international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Fraport Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide,main hub for

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

, including

Lufthansa CityLine Lufthansa CityLine GmbH is a German airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Munich Airport. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa and maintains hubs at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, from where it operates a dense domestic ...

and

Lufthansa Cargo Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, the main hub of Lufthansa. Besides operating dedicated ...

as well as

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vu ...

and

AeroLogic AeroLogic GmbH is a German cargo airline based in Schkeuditz near Leipzig. It is a joint-venture between DHL and Lufthansa Cargo which operates scheduled international and long-haul cargo services out of its hubs Leipzig/Halle Airport and Frankfu ...

. The airport covers an area of of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities. Frankfurt Airport is the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany as well as the 4th busiest in Europe after London–Heathrow,

Paris–Charles de Gaulle Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

and

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

. The airport is also the 13th busiest worldwide by total number of passengers in 2016, with 60.786 million passengers using the airport in 2016. In 2017, Frankfurt Airport handled 64.5 million passengers and nearly 70 million in 2018. It also had a freight throughput of 2.076 million

metric tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

in 2015 and is the busiest airport in Europe by cargo traffic. As of summer 2017, Frankfurt Airport serves more than 300 destinations in 5 continents, making it the airport with the most direct routes in the world. The southern side of the airport ground was home to the

Rhein-Main Air Base Rhein-Main Air Base (located at ) was a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was a Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) installation, occupying the south side ...

, which was a major

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

for the United States from 1947 until 2005, when the air base was closed and the property was acquired by Fraport (now occupied by Terminal 3). The airport celebrated its 80th anniversary in July 2016.

Location

Frankfurt Airport lies southwest of central Frankfurt, near the

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

intersection

Frankfurter Kreuz The Frankfurter Kreuz (''Frankfurt Junction'') is an Autobahn interchange in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where the autobahns A3 and A5 meet. The interchange was originally to be built from 1931 to 1933, but due to World War II construction was ...

, where two of the most heavily used motorways in Europe ( A3 and A5) meet. The airport grounds, which form a city district of Frankfurt named Frankfurt-Flughafen, are surrounded by the Frankfurt City Forest. The southern portion of the airport grounds extend partially into the cities of

Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on the Mai ...

and

Mörfelden-Walldorf Mörfelden-Walldorf is a town in the Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region in the federal state (Bundesland) Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a triangle formed by the South He ...

, and a western portion of the grounds lie within the city of

Kelsterbach Kelsterbach () is a town in Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located on Frankfurt's southwestern outskirts at a bend on ...

. The airport is centrally located in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region, which itself has a central location in the densely populated region of the west-central European megalopolis. Thereby, along with a strong

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

and motorway connection, the airport serves as a major transport node for the greater region, less than two hours by ground to

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

, and

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

.

History

The base opened as a German commercial airport in 1936, with the northern part of the base used as a field for fixed-wing aircraft and the extreme southern part near

Zeppelinheim Neu-Isenburg is a town in Germany, located in the Offenbach district of Hesse. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 38,204 (2020). The town is known nowadays mainly for its regionally used shopping centre, th ...

serving as a base for rigid airships. That section of Rhein-Main later became the base for the Graf Zeppelin, its sister ship LZ-130, and, until 6 May 1937, for the ill-fated Hindenburg. The airships were dismantled and their huge hangars demolished on 6 May 1940 during conversion of the base to military use.

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

engineers subsequently extended the single runway, and erected hangars and other facilities for German military aircraft. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Luftwaffe used the field sporadically as a fighter base and as an experimental station for jet aircraft.

First airport

On 16 November 1909, the world's first airline was founded in Frankfurt am Main: The ''Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft'' (

DELAG DELAG, acronym for ''Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft'' (German for "German Airship Travel Corporation"), was the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service. It operated a fleet of zeppelin rigid airships manufacture ...

). DELAG then built the first airport in Frankfurt, called ''Airship Base at Rebstock'', which was located in Bockenheim in the western part of the city and was primarily used for

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s in the beginning. It opened in 1912 and was extended after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but in 1924, an expert's report already questioned the possibility of further expansions at this location. With the foundation of

Deutsche Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and t ...

in 1926, a rapid boom of civilian air travel started, and soon the airship base became too small to handle the demand. Plans for a new and larger airport located in the Frankfurt City Forest south-west of Schwanheim were approved in 1930 but were not realized due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. After the '' Machtergreifung'' in 1933, the government revived the plans and started the construction of the new airport.

Second airport

A two-storey station building with a six-storey tower originated in 1935 on the northern part of the airport, as well as other operating and outbuildings for maintenance and storage of aircraft. The approximately 100 hectares

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

received a grass cover. The official opening of the new '' Flug- und Luftschiffhafen Rhein-Main'' took place on 8 July 1936. The first plane that landed was a Ju 52/3m. Six days later, on 14 July 1936,

LZ 127 LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' () was a German passenger-carrying, hydrogen-filled rigid airship that flew from 1928 to 1937. It offered the first commercial transatlantic passenger flight service. Named after the German airship pioneer Ferdinan ...

''Graf Zeppelin ''landed at the airport. In 1936, 800 tons of cargo and 58,000 passengers were transported, and in 1937 these figures increased to 70,000 passengers and 966 tons of cargo. In the coming years, the new airport was the home base for the two largest German airships, LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin ''and

LZ 129 LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' (; Registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the ''Hindenburg'' class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was desig ...

''Hindenburg''. In 1938, Frankfurt was a central distribution point for the transport of airmail to North America. On 6 May 1937, the ''Hindenburg, ''flying from Frankfurt to New York, exploded shortly before it was scheduled to dock at Lakehurst. 36 people died. The accident marked the end of scheduled airship traffic and the end of the

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

era.

