tripling compared to the same period in 2020.

But the pace of this rebound slowed at the end of 2021, when the Omicron variant began to spread globally.

"Throughout 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to have a massive impact on Frankfurt Airport," said Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport, the company which operates the airport.

While the airport's passenger traffic saw a gradual and fragile recovery, cargo traffic grew considerably in 2021.

"Airfreight volumes in Frankfurt even reached a new annual record, despite the ongoing shortage of hold capacity on passenger flights, and other challenges," Schulte said.

The airport registered in 2021 the highest annual volume of cargo throughput of 2.32 million metric tonnes, an 18.7 per cent increase year on year.