Hamburg Airport Statistics

Hamburg Airport (HAM) serves as northern Germany’s main air travel hub, and ranks as the country’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger volume. The airport serves a catchment area of 5.4 million people within the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, extending its reach into Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and southern Denmark.

Hamburg Airport handles more than 14 million passengers annually.

• HAM processed 14.77 million passengers in 2025, representing a 0.4% decrease from 14.83 million in 2024.
• The airport recorded 17.31 million passengers in 2019 before traffic dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Passenger numbers fell sharply to 4.56 million in 2020, a 73.7% decline and the lowest in decades.
• Recovery accelerated from 5.32 million in 2021 to 11.1 million in 2022 and 13.56 million in 2023, marking consistent year-over-year growth.

Domestic vs International Travelers

Hamburg Airport has a predominantly international passenger base, with most travelers flying to European leisure destinations.

• In 2025, international passengers accounted for approximately 80% of the total, or 11.82 million travelers.
• Domestic passengers made up 20%, totaling 2.95 million.

Eurowings dominates flight operations at Hamburg Airport, maintaining clear market leadership.

• Eurowings operates the most flights with over 25% market share, serving 62 destinations from Hamburg and providing the most extensive route network.
• Condor and Marabu each connect to 14 destinations.
• Neos and Wizz Air complete the top 5 list with 11 and 9 destinations, respectively.

• Hamburg Airport offers direct flights to approximately 125 destinations in 40 countries, served by around 55 airlines.
• Over 1,000 global destinations are accessible with a single transfer via hub connections, offering wide international reach.
• The network focuses primarily on European leisure destinations, reflecting a strategic shift toward international vacation travel.
• Seasonal factors affect route availability, with summer months offering more options including charter services.

Hamburg Airport handles around 30,000 tonnes of cargo annually.

• Cargo throughput reached 31,418 tonnes in 2025, reflecting a 4.5% increase from 30,073 tonnes in 2024.
• In 2019, cargo volume was 27,783 tonnes, before dropping sharply to 9,993 tonnes in 2020 due to pandemic-related disruptions.
• Following an initial post-pandemic bounce in 2021 with 21,945 tonnes, volumes remained relatively stable in 2022 at 21,165 tonnes before dipping to 17,986 tonnes in 2023 and rebounding sharply in 2024.

• Labor strikes by security and ground handling staff, often organized by the ver.di trade union, causing last-minute cancellations.
• Security breaches, including unauthorized access to runways, leading to full operational shutdowns.
• Severe weather, such as storms and fog, affecting northern European airspace.
• Air traffic management limitations, including capacity issues and staffing shortages.
• Network delays, where disruptions at major European hubs cause cascading impacts at Hamburg.

• November 4, 2023: A person drove onto the tarmac during a domestic dispute, breaching a security gate. Operations were suspended for nearly 24 hours, 213 flights were canceled and 17 diverted, affecting around 37,700 passengers.
• July 13, 2023: Climate activists gained unauthorized access to the runway, suspending operations for several hours and causing 50 flight cancellations.