World War II

After the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939, all foreign airlines left the airport, and control of air traffic was transferred to the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

. On 9 May 1940, the first

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s took off to attack France. From August to November 1944, a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

was established in

Walldorf Walldorf (South Franconian: ''Walldoaf'') is a town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. In the eighteenth century, Walldorf was the birthplace of John Jacob Astor, who emigrated and became a promin ...

, close to the airport site, where Jewish female prisoners were forced to work for the airport. The

Allies of World War II The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...

destroyed the runway system with

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

s in 1944, and the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

blew up buildings and fuel depots in 1945, shortly before the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

took control of the airport on 25 March 1945. After the

German Instrument of Surrender The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the " Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capi ...

, the war in Europe ended and the US Army started to build a new temporary runway at Frankfurt Airport. The southern part of the airport ground was occupied to build the

Rhein-Main Air Base Rhein-Main Air Base (located at ) was a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was a Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) installation, occupying the south side ...

as an

Air Force Base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

for the

United States Air Forces in Europe United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

.

Berlin Airlift

In 1948, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

blocked the Western Allies' rail and road access to the sectors of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city. In response, the Western Allies organised the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

to carry supplies via air to the people in West Berlin. The airports in Frankfurt,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

were the primary bases for Allied aircraft. The heavy use of these so-called " Raisin Bombers" caused damage to the runway in Frankfurt and forced the US Army to build a second parallel runway. The airlift ended in September 1949 after the Soviet Union ended their blockade.

Growth of the airport

In 1951, restrictions for German air travellers were lifted and civil air traffic started to grow again. In 1952, Frankfurt Airport handled more than 400,000 passengers; a year later it was more than half a million. About 100 to 120 aeroplanes took off from and landed in Frankfurt daily. In 1955, Lufthansa resumed flights to and from Frankfurt and in the same year the Federal Republic of Germany gained its

air sovereignty Air sovereignty is the fundamental right of a sovereign state to regulate the use of its airspace and enforce its own aviation law – ''in extremis'' by the use of fighter aircraft. The upper limit of national airspace is not defined by internatio ...

back from the Allies. In 1957, the northern runway was extended, first to and then to , to make it compatible with jet aircraft. The airport did not emerge as a major international

airline hub An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the ...

until 1958 when a new passenger terminal called ''Empfangsanlage Ost'' (Terminal East, literally "Arrival Facility East") opened in the north-east corner of the airport site. Only four years later it was clear that the terminal was already too small for the demand. In 1961, Frankfurt already had 2.2 million passengers and 81,000 take-offs and landings, making it the second busiest airport in Europe behind Heathrow Airport, London. In 1962, it was decided to build an even larger terminal with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year. Work on this terminal began in 1965. The southern runway was extended to in 1964. In 1970, a new hangar was inaugurated; this accommodated six jet aircraft and was the world's largest hangar at the time.

The new main terminal

The new terminal, called ''Terminal Mitte'' (Central Terminal, today known as Terminal 1) is divided into three concourses (A, B and C) with 56 gates and an electric baggage handling system. Everything opened to the public on 14 March 1972. It was assumed that the terminal capacity would be sufficient for the next 30 years. Along with the new terminal a railway station (Frankfurt Airport station) was opened, the first airport railway station in the Federal Republic of Germany. A few days later the old ''Empfangsanlage Ost'' was closed.

The third runway

Planning for a third runway (called '' Startbahn 18 West'') began in 1973. This project spawned massive protests by residents and environmentalists. The main points of conflict were increasing noise and pollution and the cutting down of protected trees in the Frankfurt City Forest. While the protests and related lawsuits were unsuccessful in preventing construction, the ''Startbahn West'' protests were one of the major crystallisation points for the German

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...

of the 1980s. The protests even continued after the runway had been opened in 1984 and in 1987 two police officers were killed by a gunman. This incident ended the ''Startbahn West'' protests for good. Because of its orientation in the north–south direction, in contrast to the other east–west runways, the use of the third runway is limited. The Startbahn West can only be used for takeoffs to the south to avoid interference with air traffic on the other runways. Owing to this restriction the runway must be partially or fully closed when northward winds are too strong.

Terminal 2 and the second railway station

In 1990, work on a new terminal (''Terminal 2'') began because it was anticipated that ''Terminal Mitte'' would reach its capacity limit sooner than expected. The new terminal, divided into concourses D and E, was built to the east of the existing terminal where once the ''Empfangsanlage Ost'' had been. With its opening in 1994, Frankfurt Airport increased its terminal capacity to 54 million passengers per year. Along with the terminal opening, a

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

system called ''Sky Line'' was established to provide a fast connection between ''Terminal 2'' and ''Terminal Mitte'' (now renamed ''Terminal 1''). In 1999 a second railway station, primarily for InterCityExpress long-distance trains (called

Frankfurt Airport long-distance station Frankfurt am Main Airport long-distance station (german: Frankfurt am Main Flughafen Fernbahnhof) is a railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It is served by long-distance trains, mostly ICE services running on the C ...

), opened near Terminal 1 as part of the new

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway (german: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main) is a railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the ...

. At the same time local and regional rail services were based at the existing underground station, now renamed

Frankfurt Airport regional station Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station (german: Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) is an underground railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides local S-Bahn and '' Regionalbahn'' services to the city and t ...

.

Closure of the Rhein-Main Air Base

On 30 December 2005, the Rhein-Main Air Base in the southern part of the airport ground was closed and the US Air Force moved to

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also ...

