BERLIN — Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest and one of Europe’s main hubs, saw passenger numbers drop to their lowest level in over three decades last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Operator Fraport said Monday that the airport handled some 18.8 million passengers in 2020, 73.4% fewer than the previous year. Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said that “passenger volumes dropped to a level last seen in 1984.”

But he said cargo traffic reached almost at the same level as in 2019, despite the loss of capacity in passenger planes’ holds.

Schulte said that Fraport expects passenger traffic to “rebound noticeably” in this year’s second half as vaccinations lead to the lifting of travel restrictions. But he said it will still be a “difficult year” and passenger numbers in Frankfurt in 2021 are expected to reach only 35 to 45% of the 2019 level.