Today (April 22), Fraport officially opened the new state-of-the-art Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport with a ceremony attended by more than 400 invited guests from government, business, and the aviation industry.  The official program concluded with the announcement: “Terminal 3 is ready for check-in”.

The opening takes place in a difficult context: the energy crisis has slowed air traffic on a global scale and Lufthansa has announced the cancellation of 20,000 flights (see AVIONEWS) and the elimination of the regional company CityLine (see AVIONEWS), a measure that should allow the group to save around 40,000 tons of kerosene after the doubling of fuel prices linked to tensions in the Middle East.

Terminal 3 will begin operations on April 23. Among the first users of the new facility are all 57 of the airlines that are permanently relocating to the new terminal and will be operating their flights from there going forward. The move is taking place in four waves and will be concluded by June 9. In addition, Condor – the second-largest airline at Frankfurt Airport – will be switching to Terminal 3 in the Summer of 2027. 

The construction of Terminal 3 was a remarkable achievement. The groundbreaking ceremony for Europe’s largest privately funded infrastructure project took place on October 15, 2015. At its peak, up to 3,000 skilled tradespeople from various professions were working simultaneously on the construction site. The result is a terminal with an initial capacity for up to 19 million passengers per year, utilizing Piers G, H, and J. In a future second phase, this capacity could be increased to up to 25 million passengers annually by adding Pier K. Fraport has invested approximately €4 billion in the construction of Terminal 3.