. The property was handed back to Fraport which allows the airport to use it to build a new passenger terminal. The property of the housing area for the soldiers, called ''Gateway Gardens'', which was located north-east of the airport site, was given back to the city of Frankfurt in the same year and will be developed as a business district in the following years.

The Airbus A380 and ''The Squaire''

From 2005 to 2007, a large

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

maintenance facility was built at Frankfurt Airport because Lufthansa wanted to station their future A380 aircraft fleet there. Both terminals also underwent major renovations in order to handle the A380, including the installation of a third boarding bridge at several gates. Lufthansa's first Airbus A380 went into operation in June 2010 and was named ''Frankfurt am Main''. Aerial View of Frankfurt Airport 1

In 2011, a large office building called ''

The Squaire The Squaire is an office building in Frankfurt, Germany. It was built between 2006 and 2011 on top of an existing train station ( Frankfurt Airport long-distance station) near Frankfurt Airport. The building is 660 m long, 65 m wide, 45 m hi ...

'' (a blend of ''square'' and ''air'') opened at Frankfurt Airport. It was built on top of the Airport long-distance station and is considered the largest office building in Germany with floor area. Main tenants are

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

and two

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

. Since 2012, the

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

"The Squaire Metro" connects the Squaire with the nine-storey parking structure. On a length of about 300 metres the so-called MiniMetro system with its two cabins can carry up to 1,300 passengers per hour. The constructor of the system was the Italian

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

Leitner.

The fourth runway

Plans to build a fourth runway at Frankfurt Airport were underway in 1997, but owing to violent conflicts with the concept Fraport let residents' groups and environmentalists participate in the process to find a mutually acceptable solution. In 2000, a task force presented their conclusion which generally approved a new runway, but of shorter length (only 2.8 kilometres compared to the other three 4-kilometre-long runways), which would serve as a landing-only runway for smaller aircraft. Additional requirements included improved noise protection arrangements and a strict ban on night flights between 11 pm and 5 am across the whole airport. In 2001, Fraport applied for approval to build the new runway, with three possible options. The conclusion was that a runway north-west of the airport site would have the least impact on local residents and the surrounding environment. The plans were approved by the Hessian government in December 2007, but the requested ban on night flights was lifted because it was argued that an international airport like Frankfurt would need night flights, especially for worldwide

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

transport. Construction of the new long ''Runway Northwest'' in the

Kelsterbach Kelsterbach () is a town in Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located on Frankfurt's southwestern outskirts at a bend on ...

Forest began in early 2009. In 2012, the website ''Airport Watch'' reports weekly protests have been occurring at the airport since the opening of a fourth runway a year previously.

Developments since 2011

The new runway officially went into operation on 20 October 2011, with an aircraft carrying

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

, performing the first landing on 21 October. The centre line separation from the existing north runway is about . This allows simultaneous instrument landing system (ILS) operations on these two runways, which has not been possible on the other parallel runways, which do not meet the minimum separation for ILS operations. This allowed the airport to increase its capacity from 83 to 126 aircraft movements per hour. On 11 October 2011, the Hessian Administration Court ruled that night flights between 11pm and 5am (the so-called ''Mediationsnacht'') are no longer allowed at Frankfurt Airport after the inauguration of the new runway, and therefore overrode the approval from the Hessian government from 2007 which allowed 17 scheduled flights per night. On 4 April 2012, the German Administrative Court confirmed the decision of the Hessian Administration Court, banning night flights between 11pm and 5am. To handle the predicted passenger amount of about 90 million in 2020, a new terminal section adjacent to Terminal 1 for an additional six million passengers opened on 10 October 2012. It is called ''Flugsteig A-Plus'' and exclusively used by Lufthansa mainly for their long-haul flights. Flugsteig A-Plus features eight parking positions that are able to handle four Airbus A380s or seven

Boeing 747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck Ai ...

/

747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...

at once. In November 2016, Ryanair announced the opening of a new base at Frankfurt Airport with four routes to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. This move by Ryanair was heavily blasted, especially by Lufthansa, as Ryanair was granted high discounts and incentives regarding the airport's fees. On 28 February 2017, Ryanair announced its winter programme for Frankfurt which will see a further 20 new routes being added.

2011 shooting

Albanian citizen, Arid Uka, a 21 year old at the time, targeted a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

bus parked outside the terminal building that was supposed to transport fifteen U.S. airmen to

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also ...

. He reportedly walked up to a waiting airman, asked him for a cigarette, and wanted to know whether the airmen were bound for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. When the airman said yes, according to German prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum, Uka waited for the airman to turn away and then shot him in the back of the head, killing him. Shouting "

Allahu Akbar Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...

!" the attacker then entered the bus, shooting and killing the driver, and continued to fire three shots at two other airmen, wounding them. When he pointed his pistol at the head of another airman and pulled the trigger, the weapon jammed. Uka fled, but was pursued by the civilian airport employee Lamar Joseph Conner and Staff Sergeant Trevor Donald Brewer and shortly afterwards overpowered by two German police officers. He was subsequently arrested. Conner and Brewer later received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in a ceremony on 16 January 2012. Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich presented the decoration, citing their "exemplary courage and action which helped the Federal Police arrest the suspect". Uka was sentenced to Life and will be deported.

COVID-19 pandemic

Portions of the airport were closed in early 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The Northwest Runway and Runway 18 West were closed on March 23 and re-purposed for parking unused aircraft. Terminal 2 was also closed, and all passenger operations were concentrated in Terminal 1. The Northwest Runway re-opened in July to handle summer tourist demand, while Runway 18 West remained closed. With almost no passenger traffic in the spring months, Frankfurt's total passenger volume in 2020 fell to 18.8 million, the lowest figure recorded since 1984.

