Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport is the principal international airport serving Frankfurt am Main and Germany's largest airport by passenger traffic. It lies approximately 12 kilometres south-west of central Frankfurt and uses the IATA code FRA and ICAO location indicator EDDF. The airport handled about 63.2 million passengers and 460,272 aircraft movements in 2025.[1][2]
Location and role
The airport occupies a large site beside the Frankfurt motorway interchange, where the A3 and A5 meet, and close to the Frankfurt city forest. Its position in the Rhine-Main region and direct integration with the German rail and motorway networks give it a catchment extending well beyond Frankfurt itself.[2][3]
Frankfurt is Lufthansa's largest hub and an important transfer point for Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance airlines. Other network, leisure, low-cost and cargo carriers also operate at the airport. The 2026 summer schedule listed 88 airlines serving 283 destinations in 92 countries, with more than 1,000 intercontinental services each week; those figures are seasonal rather than permanent.[4][5]
The airport is also one of Europe's principal air-freight gateways. CargoCity North and CargoCity South accommodate airline, handler, forwarder and logistics facilities, while passenger-aircraft belly capacity supplements dedicated freighter operations.[1][3]
Ownership, operation and regulation
Frankfurt Airport is owned and operated by Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, the listed parent company of the Fraport Group. The State of Hesse owns 31.31 per cent of Fraport and Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main Holding GmbH, representing the City of Frankfurt, owns 21.12 per cent. Their combined holding gives the public-sector shareholders majority control.[6]
Fraport supplies and manages the passenger terminals, airfield and much of the airport's commercial infrastructure. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung provides air traffic control. Operational procedures, declared distances and temporary restrictions are published in the German Aeronautical Information Publication and through NOTAMs; the physical dimensions below do not replace those flight-operational sources.[2][7]
History
Frankfurt's first principal airport was at Rebstock, operated from 1924 by Südwestdeutsche Luftverkehrs AG, a predecessor of Fraport. The present site opened in 1936 as Rhein-Main Airport beside the newly built Frankfurt motorway interchange. It served both aeroplanes and the transatlantic airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg during the short-lived airship era.[8][9]
The airport was heavily damaged during the Second World War and taken over by United States forces in 1945. The occupation authorities rebuilt the field and developed the adjoining Rhein-Main Air Base. Frankfurt became a principal base for the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49, during which supply aircraft departed for the blockaded city.[9][10]
Civil operations expanded alongside the American base after the war. A second east-west runway was built during the airlift period, and the airport company was reorganised during the 1950s. Rapid growth by Lufthansa and other international airlines established Frankfurt as West Germany's leading long-haul gateway.[9]
Terminal 1 and its underground regional railway station opened on 14 March 1972. For the first time at Frankfurt, check-in, baggage handling, transfers and boarding were brought together in one large passenger complex. The terminal later expanded through new and enlarged concourses, including facilities for wide-body aircraft and the A-Plus pier.[11]
Runway 18, known as the West Runway, entered service in 1984 for southerly departures. Terminal 2 opened on 24 October 1994, initially accommodating 18 airlines. The original automated Sky Line people mover began operating between Terminals 1 and 2 in the same period.[12][5]
The airport's long-distance railway station opened in 1999, adding Intercity and high-speed rail services to the regional station beneath Terminal 1. In June 2001, Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG was listed on the stock exchange and adopted the name Fraport AG.[11][8]
The landing-only Northwest Runway, 07L/25R, opened on 21 October 2011. Its 1,400-metre separation from the South Runway permits independent parallel approaches and increased the runway system's peak capacity. It is linked to the main airfield by taxiways crossing the ICE railway and A3 motorway.[13]
The United States Air Force closed Rhein-Main Air Base in 2005 and returned its land to the airport. Fraport later developed Terminal 3 on part of that southern site. The terminal was inaugurated on 22 April 2026 and began regular operations the following day.[10][14]
Terminals
Frankfurt has three numbered terminal buildings, but only Terminals 1 and 3 were handling passenger flights at the August 2026 snapshot. Terminal 2 closed temporarily on 9 June 2026 after its airlines completed a phased move to Terminal 3. Fraport is undertaking a comprehensive technical refurbishment before the building returns to service.[15][16]
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 is the airport's principal hub complex and is used primarily by Lufthansa and its partners. It contains concourses A, B, C and Z and more than 60 gates. The regional station is beneath the terminal, while the long-distance station and Squaire complex are connected by walkways.[5]
