Expansion Program At Frankfurt Airport Is Taking Off

Frankfurt Airport is boosting its capacity: The busiest airport in Germany this month will add a new high-speed rail line to serve the short-haul market and recently received a conditional okay by district and state authorities to add another runway. A third terminal and various operational upgrades also are in the works.

Airport owner Fraport AG said FRA recorded 4.4 million passengers in June. While that figure is 4.7 percent less than the same month last year, the airport expects volumes to grow again in the third quarter and passenger traffic is expected to double by 2015, to 81 million. According to Fraport officials, expanding the airport's runway capacity will prevent the "threatening loss of FRA's function as a hub for Lufthansa and the Star Alliance." The current runway capacity of 78 takeoffs and landings per hour is inadequate to meet demand for up to 100 hourly movements. To compensate and remain competitive with other European airports, the airport must increase the figure to 120 over the next few years.

Fraport AG executive board chairman Wilhelm Bender in June said the demand-driven expansion of FRA "is of crucial importance for the future of both Fraport and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region."

German authorities earlier this summer concluded that certain requirements must be fulfilled before zoning can be requested for the new runway. If there are no major delays in the zoning process, construction could begin in 2004. Professor Manfred Schölch, Fraport AG deputy chairman and executive board member responsible for airport expansion, said, "Fraport will do everything possible to request zoning this year. We are well within schedule and intend to have the new landing runway operational in 2006."

With government approval, the new passenger terminal with more than 70 aircraft positions would be built in three phases beginning in 2007, with completion expected in 2013.

In its bid to move more short-haul air passengers to the train, the airport will be offering more InterCity Express rail services and this month commence service on a new high-speed rail line, which will provide fast links to the Rhein-Ruhr region. Deutsche Bahn's high-speed ICE-3 trains initially will shuttle passengers between Frankfurt's AIRail terminal and Cologne.

On Dec. 15, the AIRail terminal will be completely integrated into DB's rail timetable, with nine trains stopping hourly at the airport. Also during that month, seven ICE lines will be available from FRA, including service from Amsterdam, Brussels, Dortmund and Münster to Frankfurt; Dortmund to Basel and Munich; and Hamburg to Stuttgart. Two regular-speed InterCity lines will be available, from Hamburg to Vienna and Wiesbaden to Munich. The annual traffic volume at the AIRail terminal is expected to grow to more than 5 million in 2003, from 3.3 million passengers in 2001.

As a value-add to travelers, Lufthansa, the airport authority and DB in March 2001 began offering a train-to-the-plane operation, allowing air passengers to essentially begin their flights at a checkin counter at the main railway station in Stuttgart. Upon arrival at Frankfurt Airport's AIRail terminal, passengers transfer from the train to the plane; baggage is transferred automatically. As soon as January 2003, ICE passengers from Cologne's central rail station heading to FRA may be offered a similar service. Dusseldorf also may be integrated.

Fraport also is planning to implement a new landing procedure and two new navigation systems to use capacity better than in the past, while providing safer ground navigation. Already in advanced testing, the High Approach Landing System/Dual Threshold Operation would improve the landing thresholds of the airport's two east-west runways, which are too close to allow parallel landings. The Electronic Taxiway Navigation Array is a navigation and guidance system for all vehicles on the apron, and the Cooperative Area Precision Tracking System identifies and pinpoints aircraft location in real time.

Frankfurt's hub carrier, Lufthansa, in the first five months of the year recorded a higher on-time rate, more than 85 percent, than any of its main European competitors. In addition to a reduction in air traffic control-related delays, Lufthansa in April introduced Allegro, a system that times and records every process on the ground, from the first passenger disembarking on arrival, to refueling, cleaning and loading inflight catering and baggage, to the last passenger boarding the plane before departure. "Lufthansa is the first airline to record the exact timing of all its ground processes and make them more transparent. We can pinpoint the potential causes of delays on the ground," which opens up opportunities to work on improvements, said Christoph Klingenberg, Lufthansa executive vice president and general rep for group infrastructure.

Lufthansa over the next few weeks also will upgrade its more than 300 Quick Checkin terminals in German airports and abroad. The terminal interfaces will include seating charts, so passengers without advance seat assignments can select their seats. An e-ticket or ticket with a magnetic strip is required.

Meanwhile, the Sheraton Airport Hotel just completed a US$48.9 million redevelopment. Robert Payne, Fraport AG spokesman, said construction will begin this fall on the AIRail Center project, a nine-story complex with offices, a luxury hotel and shopping on the rooftop of the long-distance railway station.