Facilities

Frankfurt Flughafen, Terminal 1, landside

Frankfurt_am_Main_(Rhein-Main_AB)_(FRA_-_FRF_-_EDDF)_AN0403481

Frankfurt_Flughafen,_Lufthansa_First_Class_Terminal

Terminals

Frankfurt Airport has two large main passenger terminals (1 and 2) and a much smaller dedicated First Class Terminal which is operated and exclusively used by Lufthansa. As is the case at London–Heathrow, Tokyo–Narita, Toronto–Pearson and Chicago–O'Hare's future Global Terminal, terminal operations are grouped for airlines and

airline alliance An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within c ...

s rather than into domestic and international routes.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 is the older and larger one of the two passenger terminals. The

landside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

is 420 metres long. It has been enlarged several times and is divided into concourses ''A'', ''B'', ''C'' and ''Z'' and has a capacity of approximately 50 million passengers per year. Terminal 1 is functionally divided into three levels, the departures level on the upper floor with check-in counters, the arrivals level with baggage claim areas on the ground floor and, underneath, a distribution floor with access to the regional station and underground and multilevel parking. Departures and arrivals levels each have separate street approaches. A bus station is located at arrivals level. Terminal 1 has a total of 103 gates, which include 54 gates equipped with jetways (25 in Concourse A, 18 in Concourse B, 11 in Concourse C). Concourse ''Z'' sits on top of Concourse ''A'' sharing the same jet bridges between both concourses. Flights to non-Schengen destinations depart from the ''Z'' gates and Schengen flights depart from the ''A'' gates. Pier A was extended by 500 metres in 2000, and a link between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, as well as the Hall C extension opened in 2008. On 10 October 2012, an 800-metre-long westward expansion of Terminal 1 called ''Pier A-Plus'' went into operation. It provides more stands for

wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabi ...

like the Airbus A380. Terminal 1 is primarily used by Lufthansa, its associated companies ( Brussels Airlines,

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-hau ...

,

Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG, colloquially known as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland, operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its sole hub and Geneva ...

and

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...

) and its

Star Alliance Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenge ...

partners (e.g.

Aegean Airlines Aegean Airlines S.A. ( el, Αερογραμμές Αιγαίου Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία ''Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía'', ) is the flag carrier airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carri ...

,

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled an ...

,

Air China Air China Limited () is the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in Shunyi District, ...

,

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...

,

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had m ...

,

Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines Inc. ( ) is a South Korean airline headquartered in Seoul.Home
." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 13 September 2 ...

,

Croatia Airlines Croatia Airlines Ltd. is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Croatia. Its headquarters are in Buzin near Zagreb and operates domestic and international services mainly to European destinations. Its main hub is Zagreb International Airport ...

, Egyptair,

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (commonly referred to as Ethiopian; am, የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ, translit=Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā āyer menged), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by ...

, LOT Polish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines,

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines ( abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in corporat ...

, South African Airways,

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the currently state-owned flag carrier airline of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and oper ...

,

Thai Airways International Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, trading as THAI (, th, บริษัท การบินไทย จำกัด (มหาชน)) is the flag carrier airline of Thailand. Formed in 1961, the airline has its corporate h ...

,

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the ...

and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

). Some airlines that are not part of the

Lufthansa Group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

or Star Alliance also use Terminal 1. They include

Air Malta Air Malta plc (stylized as airmalta) is the flag carrier airline of Malta, with its headquarters in Luqa and its hub at Malta International Airport. It operates services to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. History ...

, Bulgaria Air,

Iran Air The National Airline of Iran ( fa, هواپیمايی ملی ایران, Havâpeymâyi-ye Melli-ye Irân), branded as Iran Air, is the flag carrier of Iran, which is headquartered at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. As of 2018, it operates scheduled ...

,

Oman Air Oman Air ( ar, الطيران العماني) is the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman. Based at Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat, it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and ch ...

and

Tunisair Société Tunisienne de l'Air, or Tunisair ( ar, الخطوط التونسية) is the national airline of Tunisia. Formed in 1948, it operates scheduled international services to four continents. Its main base is Tunis–Carthage International ...

among others. SkyTeam member airline

Middle East Airlines Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. ( ar, طيران الشرق الأوسط ـ الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية ''Ṭayyarān al-Sharq al-Awsaṭ – al-Khuṭūṭ al-jawiyyah al-lubnāniyyah''), more commonly known as Middle ...

uses Terminal 1 (Concourses B and C).

Terminal 2

Terminal 2, which has a capacity of 15 million passengers a year, was opened in 1994 and is divided into concourses ''D'' and ''E''. A continuous concourse between Terminal 1C and 2D provides direct, but non-public access between the two terminals. It has eight gates with jetways and 34 apron stands, a total of 42 gates and is able to handle wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A380. Terminal 2 is primarily used by airlines of the

oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...

(e.g.

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

,

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

, Cathay Pacific,

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

,

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

,

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

,

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netwo ...

,

Royal Air Maroc Royal Air Maroc (; ar, الخطوط الملكية المغربية, , literally ''Royal Moroccan Lines'' or ''Royal Moroccan Airlines''; ber, ⴰⵎⵓⵏⵉ ⴰⵢⵍⴰⵍ ⴰⴳⵍⴷⴰⵏ ⵏ ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ, ''Amuni Aylal Age ...

, Royal Jordanian and

S7 Airlines S7 Airlines, legally JSC Siberia Airlines (russian: АО «Авиакомпания "Сибирь"», "АО Aviakompania Sibir"), is an airline headquartered in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, with offices in Moscow. As of 2008, it was Russia's ...