Terminal 2
Terminal 2 opened in 1994 and historically accommodated many airlines outside Lufthansa's main hub operation. It is a physical part of the airport but not an operating passenger terminal during its 2026 refurbishment. Describing Frankfurt as having only two terminal buildings would therefore be misleading; it has three, with two in passenger operation.[12][15]
Terminal 3
Terminal 3 opened for regular flights on 23 April 2026. Its initial configuration comprises piers G, H and J, capacity for up to 19 million passengers a year, at least 33 pier-adjacent aircraft positions and 112 check-in or baggage-drop points. Fifty-seven airlines moved from Terminal 2 in four waves ending on 9 June.[14][10]
The new driverless Sky Line system connects Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, with an end-to-end journey of about eight minutes. Its Terminal 1 station also provides access to both airport railway stations. The original people mover remains part of the terminal transfer system.[5][14]
Runways and airfield
Frankfurt has four runways. Fraport's airport user regulations, valid from 23 April 2026, publish the following physical characteristics and operating roles:[2]
| Runway | Physical dimensions | Normal role |
| 07L/25R | 2,800 m × 45 m | Northwest Runway; landings only |
| 07C/25C | 4,000 m × 60 m | Centre Runway; take-offs and landings |
| 07R/25L | 4,000 m × 45 m | South Runway; take-offs and landings |
| 18 | 4,000 m × 45 m | West Runway; take-offs only towards the south |
Three runways are approximately parallel on an east-west alignment. Runway 18 is aligned north-south and has no reciprocal runway 36 operation. Landings normally use the Northwest and South runways, while departures use the Centre and West runways, subject to wind, safety, traffic, maintenance and noise rules.[7]
The physical 4,000-metre lengths of the Centre, South and West runways do not imply identical take-off or landing distances in every operating direction. Declared distances, intersections and temporary reductions must be taken from the current AIP or NOTAM.[2]
Airlines and operations
Lufthansa's hub structure produces waves of arriving and departing flights designed for connections across Europe and between European and intercontinental services. Lufthansa CityLine, Discover Airlines and other Lufthansa Group carriers supplement the mainline operation, while Star Alliance partners provide additional long-haul and regional connectivity.[5][3]
The 2025 full-year network comprised 94 airlines and 301 destinations in 96 countries. The following summer schedule listed fewer airlines and destinations but more than 4,700 weekly flights, illustrating why annual network totals and seasonal schedules should not be treated as the same measure.[1][4]
Frankfurt handled approximately 2.1 million tonnes of cargo, including airfreight and airmail, in 2025. Total aircraft movements rose by 4.4 per cent to 460,272, including 424,582 passenger-flight take-offs and landings and 25,311 cargo movements.[1][17]
Ground transport
Frankfurt has two adjoining railway stations at the northern terminal complex. The regional station beneath Terminal 1 handles S-Bahn and regional trains. The long-distance station beside the Squaire serves Intercity and ICE trains, allowing direct rail-air connections across Germany and to neighbouring countries.[5][3]
The Sky Line connects the rail stations and Terminal 1 with Terminals 2 and 3. Buses, coaches, taxis and hotel shuttles serve terminal forecourts, while the A3, A5 and surrounding roads provide direct motorway access. Operational stops and replacement services can change during terminal or people-mover works.[5][16]
Traffic statistics
| Year | Passengers | Aircraft movements | Cargo, including airmail |
| 2024 | 61,561,247 | 440,853 | 2,050,082 tonnes |
| 2025 | Approximately 63.2 million | 460,272 | Approximately 2.1 million tonnes |
Passenger traffic grew by about 2.6 per cent in 2025, movements by 4.4 per cent and cargo volume by about 1.1 per cent on the traffic-reporting basis. The airport remained roughly 10 per cent below its 2019 passenger level. The exact 2024 passenger figure comes from the annual report, while the cargo figure uses Fraport's monthly traffic-report definition so that it is comparable with the 2025 traffic release.[1][18][19]
Related pages
Sources
Fraport traffic figures 2025 — Fraport AG, 16 January 2026
Fraport Annual Report 2025 — Fraport AG, 2026
Frankfurt Airport user regulations — Fraport AG, valid 23 April 2026
Runway system and operating hours — Fraport AG, accessed 29 August 2026
Frankfurt Airport history — Fraport AG, accessed 29 August 2026
FRA history archive — Fraport AG, accessed 29 August 2026
Terminal 1 fiftieth anniversary — Fraport AG, 11 March 2022
Terminal 2 twenty-fifth anniversary — Fraport AG, 24 October 2019
Terminal 3 opening — Fraport AG, 22 April 2026
Terminal 2 temporary closure — Fraport AG, 9 June 2026
Airside and terminal operations — Fraport AG, accessed 29 August 2026
Frankfurt Airport 2026 summer schedule — Fraport AG, 23 March 2026
Fraport shareholder structure — Fraport AG, accessed 29 August 2026
Fraport traffic figures 2024 — Fraport AG, 16 January 2025
Frankfurt Airport monthly traffic results 2024 — Fraport AG, 2025
Image source and licence: Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1 departures entrance — Quintin Soloviev, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
.png){kind=link}