(suspended)) and SkyTeam alliances (e.g. Aeroflot (currently suspended),

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

,

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (in ...

,

China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (), also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It is ...

,

Czech Airlines Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The compa ...

,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

,

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

,

Korean Air Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The present-day Korean Air ...

, Saudia, TAROM and Vietnam Airlines; SkyTeam member

Middle East Airlines Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. ( ar, طيران الشرق الأوسط ـ الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية ''Ṭayyarān al-Sharq al-Awsaṭ – al-Khuṭūṭ al-jawiyyah al-lubnāniyyah''), more commonly known as Middle ...

operates out of Terminal 1, in concourses B and C). Terminal 2 is also used by airlines that do not belong to any of the three major airline alliances, including

Air Moldova Air Moldova is the national airline of Moldova headquartered in Chișinău. It mainly operates scheduled and charter services to destinations within Europe from its base at Chișinău International Airport. History The roots of Moldavian civil ...

,

Air Serbia Air Serbia (stylised as ''AirSERBIA''; sr, / ) is the flag carrier of Serbia. The company's headquarters is located in Belgrade, Serbia, and its main hub is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The airline was known as Jat Airways until it was ...

,

China Southern Airlines China Southern Airlines Company Limited is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and is the largest airline in China. Established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of ...

,

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

,

Kuwait Airways Kuwait Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية الكويتية, ) is the national carrier of Kuwait, with its head office on the grounds of Kuwait International Airport, Al Farwaniyah Governorate. It operates scheduled international services thr ...

,

LATAM Airlines LATAM Airlines Group S.A. is an airline holding company headquartered in Santiago, Chile. It is considered the largest airline company in Latin America with subsidiaries in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The company filed for Ch ...

, and

Somon Air Somon Air (Russian language, Russian and Tajik language, Tajik: Сомон Эйр) is a private airline in Tajikistan headquartered in Dushanbe and based at Dushanbe International Airport. History The airline started operating on 5 February 200 ...

, among others. Fraport announced in late 2022 that Terminal 2 will be closed for refurbishment in 2026 until at least 2029. All tennants are to be relocated into the then fully completed Terminal 3.

Terminal overview

SkyLine

Passengers and visitors can change terminals with the people mover system

SkyLine A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skyline ...

which has three stops in Terminal 1 (at gates AZ, B and C) as well as one in Terminal 2 for all gates. Some stops can only be used by passengers in or outside the Schengen zone which is achieved by separated cars and station entrances. The travel time between the terminals is 2 minutes with trains arriving every 2–3 minutes during the day. Each train has two cars, one airside (outside the Schengen area) and one landside (within the Schengen area). Most stations have a platform on each side of the train, so landside passengers can only step out onto the landside platform, and airside passengers can only step out onto the airside platform. Additionally there is regular bus service between the terminals.

Runways

Frankfurt Airport has four runways of which three are arranged parallel in east–west direction and one in north–south direction. In 2010 three runways (Runways North, South and West) handled 464,432 aircraft movements, which equated to 83 movements per hour. With the start of operation of the Northwest Runway in October 2011 the airport was predicted to be able to handle 126 movements per hour. It is predicted that aircraft movements will increase up to 700,000 in the year 2020. By using the fourth runway, Frankfurt Airport is able for the first time to handle simultaneous parallel landings, because the distance between the north and the north-west runways is . Simultaneous parallel landings were not possible with the north and south runway pairing, because the separation distance did not meet the safety standards. During normal operation the two outer parallel runways (07L/25R and 07R/25L) are used for landings and the central parallel runway (07C/25C) and the Runway West (18) for take-offs. The three parallel runways have two markings because they can be operated in two directions while the Runway West can only be used in one direction.

Future expansions

Terminal 3 (under construction)

In 2009, the German government decided to create third terminals for both Frankfurt Airport and

Munich Airport Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...

in order to handle expected passenger flows of 90 million in Frankfurt by 2020 and 50 million in Munich by 2017. The new terminal is scheduled to be built by Fraport, south of the existing terminals on the grounds of the former Rhein-Main Air Base. The new ''Terminal 3'' is to accommodate up to 25 million passengers and will feature 75 new aircraft positions when completely constructed. An extension of the ''SkyLine'' people mover system is planned to connect the new terminal to Terminals 1 and 2 and the airport train stations. In August 2014, the city of Frankfurt granted building permission for the first phase of Terminal 3. The groundbreaking for the new terminal took place on 5 October 2015. Its first phase, consisting of the main building and two of the planned four piers (concourses 3H and 3J), is planned to open by 2026 and will be able to handle 15 million additional passengers per year. Total costs are estimated at 3 billion euros. In 2017, Frankfurt Airport first indicated that the second-phase construction of the easternmost pier (concourse 3G) could be moved forward so that low-cost carriers can use this pier from 2021. After approval by municipal authorities in 2018, the piers will be constructed and used according to the following timetable: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fraport postponed the opening of the new terminal to 2026 in March 2021. Concourse 3G (easternmost pier): * Construction of first twelve bus gates, reachable via shuttle buses from terminals 1/2, in use by 2021 * Construction of additional twelve bus gates by 2023/2024 * Construction of passenger

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s by 2025/2026 Check-in area, concourses 3H and 3J (central piers): Construction by 2023 including transport systems for visitors, passengers and luggage to the other terminals * Concourse 3H is planned for Schengen flights * Concourse 3J is planned for non-Schengen flights Concourse 3K (westernmost pier): Possible third-phase expansion depending on development of passenger numbers

Passenger Transport System

A new passenger transport system is planned for the connection of the new terminal 3 and the existing terminals 1 and 2. It will use a track which is separate from the existing SkyLine people mover but will allow for interchanges between them. It is scheduled to have four stops in the final stage near the airport's two railway stations, at Terminals 1C and 2DE as well as the new Terminal 3.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Lufthansa and their

Star Alliance Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenge ...

partners account for the majority of all traffic at Frankfurt Airport. The following airlines offer year-round and seasonal scheduled and charter flights at Frankfurt Airport:

Cargo

Other facilities

CargoCity

Frankfurt Airport is the second-largest

multimodal transport Multimodal transport (also known as combined transport) is the transportation of goods under a single contract, but performed with at least two different modes of transport; the carrier is liable (in a legal sense) for the entire carriage, even th ...

airport in Europe and has several logistics facilities. These facilities are grouped at two areas at the airport ground: In the north (CargoCity Nord) and in the south (CargoCity Süd). In 2010 it was the second-busiest airport by cargo traffic in Europe after

Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

, handling 2,231,348

metric tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

of loaded and unloaded freight. CargoCity is the name of the two large main areas featuring most of the airport's freight handling facilities: * The 98 hectare large CargoCity Süd (''South'') is home to a cargo centre for dispatch service providers and freight forwarding businesses. Several transport companies like

DHL Global Forwarding DHL Global Forwarding, formerly known as DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, is a division of Deutsche Post DHL providing air and ocean freight forwarding services. It also plans and undertakes major logistics projects under the brand name DHL Industrial Pro ...

,

Air China Air China Limited () is the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in Shunyi District, ...

, LUG Aircargo Handling (

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

, Japan Airlines,

Korean Air Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The present-day Korean Air ...

,

Cargolux Airlines Cargolux, legally ''Cargolux Airlines International S.A.'', is a Luxembourgian flag carrier cargo airline with its headquarters and Airline hub, hub at Luxembourg Airport. With a global network, it is one of the largest scheduled all-cargo airlin ...

,

Aegean Airlines Aegean Airlines S.A. ( el, Αερογραμμές Αιγαίου Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία ''Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía'', ) is the flag carrier airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carri ...

, Delta Air Lines,

Siberian Airlines S7 Airlines, legally JSC Siberia Airlines (russian: АО «Авиакомпания "Сибирь"», "АО Aviakompania Sibir"), is an airline headquartered in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, with offices in Moscow. As of 2008, it was Russia's ...

, South African Airways,

Uzbekistan Airways JSC Uzbekistan Airways, operating as ''Uzbekistan Airways'' ( uz, Oʻzbekiston Havo Yoʻllari, ; russian: Узбекские Авиалинии), is the flag carrier airline of Uzbekistan, headquartered in Tashkent. From its hub at Islam Kari ...

) and Fraport Cargo Services are based here. * CargoCity Nord (''North'') is the headquarters of

Lufthansa Cargo Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, the main hub of Lufthansa. Besides operating dedicated ...

. Additional facilities here are a Perishables Centre for fresh produced goods and the Frankfurt Animal Lounge for the transport of living animals.

Airport City

The airport ground and the surrounding area of Frankfurt Airport offer a large variety of on-airport businesses as well as airport-related businesses, including office space, hotels, shopping areas, conference rooms and car parks. The development of an

airport city An airport city is the “inside the fence” airport area of a large airport, including the airport (terminals, apron, and runways) and on-airport businesses such as air cargo, logistics, offices, retail, and hotels. The airport city is at the ...

has significantly accelerated in recent years.

Frankfurt Airport Centres

Frankfurt Flughafen (Frankfurt Airport) - geo-en

The Frankfurt Airport Centre 1 (FAC 1) near Terminal 1 offers office and conference facilities, the newer FAC 2 is located within Terminal 2 and offers office space for airlines.

Airport City Mall

The Airport City Mall is located on the landside of Terminal 1, departure hall B. It offers national and international retailers and label stores, a supermarket and several restaurants.

The Squaire

The Squaire is an office building with a total floor area of . It is directly connected to Terminal 1 through a connecting corridor for pedestrians. The accounting firm

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

, Lufthansa and two

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

(''Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport'' with 334 rooms and

Hilton Frankfurt Airport Hilton Frankfurt Airport is a four-star hotel, located in the groundscraper The Squaire in Frankfurt, Germany. The hotel was officially opened in December 2011 and is part of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts chain. It is situated directly above the In ...

with 249 rooms) occupy space in The Squaire.

Main Airport Centre

The Main Airport Centre, named after the

Main river Main rivers () are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also some smaller watercourses. A main river is designated by being marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure o ...

, is an office building with ten floors and about of office space. It is located at the edge of the Frankfurt City Forest near Terminal 2.

Sheraton Hotel & Conference Centre

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts offers 1,008 guest rooms adjacent to Terminal 1 and a

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

for up to 200 delegates.

Gateway Gardens

Gateway Gardens is a former housing area for the US Air Force personnel based at the Rhein-Main Air Base, close to Terminal 2. Like the air base, the housing area was closed in 2005. Since then the area is being developed into a business location for airport-related companies. Lufthansa moved its airline catering subsidiary

LSG Sky Chefs LSG Group, registered as LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, is an Aviation service company that manages multiple brands, including LSG Sky Chefs and Retail inMotion. LSG Group is a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The company's world headqua ...

to Gateway Gardens, Condor and SunExpress are headquartered here.

DB Schenker DB Schenker is a division of German rail operator Deutsche Bahn that focuses on logistics. The company was acquired by Deutsche Bahn as Schenker-Stinnes in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea freight, and Contract Logistics. Histo ...

, the logistics company of Deutsche Bahn, have built a high-rise building. In December 2019, local trains were re-routed to run via Gateway Gardens station. The new stop for

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

trains is located between

Frankfurt Airport Regional Station Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station (german: Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) is an underground railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides local S-Bahn and '' Regionalbahn'' services to the city and t ...

and Frankfurt-Stadion station. The journey time will increase by 4 minutes but Deutsche Bahn have stated that they will use new trains (ET423) which will be faster and have more capacity.

Further users

Lufthansa Aviation Center after sunset - Frankfurt - Germany - near Airport Frankfurt - Fraport - 06

* Fraport's facilities are on the property of Frankfurt Airport. Its head office building is by Gate 3. The newly constructed headquarters were inaugurated there in 2012. The Fraport Driving School (Fraport Fahrschule) is in Building 501 of CargoCity South (CargoCity Süd). * Lufthansa's main building, where the board of directors is seated, is called Lufthansa Aviation Centre (LAC). Lufthansa operates the Lufthansa Aviation Center (LAC), Building 366 at Frankfurt Airport. Several company departments, including Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, and Media Relations, are based at the LAC. Lufthansa also uses several other buildings in the area, including the Lufthansa Flight Training Center for

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

operations and the ''Lufthansa Basis BG2'' as a central base and for crew briefing. As of 2011

Lufthansa Cargo Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, the main hub of Lufthansa. Besides operating dedicated ...

has been headquartered in Building 451 of the Frankfurt Airport area. As of 2012 Lufthansa Cargo is located at Gate 25 in the CargoCity Nord area,

Lufthansa Technik Lufthansa Technik AG ('Lufthansa Engineering', often referred to simply as “LHT”) provides worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines, and components. It is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Headquarte ...

is located at Gate 23 and in the CargoCity Süd area. * Star Alliance, an airline alliance, has its headquarters at the Frankfurt Airport Centre 1 (FAC 1) adjacent to Terminal 1. * Airmail Centre Frankfurt, a joint venture of Lufthansa Cargo, Fraport, and

Deutsche Post The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. ...

for

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

transport, has its head office in Building 189, between Terminals 1 and 2. *

Aero Lloyd Aero Lloyd Flugreisen GmbH & Co, operating as Aero Lloyd, was a German charter airline based in Oberursel, Germany. It was headquartered in Building 182 at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt before it was moved to Oberursel. History Early years ...

previously had its head office in Building 182.

Statistics

Annual traffic

Route statistics

Ground transport

Frankfurt Airport can easily be accessed by car, taxi, train or bus as it features an extensive transport network. There are two railway stations at the airport: one for suburban/regional trains and one for long-distance trains.

Rail

Regional station

Frankfurt Airport regional station (''Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof'') at Terminal 1, concourse B, provides access to the S-Bahn commuter rail lines ''S8'' and ''S9''. Each of these lines have trains departing every 15 minutes during daytime to

Hanau Central Station Hanau Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in Hanau in the German state of Hesse, and is a major railway junction east of Frankfurt am Main. It was opened in 1867, but the current building was built in the late 1960s. It is located about south-east ...

eastwards via

Frankfurt Central Station Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, also called Frankfurt Central Station and Frankfurt Main Station, is the busiest railway station in the German state of Hesse. Because of its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for lo ...

and Offenbach East Station or

Wiesbaden Central Station Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof is a railway station for the city of Wiesbaden, the state capital of the German state of Hesse. It is a terminal station at the southern edge of the city centre and is used by more than 40,000 travelers each day, so it is t ...

westwards via Rüsselsheim or

Mainz Central Station Mainz Hauptbahnhof ("Mainz main station", formerly known as ''Centralbahnhof Mainz''von Meyer, Arthur (1891). ''Geschichte und Geographie der deutschen Eisenbahnen von ihrer Entstehung bis auf die Gegenwart'', W. Baensch, p. 1131) is a railway st ...

(line S8) or

Mainz-Kastel Station Mainz-Kastel station is situated on the Frankfurt–Wiesbaden line (line number 3603; timetable section 645.1) in Mainz-Kastel, now a suburb of Wiesbaden, in the German state of Hesse. It was opened as part of the Taunus Railway, which was opened ...

(line S9). The journey time to Frankfurt Central Station is 10–12 minutes. Regional Express (RE) trains to

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

,

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

or

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

call at this station. These trains provide less frequent but additional connections between Frankfurt Airport and the Central Station.

Long-distance station

Flughafen-Fernbahnsteig-Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt Airport long-distance station (''Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof'') was opened in 1999. The station is squeezed in between the motorway A 3 and the four-lane ''Bundesstraße'' B43, linked to Terminal 1 by a connecting corridor for pedestrians that bridges the Autobahn. It is the end point of the newly built

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway (german: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main) is a railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the ...

, which links southern Germany to the

Rhine-Ruhr The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...

metropolitan area, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

via

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

at speeds up to . About 10 trains per hour depart in all directions. Deutsche Bahn operates the

AIRail Service AiRail Service is offered by Deutsche Bahn AG in cooperation with Lufthansa, American Airlines and Emirates. It is one example of several a dedicated air-rail alliances currently operating worldwide. AiRail Service is currently offered between ...

in conjunction with Lufthansa, American Airlines and Emirates. The service operates to the central stations of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

,

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

,

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

,

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

,

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

,

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

and to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe.

Car

Frankfurt Airport is located in the Frankfurt City Forest and directly connected to an Autobahn intersection called

Frankfurter Kreuz The Frankfurter Kreuz (''Frankfurt Junction'') is an Autobahn interchange in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where the autobahns A3 and A5 meet. The interchange was originally to be built from 1931 to 1933, but due to World War II construction was ...

where the A3 and A5 meet. It takes a 10–15 minutes by car or taxi to get to Frankfurt Central Station or the centre of the city. Passengers driving their own cars can park in multilevel parking garages (mostly underground) along the terminals. A long term holiday parking lot is located south of the runways and connected by shuttle bus to the terminals.

Bicycle

Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 can be reached by bicycle because one of the roads that run north of the airport passing the terminals can legally be used by bicycle. The airport authority has confirmed that the newly built terminal 3 will also be reachable by bicycle.

Bus and coaches

Various transport companies provide bus services to the airport from the surrounding areas as well as by coach to long-distance destinations. Previously

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had m ...

operated a bus service to Düsseldorf exclusively for ANA customers; that way Düsseldorf passengers would be transported to Frankfurt Airport to board their ANA flights. In 2014 ANA established a separate flight from Tokyo to Düsseldorf, causing the bus services to end.Yokoso! All Nippon Airways (ANA) to Offer Daily Connection between Düsseldorf and Tokyo Starting March 30
." Press release from ANA at the website of convention bureau DÜSSELDORF. Retrieved on 26 October 2016.

Ground transport statistics

In 2006, 29.5% of the 12,299,192 passengers whose air travel originated in Frankfurt came by private car, 27.9% came by rail, 20.4% by taxi, 11.1% parked their car at the airport for the duration of their trip, 5.3% came by bus, and 4.6% arrived with a rental car.Statistical data prepared by Fraport department MVG-MF based on polls conducted in the departure lounges every four days

Incidents and accidents

* On 4 January 1938, a

Deutsche Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

Junkers Ju-52 crashed in a snowstorm on approach to FRA due to icing. All three crew and three passengers were killed. * On 29 September 1938, a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Junkers Ju-52 crashed due to a preliminary ground contact caused by a wrong estimation of height. One occupant of the four on board were killed. * On 22 March 1952, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with t ...

on a return flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam crashed 7 km NE of FRA into a forest. Nine crew and 36 passengers of the 47 total on board perished. * On 14 October 1953, a

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

Convair CV-240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

crashed near Kelstenbach shortly after takeoff following loss of engine power 1 km N of FRA. All four crew and 40 passengers died. * On 21 January 1967, an ''Air Ferry''

Douglas C-54 The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilia ...

, a cargo flight, struck trees some 2700 metres short of the runway while on a night-time

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

approach. Both occupants were killed. * On 24 November 1972, an

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled an ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...

bound for

Montreal, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

was hijacked on the ground at FRA and a hijacker demanded a release of prisoners. The plane was stormed and the hijacker arrested. One person died. * On 22 May 1983, during an air show at Rhein-Main Air Base, a Canadian

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...

crashed into a nearby road, hitting a car and killing all passengers, a vicar's family of five. The pilot was able to eject. * On 19 June 1985, a bomb cloaked in a canvas bag was detonated approx at 14:42 in the afternoon in Hall B of the Rhein Main Frankfurt Airport, decimating that section of the airport. The blast resulted in three deaths and 32 injuries, of which four were considered serious. *In May 1999, a violent illegal immigrant was being deported by police, from Frankfurt to Cairo. He was restrained before the flight took off and when an officer attempted to talk to him later, he found that he was no longer alive. * In September 2007, German authorities arrested three suspected terrorists for plotting a "massive" terror attack, which posed "an imminent threat" to Frankfurt Airport and the US Air Force base in Ramstein. * On 2 March 2011, a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying US Air Force personnel at Frankfurt Airport, killing two and wounding two others. * On 11 June 2018,

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

Flight 426, an

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...

, preparing for a flight to

Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located from t ...

sustained damage on pushback from the gate, the tow tug caught fire and the aircraft sustained damage to the nose and cockpit section. Ten airport staff, consisting of ground crew and emergency responders, suffered minor injuries as a result of smoke inhalation. The aircraft was written off.

In media

Frankfurt Airport is featured in the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

series '' X-Ray Mega Airport'' (also known as ''Inside Frankfurt Airport'').

Jinder Mahal Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, under the ring name Jinder Mahal. Having started his career on the independent circuit, Mahal joine ...

pinned

R-Truth Ronnie Aaron Killings (born January 19, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He is currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand under the ring name R-Truth. Killings worked for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now ...

at the Frankfurt Airport for the 24/7 Championship. This title change was shown on WWE.com and WWE's official social media accounts.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

* *
Official website
* * {{Authority control Airports in Hesse Airports established in 1936 Transport in Frankfurt

Location

History

First airport

Second airport

World War II

Berlin Airlift

Growth of the airport

The new main terminal

The third runway

Terminal 2 and the second railway station

Closure of the Rhein-Main Air Base

The Airbus A380 and ''The Squaire''

The fourth runway

Developments since 2011

2011 shooting

COVID-19 pandemic

Facilities

Terminals

Terminal 1

Terminal 2

Terminal overview

SkyLine

Runways

Future expansions

Terminal 3 (under construction)

Passenger Transport System

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Other facilities

CargoCity

Airport City

Frankfurt Airport Centres

Airport City Mall

The Squaire

Main Airport Centre

Sheraton Hotel & Conference Centre

Gateway Gardens

Further users

Statistics

Annual traffic

Route statistics

Ground transport

Rail

Regional station

Long-distance station

Car

Bicycle

Bus and coaches

Ground transport statistics

Incidents and accidents

In media

See also

References

External links